What the directory data shows · 6 min read

China supplier reviews: most sellers you find have none

You found a supplier on TikTok. The prices look good. The page looks busy. But where are the reviews? We checked all 708 China–Africa sellers in the MoneyWave directory on 20 August 2026. Only 77 had enough real buyer reviews to tell you much. That is about one in nine. Here is what to do about the other eight.

Updated — Checked today

Every figure below was computed from the MoneyWave directory on . The corpus is re-checked weekly, so treat these as a dated snapshot — the live directory is always the current answer.

How many China suppliers have real reviews you can read?

Not many. Of the 708 sellers we list, only 77 scored a 4 or 5 for buyer feedback. That is one in nine. More than half of them, 373 sellers, sat at 1 or 2. So the page you are looking at right now probably has very little you can read.

This surprised us too. We expected a few bad sellers and a lot of good ones. What we found was quieter than that. Most pages are simply empty of buyers talking. The seller posts. Nobody answers. Or the answers are all price questions from people who never bought.

A low score is not an accusation. It means we could not find much to read. Plenty of good sellers are down there. They just do their talking in a WhatsApp group you cannot see. The score tells you how much homework has already been done for you. It does not tell you who is honest.

Buyer feedback scores across 708 sellers, checked 20 August 2026
ScoreSellersShare
5 — plenty of real buyer feedback91.3%
4 — a good amount689.6%
3 — some, but thin25836.4%
2 — very little29441.5%
1 — almost nothing7911.2%

Why the seller in China often has less feedback than the one near you

Because buyers talk where they feel safe. Of the 399 sellers based in China, only 7% reach a 4 or 5. Of the 309 based elsewhere, mostly in Nigeria, Tanzania, Kenya and Dubai, 15.9% do. That is more than double. It is about where people comment, not who ships well.

Think about the two pages side by side. A wholesaler in Guangzhou posts to strangers. The comments are price questions. A vendor in Lagos sells to people who can walk into her shop. The comments are from named buyers with a delivery to talk about.

So please do not read this as "China bad". It is not. It means the China-based page gives you less to go on. Your own checks matter more there, not less. Ask for two buyer references in your own country. Ask for a video call from the warehouse.

Where the real buyer feedback actually lives

On TikTok, and it is not close. TikTok holds 542 of the 708 sellers we list. That is more than three in four. It is also where feedback is strongest, with 13.7% of sellers reaching a 4 or 5. Instagram, YouTube, LinkedIn and Facebook trail well behind.

Here is the part that surprised us most. Not one LinkedIn seller in our list reaches a 4 or 5. Not one Facebook seller either. On Instagram it is a single seller out of 69.

That flips what most of us assume. A smart company page with a website tells you the business exists. A TikTok comment section three hundred replies deep tells you what happened to people who paid. The second one is worth more to you, and it is easier to find.

Sellers and buyer feedback by platform, checked 20 August 2026
PlatformSellersShare of listScoring 4 or 5
TikTok54276.6%13.7%
Instagram699.7%1.4%
YouTube547.6%3.7%
LinkedIn253.5%0%
Facebook182.5%0%

If you sell hair, wigs, lashes or beauty, read this bit

Your two lines are not the same. Hair and wig sellers do fairly well: 9 of the 56 we list reach a 4 or 5. Beauty, cosmetics and lashes is the hard one. Not one of those 18 sellers reaches a 4 or 5. If you buy lashes, you are mostly buying blind.

Hair buyers are loud, and that helps you. Bundles get filmed, worn, washed and reviewed. A bad batch shows up in the comments within weeks. That is a real safety net, and it is free.

Lashes and cosmetics are quieter. The orders are small. Buyers rarely film them. So the same trick does not work, and you have to build your own proof. Order one carton first. Photograph what lands. Then order again.

Clothing and fashion sits in the middle, and it is thinner than most people expect. Only 2 of the 66 sellers we list reach a 4 or 5. Busy page, big following, almost no buyers on record.

Buyer feedback by product line, checked 20 August 2026
What they sellSellersScoring 4 or 5
Phones, gadgets and electronics2825%
Hair and wigs5616.1%
Bags and luggage2714.8%
Clothing and fashion663%
Beauty, cosmetics and lashes180%

What to do before you send money to a quiet seller

Do the work the comments did not do for you. None of this takes long, and all of it is free. The aim is simple. You want one thing you can check yourself before your money leaves, and one small loss you could live with if it all goes wrong.

  • Read the comments on their last three posts. Not the pinned praise. Complaints get buried by new posts, not deleted.
  • Ask for two buyers in your own country you can message. A real seller will have them. A quiet page with none is telling you something.
  • Ask for a short video call from where the goods are. Not a photo. Photos get borrowed from other sellers all the time.
  • Place a small first order. Small enough that losing it teaches you something cheap. Every experienced importer says a version of this.
  • Check whether they changed their name. Seven sellers on our list have. A new handle wipes a comment history that took years to build.

How we worked this out

We read what buyers said in public. Every number here comes from all 708 sellers we listed on 20 August 2026. We score each one from 1 to 5 on how much real buyer feedback we can find on TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, LinkedIn and Facebook. Nothing is guessed.

A score is what we could see, and only that. It is not a promise about anyone. A seller can score well and still be wrong for your order. A seller can score badly for no reason other than a quiet comment section.

We check the whole list again every week, so these shares will move. This page is a snapshot with a date on it. The live directory is always the newer answer, and it is free to read.

Frequently asked questions

Does a low score mean the seller is a scam?

No, and please do not read it that way. It means we could not find much public buyer feedback. Many honest sellers score low because their buyers talk in private groups. Do your own checks before you pay anyone, whatever the score says.

Why do hair sellers have more feedback than lash sellers?

Because hair gets filmed. Buyers post the install, the wash and the six-week update, so a bad batch shows up fast. Lashes and cosmetics are small, quiet orders that nobody films. Same corridor, very different amount of proof for you to read.

I found a seller with a huge following. Is that enough?

No. Followers tell you the page is popular. They do not tell you what happened to people who paid. On Instagram we list 69 sellers and only one reaches a 4 or 5, and plenty of those pages are large. Read the comments instead.

How often do these numbers change?

We check every seller again each week, so the shares move as pages grow and new sellers are added. The figures here were worked out on 20 August 2026. For today's position, read the directory itself rather than this page.

Where to go next

Sources

  1. MoneyWave supplier directory — the full public dataset as JSONMoneyWave,
  2. How the MoneyWave trust signal is calculatedMoneyWave
  3. The same corpus as one line per seller, for machine readingMoneyWave

Find a supplier, then pay them

Every seller in the directory carries a trust signal compiled from public buyer comments — and a way to settle their invoice without leaving the page.

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