How to Spot Fake Listings on AliExpress and Taobao

How common are fake listings on these platforms?

Common enough that the US Trade Representative still lists Taobao in its 2025 Review of Notorious Markets, released in March 2026. The report credits Alibaba with investment in anti-counterfeiting tools, but says right holders "continue to report high volumes of counterfeit products". AliExpress appeared in earlier editions of the list, such as 2022, and was not in the 2025 list we checked. Tmall, Alibaba's brand marketplace, is a different story because its stores are run by brand owners or authorised distributors.

The risk is not spread evenly. A counterfeit needs a famous name to copy, so the danger sits wherever a logo carries the price. A plain, unbranded item has no brand to fake, only a quality level to judge. Your checks should be strictest where a brand name is doing the selling, and lighter where you are simply buying a generic item at a generic price. Keep that split in mind as you go through the signals below.

For a buyer in Pakistan, the stakes are higher than for a buyer in China. You cannot walk into a shop to swap it, sending it back is expensive, and Pakistan Customs seizes counterfeit goods. A fake brand item can cost you the item and the shipping.

What price is too good to be true?

Start with the brand's own price. Look up the item on the brand's official site or its Tmall flagship store. If a listing sells the same named product for a fraction of that, treat it as a copy. Sourcing guides that vet Chinese suppliers flag branded products priced well below the brand's own wholesale price as a counterfeit sign.

The price test applies to named brands. A cheap unbranded item is not fake, it is just unbranded. Problems start when a cheap listing uses a brand name, a brand logo or a brand's product photos. Also be wary when the headline price is low but the variant you actually want is far higher. That is usually a pricing trick rather than a counterfeit, but it pairs with one often.

How do you check if product photos are stolen?

Run a reverse image search:

1. In Chrome, right-click the product photo and choose "Search with Google Lens". Results open in a sidebar.
2. Or save the photo, go to google.com, click the "Search by image" icon and upload the file.
3. If the same photo appears on the brand's official site, the listing is using the brand's marketing images, which says nothing about what will ship.
4. If it appears on many other shops at different prices, it is a shared factory photo. Fine for unbranded goods, a warning sign for brand-name goods.

The photos that matter are the ones the seller cannot copy: buyer photos in the reviews. Compare logos, stitching, packaging text and ports against the brand's own photos. Professional factory photos that do not fit a tiny store are another flag.

What do official store badges actually mean?

• Tmall (天猫, Tiān Māo): a B2C marketplace where merchants are brand owners or authorised distributors. Tmall listings show up in the Taobao app with a Tmall label. For a branded product bought in China, a Tmall 官方旗舰店 (guānfāng qíjiàndiàn), official flagship store, is the strongest signal you will get.
• Taobao shops: anyone with an account can sell. Some are legitimate resellers. A Taobao shop calling itself a 旗舰店 is not the same as a Tmall flagship.
• AliExpress brand stores: many brands run stores labelled as official on AliExpress. The safest way to find the real one is to follow the link from the brand's own website, rather than trusting a store name that simply contains the brand.
• AliExpress Choice: a logistics and service programme. It is not an authenticity badge.

Which words in a listing signal a copy?

Sellers of copies avoid saying "fake", but their wording gives it away:

What review patterns are red flags?

• Reviews describing a different product. The seller reused an old listing with its reviews.
• Lots of short, similar five-star reviews in a burst. This is often brushing, where merchants place orders from fake accounts and post positive reviews.
• Sales far out of line with reviews. Thousands sold a month with a handful of reviews is unusual.
• No buyer photos on a popular branded item.
• Negative reviews saying "fake", "not original" or "no serial number". One may be a grudge. Several are a pattern.

What should the seller's profile tell you?

A store selling one brand's flagship product alongside unrelated items (phone cases, kitchen tools, wigs) is a trading shop, not a brand channel. A store opened recently with a famous brand at a low price is a high-risk combination. On 1688, check the membership years and the registered business details. 1688's own guidance suggests checking a seller's business licence on China's National Enterprise Credit Information Publicity System for an active status and no abnormal operation record. Our guide on finding reliable Chinese suppliers covers this in more detail.

On 1688, and on some Taobao and AliExpress shops, you can see the company behind the store. These terms appear on Chinese business records:

A trading company is not a problem in itself. Many honest sellers are traders. The issue is a trading company presenting itself as a brand's factory or official channel.

What if a fake arrives anyway?

Open a dispute on the platform before the buyer protection countdown on the order page runs out. Disputes for items not as described can end in a full or partial refund. Attach clear photos of the item, logos and packaging next to the brand's own product photos, your screenshot of the listing as it was when you paid, and any messages where the seller claimed it was genuine. An unboxing video helps. Read any proposal carefully, because accepting a seller's offer usually closes the dispute.

Fake listing checklist

Before you buy a branded item, step by step

1. Find the product on the brand's official website and note the model number and price.
2. Search Tmall or AliExpress for that exact model number, not the product name.
3. Prefer the official flagship store, reached from the brand's own site if possible.
4. If you use any other store, reverse-search the photos and read the negative reviews.
5. Check the brand field and model number in the specs table.
6. Ask the seller in writing whether the item is genuine and covered by the brand's warranty. Keep the reply.
7. Screenshot the listing before paying.

What happens if a fake reaches Pakistan?

Pakistan Customs seizes counterfeit goods, so a copy of a famous brand can be stopped before it reaches you. If it does arrive, your remedy is a dispute on the platform. Our guide to refunds and returns when importing from China explains how that tends to go, and what you cannot import from China to Pakistan covers seizure rules.

When you send us a link for a branded item, send the brand's official store link if one exists. We buy from rated sellers, one item per order, and quote one rupee price within 24 hours that covers everything to your door.

Sources

• USTR: 2025 Review of Notorious Markets for Counterfeiting and Piracy
• Wikipedia: Tmall
• Google Search Help: search with an image
• ChineseCheck: is 1688 legit
• Pixelscan: is AliExpress safe
• MDBG Chinese-English dictionary