How do you search 1688 in English?

Typing English on 1688 mostly misses, because sellers write their titles in Chinese for buyers in China. What works is the Chinese keyword a seller would write, or a photo. Rabbit does it for you: it turns your words into that keyword, sorts and checks what 1688 returns, and shows you the results with English titles and what a piece costs you.

By Hussayn Delli, founder of Rabbit · Updated November 9, 2026.

Why does an English search miss on 1688?

1688 is the Alibaba group’s wholesale marketplace for buyers in China. Its sellers write titles, variants and units of sale in Chinese, for those buyers. A search matches the words of those titles: an English word has little to match, and a word-for-word translation often lands on the wrong object.

Your browser can translate the page once you are on it. It doesn’t choose the keyword for you.

How should you write a 1688 search?

• Name the object, not the idea. “Glass jar scented candle”, not “cozy gift”.
• Give the details that change the product: material, size, capacity, number of seats, wireless or not.
• In Chinese, the last word says what the object is. A candle in a glass jar is written with “candle” at the end; written the other way, the search brings back empty jars.
• One product per search.

How does Rabbit turn your words into a 1688 search?

A language model writes the keyword the way a Chinese seller would write it: the details you gave first, the product’s name last, as one short expression. If its answer isn’t a usable keyword, Rabbit asks once more, more strictly. 1688’s own filters, like price or region, aren’t available to this search, so your details are the filter. Give them.

What does Rabbit do with what 1688 returns?

1. It asks 1688 for results sorted by sales.
2. It keeps the titles that share enough of the keyword, when at least three do.
3. It removes listings whose seller’s own title says the product is a replica.
4. A second check compares what you wrote, as you wrote it, with each result, and removes other objects, accessories of the product and miniatures. If none of the results is what you asked for, Rabbit shows nothing and says so. If that check fails, you get the list as it was.
5. It ranks what is left on the seller’s orders, the share of repeat buyers, 1688’s verified-supplier mark, and a price that isn’t suspiciously low. Up to 20 products are shown.
6. If 1688 returns nothing, it tries Taobao, the group’s retail marketplace in China.

How Rabbit weighs those seller signals: how to choose a supplier on 1688.

What does a search show you?

Each result has its photo, a short title in US English and what a piece costs you, Rabbit’s fees included. Titles are translated from the Chinese, with no invented brand; a title that stays in Chinese is never shown. Open a product to see its tiers, variants, weight and video: how to read a 1688 listing.

What if nothing matches?

Rabbit tells you it found nothing that really matches, and asks you to say it another way or send a photo. A search that shows nothing doesn’t count against your searches. When neither words nor a photo work, a person in China can search for you, from “Agent in China” in the app.

Is a photo better than words?

Often, yes: a photo needs no keyword. Rabbit searches 1688 by image, re-ranks the results against your photo, and falls back to words when nothing looks alike. Step by step: how to find the factory source of a product you saw online.

Where can you search 1688 with Rabbit?

• In the app, at rabbitimport.com/en: the search field takes a photo, a product link or a few words.
• In ChatGPT or Claude, with Rabbit connected: the assistant uses Rabbit’s search_products tool, the same search. What an AI buying agent for 1688 does.

Searches count toward your Rabbit quotas.

For your exact situation: your accountant or a customs broker.