Anyone Order from AliExpress?

[CaptTom]

We have a "what did you order from Amazon" thread.

How about AliExpress?

I've been tempted to try them out for a while. I finally found a product I don't need in a hurry, and the price was about half what I'd pay on Amazon. I figured for $11 I'd give it a shot.

My order went through fine, and I got a couple of notices about the status of the order.

Then, just before the deadline for it to be shipped, I got a "Dear Friend" message. In broken English, it explained that because of Covid, they had to add and additional $1 for shipping.

My BS detector was blaring at this point. I immediately messaged back asking them to cancel the order, then spent about a half-hour trying to find a way to either contact AliExpress or cancel the order myself. I finally found a page that let me request cancellation. There was even a box to check which said something like "seller changed the price."

Their dispute process can't be initiated until something like 10 days after the projected date of delivery, so that's not available. I have zero trust in this seller, and if I don't hear something soon I'll start a dispute with PayPal and/or my credit card company.

Sellers complain about how Amazon policies are skewed to support the customer over the seller. I'm starting to see that Ali is the exact opposite.

Anyone have good experiences? Anyone else have problems like this? Is this a known scam? I am so done with this site. Back to Amazon for me!

 

[Aerides]

I would never order from Aliexpress. Unless you expect knockoffs, things that don't work, and zero recourse.

Sellers complain about how Amazon policies are skewed to support the customer over the seller. I'm starting to see that Ali is the exact opposite.

This is 100% true.

 

[Go-NoGo]

+100

Expect no recourse from Alipay in case of disputes. As an Amazon customer, whenever I have contacted them when there have been problem, they have bent over backwards to make it right and on occasion they even given me told me to keep the item and have refunded purchase cost

 

[clobber]

it explained that because of Covid, they had to add and additional $1 for shipping.

My BS detector was blaring at this point.

Wait, is the is the first $1 thread of the year? Only 6 days. Nice.

 

[NW-Bound]

I started to order a lot of electrical parts from AliExpress, when I started to build my solar electricity storage system. There were all kinds of little parts that are simply not available or very expensive from American distributors like Digikey, Mouser, and Newark.

Maybe I was lucky, but out of 180 orders so far, I got disappointed only a couple of times, when the quality was not what I expected. But then, perhaps I expected too much for so little money.

And AliExpress refunded me when I disputed one order.

 

[calmloki]

I've ordered Iphone cases and screen protectors and random small money stuff - remember ordering 3 Iphone chip door opening pins with free shipping for like $0.60 total and being amazed to get them weeks later shipped from China in a padded envelope with labels and postage and all. Sometimes cheap stuff is worth the entertainment. I don't think I'd dispute anything, really not worth the trouble. OTH, I'd be slow to order something like a fold out home or a really cheap car from Ali. Sure fun to look though:

https://insideevs.com/news/427175/c...y ordered what,with the battery pack included).

 

[rk911]

if that's Alibabba then, no, never have, never will.

 

[teetee]

Recent purchases included 10 NFC tags, a pair of blind spot mirrors, 3 tubes of shoe glue, and a TPU phone case. Total $13.

I think it is ok if I pay with paypal. I am not a fan with paypal but they have their uses. Time would tell if I was wrong.

 

[neihn]

Recent purchases included 10 NFC tags, a pair of blind spot mirrors, 3 tubes of shoe glue, and a TPU phone case. Total $13.

I think it is ok if I pay with paypal. I am not a fan with paypal but they have their uses. Time would tell if I was wrong.

Ali express allows PayPal now? That is new to me, I would try them if they allow PayPal.

 

[CaptTom]

Thanks, for both the good and bad experiences. I was willing to give it a try, but I take first impressions seriously.

No, it's not about the $1. It's about being dishonest. When you're buying on line, sight-unseen, trust is important. I won't say "never again," but it's highly unlikely. Win or lose, this was an inexpensive experiment to see how the cancellation/refund process works (or doesn't.)

That's an interesting folding container house. Obviously it's just in the concept stage, since there's no plumbing, no kitchen, no windows, no electricity and there are big hinges in the middle of the floor that you'd stub your toe on. I also question how you'd heat or cool it, how much insulation and air infiltration there is, if it's weather tight and storm resistant. Seems more like a tent at this point. But those things can be worked out.

 

[Fire26]

A bunch of times, for example I always lose (or break) my reading glasses...I buy them a dozen at a time on AE, lol

Occasionally something doesn't make it but they have been great at providing a refund.

They are slow though...45-60 days seems to be the norm so order early

 

[rk911]

A bunch of times, for example I always lose (or break) my reading glasses...I buy them a dozen at a time on AE, lol

Occasionally something doesn't make it but they have been great at providing a refund.

They are slow though...45-60 days seems to be the norm so order early

i get my readers from Foster Grant in a lot less time than that...less than a week. i inadvertently ordered an item on Amazon in mid october that came out of china. shame on me for not paying closer attention. 10-weeks later and no delivery. got my refund from Amazon in 24-hrs. never again.

 

[Fire26]

I know there are faster options, I could have them in 15 min if I want to go to cvs and pay $15. That is why I order so many, I pay about $1.50 -$2 per pair and I get bifocals (reader bottom and nothing top)

 

[Boho]

I'm going to reconsider ordering from them. I already have an extra cash account set up with Fidelity that I can keep minimal money in for safety. I'd pay through that account. I'm always ordering odd little items from China on Ebay and maybe Ali Express has some things that aren't on Ebay.

I just "sent a payment of $2.85 USD to 广州满翼贸易有限公司" through Ebay for a four way chuck key. Ali Express doesn't have a better deal than that as far as I could tell (there's no way to search by "lowest price+shipping") so Ebay, with PayPal, was the better choice for that one.

 

[skipro33]

I've ordered several times from them. Mostly radio controlled car, truck and crawler parts. Very inexpensive and so far never disappointed. I've ordered other misc. stuff and, while slow shipping, worth the wait.

 

[l8_apex]

I've ordered many things from there and had many delivery failures (item never arrived). Some items were also of extremely poor quality, but that's been relatively rare.

So I only buy something if there is no sense of urgency and the price is low enough to make a substantial difference. A few sellers offer free return shipping, otherwise USA to China shipping is extremely expensive, so I'd keep that in mind.

 

[folivier]

I see no problems if you can wait, aren't really concerned of the quality and description of the item being wrong or odd to your standards. Oh yeah and don't plan to return the item with customs and expense of shipping. If you're ok with this then go for it.

 

[CaptTom]

Well, within hours of me submitting the cancellation through the web site, I got a notice that the item shipped. Of course, it hasn't shipped. They just pulled a shipping number. And although I paid for shipping from the US, the name of the shipping company is in Chinese characters.

Looks like I'm going to get the full experience from my first (and last!) Ali order.

 

[Chuckanut]

I've ordered several items from them years ago. However, my last three orders a few years back proved to be a a waste of my money. Two items broke within a few months. A third item never arrived. Getting a refund of the less than $15 spent proved frustrating and I decided to simply not do business with them.

The waste that is part of cheaply made goods is painful. One way to prevent ecological damage is to buy stuff that lasts, rather than stuff that quickly ends up in the landfills.

 

[KM]

Timely thread! I just made my first order in December. Some LEGO knock-off pieces to do a very small MOC (“my own creation”).

Didn’t spend much, I considered this a trial run. Everything has shipped...just waiting to see if I ever actually get it. If I don’t, my credit card company will cover it, and as I said, it was a pretty inexpensive order.

 

[Fire26]

I've ordered several items from them years ago. However, my last three orders a few years back proved to be a a waste of my money. Two items broke within a few months. A third item never arrived. Getting a refund of the less than $15 spent proved frustrating and I decided to simply not do business with them.

The waste that is part of cheaply made goods is painful. One way to prevent ecological damage is to buy stuff that lasts, rather than stuff that quickly ends up in the landfills.

Maybe they have improved the process but disputing now is very easy....

 

[Time2]

I'm looking at Sauna heaters that run about $900.
AliExpress has them for $50 to $130! But, being an electric device that produces high heat, I don't want to take that chance.

 

[teetee]

Ali express allows PayPal now? That is new to me, I would try them if they allow PayPal.

I had to double check to make sure I remembered it correctly. Yes it accepts CC and Paypal. The other two options (wire transfer and westunion) are greyed out for my account and I will never use them.


The delivery time only gets increased since they have lots of backlog at California / Seattle sea port due to COVID. This will only get more serious until pandemic ends.


Here is the article / podcast explaining how serious this is.

https://www.maritime-executive.com/...-15-port-of-seattle-nwsa-on-covid-19-strategy


So expect 3mo+ delivery time if you order anything from China/Hong Kong. I am still waiting for the stuff I ordered from Aliexpress back in Sept. 2020.

 

[boog]

I just ordered a couple of nonessential bicycle parts from AliExpress. They weren’t listed on Amazon, nor could I find them at online bike shops in the US. Ebay had listings, but they were all from China sellers. Decided to give it a try. If it works I’ll have saved a few bucks, but if not, then lesson learned.

 

[CaptTom]

The saga continues.

Today I got a message from the seller, asking me to change the reason for requesting cancellation. If I did that they'd gladly issue a refund.

Score so far:

- They lied about the price, wanted me to pay more before they'd ship
- They refused to process my cancellation.
- They lied about shipping my product
(They just pulled a tracking number, never actually shipped anything)
- They lied about shipping from the US (the option I selected and paid for)
(They shipping company they got the tracking number from is Chinese)
- They want me to lie about the reason for cancellation.

Needless to say, I wrote back to explain that I wouldn't lie, but that I would pursue every avenue; Ali, PayPal, my credit card company, to get my refund.

The ball is back in their court.