Anybody here ever shopped at AliExpress???

The_Dizzy_Vizzy

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I've never shopped there, as I only just recently found the site, like, a week ago.

QUESTION: Their prices are absurdly low, and I mean WOW low. There's gotta be a catch to all of this - so what's the catch?

I look forward to anyone's correspondence. :)
 
RAHelllord

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Aliexpress is basically China's amazon. A ton of chinese stores are peddling their wares and you can find pretty much anything produced in China there. That has the obvious pros and cons, you can get the things directly from the factories that create the items for the international market, but you can also get cheaper clones from a different local factory.
Another con is that things generally ship from there using the cheapest transit options, so it can take 3-4 weeks until something arrives at your door.

I've used it quite a bit for things that can't be gotten elsewhere, and it's usually save to buy there if you know the store page of the factory or from a reliable shop there.
 
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The_Dizzy_Vizzy

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Thanks guys I really appreciate your input. I'm really enjoying the OTL here, you cats are great!
banger.gif
 
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The_Dizzy_Vizzy said:
I've never shopped there, as I only just recently found the site, like, a week ago.

QUESTION: Their prices are absurdly low, and I mean WOW low. There's gotta be a catch to all of this - so what's the catch?

I look forward to anyone's correspondence. :)
Click to expand...
Pay attention to the selected products, because they put the photo and description on the homepage of an expensive product, with a low price, but when you open a cheap product it is selected for purchase, so you buy a SATA cable thinking it is a motherboard
 
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SylverReZ

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I have done for so many years, and had no problems getting everything delivered. As long as you check the seller's ratings, I guarantee that you'll be fine.

PandaBuy, It is not something I would suggest. It's similar to DHGate, except they've been under fire for a recent data breach, and the authorities have raided their warehouses in response to various trademark infringement lawsuits.
 
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The_Dizzy_Vizzy

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sidney_mk said:
Pay attention to the selected products, because they put the photo and description on the homepage of an expensive product, with a low price, but when you open a cheap product it is selected for purchase, so you buy a SATA cable thinking it is a motherboard
Click to expand...

lol.gif

Post automatically merged:

SylverReZ said:
I have done for so many years, and had no problems getting everything delivered. As long as you check the seller's ratings, I guarantee that you'll be fine.

PandaBuy, It is not something I would suggest. It's similar to DHGate, except they've been under fire for a recent data breach, and the authorities have raided their warehouses in response to various trademark infringement lawsuits.
Click to expand...

Jesus!!!
 
Marc_LFD

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Do it all the time when I need something.

TEMU can fuck off with their gambling-like shit. I had an account and then deleted.
 
linuxares

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I shopped there before. Solid but long delivery time. Also stupid Swedish postal service always taking out a massive fee just to scan and the package for toll
 
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Generally, AliExpress is fine from my experience, although slightly annoying due to how they handle pricing/parts.

The only time I had a significant issue was when the seller tried to pull a scam where they wanted extra money after the sale, I only found out after they gave me fake shipping details because I didn't see the message on the website/messaging system. They did give me a refund though after I requested it.

However, this experience also taught me not to trust AliExpress's dispute system because at one point I did try complaining but they rejected it, I can't remember the exact details though e.g. if it was before I saw the above.

Atomic Shrimp had a variant of this:
Atomic Shrimp video

Whilst I did buy my Ender 3 Pro through AliExpress which has been fine, these days I'm hesitant to buy anything expensive in case it goes wrong, since it could cost more to return it, unless maybe they specifically say 'free returns', 'UK returns', etc. And have a good rating.

So as of now I only use it for inexpensive/'throw away' priced stuff such as the EPROMs, cheap holder for my tablet, mSD to SD extension cable, etc. Even the UV eraser I bought was slightly broken (and I suspect second hand) but still worked enough that for the price I paid I'm ok with it.

Edit:
Also check your countries tax/duty fees, these days they do add VAT (UK purchase) but after a certain amount duty becomes involved (another reason. why I didn't buy a relatively cheap mini PC for pfSense from them).
 
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lordelan

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I buy tech stuff very often from them.

Benefits:
  • fantastic prices and deals
Downsides:
  • on a case by case basis you may end up with cheaply produced stuff, for example when you buy WiiMote battery packs from there, they are likely to die soon, WiiMotes themselves feel cheap compared to third party products you can buy from within the US or EU and so on
  • obviously longer waiting times due to shipping from China
  • sometimes confusing "product descriptions"
  • reviews are often just a "good product" one-liner and in general I don't trust the reviews

In a nutshell: Use your brain when buying there and adjust your expectations as to what kind of quality you're about to receive. If you do, it's a great source for stuff. Again: I only bought tech stuff there, no clothes or other goods so can't argue about those.

If that helps you, here are some items from my order history:
  • All kinds of GB(C) cartridges with romhacks or after market roms like Grimace's Birthday. The cool thing about that: You basically get rewritable cartridges in basically any given shell color for about 4 - 6 bucks. You can flash other games to them using something like a GBxCart RW.
  • Retro handhelds like the RG405M or Miyoo Mini Plus. Especially for the Miyoo Mini handhelds, this is even the official primary source to get them.
  • Cheap reproduction card games like Dobble or UNO in specific franchise editions like Harry Potter or Rick & Morty
  • Link Cable for DMG and GBC (it's cheap though)
  • Parts for the Game Boy (Color) like shells, buttons, link cable ports
  • Parts for the iPod Classic (colored shells, other back plates, SD card mods, replacement batteries)
  • D-Pad shells for Switch Joycons
  • Gulikit Hall sensor sticks for Switch Joycons (no drift)
  • NTAG215 NFC tags to flash Amiibos to them with an Android phone
  • Funny music instruments like a Kazoo. Also capos and tuners for the guitar.
 
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Marc_LFD

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linuxares said:
I shopped there before. Solid but long delivery time. Also stupid Swedish postal service always taking out a massive fee just to scan and the package for toll
Click to expand...
If you choose Choice their delivery is pretty quick.

And if you need to contact them via email this is their contact: [email protected]

No joke, that's their email (with that typo).
 
The Real Jdbye

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The_Dizzy_Vizzy said:
I've never shopped there, as I only just recently found the site, like, a week ago.

QUESTION: Their prices are absurdly low, and I mean WOW low. There's gotta be a catch to all of this - so what's the catch?

I look forward to anyone's correspondence. :)
Click to expand...
It's cheap because other sites are drop shipping from sites like AliExpress at a huge markup (including Amazon)
Buying directly from the source is much cheaper.
There's no catch, it's the exact same product (usually)
Some things are poor quality, you get what you pay for. Chinese crap cables don't last very long, not that the charging cables that come with smartphones these days are much better, because they make them to be as thin as possible to be "sleek" and "modern" which makes them fragile.
 
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