Anyone use AliExpress regularly, what's your thoughts please?

[guerney]

I have used Aliexpress for a few years now, and its been ok apart from now and again, I get refunds ok but an odd few sellers try to give you a small refund even though the item is faulty. like other week I ordered a mini cordless drill cost £15.64 was ok at 1st but then kept cutting out or wont start, the seller offered me $5 refund which I think is about £3.69 I told the seller whats good of $5 refund when item is faulty he has now sent me a link to pay just 0.01p for a replacement. But most sellers give you refunds

That reminds me of a recent experience on ebay - seller offered me a $5 refund for a $35 dollar item, I said no, "Give me full refund, or else!", then he offered $10, then $15 etc. On ebay sellers are pretty much prey - I got a full refund eventually... and this is why I've never strayed from ebay: It's seller beware! Ebay would have refunded me when the case timed out, if the seller hadn't. But there are some very shiny looking gizmos on Aliexpress..

 

[jokskot]

Hopefully never have to go this route, but is the refund process pain free?

Whenever I have had cause to refer an issue to the arbiters at AliExpress, they have always accepted my proposals for full or, in a couple of cases, partial refund for slightly faulty, but not unusable, items.
They do seem to require a long time before you can refer an issue for refund, simply because the Aliexpress delivery "time windows" are very wide.
A previous poster has referred to buying e-bike motors or batteries; I'd be very wary about expenditure at those levels although that might be an area where there are the greatest savings to be made.

Relevant, or at least related, to this, I've noted an increase since Brexit of eBay vendors claiming their items to be in UK, but in reality the delivery times and the packaging suggests the items have been via a UK middleman who has ordered from China and received in the UK, possibly already packaged and labelled, in around 5 days and then forwarded using Royal Mail so that the complete process has taken 7 to 10 days.
Is this Drop Shipping ?

 

[Mournmane]

I had used AliExperss, but now I don't. The delivery is expensive.

 

[jokskot]

The delivery is expensive.

This over generalised. Some items are"free" ie included in the headline price.

 

[Nealh]

I use Ali because of the sheer amount of choice and some items one can't source elsewhere without wasting hours/days trying to search.
Certainly things have changed since brexit.

 

[billyboya]

I use Aliexpress loads of times. yes it has changed a bit. like they seem to add more charges, I always check on eBay and amazon 1st to see if same item is on those. if its dearer I order from Ali. if I'm in no hurry.

 

[PC2017]

Paypal payment option on Aliex - I believe it either appears if the sellers uses it, appears after you make so many purchases or cost them so much some don't use it

 

[egroover]

I've had an excellent experience on every purchase from Aliexpress...maybe I've been lucky, maybe because I've checked out the user reviews, number of orders placed, emailed the seller etc,or a bit of both. Saved a packet on uk/euro equivalents and got the items fine and have been as expected and arrived very quickly without any tax or duty

 

[PC2017]

All purchases should now add VAT at the checkout as most, if not all use AliPay(UK) LTD as an escrow payment holding system from what I understand and aliexpress is a market place this should avoid customs pocking around in your mail.

I order all sorts, a throttle with grips as it was cheaper than a pair of quality branded grips and they are amazing quality and various PC parts, fans and fan hubs to cables all so far have been amazing quality - my tips: read the whole page twice if anything feels off then avoid, carefully select the correct option for your needs and screen grab the checkout listing ensuring you have the listed spec in view, this will help in any dispute; fav win10 shortcut "windows" key + "PrtSc" saves screen shots direct to the screen shots folder found in the Documents - Pictures folder.

 

[Mournmane]

Hello! I am a loyal customer of the AliExpress online store. I already have more than three years since I order a lot of things from AliExpress. Many items for the house and the car are ordered from this site. And to be honest, they are all qualitative. There are indeed some unqualified things on AliExpress. Still, I always read the reviews, and I am very attentive to people's opinions and look that no unfit item ever came to me. The biggest downside to AliExpress is delivery. The standard delivery arrives very late. Within a month or two and you can't even track the package. That's why I always order things from AliExpress in advance, and I follow them with the help of lasership tracking information.

 

[Gringo]

I’m back on Ali trying to buy some handlebars, as I have always paid with PayPal I was surprised to find that after several attempts I keep getting the same message saying “payment failed”
I’m yet to try an alternative payment method because like to stick to just one payment method when buying online.

I can’t find anywhere in the UK that gets anywhere close to Ali’s price.
bars + vat + free delivery £13.31

Bicycle Swallow Handlebar M Type Aluminum Alloy 31.8 *640 mm Black Retro Comfort City Road Bike Parts High Quality - AliExpress 18

Smarter Shopping, Better Living! Aliexpress.com

www.aliexpress.com

 

[billyboya]

I’m back on Ali trying to buy some handlebars, as I have always paid with PayPal I was surprised to find that after several attempts I keep getting the same message saying “payment failed”
I’m yet to try an alternative payment method because like to stick to just one payment method when buying online.

I can’t find anywhere in the UK that gets anywhere close to Ali’s price.
bars + vat + free delivery £13.31

Bicycle Swallow Handlebar M Type Aluminum Alloy 31.8 *640 mm Black Retro Comfort City Road Bike Parts High Quality - AliExpress 18

Smarter Shopping, Better Living! Aliexpress.com

www.aliexpress.com

have you asked Ali why as I know it’s annoying that bot but sometimes it takes you to an agent

 

[guerney]

I’m back on Ali trying to buy some handlebars, as I have always paid with PayPal I was surprised to find that after several attempts I keep getting the same message saying “payment failed”

Paypal stopped working on ebay, till I temporarily disabled my ad blocker (uBlock). Some ad trackers may be required by Paypal?

 

[PC2017]

Are you using a VPN even an in browser extension could run amuck.

 

[Gringo]

Are you using a VPN even an in browser extension could run amuck.

Just PayPal on my iPad, like I’ve always done.
Anywho after another failed attempt (the error message code says I should contact my card issuers) I just used my credit card instead

 

[PC2017]

If you used a debit card second and it failed, it could of been a server error, bank UK or aliex web server, thinking about it, I have had similar issues with some past check outs, although very brief issues. If it happens again I would suggest using the "trying again later" method!

 

[guerney]

I hate Apple (and Microsoft) - but don't iDevices disable more ad trackers than they used to? Might they have added a Paypal borking ad tracker block via some update, since you last successfully purchased on Aliexpress by Paypal? If it works from a Windows PC using a browser with no ad blocking software, iOS could be causing the issue, or your browser. Ebay stopped successfully processing my Paypal payments last year, once I disabled the uBlock Firefox extension, it worked... but with added ads.

 

[Nealh]

In the whole not a lot has changed except added vat at the point of sale.
My last buy has just arrived, despite the seller saying 45-60 days it arrived today of all days via RM and in 14 days.
A new fan cooled dedicated 12s 3a lion charger and the price was marked as $8 for my £15 charger.

 

[PC2017]

Despite my own fear mongering, apologies for anyone who read that, although I did caveat that the ebike industrial area seemed unaffected by covid lockdowns. I also ordered several items, an ebike light and some 2 pin red WP cables from two different sellers, also a chain guide and now a spare throttle. All arrived (excl the throttle) in 2 weeks or less with no hold ups.

 

[AndyBike]

I found that the same products were available from the UK via ebay, for a similar price - there's no guarantee of course that they'll be sent from the UK, even though they claim to.

More often it isnt, its sent from China.
Which runs into a problem if you need to return something. You contact the seller and the seller provides a return address for mainland China.
Personally I check the actual company address on ebay before i buy anything. If it leads to a Chinese company, then forget it.