Same here. I used to get a lot of it via eBay since it had a lot better protection for only a bit more in price. But after the pandemic, most of the stuff I buy moved off of eBay and is only available on Ali now.
If it looks too good and has no reviews avoid it like the plague. I never understood why they need video or photo proof of an item not arriving. How do you take a photo of something you do not have???
Aliexpress is basically amazon with longer shipping time in my experience. Each seller has their own store rating similar to ebay so as long as you exercise judgement ie. Dont buy from brand new stores with 0 feedback or things that are too good to be true and avoid certain things like batteries and storage media unless you know exactly what you’re buying you should be fine. I’ve bought a lot of stuff from there (mostly electronics) and haven’t had bad experiences
This has been my experience as well with Aliexpress. I know there’s a huge caveat emptor going on, but it’s like you said about batteries and storage, be careful unless you know exactly what you’re buying. Like a 64TB SSD for $15.99 proooobably not the real thing. But I have gotten a lot of SBCs, some stuffed animals, and cheap costume jewelry for my wife (who knows it’s cheap, but doesn’t care). Weirdest “quality” purchase? My “gold colored” tungsten wedding ring was $10, comfort fit, and in 6 years still looks like the real thing. But didn’t dent like my original wedding ring (which is why I needed a replacement, got smashed in a door accident). I’d never buy anything that I knew might cause a fire (like batteries) or possibly poison me (like pills).
Wish and Temu ripped me off in some of my first purchases. I was only out $30, and I know it was possible, so I just deleted my account and the apps.
AliExpress is not even close to Amazon except for the fact that it does a great job at providing a wide selection of Chinese products, but cheaper and with longer lead times.
What makes Amazon, Amazon, is its customer service. Without that, it’s like eBay. But even eBay has significantly better customer service than AliExpress.
Speaking as someone who has used AliExpress a lot, it’s pretty good, but only if you understand that all sales are final. Best cast scenario, the seller makes you pay for shipping which generally costs anywhere from 50% to 250% of your original purchase price.
Their customer service always defers to sellers in my experience, and even if they approve a return, what’s the point if you lose money by shipping it back?
I have had three Aliexpress orders go bad, and two of them I was refunded. One of them I was not, despite the fact their own shipping still showed it as on it’s way to New Jersey. They kept insisting I “pick it up at the local post office.” I pointed out Virginia was not near New Jersey. I was denied, but only out $8. As far as Amazon vs. Aliexpress, I will agree with you about Amazon customer service being better. But I have had “AliExpress shipping times” on some Amazon products, which led me to believe that the particular store was outside their local jurisdiction.
I’ve bought a few things of AliExpress. Haven’t had any issues with them. As long as you do your research and know what you’re ordering, it seems pretty reliable.
AliExpress screwed me recently. A vendor sent me the wrong items. I mean, they weren’t even the same kind of items. I disputed it with the vendor and they said they’d sent the right things, so there.
I opened a case with AliExpress. They asked me for a whole lot of information, some of which didn’t make any sense, along with some pictures. I sent them everything. They sided with the vendor.
Fortunately, I had paid with PayPal. PayPal looked over the information from both sides and promptly refunded my money.
I don’t expect to be doing business with AliExpress again any time soon.
Ordering from AliExpress is a risk but factoring in the times you get screwed over it’s usually still worth it over buying 1.5 times the price to get it from Amazon (and possibly still get screwed by Amazon).
I have ordered so many things over the past 8 years on AliExpress and the only issues I had was shops not delivering the right amount. Disputing that was never an issue. I wonder why so many other people have serious issues with it.
I’ve gotten stuff from Wish and Temu that is fine. Flashlights, tweezers, microfiber cloths, $10 wireless earbuds. I even ordered several pairs of shorts from Temu that were $8 to $10. They aren’t very durable but they function and look fine.
I ignore 100% of the gamification shit, I very much doubt you can get much that is free or a better deal…when it comes down to it they sell cheap shit for a small profit margin and that’s it. Spinning the wheel and inviting friends and having a shiny app is all just a fancy skin for the exact same stuff as on Ali, Wish, and eBay.
Necessity, if you don’t need it to survive but it makes your feel good it’s a luxury, and those things change with time. Today a home Internet connection is nessicary to make it in the world, but 20 years ago it was a luxury and 30 years ago it was a novelty.
asklemmy
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