[Open Thread] Aliexpress Review

[GizBeat]

We're always trying to get the best price on China phones, but sometimes the best price isn't always the best choice. Cutting costs means cutting customer service. Aliexpress is full of China shops trying to get your dollar.

What is Aliexpress?
Many of you may remember Alibaba. Alibaba finally got smart and opened Aliexpress. A site that is very Ebayish - both in form and function. From there we can purchase virtually any product made in China. Almost all of the shops are China based shops.

Is Aliexpress safe and trustworthy
Though Alibaba is still in operation, they don't have the safeguards in place that Aliexpress does. Still, Aliexpress isn't failsafe. There are shops that set up under fake names and then shutdown once they've made a few sales.

It makes it relatively easy for anyone to open a shop. Same as on eBay. Nearly anyone who wants can just start selling things.

There are some risks involved. Unfortunately they don't allow PayPal, but there are layers of protection. Escrow is set up so that the seller doesn't get the money until you have the product and are satisfied, but this doesn't always work out. There are numerous ways a tricky seller can send you bad goods and still get their $$$.

Still, there are some benefits. The good Aliexpress sellers will usually have quite a few sales and a high reputation. Unfortunate for the little guy just starting out, but when it's your dough on the line, you'll usually want to go with the seller with the highest ratings.

I personally prefer to do my business directly with the shops and use my PayPal on their online stores rather than through Aliexpress. Remember that Aliexpress is also taking a cut of the sale and the seller will include that in their price to maintain profit levels.

Aliexpress reviews
What's your opinion of Aliexpress? Have you been burned before? Have you had good experiences with them? Let's hear it. All your opinions and thoughts on Aliexpress.

NOTE: The purpose of this thread is not to discuss specific sellers, but to discuss the nature of Aliexpress in General.

[www.1949deal.com]

only one thing, it can't use paypal

[GizBeat]

only one thing, it can't use paypal

Yes, it's a shame they haven't worked with PayPal. They like to keep things 'in-house'. Not give the power to an outside source in regards to whether payment is received or not.

[k89]

I find that most of the stores in Aliexpress selling mobile phones are not up to the mark. Most of them just copy the specifications of the phone from one another WITHOUT really knowing what they mean.

when i ask the sales if the phone GPS is working, they always give the standard answer - YES, when they have not even try the phone out themselves. Got compass or not? Answer mostly without checking - GOT. And then after I bought the phone, it is a complete waste of money as there is no GPS and compass functions.

Thus it would be a very good idea if all you share your favorite and RELIABLE Aliexpress store here so that we are helping others looking for a reputable reliable store in Aliexpress to buy phones ....

I bought from a few vendors in Aliexpress before

[phtirtiaux]

No PayPal ? No buy from me !

[TheDon31]

Order Original OGS LCD Display Screen Assembly Replacement For THL W200 on the 12th Nov, dispatched from China mainland on 20th Nov and received it in UK on 28th Nov - excellent service.

Far far better than abysmal Ebay seller 3c-techtimeonline who took over 5 wks and endless excuses to supply a replacment W200. Their negative feedback has gone from only 30 in late Sept to over 180 currently - this doesn't happen without good reason. Yet Ebay sided with them and decided not even £20 compensation was due to me as the item was finally received and was as described. I got fed up waiting for 3c-techtimeonline and ordered another from a UK seller in the meantime.

I can only recommend AliExpress/Alibaba. Yes, they don't take Paypal but at least they certainly supply the products in a timely fashion

[blackorchid]

I buy from Aliexpress from more than 3years but for last months am very unsatisfied. For sure more of the sallers don't know what do they sale. The delivery time is extended more than 60 days. I have order from 08.Sept. and still do not receive it -3months . On my request for full refund Ali do not answer and now waiting for compliant, never mind that they agree for full refund if the order is not received in 60 days.
Before I recommended to all friends AlliExpress, but now can't do this.

[StardustOne]

Forget about Aliexpress for buying phones. It is okay for accessories.

I bought two phones and one 3G USB MiFi Router from three differend sellers.

Here are my findings:

1. First phone I ordered about 9 months ago was the Star N9389 phone with 8 GB ROM, received a phone with 4 GB ROM that had severe screen issues with the ROM, constant screen outages, button for volume fell off (and I was not the only one, a forum member had the same phone with exact the same issues). Seller was only wasting my time, asking to send proof, videos and fotos. It ended with either send the phone back (never a good idea with phones from China) and get 100% refund or keep the phone and get 50% refund. I opted for the refund and half a year later I was able to use that phone with a newer firmware I found on Needrom (the hardware issues were fixed by that ROM).

2. 2nd phone arrived a few weeks ago, I ordered a brand new Star S4 with Full HD screen, the 1.5 GB MTK6589T processor and 8 GB ROM (these specs were all mentioned in the title, the description and in provided pictures). I received a used and scratched phone (some nicks on the silver frame even), same Star S4 brand but only with the first generation 1.2 GHz MTK6589 processors and only 4 GB ROM. Same story, you confront the seller and then it sarts with please my friend send proof, send pictures, make video. And these people from China can't even watch a youtube video, so it is pointless of uploading it to youtube anyways. A complete waste of time. Seller even lied to the Aliexpress moderators about me not sending them proof pictures (but the good thing about email, you can cut and paste the answers from the seller and deliver that as proof to the case). I had to invest in hours of collecting all the proof, the sellers are only lying and telling they need more evidence, more pictures and so on, in the end the seller even refused to accept that the phone I had shown in the pictures was the phone that has been sent to me in the first place. It ended with 30% refund or sending the phone back. I kept the phone and will try to sell it with a discount to a colleague at work, the phone is excellent, don't get me wrong here, it is the fact that I have been cheated that is annoying. I would buy that same phone again (Star S4 or Pulid F13, same phone), but never ever again from Aliexpress.

3. The 3rd electronics 3G USB MiFi device, well I bought a brand new one and received an open box item with signs of wear and use (dirt on the device, clearly not new). I complained and the seller then pointed to a fishy comment on his website that the device I received was described as tested and other bla bla excuses, I did not bother with a third complaint and well okay, the device worked so no big deal.

My recommendation: forget about buying any electronics from Aliexpress. Every time you have to open a complaint it ends the same, either send it back and get 100% refund or accept 50% or 30% reduction to keep it.

Aliexpress is fine for accessories, I bought screen protectors, phone case protectors and batteries from them, no complaints there but for the phones and electronics, they rip you off wherever they can. These people doing business on Aliexpress I did business with, I would never ever do business with them again, they are wasting your time when you have a complaint, they are not trustworthy and not worth the effort of saving a few bucks. Stick with the shops that seem to have a good customer service (I know those are also hard to find, and if you found one, stick with that one, don't hunt for bargains, it is not worth it).

My 2 cents, only use Aliexpress for inexpensive and cheap parts, never buy anything that you might run into issues with. And if you got into trouble, do not waste your time with helping the seller stalling the process, immediately push the complaint forward, Aliexpress will request the needed proof from you anyways, no reason to waste time with communicating to the seller.

Another reason why Aliexpress should be avoided in the first place, they do not accept Paypal.

[gerstavros]

PayPal has fee too, 3.5% ,which goes of course to customers. Also aliexpress offers more days of protection

[patate29284]

I think that we can't blame AliExpress for the problems you may have with some sellers.
I found AliExpress after having bought from DhGate, and I thought it is the same process or purchasing.
I bought, a few months ago, a THL W300, and it was everything I expected to be. The shipping took a little bit longer than supposed, but it was due to a week of national holidays that I was not aware of at the moment of the purchase.
I have also bought some accesories and have never had a problem with them. I even bought 3 in 1 micro USB charger kits, which the seller sent me via Fedex for free, because he said that the free shipping I had asked for takes too long to get here to Chile.

Summing up, many of us may have had an excellent experience buying at AliExpress, and many others may have had a very unpleasant one, but it will only depend on the seller you chose (Not that we would chose wrong, because as we don't know who we are buying from, we don't know how they will behave if anything goes wrong).

What I can say in favor of AliExpress is that at least they try to protect us buyers from being conned, and that it is difficult to manage complaints from the distance. However, they should make prevail the rights of the buyer, because we all know that the customer is always right