Aliexpress appreciation thread

[spigot]

I bought a power supply board for a 10 year old projector, one vendor even had quite a few, zero chance of getting it anywhere else. Looked new, has worked flawlessly. I also buy Ugreen USB + audio cables from their store on Aliexpress, with regular sales they're sometimes half the price you see them go for on Amazon or eBay. Plus a load of cheap electronic related knick-knacks. A lot of audio equipment I've seen also seems to have free returns.

 

[AlainD]

My experience with AliExpress is that they don't pay the supplier(the store within AliExpress) if you are not satisfied (e.g. bad descriptions, products or parts not eating advertised specs, and an item not received). AliExpress reimburses you with no issues. AliExpress will protect you and its reputation over any supplier stores.

 

[Bleib]

"Express" in this case means that this is a B2C marketplace, in contrast to Alibaba's original B2B marketplace. It's not about speed

That said, when buying on AliExpress, you should be aware what are you dealing with. There are decent sellers (last month I bought a pair of Moondrop Blessing 3s as a 11.11 treat for myself with a significant discount, and the seller sent them with FedEx for free, and it arrived directly at my apartment in a week or so), and there are less decent. The same goes for Amazon, which is increasingly becoming more similar to AliExpress. I have an experience of receiving used apparel items advertised as new when I ordered on Amazon (that were being sold by Amazon themselves). So there are certain risks when dealing with such marketplaces, especially when ordering internationally, and these risks are pretty much the same regardless of where you buy from.

Well, it did say in the order that it was supposed to be fast shipping due to buying for X amount, so faster than normal. Still wasn't fast.

 

[unpluggged]

Well, it did say in the order that it was supposed to be fast shipping due to buying for X amount, so faster than normal. Still wasn't fast.
View attachment 342929

Standard lead times in container shipping are 6−8 weeks, and AliExpress ships by air, so it's indeed fast

 

[Bleib]

Standard lead times in container shipping are 6−8 weeks, and AliExpress ships by air, so it's indeed fast

Nah. Hifigo, shenzenaudio, hifiexpress, hificat all who ship from China have been faster. Temu too.

 

[zonk]

My experience with AliExpress is that they don't pay the supplier(the store within AliExpress) if you are not satisfied (e.g. bad descriptions, products or parts not eating advertised specs, and an item not received). AliExpress reimburses you with no issues. AliExpress will protect you and its reputation over any supplier stores.

I cannot agree. In my case the order was not delivered to me but the money was payed to the supplier store, because they didn't believe me that I didn't receive the order. The tracking number to that order was not anything valid. There are tools for international tracking that showed "unknown tracking" number, but Aliexpress was still calling me a cheater.

Neither the store nor Aliexpress could give me a valid tracking number that shows the delivery. The support of Aliexpress didn't even understand or was not willing to understand what is a valid tracking number.

I informed paypal about that case and I got my money back, beause it was obvious that no delivery has taken place. I would never buy something above 20 bucks.

And Aliexpress is checking the location of customer and adjust the prices accordingly. I only order there if it's nowhere else available. And many times the articles are of minor quality.

That something goes wrong is not the rule. I made approx. 18 orders without any problems, most of them were parts for making DIY cables.

 

[wunderkind]

I would say for the most part I have positive experience buying from Aliexpress. Shipping is now faster than years ago when an item would arrive at my home but I have totally forgotten about it!
It's my first stop for chi-fi. However I do a quick compare with Amzn and will prefer that over Ali unless the price is much cheaper.

For returns, if you generally meet the duration and provided evidence, you'd be reimbursed. Many times you get to keep the item too.

 

[pallas]

I have an order history on AliExpress of over 100 items since 2016.

My orders are mostly small items - parts for my 3D printers, electronic components, photo accessories, headphone cables, USB cables, small tools, ...
About 5 or 7 of these orders arrived damaged, defective or were the wrong item.
The sellers, or AliExpress in the end, refunded in most cases.
So my experience has been positive and the quality of the items has been good in most cases.
With a bit of experience, you get a feel for what's a good quality product.

I never ordered anything over $60. (There are no import taxes from China into Switzerland for orders less than $60).

I would never order headphones or a DAC for several hundred dollars on AliEx.
Too risky to get a fake item or have a hassle with a refund if the item is defective.

 

[TonyJZX]

aliexpress ebay amazon is all a wild wild west as it is now

you have to be careful on what you're buying

you would tend to try the lower priced simple stuff made by a competant reputable company

eg. i got two of these:

DAC and Headphone Amplifier JA11 Is Officially Released!-FIIO---BORN FOR MUSIC

fiio.com

pretty low risk

one thing I do not love is that their search engine eats shit but then... you knew that

and it seems to be FREE SHIP or $253 to send a $150 item

in this country we have tax on all products coming in but in reality 10% aint gonna kill ya when you cant even buy 99% of the shit on ebay or aliexpress locally

 

[gwing]

I've been buying odd bits and pieces from Aliexpress for what seems forever but is probably only six or seven years and have had zero problems. Possibly because my expectations were initially so low and my fears so high I have been delighted with the service and not really had any problems at all.

Deliveries have generally been quicker than I expected, sometimes beyond reason with a tiny package costing just couple of pounds worth still being sent all the way from China, free of postage charges, and what seems just about as quick as a local delivery. That's an exception at one end, at the scale and at other end I have occasionally waited six weeks or more for delivery - it seems pretty random what your delivery time will be.

What I really like about Aliexpress is not just that things are often ridiculously cheap but sometimes you can find things there which simply aren't available in Europe, sometimes the quality can be as cheap as the price of course, sometimes you might find an amazing bargain where you do actually get a genuine article where the Chinese factory is manufacturing for a Western company but sells the same article 'privately' as well on Ali.

That all said I still wouldn't buy something which might be likely to need servicing or returning and which costs more than I'm prepared to write off. Ali is not for everyone.

 

[Dunring]

I buy stuff there 2-3 times a week. The big sales they have at different times of the year are worth racking up coins for, and then cashing them in with coupons and any cashback credit card. A business account also gives 3 percent additional on orders over $100. If you have tax certificate for a business, you register that with Alibaba and then it shows up in Aliexpress. They exempt U.S. businesses now too (started last year).
Avoid a few things like any storage, USB sticks are almost always over-formatted and unreliable. Also nothing there is U.L. listed as far as power cords, etc. The support is good, only hindrance is translation sometimes. Send them plenty of screenshots and they usually see what you're talking about when explaining something.

I have some things coming in this week from the Summer Sale:
SMSL H400 for $354
SMSL DL100 for $152
Thieaudio Ghost for $49

Plus the 3 percent cash back for the Aliexpress business account, then another 3 percent PayPal cash back (also doubles warranty via MasterCard program). Capitol One usually has a 4 percent cash back for Aliexpress, but you have to log into their web site to activate it. Plan out the sales with a calendar and the prices are close to wholesale or used (but with a doubled warranty).
I use this to keep track of them:

AliExpress Sale Dates 2024

AliExpress Sale Dates 2024 Upcoming Sales on AliExpress, Date, Event Calendar, Offers in 2024 Today's Deals, Amazing discounts

promossale.com

I had to return a few things and it was easy, they provided a return label. Twice I got the wrong cable or adapter, but the item was like $1.03 so the automatic system said no return needed. I use PayPal and never had a billing problem. If you're really cautious and have a Capitol One card, use the Emo browser addon they offer. This lets you create a temporary card number, and even lock it afterwards so it can't be used after purchase for anything else.

I don't use the phone app anymore except on a phone I never use. Battery consumption was 18% on it and I've heard from others that they were talking about something very specific near their phone, and when they opened the Aliexpress app the suggested items were what they were talking about. They said he never searched for those items before, and it was on the front page of the app when he launched it. I'm just really wary about it, others reported massive data usage from the app also. My case was with Android set to not let it use the battery in the background, and permissions turned down to the minimum and it still was blowing through battery life.

Prices can't be beat if you don't need it in a hurry. Also they have stuff Amazon doesn't. My favorite is the neon LED signs I got, and also Hifiman HE5xx/Deva pads and Topping L30/II Amp power supply which aren't available anywhere else. I just go with Amazon if it's a rush for something, USB sticks, U.L. listed extension cord, that kind of thing. Build up the coins and time a purchase with their seasonal big sales to really stack the discounts.

 

[Punter]

I have been buying on AliExpress for years and I can't think of any situations where I have not received my order. I don't buy anything much over $50-80 and I do use the ranking controls to sort the sellers based on orders. I think the number of orders is a good metric for a reliable seller and a decent product. I pay primarily through a debit card using the Visa number and so far I have not been dudded.

 

[pallas]

... and I do use the ranking controls to sort the sellers based on orders. I think the number of orders is a good metric for a reliable seller and a decent product.

I totally agree. Never bought anything from a seller with zero orders.

 

[ohnonotagain]

With Amazon you are still covered by A-Z guarantee, you can simply return something if you don't like it or change your mind (at least for things shipped by Amazon, there is no "sold and shipped by Aliexpress ").

Aliexpress Choice is pretty close. They’re shipped by Aliexpress and, at least here in Europe, you can return Choice items for free. For low-value items (under $10) they often just let you keep the item if you request a return.

It does annoy me a bit that you have to go through some shenanigans to get the best value out of Aliexpress, though: waiting until the start of the month when they have coupons; searching for the thing you want on the separate Coins page and clicking through to see the final price on each item because the percentage discount shown on the Coins page doesn’t always line up. But if you want cheap things cheaper, that’s what you have to do.

 

[VientoB]

Guys what are your favourite purchases from aliexpress?

I got my Fosi amp with 48V power supply on there and it's been great.

Got my Tanchjim SPACE dongle on aliexpress too (as tested on ASR)

I also got battery adaptors for my handheld Dyson V6 vacuums so I can now use Makita 18V batteries with one and Dewalt 18V batteries with the other. Also got some new filters for them including a HEPA exhaust filter add-on which should arrive soon.

 

[JeffS7444]

I like AliExpress for lipo battery replacements, where original replacement parts aren't available. Often, the physical size of the replacement isn't exactly the same, but if the # of wires and the voltage are the same, and the current rating is kinda close, it's good.

A Pot of Tea Store appears to have some good items, but I'm not sure how to gauge the value of ceramics selling for hundreds of $.

And then there's this Loz brick set. Similar to Lego, but smaller. A pretty wild original design, I thought. In person, it really does look exactly as shown in the product photo.

Also very pleased with the set of brand-new metal 620 film spools purchased from eTone. Which beats the alternative of paying top dollar for beat-up vintage original parts.