[Technology] AliExpress

[GingerBeerMan]

Personally, I’m not sure I want to fund the Chinese.



Sent from my iPhone

Haha, that'll go over a lot of heads.

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

Pretty impossible not to unfortunately HT with the absolute disastrous state of the British manufacturing industry.

I was making a joke, not passing judgement (for once ), at the bottom my post says sent from my iPhone which is of course made in China

 

[Papa Lazarou]

I started a sideline business about 3-4 months ago and ordered items off Ali-Ex. Mostly electrical.

I probably ordered the best part of 200 individual items in about 25-30 different orders and every single one arrived ok. Each item cost between £0.15p and maybe £10 max, mostly about £3-5 each.
I think one order was about a week later than the published time, apart from that it was all ok. I did buy a couple of things for Xmas from there but wasn't a lot.

Whilst I agree with the sentiment of not buying Chinese or propping up cheap labour regime, it's impossible not to. For example if I went to Screwfix and bought a box of Wago connectors they'd set me back £20 and they're still made in China. Getting them from Ali-Ex would set me back less than half that.

And when you're spending a few hundred squids, it all adds up at, literally, half the cost, especially on a new business that you don't know if it'll take off or not.

Interesting - I've been toying with doing something like this myself. How wasy was it to set up?

 

[Shropshire Seagull]

I can resonate with much of the above. I've used them once and never EVER again.

I ordered a USB cable, £11. A week later a package arrived that was undamaged/ unopened but very obviously contained zilch. One of the postage plastic bags, I was able to squash it flat and give it a good feel. It was empty ....

I completed a refund request. This was rejected, so I appealed, with photos and a short video of empty bag, as they requested. They rejected the appeal. I asked their customer services what evidence I needed to provide. Said I needed to return empty bag at my expense. I laughed and turned to Barclaycard to request a "clawback" which they duly obliged.

Per above, I also try to avoid anything that has Chinese links, even if the price is tempting.

AliExpress, AliG more like !!

Strongly advise to deploy the barge-pole.

 

[Coldeanseagull]

Anyone taken the risk of ordering from this Chinese giant ?

I ordered two items recently (thought I'd dip in) and both have gone missing in transit

Currently fighting for my money back.

I've ordered loads of stuff over the years, mainly electronic components, 3D printing stuff and tools and actually put an order in this morning. Ive had no major issues

If you’re buying anything serious from these chaps or Shein you deserve everything you get. They’re literally laughing at you. It will either be snide, not turn up or be manufactured by slave labour.

If it’s a cheap, ironic football flag for an away day carry on though.

FYI Aliexpress is not the same as shein....which seem to sell cheaply manufactured clothing and soft furnishings, but unless you have an unlimited amount of disposable money to spend on stuff NOT made in China, we need to do our part to keep nine year old ho hum lee and his pals in a job

 

[P.C. Beard]

Never had a problem with them, ordered loads over the years. I wouldn't buy anything for more than £50. Make sure you buy off what looks like a proper store than something called shop_193834

 

[B-right-on]

I was making a joke, not passing judgement (for once ), at the bottom my post says sent from my iPhone which is of course made in China

I've been woooshed. 🫣

 

[B-right-on]

Be careful with those cheap faux wago s ,they fail the tug test

The ones I got seem to be ok. Given them a good pull and a bit of a robust test and they survived alright. There's so many on there, I seem to have been ok

 

[B-right-on]

Interesting - I've been toying with doing something like this myself. How wasy was it to set up?

Straight forward and easy to do. Like has been mentioned before, they operate on a 'feedback' system like eBay and Amazon do so I buy from those who have some history only.

 

[clapham_gull]

Fascinating experience. I remembered I paid with Klarna, so as both my deliveries are in dispute - I paused the payment.

Now can't log into Ali-Express - the app is sort of still working but all my orders have disappeared.

 

[marcos3263]

I have bought loads and in fact have an order currently placed for a dozen items adding up to £70. They are very good for LED lighting of various descriptions and my son has various remote control lights in his room at a fraction of the cost of UK retailers. last year I bought a 10m tape of LEDs that change colour, flash etc, just cut to length and stick to wall. £4 from aliexpress - £20 Robert Dyas and ours can be alexa controlled if set up. you can get usb chargeable motion activated strip lights for £2-3 quid - so useful in cupboards, garage etc.

in fact im using my £3 wireless mouse now!

I once ordered a £20 laptop knowing it would be fake - but you never know - it was and I immediately got my money back so no loss.

I know its from china etc etc but sometimes its the only place I can find stuff I need. I wanted 40cm reeds for a diffuser and this was the only place I could even find them.