Ordering from AliExpress

[SheLion]

I found some dining chairs on AliExpress that I really like. However, I've never ordered from there and I'm loathe to have a $600 bad experience. Anyone have any firsthand experience they can share?

 

[cerelife]

Hi!
I've been ordering from AliExpress for a couple of years and have yet to have a bad experience. While none of my orders have been for more than $100, everything I've ordered has met (and usually exceeded) my expectations. My understanding is that AliExpress takes responsibility for the sellers on their site (kind of like Amazon), and they have an option to open a dispute if you don't receive your order in a timely manner, or the items are not to your satisfaction.
I personally love this site, and have no qualms about ordering from them!!

 

[WeaversPort]

I've ordered small things from AliExpress, but nothing big. One of the things I like is they have a dispute policy through the service - on top of whatever policies the individual sellers have. I learned the hard way never to order clothes through them, because China XL is NOT the same as American XL.

Sometimes things take forever (I'm still waiting for the a lot of jars I purchased), so it is important to read both the reviews of the items and the reviews of the seller. In general, of the 5 purchases I've made, all but one has met or exceeded expectations. The order of clothes I'm leaving out because that is an error on my part. I didn't read the measurements.

It's not a huge sample data set, so I don't know if it helps.. The TL;DR is you'll probably get what you see, but don't be in a rush to get it.

 

[penelopejane]

I found some dining chairs on AliExpress that I really like. However, I've never ordered from there and I'm loathe to have a $600 bad experience. Anyone have any firsthand experience they can share?

I use Aliexpress all the time but generally for small stuff. I have never had a problem and delivery is a lot quicker (to Oz) than they predict.

You will generally find two or three suppliers of the same thing. I look for the cheapest price from someone with above 98% positive feedback.

 

[navigator9]

I've placed quite a few orders with Aliexpress also. Most of my purchases have been silicone molds, and I've been very happy with all of them. They have some great prices! As mentioned, sometimes it can take a loooong time for items to arrive, although lately, for me anyway, that seems to have improved. Not sure how I would feel about a $600 purchase, but if the deal was good enough, I might be tempted.

 

[toxikon]

I only order little things from there. Shipping to Canada is sooo slooow.

 

[BattleGnome]

I started looking at dining room chairs as well. I haven't ordered anything but anything that seems to look good has a huge shipping cost. $17 for a module/stackable chair with $600+ for shipping - one chair. I haven't looked at shipping furniture in general but seems a bit step for my tastes. Hopefully you found something more reasonable.

 

[dixiedragon]

when I try to look at the site it's in French. is there an English version?

 

[SheLion]

when I try to look at the site it's in French. is there an English version?

That's strange. Yes, there is an English version. Top right on the menu bar, next to the 'Ship to' box is a pull-down menu for language.

 

[earlene]

I tried to create an account with them a few months ago and it never worked. I tried several times unsuccessfully. Since I never received a confirmation that I had an account, I just gave up after a couple of days of waiting to find out what the issue was. So I've never ordered from them.

 

[Rune]

Aliexpress is safe, but you can get scammed at Alibaba.

At Aliexpress, I got an automatic refund when someone tried to scam me and did not send the parcel. I could claim a refund after so and so many days, but I waited to see what would happen if I didn't. Then they refunded me automatically.

The quality from Aliexpress is in general good, but it can be up and down with that as well. I have got many extremely nice items in good quality. I have never ordered anything big and expensive, mostly clothes and other smaller items. As I can remember, the only thing I was not satisfied with was a hooded sweather. It was like made of plastic. I have a winter jacket from Aliexpress that is really nice. It is warm and a great design. I get questions about where I have bought that jacket all the time. It did cost only 300-something norwegian (about 30 pounds).

Clothes are sometimes fake, but they don't tell you. You discover when you open the parcel that the jeans suddenly is from the brand Lee, the sweather from Gucci and so on. The pictures on Aliexpress can be photoshopped to remove the fake brand names. By the way, my fake Lee jeans are the best jeans I have. They have THE best shape, or what it is called. And the quality is good. But it is fake. I don't bother too much about that, but.

You will take little to no risk by buying from Aliexpress, moneywise. But choose products other have left reviews for, so that you know that it is not chairs stuffed with newspapers or something.

I would definately not buy food items or cosmetics from Aliexpress. Nothing for soaping either, other than molds, spoons and things like that. I have seen pure "essential oils" that are clearly as fake as it can be. And they can use toxic chemicals.

Remember, that new items on Ebay is maybe 90% Aliexpress. Most items you find on Ebay, you will also find on Aliexpress. So if you have bought from Ebay, you know what Aliexpress is like. Amazon have Aliexpress items as well, but not in such scale as you find on Ebay.

 

[bathgeek]

I have ordered so much from Ali Express that I am a Platinum member just by dint of my spending. They’re usually very slow, but if you’re not in a hurry it gets to you eventually. To be fair, I have never purchased furniture, just molds, boxes, packaging, etc.

Ali Express is nice, but just as with any platform (like Amazon) there is the occasional snafu. So far I have only had to deal with 2 issues in my 50+ transactions, and one was resolved satisfactorily. The other is still ongoing—they extended my buyer protection in order to try and get it resolved. (They mailed something but it has not arrived and the tracking hasn’t updated for over a month.)