What is the least shitty shit store? Never had a good experience with any of the shops such as, wish, aliexpress and the rest of em. But which one of them is considered the better one, or more likely to actually arrive with the correct item? Is etsy considered better than the rest? Are there any of these “low priced” stores that actually have some sort of guarantee to deliver what is purchased? Let me know your experiences and tips!
AliExpress is a rock solid platform. You just need to know official Chinese brand accounts there. It’s just like Amazon - you order random shit there, you get shit in the mailbox. You order from a reputable branded shop there and you get a high quality item.
Is there a newbie guide to reputable brands on AE?
Find an official Chinese brand web site and they usually have a link to their shop on Ali. For example, you want to buy some eSun filament for your 3D printer. You go to their web site https://www.esun3d.com/pla-pro-product/ and BOOM! Ali link!
Sometimes they don’t have a link on their web site, so you search for a brand on Ali directly and search for a gold rated shop with loads of followers and a properly maintained product catalogue. Here’s an example https://m.aliexpress.com/store/5793617?trace=store2mobilestoreNew&spm=a2g0n.order_detail.order_detail_item.1.24a0f19cuwE2kw
I bought some stuff from Ali express. Mixed results. Bought a video adapter for my wife’s car so an aftermarket radio could use the factory backup cam. Worked great. Bought a ‘billet’ camshaft for a Suzuki. Was obvious it was cast, because they didn’t bother to align the two halves together they were off 1/8". Left a bad review about it, they deleted the entire part listing, then re-posted it to hide my review, then blocked me as a customer.
Support from AliExpress is quite good. They don’t take any bullshit from their sellers and often refund at least a partial amount of your purchase.
I think I got 30% back once because the wrong color was delivered.
The biggest issue is that they tend to fake delivery time by switching around old tracking numbers. If you want something quick, I really wouldn’t recommend it.
I did end up getting a 50% refund for not sending it back, just bs that the seller can get away with hiding reviews like that.
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Just wanted to point out that Etsy isn’t really in the same category as the other shops you listed. Think handmade crafts and souvenir store compared to Walmart.
Edit: I’m apparently reminiscing on the Etsy of yesteryear. I guess it’s shit now.
Sure used to be that way but modern day Etsy is flooded with drop shippers selling AliExpress stuff
It’s egregious too. They all pretend it’s handmade crafts… that AliExpress happens to have exact copies of for a tenth of the price.
Really? Damn, that sucks. Edited my comment.
Yea just to pile on here, the bulk of Etsy is people simply repackaging items at a higher price. It’s a total shit show now.
I’ve ordered everything from audio stuff to knives on aliexpress. Find a good reputable seller and you’re good. That’s pretty much the same for any platform like Ebay. Amazon has increasingly gotten worse. Now it’s either really big name brands or cheap chinese clones
Edit: check out Louis Rossman’s video buying electrical equipment from Amazon. If you buy the top rated results, you’ll probably fuck yourself over. One of the top products is a fuse that won’t blow like it’s supposed to, if you put this in your system, it will be catastrophic and life threatening.
I’ve had some bad sellers on AliExpress, but support tends to be quite good. They don’t take any bullshit from scam sellers.
Every name brand clothing item I’ve ordered on Amazon has been fake
Amazon definitely has. Almost all the clothing is either brands I can’t afford or no name brands that are terrible quality. I have returned my last sweater. So freaken down with them. Go back to clothing shopping in a physical store like it is 1999.
I enjoy buying merch from some youtubers tbh.
LTT makes awesome quality garments. I was multiple times commented that they look high quality. And I really like how they feel.
Kurzgesagt has some cool shirts.But outside of those: Hit or miss.
Temu is the current loss leader. You have to be careful as there are some items more expense than the Amazon or Aliexpress options, but many are 1/2-2/3 of the Amazon price with free shipping. Most items are 7-10 days shipping, but Amazon (to a rural address) is barely a couple days better with prime and about on par without.
Shipping has pretty much killed Aliexpress for me. I’m not willing to buy anything expensive as it’s effectively impossible to return and most sellers have an Amazon sellers account that is the same price or less once intl shipping is added.
The problem with Temu is all your data goes to , less reputable third parties.
I have never had so many scam calls, texts and emails in my life!
As if it doesn’t when you input it for other sources? I haven’t had a single issue I can trace to Temu specifically. I get my Thai slave-mill “found your number in my phone” or “are you available for dinner” scam text once every other day regardless. Xfinity has probably sold, or lost, my information to dark web resellers more times than I can count. Heck, I get an email every couple of weeks from one of the “free” credit monitoring subscriptions I’ve been given thanks to breaches at Equifax, OPM, Chase, etc. that my email - the one I’ve had for 30 years come this spring - has been “found” on the dark web. No fucking shit; I’ll bet the have my password from 1995, too. I’d worry about it but I have far more pressing things in my life - like making sure I’m not overheating the queso I just put in the microwave.
Ali got a nice escrow payment system, when you and the selling party disagree about delivery or quality, you get your money back most of the time.
Did have some issues with deliveries in the past, but always got them resolved or refunded.
No experience with the other platforms, but have done hundreds of purchases using AliExpress, from a few euros to hundred+
I’ve bought a lot of electronic components from AliExpress and 99% of the time I got exactly what I ordered. It just takes a long time.
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.
AliExpress would be my recommendation except that their parent company continues to do business with Russia despite the sanctions.
I agree. Plus they actually refund you. I use them to buy phone cases, parts and other things. Edit: if you find the official store, I reccomend Kodak USB sticks
Taobao has the same stuff but even cheaper.
Thanks for the tip!
Honestly, if you consider amazon on the same level of shit as the ones mentioned especially with it being overrun by cheap knockoffs and chinese brands, they probably have the widest and most reliable delivery network. The return/exchange is also very easy as long as the product is shipped by them.
Seconded. Amazon has been a cheap shitty online shop for the better part of a decade now but they‘re still the best cheap shitty shop. Especially if you shop in central Europe. I‘ve tried many available competitors to avoid them completely but the direct competition is just so damn abysmal. You can complain about Amazon a lot as it has many problems, but any complaint against them is a general complaint against online shopping as a whole and they‘re becoming worse because everyone else is just so bad. At least Amazon refunds the garbage sellers send me no questions asked. That has always been a huge pain with other crappy shops.
AliExpress has never failed me. I bought some Nintendo DS reproduction carts and they work flawlessly.
Ali isnt even a shit site.
The sellers are what you have to look out for.
It’s basically Amazon but more obvious amd with less protection for the buyer.
I’ve had good experience with aliexpress. Nearing 1000 products purchased.
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.
With any of them, make sure you read the descriptions fully and check reviews. Also, go through the purchase options. Sometimes you run into situations where you think you are ordering a pair of something and it’ll only be the right or left one.
I’ve ordered a bunch from wish and AliExpress. Gotten plenty of good products from both and really only got burned once in wish.
Computer parts from aliexpress is alright…
I just wouldnt use/buy anything that goes directly on my body for extended periods of time or that will be used with stuff I will ingest (like food, tools for prep).
you out there eating RAM for breakfast?
It’s just so crunchy
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?
