I've been buying China-sourced items exclusively thru eBay until this year. I decided to give Aliexpress a try, with their "AliExpress Standard Shipping".
The first order was shipped and processed reasonably quickly, 19 days from order to delivery.
Since then it's been molasses. The sellers are shipping the orders, they are sent to an Aliexpress consolidation warehouse, where they sit for days. I have two orders now that have been sitting there since Feb 25. The sellers both say, there is nothing they can do.
Four days later I made two orders from eBay vendors in China; one by Speedpak, which is managed by UPS and is very good, and the other by some unnamed global economy method. Both were shipped and processed without delay, and have already been processed thru US customs.
I like the selection and prices on Aliexpress. But the waiting times are proving not to be worth it.
Is your experience (to USA) similar?