For those of you who like to use aliexpress...

[ballsystemlord]

Hey,
I listen to the YT-er MLID. He's gotten a sponsorship from aliexpress, and with it, some coupon codes. https://youtu.be/XLX0FmeFVh8 "Until 8/25 use MOORE25 for $100+, MOORE15 for $60+, and MOORE9 for $30+ orders!" They give you 25% off, 25% off and 30% off, respectively, which is better than the normal coupons aliexpress puts out for their sale days.

Please be aware that they cannot be combined with the current aliexpress back-to-school coupons.

You're welcome!

EDIT: To be clear, I say 25% off $100 of items. If you buy $200 of items, it would be 12.5% off. Etc. Likewise with the other coupon codes.

[coromonadalix]

different from their 82 cents or under 2$  BIG specials  loll

[ataradov]

I just tried MOORE25 on $300+ item, and it caped the discount at $25. On a $130 item, it did apply full 25%. So, you are not getting full 25%, you are getting more like $25-$50 at most. Still better than nothing, I guess.

[PlainName]

Sadly not applicable to the UK.

Not that I need more stuff from Aliexpress...

[langwadt]

how much of aliexpress is just scams? try a search for electric bikes and you get pages of obvious scams with bikes selling from EU/US warehouse for less than half what the battery alone would cost with free shipping,  if they have any reviews it is people that got a fake tracking number and nothing else

[nvmR]

not too much scamming going on, depending how deep you go. but prices tend to go up when coupons exist.
Also, no good price tracking like on amazon (keepa, camelcamelcamel).

[coromonadalix]

Aliexpress Amazon and many others    since covid  have inflated their prices a lot, even with some cheap rebates, they are still high

Digikey, Electrosonic, Mouser  ....   too

[PlainName]

how much of aliexpress is just scams?

Barely anything that I get. Of course, I am circumspect and probably don't get stuff that might be easily dodgy. Some recent purchases have been real quality, particularly given the shipped price.

try a search for electric bikes

One of the things I wouldn't get from Aliexpress. Or Ebay. Similarly, anything edible is out, and anything mains-powered would be examined internally before trusting.

if they have any reviews

I never use reviews on Aliexpress except to see photos of the item (giving views that may not be on the product page). The only exception is if they are overwhelmingly bad, because you aren't shown bad reviews willingly, so those things must be really bad!

[PlainName]

Aliexpress Amazon and many others    since covid  have inflated their prices a lot, even with some cheap rebates, they are still high

Digikey, Electrosonic, Mouser  ....   too

Aliexpress prices are higher for us because they now have to add 20% VAT on checkout, but there are still absolute bargains to be had.

One of the reasons, I am sure, is because name brands now have an official presence on Aliexpress, so you're unlikely to get factory side door clones of those now.

[pcprogrammer]

how much of aliexpress is just scams? try a search for electric bikes and you get pages of obvious scams with bikes selling from EU/US warehouse for less than half what the battery alone would cost with free shipping,  if they have any reviews it is people that got a fake tracking number and nothing else

There will be fake stuff, but you get your money back in most cases and often can keep the items. Depends on the item price and your reputation. A while back I had to return 6 Li-ion cells because I disputed their being genuine Lititokala batteries. The return shipping was free and I got my 18 euros back as soon as I dropped of the package at the DPD drop of point.

Not much later I disputed two other 18650 cells and those I did not have to return. Got my 4.55 euro back directly because of having a good reputation, at least according to the dispute result. 

With a lot of other stuff I have had no issues, apart from an occasional fake or wrong part. It very much depends on what you are looking for and make sure to test items as soon as they arrive.

[KungFuJosh]

I usually don't have any trouble with aliexpress, but I'm annoyed with them right now. I bought a DC electronic load on July 18th, and the ad says "Refund if no delivery in 30 days."

Well, guess what? It's been over 30 days, and AE has been a joke about taking care of this. The first thing they did was to add a week to the expected delivery date. Then I opened a dispute, and they said it would be handled within 48 to 72 hours. It wasn't.

So I tried chatting with a rep a 2nd time, and they assured me they'd get it taken care of that day. They didn't. They told me they were the best customer service rep. They weren't.

Anyway, I had to open a dispute with PayPal now, and hopefully that will get it taken care of. 🙄

[PlainName]

Er, that says delivery Sep 01 - 04. So it could mean 30 days after that, but either way the delivery date has come yet (unless this is from last year).

[coromonadalix]

once it took 91 days to receive an item, for sure i was refunded, a day later it showed in my mail box  loll

it was an 12$ item ....

[ballsystemlord]

I usually don't have any trouble with aliexpress, but I'm annoyed with them right now. I bought a DC electronic load on July 18th, and the ad says "Refund if no delivery in 30 days."

Well, guess what? It's been over 30 days, and AE has been a joke about taking care of this. The first thing they did was to add a week to the expected delivery date. Then I opened a dispute, and they said it would be handled within 48 to 72 hours. It wasn't.

So I tried chatting with a rep a 2nd time, and they assured me they'd get it taken care of that day. They didn't. They told me they were the best customer service rep. They weren't.

Anyway, I had to open a dispute with PayPal now, and hopefully that will get it taken care of. 🙄

Aliexpress is a bit... different with how the specify things. I always thought it was because they're a Chinese site, but maybe I'm wrong.

When they say, "Refund if no delivery in 30 days." they mean 30 days after the maximum delivery date.

Likewise with their free return policy. E.G. "Free returns within 90 days". You have to file a return for the item within 15 days of confirming receipt of the item to get the free return shipping. The "90 days" part means that the item has 90 days to arrive, you to confirm receipt, and 15 days for you to test it.

Or at least that's the way it seems to work for me.

[ballsystemlord]

I just tried MOORE25 on $300+ item, and it caped the discount at $25. On a $130 item, it did apply full 25%. So, you are not getting full 25%, you are getting more like $25-$50 at most. Still better than nothing, I guess.

Umm, I was saying $25 off $100 of items is 25%, not 25% off any purchase amount. Likewise, $15 off $60 worth of items is 25%, not 25% off any purchase amount.

I'll edit my initial post to clarify.

[thm_w]

I usually don't have any trouble with aliexpress, but I'm annoyed with them right now. I bought a DC electronic load on July 18th, and the ad says "Refund if no delivery in 30 days."

Not much point in contacting the seller if they've already shipped the item within china. I think for Choice stuff, logistics outside of china is all handled by aliexpress.
Other people were able to get the refund: https://www.reddit.com/r/Aliexpress/comments/1c9z7ji/refund_if_not_delivery_in_30_days_it_works/

Er, that says delivery Sep 01 - 04. So it could mean 30 days after that, but either way the delivery date has come yet (unless this is from last year).

The item was purchased July 18. Then add a day or two for shipping, so Aug 20 or 21 would be 30 days.
The screenshot is from today, not from when it was purchased.

[langwadt]

I usually don't have any trouble with aliexpress, but I'm annoyed with them right now. I bought a DC electronic load on July 18th, and the ad says "Refund if no delivery in 30 days."

Well, guess what? It's been over 30 days, and AE has been a joke about taking care of this. The first thing they did was to add a week to the expected delivery date. Then I opened a dispute, and they said it would be handled within 48 to 72 hours. It wasn't.

So I tried chatting with a rep a 2nd time, and they assured me they'd get it taken care of that day. They didn't. They told me they were the best customer service rep. They weren't.

Anyway, I had to open a dispute with PayPal now, and hopefully that will get it taken care of. 🙄

Aliexpress is a bit... different with how the specify things. I always thought it was because they're a Chinese site, but maybe I'm wrong.

When they say, "Refund if no delivery in 30 days." they mean 30 days after the maximum delivery date.

Likewise with their free return policy. E.G. "Free returns within 90 days". You have to file a return for the item within 15 days of confirming receipt of the item to get the free return shipping. The "90 days" part means that the item has 90 days to arrive, you to confirm receipt, and 15 days for you to test it.

Or at least that's the way it seems to work for me.

afaict you can only file a dispute in the period from 11 days after it was sent until 15 days after promised delivery date.

I guess that is what the scams are about, promise delivery in a couple of days and immediately send fake tracking info, so the shop get the money and the buyer have a very short window to file a dispute which is expired before the buyer realizes the seller has disappeared or is making excuses to stall them

[ballsystemlord]

I usually don't have any trouble with aliexpress, but I'm annoyed with them right now. I bought a DC electronic load on July 18th, and the ad says "Refund if no delivery in 30 days."

Well, guess what? It's been over 30 days, and AE has been a joke about taking care of this. The first thing they did was to add a week to the expected delivery date. Then I opened a dispute, and they said it would be handled within 48 to 72 hours. It wasn't.

So I tried chatting with a rep a 2nd time, and they assured me they'd get it taken care of that day. They didn't. They told me they were the best customer service rep. They weren't.

Anyway, I had to open a dispute with PayPal now, and hopefully that will get it taken care of. 🙄

Aliexpress is a bit... different with how the specify things. I always thought it was because they're a Chinese site, but maybe I'm wrong.

When they say, "Refund if no delivery in 30 days." they mean 30 days after the maximum delivery date.

Likewise with their free return policy. E.G. "Free returns within 90 days". You have to file a return for the item within 15 days of confirming receipt of the item to get the free return shipping. The "90 days" part means that the item has 90 days to arrive, you to confirm receipt, and 15 days for you to test it.

Or at least that's the way it seems to work for me.

afaict you can only file a dispute in the period from 11 days after it was sent until 15 days after promised delivery date.

I guess that is what the scams are about, promise delivery in a couple of days and immediately send fake tracking info, so the shop get the money and the buyer have a very short window to file a dispute which is expired before the buyer realizes the seller has disappeared or is making excuses to stall them

I cannot speak to your experiences, but mine have always always always been: It doesn't arrive. The system tries to auto-confirm receipt. I file a dispute (within a day or two). I have no problem getting a refund.

My worst experience in this regard was actually with ebay. Somehow USPS exposes the tracking info online. Scammers get their hands on this stuff and give tracking info for a package that is being delivered near you.

After weeks of back and forth, I got a set of USPS documents signed by the postmaster (which was later said to be illegal to get), and sent photos of them to ebay. Ebay went on to reveal that they had no idea that scamming could work that way. They refunded me and changed their entire internal dispute process as a result.

I took one for the team in terms of time, energy, and gas.

[KungFuJosh]

Er, that says delivery Sep 01 - 04. So it could mean 30 days after that, but either way the delivery date has come yet (unless this is from last year).

That's not my order, that was a screenshot of the ad taken later. My delivery date was supposed to be August 14th.

[ballsystemlord]

OTOH: Recently I've had trouble returning things because UPS and Fedex loose my packages. I lost $40 with Fedex. My return was never found. It wasn't even ever marked as picked up although I dropped it off.

I just got off the phone with UPS.

"I'm sorry sir," she said, "the package is not in our possession so you have to contact the person you dropped it off with."

"As I said twice so far," I reply, "I dropped it off in a UPS box. I cannot talk to a metal box. It doesn't say anything back. We just sort of stand there and stare at each other. "

"I understand sir," she replies...

I wonder about where the world is going sometimes.

[KungFuJosh]

That's why I only ever drop off packages where I can get a receipt. Incompetence is too common with shipping companies.

[pcprogrammer]

That's why I only ever drop off packages where I can get a receipt. Incompetence is too common with shipping companies.

Very true. And it takes persistence to get through to them. I once had an order of Banggood that was delivered to somewhere else in the village. It took a lot of back and forth with Banggood and the postal service to get the truth above the table. The package was never found, but in the end I did get my money back.

Luckily, county side France moved on to a street name and number system, since which the delivery of packages has not gone wrong again, yet. 

[Brumby]

That's why I only ever drop off packages where I can get a receipt. Incompetence is too common with shipping companies.

That is my guiding principle with any logistic exercise with any carrier - even with our Australia Post.

It's quite comforting to have that evidence at hand, especially when I make note of dimensions, weight and description of the package.  I've not done photographs except on a couple of occasions for some overseas destinations.  In the last 20 years, I've had to deal with maybe half a dozen cases ... and I've yet to lose out.

[KungFuJosh]

Well, at least their canned responses are generic. I really liked the "you really have a point" one, it totally felt sincere.

[5U4GB]

how much of aliexpress is just scams? try a search for electric bikes and you get pages of obvious scams with bikes selling from EU/US warehouse for less than half what the battery alone would cost with free shipping,  if they have any reviews it is people that got a fake tracking number and nothing else

It depends on who you buy from, if you're getting it from something like "$brandname Official Store" then it's likely legit, if it's Store1376326482 at half the price of the (likely) official store then who knows what you'll get.