Hello there - I m just wondering if aliexpress is a safe place to buy stuff!! Its a tempting place but, as I understand, there are more chances of bumping into a scammer than an actual seller. Has anyone used it recently? I would appreciate any tips to filter scammers please. is it safe to use your credit/debit card or is PayPal accepted too?
PS: if this information is of any use, I m looking for toddler shoes etc.
Thank you in advance.
Didn't think they accepted Paypal? Anyway, I've made over 30 purchases on random small items over the past 6 months or so. No problems with payment from my MasterCard or getting ripped off or anything. Just like eBay, just use some common sense and make sure that the seller doesn't have 0 feedback and you'll be fine.
I've had no problems purchasing from Aliexpress.
As Chickenleg said, check the sellers feedback. It's the ones with 0 or little feedback you should be cautious of.
Also note that is an overseas site and commonly held assumptions on protections and statements they make may not hold true.
For instance they used to advertise guaranteed delivery on time or money back. I had something that was not delivered on time, they said to wait a while & would not give the money back. Once it was delivered they simply could not fathom that I was still asking for my money back.
Never got the money back.
I have had no problems in the end either.
I received an item that was packed poorly and was damaged on arrival.
emailed the seller and got no response, emailed again, and again no response, so opened a dispute and they didnt respond to Aliexpress, so my money was refunded. I kept the item, which was damaged but still usable.
I have had some other disputes in the past and all were settled, by a replacement item or a price reduction.
But I have found prices can vary. Sometimes ebay is cheaper, but for auto parts aliexpress is cheaper as long as you browse through the listings.
Did u use Paypal?
PayPal hasn't been a payment option for quite a while with Aliexpress, and, in any case, is not the 'be-all and end-all'.
Alibaba, by way of Aliexpress are deadly serious about eclipsing eBay in every possible way for sellers of new China stuff.
By way of allaying fears for people accustomed to shopping via regular online China-stores and using PayPal, they also continue to present as being very serious about their own buyer protection measures.
Aliexpress hold customer money in escrow for payment methods other than wire.
Before the release of funds to the seller takes place, you can extend the buyer-protection period if the item you buy is taking its sweet time to arrive, which can happen.
Lots of Aliexpress sellers don't hold stock themselves, but arrange dropshipping from wholesalers, other suppliers, or direct from the factory. (Even - often - when the manufacturer has their own Aliexpress store selling the same item!)
The first pair of headphones I bought took a fair while to arrive via the seller I chose, but came (very well packed), direct from the manufacturer.
I always do the nice thing and go straight to my account and confirm receipt of goods, so that funds will then be more quickly released to the seller. I also leave feedback if all is as anticipated.
If you are concerned about card payments not going through PayPal, use a specific card and keep a close eye on it.
I would be interested to know about the flexibility of card payments through the Aliexpress payment portal.
Has anybody tried without difficulty to use reloadable-debit (hence w/limited funds attached); has anybody ever successfully payed using a prepaid Visa/Mastercard giftcard??
Might be of interest to you too, OP.
Great advice :) thanks.. & yeah I see your point regarding ebay thriving on this fear.. I guess I have been holding off buying from aliexpress coz of, apart from the associated risk, the guilt that takes over when I am supporting some other economy more than our own and then crib about the rising prices … Hi hi…
@Ajo:
No I use my 28 degrees card as its accepted and gives better rates than paypal noramlly (although I can still use the 28 degrees card with paypal)
I am dealing with Alibaba's payment system not the individual seller, so the card details are more secure. To the degree most reputable internet purchases can be secure.
Thank you guys :)
Did you know that Aliexpress is owned by ebay?… I've bought phone covers, it's all good.
It's not.
Gumtree is owned by eBay. Alibaba>Aliexpress and other offshoots related, are not.
Koalas are ambivalent about the latter, but are, reportedly, very angry about the former.
Hi
I shopped for several years on aliexpress, getting lots of bits and pieces, its a great site.
One has to pay by credit card most of the time, I have never had a problem. The mail is slow though, its FREE mail most of the time, so it comes the slowest way, from 4 - 6 weeks
If you have a dispute about something, like the goods are not what you pay for, you go the dispute feature.
For the first time I did about 2 weeks ago, the item was meant to be "two of, same size, and I got one that I wanted and one much smaller, which was of no use to me, so I just asked for a refund of a certain amount, and the money is returned within 7 days!
A hint when you first start out look at the feedback! and leave feedback yourself, it helps when others are looking.
I don't think you will regret shopping there. Most of the prices are really cheap anyway.
I buy a lot of cake decorating tools, half the price and less of what we would pay here.
Thanks much!! This definitely helps. :)
I've bought heaps of things for my girls (frozen stuff..yeah!) and I've never had a problem..(except the clothes sizes are tiny..you need to get 2 or 3 sizes larger than your kids usually take).
Even with sellers who have 0 feedback, I haven't had any problems. Actually, a couple have taken up to 2 weeks to dispatch goods..but that's about it. I love that site!
Cool :) thank u!!
Alright. For one, your protected with your payment. Your payment doesn't actually get released to the seller until you've confirmed that you received the item.
Two. It's a pair of toddler shoes? $15? In all honesty, a quick google search would show that AliExpress is pretty safe.
Third. Again, if you just googled your question their's actually about 500+ topics that ask the exact question…
Fourth. Your worried about scammers for a pair of toddler shoes? Sorry, but the entire thread is pathetic to me, honestly. The answers blasted all over the AliExpress website…
Or is PayPal accepted to?
Is it really that hard to go to www.aliexpress.com and view the payments accepted? You could have answered your questions in less time than it did to write this thread…
Wow!! What's with some people now-a-days??
I would love to respond to this but I choose not to feed negativity. Thank you anyways.
Bad hair day? I guess we all have one of those…
why are people negging this?… he is right, people who neg this are really just don't understand it's just that simple.
I buy some smallish electronics, just make sure the buyer is a popular or "best" seller and you should be fine
Pay with paypal. Don't spend big in any one transaction. You'll be right. I can't imagine toddler shoes would be a haven for scammers!