It is inevitable that you will encounter some troubles when buying from the Internet. The same is true for the AliExpress, netizens expose many risks of buying from AliExpress.

But there are also many people who have bought great products on AliExpress, and they admire AliExpress.

So is AliExpress a scammer or a very good shopping platform?

What is aliexpress？

AliExpress is Alibaba’s online trading platform for the international market. It was established in 2010 and is headquartered in Hangzhou, China. Owned by Alibaba Group. It is the third largest English online shopping website in the world.

Aliexpress is a popular retail website that focuses on helping small Chinese businesses sell products directly to international customers. Mainland Chinese citizens cannot buy products from AliExpress.

You can compare AliExpress to Amazon or eBay because they sell products directly to individual customers.

The main difference between AliExpress and Amazon is that AliExpress is purely a platform for 3rd party sellers.

Amazon is a hybrid of the two, because Amazon creates its own products and allows other sellers to sell on its platform.

In addition, Amazon is mainly developed in the European, American and Japanese markets, while the main markets of AliExpress are Russia, Brazil, Saudi Arabia, France, Spain and Saudi Arabia..

Both Aliexpress and Alibaba.com belong to the Alibaba Group.

The main difference between them is that Alibaba is a wholesale website, and most of its buyers are wholesalers, distributors, brand owners, etc. While AliExpress is a retail website, its buyers are mainly some ultimate consumers.

When talk about AliExpress, people’s main concern is the security of the website. So let’s get started.

Is aliexpress legit?

We found that many people accuse AliExpress is a scam, helping sellers steal their money.

This statement is not correct.

AliExpress is a platform for suppliers and buyers to trade, and does not sell products.

Like any other platform, there are some dishonest buyers and some false propaganda on AliExpress.

The responsibility of AliExpress lies in not controlling the quality of all sellers and allowing some unethical sellers to mix into it.

In addition, not all products on AliExpress are legal.

You can buy all kinds of replica goods there, from electronics to clothing.

Buyers can buy Nike shoes and Gucci bags here at very cheap prices.

Selling copy products is illegal, but in many cases buyers know that they are fake products but still buy them.

There is no denying that AliExpress offers some very good deals. Like any commercial platform, most sellers are reputable, but there are always unethical sellers who try to turn it into a minefield and make quick money on innocent, unsuspecting buyers.

In general, AliExpress is an absolutely safe and legal shopping site, but not all buyers are honest, and not all products are legal.

Is it safe to order from AliExpress?

Although some people have a bad impression of AliExpress, most people buy from AliExpress smoothly. They bought cheap and high-quality products on AliExpress.

In view of the existence of some unethical merchants on AliExpress, it is necessary for buyers to learn and take some precautionary measures to buy safely from AliExpress, avoid being deceived by inferior products and losing money.

After the research of SourcingArts, it is found that buyers will mainly encounter the following problems when buying from AliExpress:

The goods were not received on time

70% of AliExpress bad reviews are due to delays in delivery and unpleasant public disputes and claims phases.

Gradually, many customers think that the sellers on AliExpress are unreliable and cannot get good rights protection from the platform.

There are two main reasons why buyers cannot receive the goods within the specified time:

First, the supplier’s delivery is not timely

Second, it’s the problem that the goods encountered during the transportation. Complicated customs clearance procedures, the goods cannot be directly delivered to the destination country and need to be transferred, and the couriers in various places cannot handle them in time, etc.

The way to avoid the first situation is to choose products that have enough stock.

The problems encountered in logistics are unavoidable. But if you do not receive the goods by the seller’s estimated delivery time, you can apply for a full refund.

This is the most ideal processing method, but buyers who buy a product must hope to receive it.

For buyers, if the product is only delayed in logistics and not lost, they are unwilling to refund the customer. Because they cannot recall the goods from the logistics, and they will also lose the cost of logistics.

In most cases, buyers can only wait or apply for a refund in the face of logistics delays.

The goods do not match expectations

If you receive the wrong product or damaged package, 99% of sellers are willing to resend the product to you.

But if you don’t want to wait too long, you can choose to request a refund. The seller will agree to refund you.

But there is another situation: you think the item you received is inferior, just because it does not meet your high expectations.

AliExpress always has some products at very low prices, but the products shown by buyers in pictures or videos look great. Some buyers bought these products and only to find that the real products did not match their imagination at all after receiving the goods.

For example, you bought a pair of so-called latest Nike free shipping shoes for $30, and you find that it is not as good as the original, so you say that the seller is a liar. In fact, as long as the quality of these shoes can match the value of 30 dollars.

Did not receive the goods

Some sellers even complained that they did not receive the goods at all. In this case, you can apply for a full refund

Aliexpress provides a buyer protection program to help deter bad guys and reduce the risk of money loss for customers. Here is how they help ensure customer safety:

If the order does not arrive, a full refund will be issued. If the order does not appear or is delayed beyond the seller’s estimated delivery time, the customer can apply for a full refund. If the refund is approved, the customer will receive the refund within 15 days.

Why is AliExpress so cheap?

Most buyers are amazed by the cheap prices of AliExpress. For example, the same mobile phone case costs more than ten dollars on Amazon, but it only costs 2 dollars on AliExpress. Why are the products on AliExpress so cheap?

This is mainly because the products on AliExpress are all made in China and the sellers are all Chinese, the buyers can purchase products directly from Chinese factories, and some sellers are even the manufacturers of the products.

Many products on Amazon are imported by foreign buyers from China and then sold on Amazon, which will incur expensive logistics fees, taxes, and trade differences that increase the unit price of the product.

Tips for buying from Aliexpress

Small batch purchase

AliExpress is a retail platform that is only suitable for small-volume purchases. When you need more than or 50 or 100units, you can choose to buy from Alibaba.

Alibaba provides “ready to ship” products for small batch buyers, where you are more likely to buy products at wholesale prices.

Choose products with clear pictures, videos and detailed descriptions

The overall structure, details and gloss of the product will be truly shown in 6 product photos without excessive beautification.

Videos can show products more clearly, and videos are more difficult to beautify.

In the product listing, all parameters of the product will be described in the columns, including material, size, packaging, operating instructions, delivery time, after-sales service, etc.

Customers can get enough sense of security from such product listings.

In addition, some annoying sellers may use the system to deceive customers with inferior products that do not match the photos. You can have a clearer insight into the product by checking the description of the product size, specification, fabric, etc.

Choose the right mode of transportation

Cross-border logistics is the biggest concern for buyers. Therefore, if you want to buy high-value products, you’d better pay extra to choose the standard shipping method.

For small items of low value ($1-$2), if you choose economical shipping (free shipping), please be prepared to bear the potential risk of a long delivery time or package loss, especially in some shopping festivals.

For example, you need to prepare a swimsuit for your vacation within 1 week. It is recommended that you check whether the supplier has a warehouse in your country/region, which can greatly reduce the transportation time.

As shown in the figure below, you can choose the place of delivery.

Always check the comments of other buyers

You can’t just rely on a few photos and product descriptions to measure the quality of your products. The most convincing thing is feedback from real buyers.

Here are the stats you should pay attention to when shopping on AliExpress.

• The feedback rating of the seller. We prefer to see an average feedback rating that is above 4.5.
• The number of orders a seller has shipped. We like to see at least 100 orders shipped and preferably more depending on the cost of the item.
• The number of reviews. We like to see at least 100 reviews but it depends on how cheap the item is. For cheaper products, We tend to care less.

In addition to the above data, you should also pay attention to what is in the evaluation about the bad product.

The product quality is not good, the product function is faulty, the transportation is too slow, the seller’s after-sales service is not good or the product does not meet the buyer’s expectation？

Buy replicas carefully

In general, there aren’t many Western brands selling directly on AliExpress and a lot of the non-Chinese products are fakes.

This won’t be a problem if you just want something that looks like the real thing and costs half the price, but if you’re after authenticity, it’s well worth spending the time to research the seller and read the product reviews written by other customers before buying.

AliExpress is legit, but some of its products aren’t.

Conclusion

AliExpress is known as the “international version of Taobao”. Taobao is China’s most popular and largest shopping website. It has a very complete payment, logistics and seller protection system.

Chinese people buy from Taobao without any risk. We can apply for a refund without any reason, and only need to bear the shipping cost of returning the goods to the seller.

For cross-border shopping, the biggest problem is that when you are dissatisfied with the goods you received, you cannot return the goods to China because of the expensive logistics fees.

Therefore, the most important thing to buy from AliExpress is to carefully choose products and reliable sellers before placing an order.

Many products on Aliexpress are really cheap, but you’d better buy products from good suppliers instead of just considering the cheapest price.

Generally speaking, if the price is very cheap, the quality or after-sales service will not be very satisfactory.

I hope the above points can help you purchase from AliExpress with more confidence!