AliExpress - Who are people using?

Sorry Metricus.... Wasn't meant to be rude or something.

And no I am not an employee of AE. Just an AE fan.

Everybody has his own experiences. And there are a lot of people who are afraid of AE. But you do yourself to short not to buy from there.

Maybe I was a little to short on my conclusion/comment.
 
I am billionaire owner of Aliexpress Jack Ma, I don't have enough money (only $25bn) so am pushing unofficial grey market Hikvision cameras via our Aliexpress sellers on here. At the same time I'm trying to close them down.

On a serious note: Both Aliexpress and eBay have their fair share of scammers. Neither is 100% perfect as people here have experienced. I use both but am careful. YMMV.
 
Did you file a dispute with your credit card company?

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Yes. You have a sale contract. As long as the shipment was confirmed and AE supports the sale the CC company cannot do much.
Also, Aliexpress takes only Visa/MC. American Express is the card that has TRUE return protection.
It is possible that there are Visa cards with better protection but with mine I could not get anywhere. If I had used my Amex it would have been a different matter.
 
Trust me guys, This shit started on 11 November 2014 and ended on 18 Feb 2015. I have tons of emails. I also complained at parent company alibaba. All I wanted was to return the cameras and be refunded. Nothing more. They dragged the dispute for months displaying that "dispute is in progress". I called, emailed, called Hikvision, called credit card. Nothing. They refunded me a lousy 30$ and slammed the dispute shut in my face in February.
There is NO protection. If you buy make-up for 5$ and are unhappy, they refund you the money and move on. But if you buy for 600$ and the seller refuses to agree to return and refund you are fu**ed.
 
I am billionaire owner of Aliexpress Jack Ma, I don't have enough money (only $25bn) so am pushing unofficial grey market Hikvision cameras via our Aliexpress sellers on here. At the same time I'm trying to close them down.

On a serious note: Both Aliexpress and eBay have their fair share of scammers. Neither is 100% perfect as people here have experienced. I use both but am careful. YMMV.

I fully agree with that Del. I never meant that eBay is perfect. .... And I don't own eBay either LOL.
 
One clarification:
You do NOT have to pay customs when importing CAMERAS into US. However, you have to pay customs when you import CAMERAS into China. This does not apply to other items like "make-up". Just certain electronics cameras included.

Please NOTE: This is my experience and understanding based on the research I did at the time and what I was told by Aliexpress. I do not profess to be an expert in customs. Please research on your own. Also if anyone was successful returning a camera to China please let us/me know.
 
Like I said I have had an tablet DOA. Costs 149.-

I had to proof that it was broken. Send some pics and a video.

Fully refund....
 
My cameras were not DOA. They were working. They were sold as International but they were Chinese with hacked software. Could not get them returned. Plus, there is a big difference between 149 and 600. Plus, I am sure you did not have to import back the tablet into China.

If you buy a pair of UGG boots for 40 bucks an you find out that not only they are not original (which I hope you knew when you bought them), but that the fur inside is synthetic instead of real sheep (which you could not see from the pictures), you may dispute and get money back but if you don't it's fine...
I ended up with a problem and 600 less in my pocket.

I am sure Ali works in some instances. All I am saying is, make sure you can afford the risk.
 
One clarification:
You do NOT have to pay customs when importing CAMERAS into US.

Actually, it depends on the price. Usually under $200 have no customs. Cameras over $200 can be subject to customs tax; though most sellers will put the customs value at a price much less than you paid


However, you have to pay customs when you import CAMERAS into China. This does not apply to other items like "make-up". Just certain electronics cameras included.

That would not be your responsibility. Customs is an import tax for the importer (ie. the end receiver). You don't have to pay any customs fees to send items to China. The company in China receiving the item may be charged an import fee, but that's their responsibility.
 
Not quite true. I think they are selling in a different way at the moment(due Hikvision policy) . In the store high prices. Negotiate about the price and order in a Substore. Those stores are in a strange way not to be found on Aliexpress by the search bar.

Aliexpress has a great buyers protection (several disputes solved without hassle) Aliexpress is on the buyers side... So no need to worry.

Will aliexpress refund money directly if items are DOA? Sending items back to China costs a lot.
 
That would not be your responsibility. Customs is an import tax for the importer (ie. the end receiver). You don't have to pay any customs fees to send items to China. The company in China receiving the item may be charged an import fee, but that's their responsibility.

Read the terms of the AE agreement. If you return you are responsible for customs. They may pay it but they will deduct from the money before refunding. Only if you can demonstrate that there was something wrong like "fake product" Ali will fully refund but you have to convince Ali first and they act that they don't know what you are talking about. I explained that while the Camera was original Hikvision the software was not. Plus based on Manufacturer's policy that camera was illegally sold outside China. Did not go through. It was like "talking Chinese to them" (pun intended).
 
I generally don't buy expensive or in large bulk on ali, but if I had to buy I would probably use big Chinese sites such as dx.com, they have a hub in the US where you can ship defective items if needed and they even covered shipping fee.
 
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Any reason why? I just ordered 16 3132 cameras from them.

I had a bad experience with DragonEye too. After 1 week of not hearing anything, I contacted them. A day or two later, they finally posted a tracking number..After a good 2 weeks or so (and no update of the package even being picked up in China) I contacted again in which they responded with a second tracking number. Another week or so went by and still no info of package being picked up in China. Finally I found the package in my mailbox with a different (third) tracking number. Then I went to try out the camera found that the seller had bricked it before sending. Couldn't find it on SADP, so I had to download firmware and flash it to the cam with TFTP before I could even test it. Of course, it was then in Chinese....Had to spend hours trying to figure out how to convert it to English.

Worked out in the end, but that was way too much trouble for me. Especially considering there's other trusted sources that have a proven track record for not much price difference.
 
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I was getting a little scared and went back to AE to check my seller. My seller is actually Dragon Electronics Co LTD. So far, this guy has been pretty good. I messaged him for a quote, and he gave me a 50$ discount with DHL shipping included on 16 pcs. Check out on Sept 1st, arrived today.
 
If you order from China don't expect the track and trace numbers will be accurate.

Then ship by DHL(faster and descent tracking) but then you can be sure you have to pay custom tax. Because they are very accurate on that.

And you can be sure that a lot of AE sellers are on Ebay too.