Buying From AliExpress

[jward101]

I bought from Andy through AE using my credit card. The transaction triggered a 2 factor authentication SMS with my CC provider which I used to complete the transaction. My DHL tracking showed up about 36 hours after the status changed on AE with mine about to clear Customs for delivery from HK >> AU in about 48 hours.

Hope that helps.

 

[beingaware]

Nm

 

[hmjgriffon]

First time I ordered from Andy @EMPIRETECANDY he was good and on the ball. ($1400 AUD order)

Second time he has been rather unresponsive even when asked to be invoiced to pay him. (Another $1500 ish order)
I'm about to use Jimbu and a few other seller from Ali for this order as I'm starting to get annoyed personally.

He's a good dude, I'd not believe he is just being a jerk and more that maybe he lost your message or something, did you send him an email? he's stated that is the best way to contact him and that he checks it all the time.

 

[Mike K]

I have just Finished setting up my PayPal account and will try that next. I find Andy is sometimes slow to respond also.

 

[hmjgriffon]

I have just Finished setting up my PayPal account and will try that next. I find Andy is sometimes slow to respond also.

sometimes, our day is also their night so there is a little bit of a time/date difference, they kinda live in the future lol.

 

[beingaware]

He's a good dude, I'd not believe he is just being a jerk and more that maybe he lost your message or something, did you send him an email? he's stated that is the best way to contact him and that he checks it all the time.

I've Skyped and emailed him.

Most Chinese sellers like clear and direct communication without any fluff.

First order was completed within 4 hours of contacting him and had the packages within 48 hours, so he isn't slow when he is active.

Thus surprised at the lag in sending any invoice this time around.

Naturally in a few months I'll want to spend another $1000-1500 or so but a little concerned about that now.

I'm also in Australia so my time zone is more or less in line with his. (I'm 2 hours ahead, so I'm kinda in the future to him and you )

 

[hmjgriffon]

I dunno man MOST people have no issues, sometimes when I message him about something he doesn't reply for a couple of days, but I don't sweat it, if enough days pass I message again but I don't try to harass the guy. He's as busy as a hell, sells tons of cameras in big batches, we are competing with places and people who buy 6 starlight ptz's for their house in one shot. Given the alternatives, I feel very happy to have Andy around and if he vanishes I feel like I'll be kinda fucked, aliexpress is a very shady place and it's really nice to know you've got someone who isn't going to screw you, but it's a free market, if you can contact someone else and get what you want faster do it, I don't think it's gonna hurt Andy's feelings, this forum probably doesn't make up a huge percent of his profits lol.

 

[beingaware]

I dunno man MOST people have no issues, sometimes when I message him about something he doesn't reply for a couple of days, but I don't sweat it, if enough days pass I message again but I don't try to harass the guy. He's as busy as a hell, sells tons of cameras in big batches, we are competing with places and people who buy 6 starlight ptz's for their house in one shot. Given the alternatives, I feel very happy to have Andy around and if he vanishes I feel like I'll be kinda fucked, aliexpress is a very shady place and it's really nice to know you've got someone who isn't going to screw you, but it's a free market, if you can contact someone else and get what you want faster do it, I don't think it's gonna hurt Andy's feelings, this forum probably doesn't make up a huge percent of his profits lol.

Haha I'm sure he is fine most of the time, it's just he set the standard so high with my first interact.

Re buying large amounts, I fit closer to that level, first few orders are more or less sample products to get the idea on the quality of different model products.
Then moving my current product offering to Dahua once I'm happy.

The local wholesalers in Australia are retarded of late.

Ali express is amusing yes but sticking with known high rating sellers is usually a good bet.

 

[hmjgriffon]

Haha I'm sure he is fine most of the time, it's just he set the standard so high with my first interact.

Re buying large amounts, I fit closer to that level, first few orders are more or less sample products to get the idea on the quality of different model products.
Then moving my current product offering to Dahua once I'm happy.

The local wholesalers in Australia are retarded of late.

Ali express is amusing yes but sticking with known high rating sellers is usually a good bet.

are you in the security camera business?

 

[beingaware]

are you in the security camera business?

Indirectly yes.

Network Security MSP, primary focus is well network security but we have started to do IP Camera deployments of late. (Seems clients are starting to realise physical security is just as important for their comms gear.)

Last few deployments have used Cisco Meraki IP Cameras but the cost per camera plus yearly licensing is bit rich for many clients.
Indoor model is close to $1400 (Discounted price, RRP is around $1900) for one 720p camera plus the yearly licensing ($180 per year)
The outdoor model is close to $2000 (RRP $2500) plus yearly licensing.
It's hard to justify for most, when the Dahuas (even the chinese only ones) can do the same thing at higher quality for 1/5th the price.

We contacted the local distro for Dahua and they were all over the place with stock, pricing and shipping.
After speaking with the local Camera installers, they all suggested to by pass them and order directly from China, so that's what I'm looking at now. haha

 

[hmjgriffon]

Indirectly yes.

Network Security MSP, primary focus is well network security but we have started to do IP Camera deployments of late. (Seems clients are starting to realise physical security is just as important for their comms gear.)

Last few deployments have used Cisco Meraki IP Cameras but the cost per camera plus yearly licensing is bit rich for many clients.
Indoor model is close to $1400 (Discounted price, RRP is around $1900) for one 720p camera plus the yearly licensing ($180 per year)
The outdoor model is close to $2000 (RRP $2500) plus yearly licensing.
It's hard to justify for most, when the Dahuas (even the chinese only ones) can do the same thing at higher quality for 1/5th the price.

We contacted the local distro for Dahua and they were all over the place with stock, pricing and shipping.
After speaking with the local Camera installers, they all suggested to by pass them and order directly from China, so that's what I'm looking at now. haha

man, I wanna work in a place like that so bad, damn, yeah I looked at the merki's today their price isn't ridiculous, it's obscene. Even in a high end install I'd go ultra starlight stuff that would blow the doors off those ciscos. and even the normal starlight stuff would kick their ass. I have been considering it but I think I'd need a pretty good supplier, perhaps I will talk to Andy about it. Crap things is these starlight cams are so hard to get so I dunno if he gives preference to installers or whatever lol. Are you doing whole offices and buildings or just server rooms?

 

[beingaware]

man, I wanna work in a place like that so bad, damn, yeah I looked at the merki's today their price isn't ridiculous, it's obscene. Even in a high end install I'd go ultra starlight stuff that would blow the doors off those ciscos. and even the normal starlight stuff would kick their ass. I have been considering it but I think I'd need a pretty good supplier, perhaps I will talk to Andy about it. Crap things is these starlight cams are so hard to get so I dunno if he gives preference to installers or whatever lol. Are you doing whole offices and buildings or just server rooms?

The other annoying thing with the Cisco pricing model is they charge a set wholesale pricing depending on the level of partner you are BUT they highly encourage to the point of almost enforcing you to charge RRP.

So top level buyers can get them for about $1200, while mid is $1300-1400 depending on the time of the month, but they both expect you to charge $1900 for the indoor model, naturally most firms won't but it's what Cisco pushes.

I do like Meraki's for Firewalls and remote sites Wireless, it does make things 100 times easier, which is where the value is but for large scale or primary sites, it's Cisco Enterprise all the way, though I've been playing with Mikrotik of late, which just might replace Cisco in some install configurations.

Camera wise?
We are looking at doing whole buildings if we can, we already manage a few of our clients RFID platforms, so it would make sense.

Last site we did a re-fresh network, server and security wise for ended up with Meraki's Cameras for the foyers and the Server Comms Room, the client wanted more but they couldn't justify the pricing.
Money was used for 8 x 3700 CAPWAP APs, Wireless LAN Controller, brand new Layer 3 switches, 2 x brand new 10gbps tails to the Data Centre (Replaced the 100mbps WAN Link) and moved the Remote Desktop and DR VMs into AWS via our Interconnect at NextDC.

Naturally they would have wanted to cover the meeting rooms and public areas like the lunch room but that was put on the backburner for now.

I've actually put in one of the spare Chinese "Only" Modelled Dahua's in their Lunch room as a test Loaner (Camera I don't care about) and it's actually outdoing the Meraki's in the Quality Department and IVS triggers...
Funny enough, it's actually better at night then the Meraki, go figure?
$100 Camera vs a $1400 camera. haha

 

[hmjgriffon]

The other annoying thing with the Cisco pricing model is they charge a set wholesale pricing depending on the level of partner you are BUT they highly encourage to the point of almost enforcing you to charge RRP.

So top level buyers can get them for about $1200, while mid is $1300-1400 depending on the time of the month, but they both expect you to charge $1900 for the indoor model, naturally most firms won't but it's what Cisco pushes.

I do like Meraki's for Firewalls and remote sites Wireless, it does make things 100 times easier, which is where the value is but for large scale or primary sites, it's Cisco Enterprise all the way, though I've been playing with Mikrotik of late, which just might replace Cisco in some install configurations.

Camera wise?
We are looking at doing whole buildings if we can, we already manage a few of our clients RFID platforms, so it would make sense.

Last site we did a re-fresh network, server and security wise for ended up with Meraki's Cameras for the foyers and the Server Comms Room, the client wanted more but they couldn't justify the pricing.
Money was used for 8 x 3700 CAPWAP APs, Wireless LAN Controller, brand new Layer 3 switches, 2 x brand new 10gbps tails to the Data Centre (Replaced the 100mbps WAN Link) and moved the Remote Desktop and DR VMs into AWS via our Interconnect at NextDC.

Naturally they would have wanted to cover the meeting rooms and public areas like the lunch room but that was put on the backburner for now.

I've actually put in one of the spare Chinese "Only" Modelled Dahua's in their Lunch room as a test Loaner (Camera I don't care about) and it's actually outdoing the Meraki's in the Quality Department and IVS triggers...
Funny enough, it's actually better at night then the Meraki, go figure?
$100 Camera vs a $1400 camera. haha

I KNEW that would be the case when I looked at the meraki specs, 5mp is going to suck at night without horrendously expensive optics, and their lux rating is ass, I didn't need to see the image to know that lol. I tried to throw all the reasons dahua and others kill the merakis on linkedin but they deleted my reply LOL.

 

[beingaware]

I KNEW that would be the case when I looked at the meraki specs, 5mp is going to suck at night without horrendously expensive optics, and their lux rating is ass, I didn't need to see the image to know that lol. I tried to throw all the reasons dahua and others kill the merakis on linkedin but they deleted my reply LOL.

They are varifocals but most clients want them configured at widest view possible so it's almost there for show, but being indoors and usually pretty close to the area of interest, it's not all bad.

The cameras ability to retro-activity display IVS events defined after the fact is pretty amazing, especially since it's a 3 click process but I figure if the Cameras are configured with IVS trips from the start, you can save on all the fancy webtools for "dummys" that the Merakis provide. haha

But I kid you not, the HFW4431R-Z does a much better job video quality wise and is 1/14 the price. (Just made sure the "hacked" firmware was loaded onto it and blocked from talking to anything but the on-site storage.)
Still I'm slowly buying up different Dahua models to play with.

I have a SD59225U-HNI and SD29204T-GN that I'm about to mount and test. (Just waiting on mounting brackets)

Just waiting on Andy to invoice for the mounting brackets as well as a few Starlights so the next phase can start. haha

 

[cybermech]

I dunno man MOST people have no issues, sometimes when I message him about something he doesn't reply for a couple of days, but I don't sweat it, if enough days pass I message again but I don't try to harass the guy. He's as busy as a hell, sells tons of cameras in big batches, we are competing with places and people who buy 6 starlight ptz's for their house in one shot. Given the alternatives, I feel very happy to have Andy around and if he vanishes I feel like I'll be kinda fucked, aliexpress is a very shady place and it's really nice to know you've got someone who isn't going to screw you, but it's a free market, if you can contact someone else and get what you want faster do it, I don't think it's gonna hurt Andy's feelings, this forum probably doesn't make up a huge percent of his profits lol.

From what I've seen in his posts and all, he's dealing with people all over the world, starting early and up late. Seems like he has mentioned several times going to Hong Kong when talking about sending packages, as well as his travels to / from Dahua. Add all that to his work and all of our pestering (or not pestering) emails, IMs and posts, and that dude is crazy busy. Hats off to him, and I cut him slack, especially since we all want a hot product (at a great price), and we all want it Amazon Prime now. It's taken me 2 months to get about 1/2 of what I need camera wise shipped. One cam 3 weeks ago, and more arriving this week. I'm satisfied.

 

[Mike K]

Well Maybe if Andy is so busy and selling so much product he should hire some help.

 

[beingaware]

Well Maybe if Andy is so busy and selling so much product he should hire some help.

It's a different world over there. haha
They live to work.

 

[beingaware]

Nm

 

[Solar Deity]

I will chime in. From my communication, he doesn't invoice until he has the stock, or knows he can get it from Dahua, which he will tell you it takes an extra 3 days. My 1st purchase was exactly the same time frame as your experience. Lately, as @hmjgriffon posted, it takes 48-36 hours for a response. That's fine with me. I'm not in the professional install business. I just take care of my family, neighbors and friends.

I'm awaiting a $3700 invoice, following it up with another 4K right after that. You're not the only one, but he always responds. I cannot imagine his other customers that we aren't even aware of? Add to that his post yesterday that he is fighting a nasty flu like cold and you may understand. I can tell you this though. He is worth the wait. These Starlights are the hottest cameras going right now, and hard to get, keep in stock and distribute. You will not find better communication and customer service anywhere else, for the prices. If you do, PLEASE let us all know. He replaced a camera free of charge that Griff may or may not have bricked himself. Of course as a pro, you may not have the luxury time frame us privateers have, and there are other vendors out there.

Best of luck @beingaware in whichever way you choose to go. Let us know as well. We all want our cameras yesterday. We are trying to set up an Empiretech Prime service with drone delivery. About a year or two out!

SD

 

[beingaware]

I will chime in. From my communication, he doesn't invoice until he has the stock, or knows he can get it from Dahua, which he will tell you it takes an extra 3 days. My 1st purchase was exactly the same time frame as your experience. Lately, as @hmjgriffon posted, it takes 48-36 hours for a response. That's fine with me. I'm not in the professional install business. I just take care of my family, neighbors and friends.

I'm awaiting a $3700 invoice, following it up with another 4K right after that. You're not the only one, but he always responds. I cannot imagine his other customers that we aren't even aware of? Add to that his post yesterday that he is fighting a nasty flu like cold and you may understand. I can tell you this though. He is worth the wait. These Starlights are the hottest cameras going right now, and hard to get, keep in stock and distribute. You will not find better communication and customer service anywhere else, for the prices. If you do, PLEASE let us all know. He replaced a camera free of charge that Griff may or may not have bricked himself. Of course as a pro, you may not have the luxury time frame us privateers have, and there are other vendors out there.

Best of luck @beingaware in whichever way you choose to go. Let us know as well. We all want or cameras yesterday. We are trying to set up an Empiretech Prime service with drone delivery. About a year or two out!

SD

HAHA, what happens when those Drones get stolen?

Thankfully with projects there is a loooooooooong window so delays aren't too big of an issue.
The biggest issue is making sure you get the right parts for the job.