What made you get it from aliexpress.com seller instead of U.S. seller?

[JohnnyBeGood]

Howdy,

I was wondering since all of you are flashing the firmware to English from Chinese, what made you buy from seller outside U.S. ?

TIA

 

[icerabbit]

Ordered from abroad due to price.

I wanted to test with a couple cameras and do a self install. Finding a happy medium between mainstream cheap-ish analog kit solutions that don't have enough resolution to work in my situation, and, A-brand commercial gear that costs an arm and a leg. Figured if it didn't work out, I'd be out of less money going the direct abroad order price, when you save 1/3 on the cost of a camera.

Have not flashed anything yet or touched any firmware. I make sure that the seller knows I'm in the US and want the camera to operate in English out of the box. I don't know whether my cam is CN or EN. Whether they do the flashing. Or what.

 

[vector18]

When I order from China, they send me NTSC and English firmware. And I only purchase big items or bulk items that allow me to save alot of money rather than just 50bucks for just one camera.

 

[JohnnyBeGood]

Thanks for the replies!

My budget is [FONT=Lucida Grande, Trebuchet MS, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]$150-190 and was thinking to go with Hikvision DS-2CD2032-I as it seems popular around here. There its around $93 and I figured if I would buy I would take the risk and buy it without warranty because it would not make sense to ship it back.[/FONT]
[FONT=Lucida Grande, Trebuchet MS, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]One part that I do not understand is about firmware versions, English vs. Chinise. Some say they get English and some Chinese. I'm familiar with updating firmware so I guess I could update it to English if needed.[/FONT]

 

[janbo]

Shipping to China will cost about $15.00.

 

[Naphcon]

$15 using what method? I'd say about 40 bucks

 

[dalepa]

$15 using what method? I'd say about 40 bucks

More like $80 for me...

 

[janbo]

Go to USPS and pick F.C. that will allow you to ship 16oz for that price.

 

[networkcameracritic]

First, the camera weighs more than 1 lbs, more like 1.5 LB, second, if you don't use tracking, you risk that nobody admits to getting it and Ali or Paypal require that you ship the item back with tracking. $50 for priority mail with insurance and tracking as F.C. as you put does not have a tracking option in China like it does in the U.S.

 

[janbo]

The Hikvison weighs 1.1 ibs and shipping is $16.20. Have been buying and selling to China over 5 years. You may be right about how far the tracking goes into China but for the items shipped back they always ask for a tracking number and once you send them that seems to be good enough for them do do a refund or replace the item. If you ship the item back most of the time you will be ask to put a value of $20 on it. I never ship priority mail as cost is high and never had a problem shipping 1st class. China seems able to ship at a very low price was told they use H.K. and somehow this is at a lower price.

 

[catseyenu]

The Hikvison weighs 1.1 ibs and shipping is $16.20. Have been buying and selling to China over 5 years. You may be right about how far the tracking goes into China but for the items shipped back they always ask for a tracking number and once you send them that seems to be good enough for them do do a refund or replace the item. If you ship the item back most of the time you will be ask to put a value of $20 on it. I never ship priority mail as cost is high and never had a problem shipping 1st class. China seems able to ship at a very low price was told they use H.K. and somehow this is at a lower price.

How do you get tracking?

 

[janbo]

I use click & Ship, Ebay and Paypal to make my shipping labels. All of them after you pay and print the label will give you a tracking number.

 

[zeoclang]

I recently purchased a Hikvision DS-2CD2532F-IS from an Aliexpress vendor. It was at approximately $65 cheaper there compared to US seller pricing. I wouldn't mind paying $20 more to get it locally but to save $65 I am willing to take the risks. I have probably bought hundred of items and saved thousands of dollars over many years of purchasing things online from domestic and international sellers. I still come out ahead overall if I have to eat the return shipping costs occasionally.

 

[drewconner]

How are you guys paying for them at aliexpress? I have tried using multiple Visa cards, but they keep asking that I send them copies of my ID, card, and bank statement. No way I am going to do that.

 

[JohnnyBeGood]

How are you guys paying for them at aliexpress? I have tried using multiple Visa cards, but they keep asking that I send them copies of my ID, card, and bank statement. No way I am going to do that.

When I was buying mine I PM'ed the seller and asked if they accept PayPal. They emailed me invoice and I paid, after 6 days I had my camera on my porch delivered as described w/ English menu.

 

[catseyenu]

How are you guys paying for them at aliexpress? I have tried using multiple Visa cards, but they keep asking that I send them copies of my ID, card, and bank statement. No way I am going to do that.

Which vendor is this?
I have not run into this with CCTV Camera China.
http://www.aliexpress.com/store/638300

 

[icerabbit]

Credit card payments with US based CC.
No other documentation required.

It has been a bit of a hassle though as their system only is setup for a shipping adress. So when they push the payment request through, it does so with the shipping ZIP code. If you use a separate shipping and billing address ... denied. My CC company knows my aliexpress purchases have been legit, but the automated systems just keep considering it fraud due to the zip code mismatch. So then you have to resubmit the order with a live CC fraud department agent on the line to temporarily suspend the fraud filter or correct the zip code issue somehow.

I've stressed this shortcoming a few times with Aliexpress, and I think, or I should say hope, I got that issue through to the right department last week. It took a little back & forth to get them to understand I'm not going to go through the above process for every order. I'm sure earlier comments were just lost in translation evidenced by some of the basic help you get back when you try to raise the issue, when they talk about adding or changing your shipping address when you ask about a billing address. Then they say it is my bank's fault. Not! But I think (hope) with a couple concrete examples and references to other shopping sites, they finally understood my problem.

Anyway.

Credit Card payment. If your billing and shipping address match, should be simple (no zip code mismatch).
But the CC company may flag it as a fraudulent overseas purchase, if it is the first time you buy there.

I have seen other online wholesale merchant sites though that require extra documentation as you describe to be able to order in large quantities. Where there's a minimum order of 50-100-500-1000 or so of whatever item. Did not think that was the case with Aliexpress.

 

[digger11]

How are you guys paying for them at aliexpress? I have tried using multiple Visa cards, but they keep asking that I send them copies of my ID, card, and bank statement. No way I am going to do that.

I am using a Visa card that I don't use for anything else. The card provider allows me to set up alerts on transactions over a particular dollar amount, and for more than x number of transactions in y number of days. No problems with fraudulent activity so far.

Payment goes to Aliexpress and is held in escrow once an order is placed, and only released to the seller after I confirm receipt of the item. I was not asked for the additional info you have been asked for, and wouldn't advise providing it. If it is a seller that is asking for the info, report them to Aliexpress.

 

[vector18]

I send a direct wire from my bank account. It's the chance you take for much better prices than buying from someone in the US

 

[zeoclang]

Don't know what you are paying for at alie, but we sell that model for $199 locally at wholesale...

$153