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I have just started to buy from Ali Express. Orders placed for about US$330. TPMS, Dash cams, Samsung Micro SD cards. Will post what transpires along with links. I used a credit card and had no problems. There was no verification also which is what was surprising from the bank which otherwise does send a PIN.

Hi Dileep. I’ve ordered a product for my bike worth 10k. Will I have to pay up customs? If yes? How and when will I be notified of it? Pls guide me as I’m a bit concerned as I’m waiting for this product to reach me quite enthusiastically.

Yes you are right there is no verification from bank, it is a quite risky thing as I have also purchased from Aliexpress. When we pay payment there is no filling in for card password or OTP etc. The payment gets deducted when you press ok after entering card details. The same thing I have seen on other international bill payments. Means at these your cards can be misused by some other person.

I believe that's the case with all international websites. Once you enter your card details and click on the Pay option - the payment goes through. No OTP is generated on international transactions. I realised this when I used my card the first time on a Japanese website (webike Japan) to purchase engine guards for my Z800. The payment went through - but there was no OTP generated. Called up the bank and they confirmed that it wouldn't be generated. I believe the OTP thing is an Indian or an RBI mandate and not a mandate in any other country.

A somewhat lower "risk" of buying from Aliexpress is receiving damaged goods. It can either because of

1) Poor packing by the seller or mishandling during transit - As in this case , my latest order. The seller packed it very poorly with almost no protection for the product. The result- damage to the acrylic casing. The seller accepted his mistake an offered to give me a USD 5 coupon for the next purchase and promised he will take care in the future orders. I was ok with it because there was no damage to the model itself, just damage to the outer casing. If the model was damaged beyond repair, I would have asked for a full refund.








There was just that plastic outer cover and nothing to protect the product and that's the primary reason for transit damage. Usually other sellers use good and strong inner cardboard packing for the model, to protect it from damage during transit, but this seller used nothing , probably to save on shipping charges.


OR

2) Damage by customs(purposeful or otherwise) if they open it for inspection. There was one occasion where I received an aircraft scale model with very bad damage. The box itself had a an "Opened by Customs" seal or something like that and was shabbily packed/resealed with packing tape. While the seller's outer packing was still intact it was clearly opened by customs. On opening it, I found the model had broken gear struts, wheels and tail fin broken. One of the broken wheels and missile was actually stuck on the resealing tape used by the customs!!!! To me it was clear that the damage was done at Customs, either on purpose or by sheer negligence during inspection, and not in transit.

I have been buying quite a few items from Aliexpress for my cars. I have bought a RCD 340 Multimedia system for the Polo, A Handrest and Fuse Taps for the Jazz and a Mirror mounted Dashcam for the XUV500.


The shopping experience has largely been positive barring a singular case of a set of DRLs for the Jazz which didn't arrive on time and when it finally did so after four months, it was for a Ciaz instead of the Jazz. The seller did refund the amount paid when the package didn't reach in the stipulated time frame. No issues on reliability or working of the items. I have paid custom duty on most of the purchases.



My observation based on experience is that items purchased from official or manufacturers stores are packed better and shipped through reliable means. The communication with sellers hasn't been an issue. They have been prompt with their responses.

Word of advise
Please do not buy anything for time being from AliExpress / Any other stores that’s situation / orders originating from China due to a recent outbreak as per news article. Thought I’d share this as the mode of transportation of this virus is still unknown at this point. Please be cautious or vigilant of the fact of the order you’re placing with the store & the country it’s associated to.

https://m.timesofindia.com/india/ind...w/73379424.cms

@Mods
See if this can be flashed to wider audience through your broadcast for the well-being.

With recent changes about import duty on gifts, All parcels will be charged 78% import duty ( 35 % Duty + 28% GST + some surcharge ). This is seen as big impact for cost of import.

I agree we should pay some duty for such imports, but 78% is simply not justified. There are lot of things which are not available in India and importing them will be lot costlier henceforth.

Many years ago when I used to import regularly from the US, UK & rest of Europe while building my audio rack, I was surprised to learn that gifts and samples fell into the highest customs slab. With some amount of research, I found it is best to classify electronics equipment simply for what it is, in which case the customs duty was as low as 10%.

Back then I found that most Indians would classify almost everything as a gift or sample because they thought how can anyone charge customs on something with a notional value of zero?

I though we need Import-Export license for this. If not then, how do we classify these items, how do we instruct to E-Commerce seller to put correct HSN code?

Well, according to WHO there is no issue in accepting shipments from China.



Source: WHO

As mentioned before, I did this many years back and I am not familiar with current procedures.

Back then, trans-shippers like Borderlinx would let me classify the items correctly through their website. The items would then land at my doorstep customs pre-paid.

A couple times I bought electronics components from a seller in Estonia (E.U.) which he dispatched through registered post for which I ended up paying 20% customs duty (This was pre-GST). Same from the Netherlands. Same with cosmetics items shipped from Hong Kong much more recenly for which the customs duty was not too high (I don't remember exactly). I would always insist that the seller mention the items as-is on the shipping manifest and never mention sample or gift.

Only once in the case of FedEx I had to pay the highest rate as they mentioned gift in the customs documentation at Bangalore Airport. I stopped using FedEx after that.

Iam curious to know, if anyone has received any packages from Aliexpress since the Corona virus outbreak.
Wondering, whether I should place orders on Aliexpress.

@Happysmiles, Just got a package after the stipulated 50 odd day protection period. Things have been slow, also seen by my neighbor

Apparently the virus can be lethal for up to 9 days. So a late arriving package is actually good for the time being.