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Does anyone have any personal experiences shopping at aliexpress.com?

I'm considering buying a bunch of stuff for my bike such as chain cleaning brush, paddock stand spools, etc.

The delivery timelines indicate 60 days which is quite long considering most items arrive from China.

How reliable is the website when it comes to product quality they stock and sell, delivery timelines and complaint resolution?

They don't have an option to pay via paypal so I have to use my credit card.

Thanks in advance for your responses.

Don't do it! Read the global experience of consumers who've been duped by sellers at alixpress here: https://www.trustpilot.com/review/www.aliexpress.com

But on the other hand, I've heard people getting their items in 30-45 days whenever they've ordered anything from reputed sellers. So read all the reviews of the sellers. If there are no or very few reviews, run!

Have bought a LOT from aliexpress. 50+ orders over 1.5 years.

No negative experience yet.

Tips:

1) Buy from a High Rating Seller - High Number of Orders + Good user reviews.

2) Ask questions first. Ask the seller, about colour, is the material genuine, ask for photos. The seller usually is very co operative.

3) Study and understand the buyer protection process. The key is to be communicative and raise disputes well within the time specified, with required proof.

As per my experience, if you play your cards right

1) Parcel is lost - You will get your full money back
2) The goods received are broken - You will get your full money back
3) The goods received are different from the ones ordered - You will get your full/partial money back
4) Goods are advertised as original buy you receive counterfeit - You will get your full money back

I just ordered cases for iPhones in my family. Checked sellers and ratings and purchased from ones who have for eg >10000 ratings
I also used a mechanism that some banks provide, to create one time use credit cards for the payment and ordered in separate orders to avoid any customs issues.
If value is small, go for it. I had ordered an item 2 years ago for someone else valued at 2020 Rs post conversion. That item got stuck in customs and the person had to go pay 600rs in customs duty to release it. Now my recent purchases are still in transit and I do intend purchasing more often from this site but in small quantities and values.

Like AbhiJ says - go with a seller who has highest ratings and number of orders sold. I've ordered only 3 items from AliExpress recently but no negative experience. And all products have been good.

Delivery time for me has varied between 35 days to 60 days.
The product once handed over to the China Post people, you would be provide a tracking number. This tracking number should work after a week of shipping.
Incase it does not locate the shipment after a week of shipping, ask the seller for a re-shipment of the product.

The money refund is only through PayPal account (which I do not have or have any idea how it works). Two sellers had refused to credit back the money to my credit card number, and asked only for PayPal account. Hence instead of asking a refund, ask for a re-shipment. Normally sellers agree to this.

There is a Buyer Protection thing, which is a joke.
There is a timer which keeps ticking and shows the number of days left to ask for a refund.
Funny part is, this timer can be extended unlimited number of times by the seller. :Frustrati

For contacting the seller, go to the order page and post a message (query / complaint / refund / re-ship,etc) to the seller. Normally the seller replies within 12 hours.

Product quality is good. You get what you see in the pictures.
I have got more of decorative stuff (cheap stuff within $10) for my car. Not sure of branded products like car polish, waxes, lubes, etc.

Delivery timelines and complaints are as per my comments in the previous quote.

I agree. Pretty weird. Pay be Credit Card. Refund by PayPal.

I get refunds to my CC. Happened 4-5 times.

Even I got my refund back into my credit card once (one time - when the shipment did not turn up) on Aliexpress. I dont think the seller has anything to do with the return. The money is held by Aliexpress & they return the money back if the order is not fulfilled within the stipulated time after consensus between the seller & the buyer.

Ali does cc refund, PayPal refund,reship lost or damaged products. In fact, they keep tabs on suspicious sellers, and initiate refund if they think a seller is acting out of the ordinary.
I've had products reshipped upto 50$ value.
Only issue with Ali is there is no guarantee when you'll get the stuff.

Have ordered plenty of parts for the car from Aliexpress ranging from 2$ to 100$ over the last 2 years. Some of them OEM, some 3rd party manufacturers. All of the stuff ordered were delivered - China Post takes anywhere from 15 days to 2 months for delivery, Hong Kong Post does it much faster - 10-15 days, FedEx/DHL/UPS the fastest but the most expensive as well.

Never had a bad experience *touchwood* and almost all the sellers I dealt with, were very co-operative with prompt responses. Search this thread - there are a few reviews and user experiences you can read.

Ohh, good to know that they have CC refund also.
My bad luck that those two refund cases, were not handled nicely by the sellers. They simply said that they could refund only through PayPal, or re-ship the product.
They also coaxed me into closing the "Open Dispute", that I had raised.
So I was on their mercy. May be that is why they forced re-shipment and not CC refund.

Again, these two may be one off cases.
But in general AliExpress is good. Best thing is one gets anything and almost everything related to automobiles at reasonable prices.

Thanks everyone for the replies.:thumbs up

Will check out the seller ratings and do my due diligence before buying.

My sister is a frequent buyer. She got dress and shoes for her kids from aliexpress. She didnt complain and was satisfied with the items and received the package in 2-3 weeks. And she is also in Bangalore.

Did anyone notice that many sellers in Amazon are using India post rather than DHL and Fedex (which it was initially). It now takes around a week to deliver the item. I always prefer FK but had to stick to amazon this time as they had a better deal.

Ordered three iPhone cases on 27th Feb. Got the 1st one today. As pictured but the credit card slit looks too small to be able to hold any card. It's worth the money, cost approx 330rs for an iPhone 4 wallet style case.
Yet to receive the other two from another seller. The one I received was through Hong Kong registered post,while the other package yet to arrive is China post. Happy that the logistics worked out well!

Got the remaining two cases today. Exactly as pictured and good stuff.