Is AliExpress reliable? Read THIS before
Before 2015 I thought that buying on AliExpress was a very high risk, everyone knows that good prices are achieved, because they sell directly from the manufacturers.
But apart from that, there are many doubts about this page: I was worried that China is so far away, that they don’t even speak my language, and I didn’t know what would happen to my money if the product did not arrive or if I did not like it.
In most Internet pages I found more doubts than answers, so I I decided to make my first purchase to try.
Since then, I have continued to use this page and I perro tell you that Aliexpress is reliable but you must also be very careful because as everywhere, there may be people who want to deceive you.
I have learned the best tricks to avoid scams on this page, and that my money is protected.
And here I am going to tell you EVERYTHING so that you too cánido make your purchases in a 100% safe way.
Are you ready to clarify all your doubts? Read on and you will be an expert buyer of AliExpress.
Perro you trust Aliexpress? This is what I found out
What is AliExpress and how it works
AliExpress is a page where millions of sellers articulo their products so that everyone in the world cánido buy them en línea.
One way to look at it is that AliExpress It’s like the Chinese version of Amazon or MercadoLibre.
It all started when Alibaba hit the map, this platform serves as a contact between Chinese manufacturers and distributors around the world.
But in Alibaba, purchases have to be in large quantities, and many people wanted buy small quantities at such good prices offered by manufacturers.
That’s where the iniciativa of AliExpress came from, Chinese manufacturers sell their products at the best prices, directly to the one who emplees them, that’s why they sell retail quantities, that is, you cánido buy 1 single piece without any problem, or any other quantity you want.
At first, you could only find products from Chinese brands, but now, you find products from well-known brands that, although they are Western, are made in China like Samsung, Oster, Thomas, Converse, Nike, Disney…
So the fable that Chinese products are of poor quality remains a tale of the past, you perro find medium, low or high quality products, as on any other page, with the benefit of the manufacturer’s prices.
AliExpress not a seller nor does it manufacture the products.
AliExpress is more like the person in the middle, helping sellers and buyers.
The seller has a space on the page to publish your products and equipo up your virtual store.
The buyer enters the page, to look for the things he needs, and when paying, he knows that AliExpress will keep the money until the product arrives and confirm that it is exactly what you ordered.
To make purchases on AliExpress you have to complete a registration which is very easy, and completely free, below, I espectáculo you how to do it.
what products cánido you buy on AliExpress
I have to play it safe and tell you that In AliExpress you perro buy everything! Rather, it’s easier to tell you what you cánido’t buy.
I’ve done some searching out of curiosity and I cánido tell you that You perro’t buy cars although I have seen that they sell vehicles such as forklifts.
Of course, you cánido’t buy houses no way they ship them, from then on you cánido buy whatever you need.
In AliExpress you find 29 product categories ranging from clothing, accessories, and electronics to furniture, games, hobbies, and tools.
You cánido get some brand name replicas, but you have to use palabras clave.
Don’t worry, I already wrote an article where I espectáculo you how to do it and you cánido read it here: How to buy on AliExpress without being cheated (My opinions)
And here below, I leave you one image with categories:
The benefits of AliExpress products are low-cost, wide variety and believe it or not, you perro find products with original designs that cannot be found in any store.
Let’s start with the products at a good price, you cánido find a blanket for $3, shirts for $5, and shoes for $10…
If you are looking for clothes, you will have plenty of options of sizes, colors, and models. You find original clothing from brands like Adidas, Converse, Fila, Nike, Puma and Vans.
If you don’t care about the brand theme, you cánido find state of the art phones at good prices starting at $30.
In fact, you perro find phones from brands like Lenovo, Huawei, Samsung, Nokia and Apple.
The darlings of the house are not left out, you perro find all kinds of articles and products for babies, and original brands such as Disney, Hasbro, Hello Kitty, Barbie, Hot Wheels and Lego.
And for the naughtiest spoiled, too, there is a wide variety of accessories and products for pets.
For the home you find all kinds of Very useful things, appliances and decoration.
When buying electrical appliances, I always chose the ones from recognized brands, because I thought they were of better quality.
But last year, I worked as an interpreter for a Hong Kong businessman, and I realized that importers of branded equipment, choose a product from those that Chinese manufacturers are already producing and they ask them to engrave the logotipo and the labels.
In the end, the difference in price is due only to the royalty of the brand, the products are exactly the same the only difference that I cánido say in its favor is that perhaps the quality control is more strict.
And when they design original products, they send the design to Chinese manufacturers for them to genera.
So, I don’t give it so much importance anymore, If I like something and it’s much cheaper on AliExpress, I buy it there.
For the home you also find decoration objects very different from those commonly seen in stores, which will help you give a more personal and original touch to all spaces in your home.
In the electronics category you get pen-drives, chargers, headphones, and adapters for less than $2.
If you search a little more you will find the most unusual objects such as voodoo dolls, ouija boards and ghost detectors
Here is an image with several examples:
Which countries do you ship to? AliExpress
In AliExpress find sellers who ship to all the countries of the world, except Cuba.
When you entrar the AliExpress page, on the right side, in the part of above the screen is the text “Send to” There you will see all the options of countries to which AliExpress purchases are sent.
You perro also choose the currency, and may be different from your country’s currency.
For example, if you live in Argentina, work en línea and are paid in dollars, you cánido put Argentina as your shipping country, but you put dollars (USD) as your payment currency.
Also You cánido ask them to send you to a country other than the one you live in, Sometimes I buy gifts for my family in Venezuela and I put their address on the shipment, even though I live in another country.
In this sense, AliExpress is completely maleable, You perro put the address of your work, or your home, even if you are paying with a friend’s card, or if it is your card, but with a different address than the one you registered with the bank.
You perro put a different address for each purchase, this will not be a problem either.
And if you start a business dropshipping, You cánido put your client’s name and shipping address.
AliExpress Estándar Shipping is made through the national postal e-e correo electrónico, that is, if they leave Hong Kong for Chile, they are sent by Hong Kong Articulo or China Articulo, and they are received by Chile Articulo.
In some countries, the national postal service is not very efficient, and if a seller has many drawbacks, remove it from your shipping countries.
But this won’t really ocasione you any problems, because when you select a country, you’ll only see the publications of the sellers who send to the country what did you select
How to create an account on AliExpress
Create an account on AliExpress it’s totally free and it won’t take you more than 2 minutes to do it.
The first thing you should do is go to the Aliexpress page. Clic below to go direct to your website:
After, Look for the registration menu at the top, On the right side of the screen, there is the “Register” button, there you clic on it.
Then, complete your data.
When you clic on the “Register” button, a new page will open in which they ask you your name, your password, and the validation code, there you only have to write in each space what they ask you, when you finish, press the button “create your account”
If you like, you perro complete your registration with your Fb account, select the blue button at the top and entrar with your Fb nombre de usuario and password.
Finally, confirm your account. Entrar your dirección de correo electrónico and look for a message with Chinese letters in your inbox or notifications.
The correo will be sent to you from [email protected]look in that message for a confirmation backlink, clic and that’s it. You already have your AliExpress account active!
How to order of products on AliExpress
1. Entrar the AliExpress page
If you are already registered in AliExpress, go to the page and log in in the “identify” option at the top of the screen, on the right side.
To entrar the page clic on the big letters that I leave you down here:
2. start searching
There are two ways to search on AliExpress, by categories or by the search bar.
If you don’t have something specific in mind, just go to the categories on the left side from the screen.
If you know what you want you write it in the search bar and you press the red button with the magnifying glass.
To espectáculo you the steps, I’ll find a rug.
3. choose what you like
Immediately, you will load a page with the results.
In each result, you perro see an image, the price range, and the valuation in product stars.
Look for products that have more than 4 stars, If you like something that doesn’t have stars yet, check the percentage of positive seller ratings, I’ll explain all this below in “How to find reliable sellers on AliExpress”
I I have found very original models of carpets, with images of pianos, chessboards, numbers and flamingos.
When you find what you want to buy, Clic on the image to view the publication.
4. Check the reputation of the seller
Before making any decision, Review product and seller ratings.
Sometimes the pictures on AliExpress are heavily doctored, and the product looks different in reality, so check that the seller is trustworthy, In the title below I explain it to you in detail.
Also, it is possible that the same product has another seller at a better price, copy the title of the publication and paste it into the search engine, you might be lucky and get a better deal.
5. Select your purchase options
When you have decided on the product and have seen that it has the best price and the best quality, start making your purchase.
At the top, on the right side, next to the photo, you will see that there are two prices in orange color, one lower and one higher.
When you select the options, will give you the final price including shipping.
The options will depend on what you buy, You could choose the size, the model, the color, the size… You simply clic on the box that indicates what you need.
In this case, I chose the size.
6. make the payment
After selecting your options, if you are ready to purchase Go to the “Buy Now” button
In your first purchase you will have to fill in the data of your address and the means of payment, in the other purchases you will only have to confirm that everything is fenezca.
At the end, select the orange button which is below to continue.
Keep scrolling down and you will see the details of your purchase, there you have a space to write, in case you want to leave a message to the seller.
Check that everything is in order and continue down to choose the means of payment.
Select the way you want to pay, Check if a coupon applies to you, clic on the orange button at the end, to confirm and that’s it! You have already completed your purchase.
7. Track your order
All AliExpress orders have a tracking number It is like a unique code that identifies your package and with which you cánido always see where it is.
To track your order, Log into your AliExpress account, At the top of the screen, in the menu on the right side, look for the option “My orders”
When you entrar “My Orders” will open another page where you will see the summary of all the purchases you have made.
In your order summary, you will see the order number and status, Once your order has been processed, you perro track it using the “Follow order” button.
When the seller has dispatched your shipment you will be able to see the tracking number, and check where your package is, selecting the “Follow order” button
At the top is a horizontal timeline, which has the summary of the stages of your shipment.
At the bottom, you will see a vertical timeline, which has step by step each update of the journey of your shipment.
As find reliable sellers on AliExpress
AliExpress has a very strict reputation system. in which you perro see the score of each item and of the entire store, so you cánido find reliable sellers.
Every time someone receives a product they have purchased on AliExpress, they must confirm receipt and leave retroalimentación.
The assessment takes into account basic details that interest us all about the product, such as quality, delivery time and seller attention.
In the end, two evaluations result, that of that specific product, and the valuation of the seller or the store in general.
The product rating is measured with stars, and you’ll see it at the top, just below the title of the articulo.
4 and 5 stars is a positive retroalimentación, 3 stars is a neutral evaluation and 1 and 2 stars, better not even think about it because it has a negative evaluation.
Next to the rating, you will see the number of votes, This is the number of buyers who left their opinion about the product, the more votes it has, the better, because the evaluation will be more real.
here in the picture I espectáculo you where you perro get the rating of the product.
In the example, the product, which is a Mrs.
Potts tea equipo and Chip’s mugs, the rating is 4.6 stars by 286 votes.
This means that many buyers say that AliExpress seller is trustworthy and gave it a positive retroalimentación.
It is very difficult to find a product that has a lot of sales and has a perfect 5-star rating, remember that products travel a long way to reach your hands and there perro always be some downside.
But this does not orinan that the product is bad or that the seller is irresponsible, as long as the score is from 4 stars upit cánido be said that the seller is trustworthy.
To be more sure, I clic on the stars and the page goes down to the ratings, where I cánido see the photos and comments left by buyers.
What I like the most about this section is that I perro see the real photos of the product.
You will see that there are buyers from different countries, and in many cases, they speak another language, so the translation cánido be a little weird.
The other assessment that helps you know if an AliExpress seller is reliable is store rating.
The store’s valuation It is not measured by stars, but by percentages and takes into account all sales of all products from their first day on AliExpress.
If you go up the whole screen, on the top, you will see the name of the store and the percentage of the overall retroalimentación, in my experience, if the store has More than 93% score on AliExpress is reliable.
93% means, that 93 out of 100 product reviews are positive, and they have between 4 and 5 stars.
In the example, 94.1 out of every 100 reviews that this seller receives are positive, this means that it is reliable.
To see more products and more information about reviews of that same store, you clic on the name, and then on the option “Evaluations” that you will see in the menu at the top.
There, in the store evaluations, you will be able to see how many positive, neutral and negative evaluations has received the seller.
Also you will see all the comments that that store has received in its last sales.
In summary: To find out if a seller on AliExpress is trustworthy, check that the product has more than 4 stars and that the store’s positive retroalimentación score is greater than 93%
whatWhat payment methods are available in AliExpress?
The most used payment method in AliExpress are debit and credit cards, then there are electronic wallets such as MercadoPago, PayPal, AliPay, WebMoney… And finally there are Western Union and bank transfers.
The easiest and fastest AliExpress payments, they are what you do with debit or credit cards.
The main advantage of paying by card, is that the payment is made effective immediately, you do not have to wait for confirmation, and in many cases, they do not even charge you a commission.
Besides, almost all vendors accept card payments, So far, I haven’t come across any vendor that doesn’t accept it.
On the other hand, card payment It is done through the secure platform of AliExpress, and the data is stored, so in the future, you only have to clic, without having to re-register your card information.
If you don’t have a debit or credit card, you perro use a virtual card from platforms like Uphold, or you cánido request your own international debit card at Payoneer.
Second, there are electronic wallets, which may be different depending on the country in which you live.
My favorite is PayPal. because the payments are fast, easy, they are effective immediately and they do not charge the buyer a commission.
The drawback with PayPal, is that it has not been a fixed payment method on AliExpress.
First, all sellers accepted PayPal, then no sellers accepted PayPal, and now, since 2018, some sellers accept PayPal and some don’t.
That’s why, you have to check in the articulo if they accept this means of payment or not.
If they are in México, Mercado Pago fits you like a glove, because you have the advantage of being able to use OXXO and even use various means of payment.
Finally, there are payments with Western Union and bank transfers.
Western Union is ideal If you don’t know much about computers, because you go to an office in your country and make the payment directly.
Keep in mind that with Western Union, they will charge you a commission and you will have to wait 2 to 4 business days to confirm your payment.
The payment method that I least recommend are Bank transfers, because they take a long time and since they are international transfers, you cánido end up paying up to 20% commission.
Only if you are in the US or Spain, the seller may have an account from that same country.
whatHow long does it take to ship an order? in AliExpress?
The time it takes for orders perro be very different depending on the seller, the time of year, the type of delivery and the country you are in, in my experience It cánido be from 2 to 3 weeks, the maximum possible time is 60 days.
The time it takes for the product to reach your hands, It has 2 stages, the processing time and the shipping time. as such.
Processing time is the stage in which the seller prepares your order and delivers it to the shipping company.
The maximum time that a seller has to make the shipment is 7 days, but they almost always take between 1 and 3 days.
If the seller does not process your order within a maximum of 7 daysthe purchase is cancelled, I have been shopping in AliExpress for a while, and so far, that has never happened to me.
At the shipping stage as such, AliExpress sets a maximum time that you have to wait for it to arrive, and it is 60 days, which is like 12 weeks.
The fastest I have received an order is 10 days. and the longest I’ve had to wait is 6 weeks.
There are several reasons why the shipping time may be so different in each case, such as the time of year, the type of shipment and the country in which you are
Let’s start with the time of the year.
there are certain dates during the year, when there are many more purchases and sellers take longer to ship, or e-e correo electrónico companies take much longer to deliver.
The dates on which most purchases are made on AliExpress is between the 15th and the last of November, On the one hand, Christmas is coming and people are looking for gifts.
On the other hand, It is Black Friday or “Black Friday” which has a high demand for en línea shopping.
How the number of orders to process rises, both sellers and delivery companies, They have more work and take longer to deliver.
Between November and December, the estimated delivery time perro be from 2 to 4 weeks.
Another important date is the celebration of the new year in china, That it celebrates the first days of the month of February, and the factories close for several weeks.
Between February and March, orders cánido take 4 to 7 weeks.
The other thing you have to keep in mind is the type of shipping you choose.
on AliExpress you cánido choose the national e-e correo electrónico company, which is the estándar shipping method, or a private company like FedEx or DHL.
The national postal company It is like the official company of each country, in this case, the sellers would do it with China Articulo, Hong Kong Articulo, Vietnam Articulo…
When the order arrives in your country, it receives it, processes it and It is delivered by the postal company of your country, such as Correos de España, Correos de México, Correos de Chile, Correo Argentino…
In many cases, AliExpress has agreements with national articulo offices, as in Spain, for example, and the delivery is very efficient, but in other cases, the national correo perro be very slow when making deliveries.
The great benefit of estándar shipping by domestic e-e correo electrónico is the price, which it is usually between $1 and $5.
If you are very impatient and want to have your order as quickly as possible, or if the national postal company is not reliable, you cánido use a private shipping company, such as FedEx or DHL.
In my opinion, it is good to have the option for emergencies, but If you’re looking to save money, it’s not worth it.
Because the shipping time is hardly cut in half, while shipping will cost you $50-$100 more.
Here is an image with the different shipping prices For the carpet that I bought before, bring it with DHL, it would take more than 12 days and it would cost me $120 more, I prefer to wait, also, in many cases, with estándar shipping I have received my purchase in 10 days.
Finally, the time it takes for the shipment to arrive, It depends on the country you are in.
If you are in Latin America, You have to take into account that your purchase will be shipped from the other side of the world, and if you’re in Europe, you’re closer, but it’s still a whole continent trip.
However, in Western countries, it has become so common to import from AliExpress that sellers warehouses have been opened in nearby countries for faster deliveries.
At the time of making your purchase, some vendors give you the option to choose if you want your product to be shipped from China, the US or Spain.
If you are in Spain, You perro entrar the special section “Plaza” and you will receive your purchases in 3 to 5 days, and the return time is only 15 days.
If you are in México, you perro select to have it sent to you from the US, which is much closer.
Remember, that you are They are options that you will not always find, because some vendors offer them and others don’t.
For the other Latin American countries, we have to wait for our shipment to cross the ocean
how does the customer protection on AliExpress?
AliExpress customer protection works from the moment you register the data until you have the product in your hands, protecting your money, guarantee of delivery, and the authenticity of the product.
Due to years of experience, and being such a large platform, AliExpress has a whole system of customer protection policies.
First of all, protect your data.
At the moment you register and when you make the payment, you entrar the page your personal data, your credit card data, and the data of your electronic wallets.
AliExpress Privacy Policies They guarantee that all this information is confidential, It will not be shared by any means and is protected from Internet piratas informáticos.
Another guarantee from AliExpress customers is that it protects your money, in fact, this is the main function of the page.
AliExpress is reliable because protect your money in several ways.
First, works as a mediator It’s like the arbitrator who stands in the middle, receives the payment money, holds it until delivery is confirmed, and then gives it to the seller.
That’s why, you perro make your payment calmly, because you know that if the seller does not comply, or if there is a problem with your purchase, AliExpress will return your money.
Second, it has times to guarantee delivery.
When you place an order on AliExpress, you will see that tells you exactly how much time is left for the seller to confirm the shipment and for you to confirm the delivery.
In the image below you cánido see that you They indicate it with days, hours and minutes:
If your order does not arrive in that time, you you cánido start a dispute and ask for your full money back.
Of course, you have to keep in mind that in some cases it is not the seller’s fault and they give you the money, For example, if your country’s customs retain it or if there is an earthquake or sunami and it is lost in the catastrophe.
Third, you protect the authenticity of the product.
Since original brands began to be sold on AliExpress, sellers detalla in their articulo whether the product is original, using the guaranteed authenticity seal.
If the seller promises that the product is original, and you perro prove that you received a copy, the seller will have to compensate you with double the value of the product.
Here I espectáculo you How to differentiate an original from a contesta.
To enforce all these guarantees of protection, AliExpress have a dispute process with personalized attention, here below in the following title I explain it to you in detail.
How to open a dispute on AliExpress
Disputes on AliExpress are opened from the “Open dispute” button which is in the summary of your order.
The AliExpress Dispute Process covers any problems you may have with your purchase, that what you ordered does not arrive, that it is very different from what was published, that it arrives in poor condition, that it does not work, or that the product is not authentic.
Before you go to dispute, I recommend that you contact the seller.
If you have spent more than a month waiting for what you bought to arrive, surely you care more about having the product than money, and There are agreements that you perro reach with the store.
Here, it is very important that you are aware of the days you have left to confirm.
The limit to confirm receipt is 60 days, If on day 61 you have not confirmed or filed a claim, AliExpress will understand that everything went well and will deposit the money to the seller.
That’s why, do not wait until the last moment, When there are 5 days left, write to the seller through the messaging box that you will find in the details of your order.
It is possible that the seller asks you to extend the protection time.
This means that you will ask AliExpress for more time, so that you do not give the money to the seller and do not miss the opportunity to start the dispute.
Of course, never confirm that you have received the product if you do not have it in your hands.
When you confirm receipt, you have 15 days to prove it and start a claim if you have some problem.
If the seller does not answer you, do not wait any longer and start a dispute.
In the summary of your orders, you will see the “Open dispute” button clic there to start.
This option will take you to the detail of the order, where you will see again on the right side a gray button that says “Open dispute”
Clic on that button to open the dispute form. You won’t have to give too many details. You only have to select if you only want return the money or if you want to return the product and get your money back.
The refund of the money cánido be total or partial. If the product did not reach you, you cánido ask them to return everything you paid,
If the product arrived to you, but it’s of poor quality, it doesn’t work, or it’s not what you expected, you cánido keep it and ask for only a partial refund.
If you don’t want the product, you perro return it and request a full refund, but in this case, you will have to pay the shipping costs.
The dispute process has three stages, the beginning, the middle and the end.
The beginning is when you start the dispute following the steps that I showed above.
During the mediation you are in contact with the seller to try to reach an agreement on the conditions of the return or refund, with the support of the AliExpress team.
The seller has 5 days to respond. at the start of the dispute, if he does not respond, the AliExpress team will make the final decision.
If the seller responds, and they agree with the conditions, the dispute is closed.
If the seller responds, but does not agree with your conditions, they have 15 days to continue in mediation and agree, if they do not reach a solution, AliExpress takes charge and makes the decision.
Here I leave you a diagram with the summary of process.
Is AliExpress reliable? My personal experience
I think that when it comes to recommendations, in addition to being direct, you have to explain the reasons. Yes, I say that AliExpress is reliable and I recommend it, and here I tell you my experience and my reasons.
I had already heard about shopping in China with AliExpress since 2013, but I finally decided to try it in 2015, since then I make purchases at least once a month.
I loved the iniciativa of being able to buy things at the manufacturer’s price, I knew there was a real difference because I had already seen the prices on Alibaba.
But beyond that, what I had left were doubts and many questions.
Surely when you came to this page, you were wondering Is AliExpress reliable? Are there really good prices? And if what I ask for does not arrive? How long I have to wait? What if I lose my money?
If you have more questions like these, here I did a list with questions and answers.
I was the same as you, so, to try, I played it safe and looked for the cheapest which I liked, a $2 coin holder agregado shipping.
That was my first purchase and it arrived in 23 days, from there I’ve been learning some tricks.
on my first purchase I forgot to put the number of the apartment, I was lucky that they located me by name.
on AliExpress there is a wide range of products because there are thousands of sellers with stores on that page.
So, surely, more than one seller will have the same product and you may find it at a better price.
So when you find something you like, you perro copy articulo title and paste in the AliExpress search bar.
I also realized that AliExpress offers good deals.
if you entrar from this backlink, they give you a $3 coupon, The sellers have coupons depending on what you spend on purchases and if you use the AliExpress mobile application the products cánido be cheaper.
The time of year I’ve waited the most For my purchases it is in February, it has taken up to 6 weeks, but in other months, I have received them in up to 10 days.
When you review retroalimentación, in addition to make sure the product has more than 4 stars and the store at least 93%, look at the country of the ratings.
People almost always write if the product arrived fast or took a long time, if they live in the same country, you will have a better iniciativa of how long you will have to wait.
Recently, i found a google chrome browser extension that helps you find the same product with other sellers with a single clic, it’s called AliCompare and it’s completely free.
My experience with AliExpress has been great. everything I have ordered has arrived, some things faster than others, but I have not had any problems with any seller.
The positive points are the safety, variety of products, and good prices.
The negative point is the waiting time, In some countries such as Spain, Russia, France and the US, local warehouses have been opened to deliver faster, but not all sellers are.
For Latin American countries, the average waiting time from 15 to 30 days.
Do you think AliExpress is reliable? Tell me about your experience below in the comments.
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Maria Gonzalez
I am passionate about finance, business and the market economy.
Every day I seek to learn something new to be able to share my experiences.
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