AliExpress can offer great deals, but it’s also very easy to get scammed, receive a cheap knock-off, or even end up with nothing at all. The search engine isn’t very helpful, often mixing reputable merchants with sketchy ones and real products with junk.

So far, I’ve found the AliUp extension, which seems fairly helpful. I wish there were third-party websites with independent reviews, but I haven’t found anything truly helpful or comprehensive yet.

So, what are your tips for buying on AliExpress or similar platforms?

  • I Cast Fist@programming.dev
    5·
    3 months ago

    Their refund tends to work well, even if the seller tries to convince you to send the piece of shit back to them. Just say “seller will use the item to fraud another customer” when refusing to send it back (if it was an obvious fake thing, like “8tb pendrive”). Ali will almost always side with you

    • m-p{3}@lemmy.ca
      5·
      3 months ago

      Seller once asked me to ship it back, when I told customer support how much it would cost to ship it back (twice the cost of the item itself) they just refunded me.

      • AbackDeckWARLORDEnglish
        1·
        3 months ago

        You have to pay for shipping back? I’ve always had free returns at USPS.

        • m-p{3}@lemmy.ca
          3·
          3 months ago

          Maybe the return situation is different in Canada, or they fixed that issue a while ago (I didn’t have to deal with an item to return since).