Thanks for the recommendation, I took a punt on 20 chips from them. I still see it as high risk of course.
https://www.aliexpress.com/store/4963020I've only started using Ali Ex in the last year, just a dozen or so orders, but so far it's so-so. What I receive rarely matches the photos, they just mean 'here is a picture of something sort of like what you might get'. I get the impression a lot of sellers have no stock and just pop down to the shenzen market as needed to fulfill orders. What you get depends on what's in the market that day at the cheapest price
Maybe we should have a forum thread to report on Ali Ex IC vendors to find the more reliable ones?
I'm still looking for chips that have been sourced through western vendors if anybody here has spare.