Surely, B2B is zero-VAT (and zero-duty) at all invoice values. I do this in my business all the time.
The UK VAT collection rules (£35 to £135 band) are for B2C (customer is a retail consumer). It is a totally dumb cock and bull scheme which I predict will eventually collapse because
- most mainland European retail online outlets have stopped selling to the UK at all invoice values
- the workaround is to sell via a platform which does it for you (Amazon and Ebay - both deeply unsatisfactory for various reasons)
- if the seller "just ships" the item, it still gets delivered to the customer (and import VAT is collected, with the usual ripoff surcharge)
It is not just EU sellers BTW. It is US and others as well.
That some sellers don't supply a decent invoice, has always been a problem, especially with sellers in the 3rd World (China, etc); many of those businesses are fake companies anyway, run for tax evasion.
I have not used Aliexpress much so don't know... I would expect them to implement it same as Ebay.