Aliexpress help – multiple free shipping items from same seller

[Ahura Mazda]

Hi guys,

This maybe a silly question, but I want to buy a bunch of electronic components from Aliexpress (same seller) ranging from a couple of breadboards, a few bags of 100 pieces of caps and diodes to dozens of ICs. The final price is around 35$ and all the items are marked "free shipping". So, final price is just that, no additional fees.

Now, I am worried about the price since I'm sure it weights a bit more than usual, I don't know what to expect, nor do I know where to find that info. My thinking is, airline or postal service in china are probably going to charge additional fee or something and the seller should notify me of that? Also, all the items which are higher than 5$ don't have free shipment, and the shipment price for those is 30$.

It's cainiao super economy shipping method, if it means anything.

Has anyone come across this situation – multiple (quite a lot) free shipping items? Any response would be appreciated. Thank you.

edit: Additional info on price.

[BravoV]

Has anyone come across this situation – multiple (quite a lot) free shipping items? Any response would be appreciated. Thank you.

Yes.

Although I can not comment on your shop, so far after many transactions similar to yours at many other shops at Aliexpress with free shipping never had problem.

[Ahura Mazda]

Thanks for responding. That's good to hear. I've messaged the seller just to make sure, and then I'll make the purchase. Like, every item more than 5$ costs 30$ in shipping which would mean 35$ + 30$ which is a big no.

[Psi]

Most of the time they just send them all as separate items in separate packages.
But sometimes the seller will combine them all in one box if it's easier or cheaper for them.

Keep in mind that in china the government subsidized shipping.  So the seller doesn't care, they just package them up however they need to so it's free. (or almost free).


Sometimes if you buy like 2000 of one item they will ship it as 4 separate packages of 500 to keep the weight correct so it's free.
etc..
It can be a bit confusing if one package arrives before the others do and you think they sent you less than you ordered.


I wouldn't worry about it.

[Ahura Mazda]

That's even gooder to hear. Did not know that.

So I could expect some flexibility from the seller. That's great to hear. I don't mind multiple packages if the case.

Thanks for the reply.

[greenpossum]

The final price at the checkout will show the shipping fee if any before you click Pay. Note that in some situations it may be more worthwhile to buy from another seller even without free shipping because the item prices might be lower and for a small shipping charge for the combined parcel they might use a (slightly) faster or tracked service. For example in a recent purchase I noticed that I could buy up to 6 packs of resistors for the same shipping charge. So I put 6 different values in the cart and was only charged the same shipping charge as one pack. That's why it's possible to spend hours looking at Aliexpress trying to juggle all the factors.

[Ahura Mazda]

Mmm, that's good to keep in mind. Smart indeed. I've spent whole afternoon weighing several sellers, and I eventually locked on one. It may be a good idea to diffuse a bit next time, weight wise, and also for the exact reason you pointed out.

[magic]

I once encountered an offer where free shipping by economic mail was only available for quantity of one.
I placed two orders for one each. They sent both in one economic mail package.

[bingo600]

But sometimes the seller will combine them all in one box if it's easier or cheaper for them.

This can be super annoying , as the combined items might hit the "Customs "Free" limit" 

/Bingo

[magic]

BTW, I have heard that this year, AliExpress, the sellers and/or shipping companies came up with some system for coalescing packages from multiple orders. You order a few items from different vendors and they are combined in China and reach your country as one package. I guess it saves them shipping costs, but not so great for avoiding import fees.

[BravoV]

BTW, I have heard that this year, AliExpress, the sellers and/or shipping companies came up with some system for coalescing packages from multiple orders. You order a few items from different vendors and they are combined in China and reach your country as one package. I guess it saves them shipping costs, but not so great for avoiding import fees.

Yep, forum member Blueskull shared this while ago, forgot where he did that. 

[greenpossum]

IIRC it was a Chinese consolidator forwarder. More useful for amortising the cost of faster shipping for several orders, say for a group of PCB orders.

No "free import limit" here. Aliexpress collects GST for the government. Although not PCB fabs so can get away with no GST because too small for customs to be worth their while.

[westfw]

Quote

I once encountered an offer where free shipping by economic mail was only available for quantity of one.

I've had that happen.
My "guess" is that the government subsidies are for "small packages", and if the total weight/size exceeds the limits of a "small package", the subsidy goes away (or at least goes down), and the actual cost to the vendor goes up.
I've also heard that the US has withdrawn (will withdraw?  Might withdraw?) from the international agreement that made this possible.  My favorite aliexpress vendor now has only "UPS Express" shipping listed as the cheapest option, and that starts at about $60, even for a $1 item :-(
This is very sad, but it's also clear that the US was getting a pretty bad deal with the prior terms.

[Psi]

But sometimes the seller will combine them all in one box if it's easier or cheaper for them.

This can be super annoying , as the combined items might hit the "Customs "Free" limit" 

/Bingo

It's pretty rare that they do it.  It takes extra time for them to match up orders from the same person.
I've only had it happen when I ordered something big/expensive + some small cheap items.

[kjr18]

Shipping consolidation happened twice for me. Both times I ordered a couple of cheap items with slow free shipping and one item with Aliexpress Standard Shipping. After a few days most of my orders got consolidated into one with different shipping number, also Aliexpress Standard Shipping. This way some orders that would take like 3 or 4 months get here in about two or three weeks.

[Psi]

Aliexpress standard shipping is quite different to regular china post.

With aliexpress standard shipping the sellers all ship products to a central place in china where everyone's order gets put into a big pallet and that pallet is couriered to your country.  It is then opened in your country by a mail distribution agent and sent to everyone's local address.

I can see them doing consolidation a lot more in this case, because the mail agent is reshipping locally, which costs money.
Local mail prices are more about physical size than weight compared to air freight

[Ahura Mazda]

So, the seller wrote back: "You will not be charged for all purchases free of freight. Please rest assured."

We'll see how the package turns out in a few weeks.