How safe is Aliexpress?

[HobGoblyn]

Hi all, I often see Aliexpress mentioned, today I thought I would order a few bits.

Created account, put stuff in my basket, site had the padlock to show it's secure.

It has this padlock right up until I click on my shopping cart, then it comes up as not secure, I checked and it  still said not secure when I went to payment options.

No way I'm entering any payment  details when the page is insecure.

Is this a temporary glitch?  Or is it always like that?

thanks

[Bicurico]

I consider AliExpress secure and I never had any page - especially the payment page - shown as insecure.

However, AliExpress has an issue which I don't like at all. When you place an order it seems that most sellers will start producing whatever you bought. It can take like one month for them to actually ship it. And then another month until it arrives.

A regular order takes 2-3 months to arrive at my door. Ebay normally takes 1 month.

I only buy at AliExpress when the product is not available at Ebay or when I am sure it will go through customs. AliExpress has Europe Priority Shipping where they send the package through some obscure ways so that you don't pay customs.

Regards,
Vitor

[Domagoj T]

I've been their customer for several years and I've never had a problem with security (or at leas I'm not aware I have a problem).
That being said, the site is quite broken. There are login fails, broken links, and they are quite annoying with emails regarding the status of the order. It's not actually spam, it's just that they like to remind you of every stage of the order and if you don't give a rating and mark the shipment received you get several additional emails to remind you that buyer protection period is about to expire.
They do have some things ebay doesn't so, I check them regularly.

[HobGoblyn]

Thanks.

Tried it on both Firefox and Chrome,

pics below

Was only a few little bits like solder mask and a few arduino uno boards

Not going to take the risk, will use Ebay and paypal

[magic]

They also have an annoying tendency to temporary glitches and outages. Sometimes the solution is as simple as trying again next day.

[Adrian_Arg.]

very good +10

[bluey]

Since it is Alibaba, China's largest online retailer, is is as safe as China. It's like the Amazon marketplace without Amazon (being Alibaba but meant for wholesale quantities).

Alipay is in EFTPOS machines at your local shops. Security should be as good as anyone.

I find buying things on Aliexpress a bit like the wild west. Sometimes you get what was advertised, sometimes you don't. Most of the time, if you get the wrong thing they will give you a refund or partial refund. Sometimes they don't. Sometimes the quality is great, sometimes not. Lots of things that are hard to find. Lots of apparently smaller volume sellers trying to make a living. Lots of bait and switch by the smaller shops. Some counterfeits are meant to be frowned on. Lots of ads have photos not of actual items.

Most recently, I got a laptop lithium battery advertised as fitting my computer, but they had the model listing wrong and the plug doesn't fit and the person assessing my claim had no clue and denied my claim despite a photo showing an original battery and the replacement with different plugs

The price is usually very cheap, which is why I persist. Most items take 3-4 weeks, because of slow china post and presume sea freight. Aliexpress preferred shipping seems a bit faster. Some sellers appear to have local warehousing and returns. Aliexpress is miles better than Amazon listings for products shipping ex-china.

My best experience is from factory sellers or official stores with high sales volumes and lots of followers and happy customers. Shops with random numbers seem more fly-by-nighters. in between those extremes I have had good and bad. YMMV.

Some items have free shipping and some have very low price with higher shipping. I figure the higher shipping permits more tax to be collected in china and less GST payable.

[peteb2]

After a very negative experience being completely ripped off over a faulty out of the box USD$150 Hantek 1833C LCR meter i bought using Aliexpress i will never go there again for stuff that has a 3 figure price. The thing took ages & ages to arrive and when it finally turned up it looked decidedly ex-demo stock but worse, the it was truly unreliable at powering up then finally died completely, useless.

Contact with supplier resulted in a standard Jinglish note of take a video and recharge the batteries (that were already checked as fully charged).

With zero further replies as i tried to reach out for a resolution i turned to leaving feedback. The thing had taken so long in shipping that it appeared grounds for negotiation had expired but i kept getting emails saying there was still a window of time that i could. The feedback process is a joke too as their algorithum appears to catch you after running you through all the hoops if you haven't been positive ticking lots of stars then it takes you back to the start and you've wasted your time.

In all this i've learned that if you're gonna buy test gear consider a local TRUSTWORTHY business & KNOWN BRAND who'll provide backup if the unit goes bad (and yes you pay a bit extra). Also, only buy stuff via Aliexpress & similar outfits of this kind if you are happy to kiss the money away as has happened in this case.

In a positive light I now have a couple of juicy LiOn cells though for another project & i won't ever be a fanboy for kit labelled Hantek.

[GromBeestje]

I buy at eBay and AliExpress equally. Some things are only to be found on one or the other.
Some annoying things about AliExpress, it likes to translate stuff (like... a bad quality computer translation), and I have to reset it to English regularly.
But the connection to AliExpress is https, I don't recall seeing issues there.

[bluey]

The thing had taken so long in shipping that it appeared grounds for negotiation had expired but i kept getting emails saying there was still a window of time that i could.

No point negotiating, just need to lodge a dispute ASAP. Window for filing a complaint can't be before you receive the item. Possible to lodge a complaint via chat after other process has been exhausted.

Customer service is terrible compared to Amazon or Conrad, but goods are really cheap if you can figure who are reliable sellers.

Web interface has better complaint/dispute functionality than app.

[bob91343]

I am disappointed with AliExpress.  For stuff that is okay I don't have a problem other than long delay.  But if there is a dispute they string you out for months even if the item is only a dollar.  I decided to put them very low on my procurement list.

And they are not the lowest price in town.  Of course, the highest is Amazon so I gravitate toward ebay.  Ebay claims they have everything but I have found some things they do not sell.  It's not their fault that no sellers are there for those items but it is their fault that they claim everything when it's not true.

Having said all that, my overall experience with ebay and Ali have averaged out positive.  And with Ali disputes I eventually get my refund.  It just takes an unreasonable amount of time.  I have never bought from Amazon due to their high prices.

[bluey]

I have never bought from Amazon due to their high prices.

US manufacturers sell stuff fairly cheap on Amazon (eg 3M respirators, anything 3M), though the exchange rate is hurting ATM. Some european stuff is way cheaper via USA than locally or ex-europe (car parts - Mahle filters). Amazon has good discounts on old stock and damaged packaging esp at US sale time (i have some good stuff for pittance eg metric things that US doesn't want - Mitutoyo measurement, WIKA thermometers and gauges). US mailbox helps for stuff they won't ship OS direct (MyUS is like Aliexpress - cheaper and bearable rather than good).

Since you appear to be in USA, you may not have as much fun getting stuff from Amazon as direct from smaller online stores direct.

[OwO]

If the purchase protection is about to expire and you haven't received the thing, you have to either click extend purchase protection or open a dispute ("item not received").

[Mp3]

I've bought tons of stuff from AliExpress. Maybe i'm lucky, but i've never had to even make a dispute. Then again, i never order with anyone lower than about 90-95% positive feedback.
I've spent a lot of money and placed probably 100's of orders by now.
It's not always cheaper than eBay, but many times it is.
The coupons system makes no sense and is surely designed to let you actually use coupons as infrequently as possible anyway.

To respond to peteb2 who, judging by what he says, im shocked he even considered buying something from an asian seller.
If you feel you have no recourse if you are sold broken stuff other than leaving negative feedback, respectfully, i believe part of the blame is on you for sure.
Anything $100 or more on Aliexpress, i buy with a credit card - regardless of price, note the window for purchase protection as it varies from seller to seller
One should always have adequate purchase protection when buying anything online, that is just common sense, not Aliexpress specific.

[duckduck]

Is this a temporary glitch?  Or is it always like that?

I'm a computer security nut and I've never had any trouble ordering anything there. I've ordered from AliExpress dozens of times. I'm still, um, waiting to actually receive any items that I ordered...

[tooki]

I, too, have ordered from AliExpress many times without issue. Never gotten a security warning (on browsers that definitely would have warned me). Most recent order was placed a day or two ago. (And it already shipped. The claim that vendors only start producing your item after ordering is complete and utter nonsense.)

[BB3553AM]

Hello,

I see two different aspects:

- The security aspect related to the payment. Personally, and that's only my experience I've never had a single issue with payment using my credit card. I've made more than 250 purchases. If you do see a security breach, it might not just be the website but you should consider the complete chain from you operating system, to your web browser (meaning might not be specific t aliexpress). Whatever the situation, in many cases you can pay by paypal and if the amount is small  (< 50$), it is enough security for what you pay.

- What if now the quality or description is not in line with you bought ? In general, if you bring the evidence you can be reimbursed completely. it appears to me that they try to avoid disputes as much as possible either due to internal rating of the seller or as if they were afraid of their reputation. Having worked in a big chinese telecom company, reputation is very important in the chinese culture. I take the example of a rainshower that cost me 250$, it was somehow bent on one corner, not too much but still visible and he accepted either to reimburse me or to send me a new one (he paid the shipping) in order to avoid an official dispute. Otherwise, I won every dispute for which I brought the evidence. For the few cases, where I had to do a dispute it was for matters easy to prove. Very frankly, I did not expect any chinese retail website more in favour of the customer than the seller this much.

Only my experience...

[Lord of nothing]

Amazon

Is a shit hole Company!
The support the spammer and click bait Junky!
I never bought anything from that and I do everything to avoid any "Service" from them!
DIE DIE DIE Amazon (how the German would say)! 

[Moris]

Ordered Microscope. Paid 288usd by bank wire.

After six weeks I got no idea if I will loose this money.
 
- short version of long and very annoying case.

[Psi]

Ordered Microscope. Paid 288usd by bank wire.

After six weeks I got no idea if I will loose this money.
 
- short version of long and very annoying case.

I hope you paid for DHL shipping.  Mainly because it's a delicate optical microscope and EMS is not known for its careful handling of packages.
But also because DHL have their own airplanes.


My one piece of advice is to keep an eye on the purchase protection time. The time until the order will automatically close as complete. Usually 60 days after order.
If you get close to that time and no goods arrived, go to your orders page, click on view detail for the order and then click the "To extend the Buyer Protection for this order, please click here" thing.

As long as the purchase protection has not run out you can open a dispute. So you can extend it until either the goods arrives or you decide they're not coming and you open a dispute.

[Moris]

Thank's for comments psi.

Some more details might help others to get a picture "how secure" Aliexpress is:

- Ordered Microscope. Paid 288usd by bank wire.
- Nothing happens.
- On Aliexpress I see after some time - Order details: The payment received for this order is less than the order total after handling fees were deducted.
- Asked Aliexpress how much is missing. They refused telling me how much they received. The communication was annoyingly weird.
- The order was closed. Then Aliexpress removed "dispute button" and blocked me from any means to contact them in their platform, except the message center where I can contact the seller of the product. But the seller of course has  got no control over this - he has been waiting for my payment.
- Now six week are over and I did not get any refund so far.

[HobGoblyn]

Since my first post, I have tried using them again, got a secure checkout.

6 items ordered, 3 arrived so far, no reason to suspect the others wont.

[Monkeh]

Thank's for comments psi.

Some more details might help others to get a picture "how secure" Aliexpress is:

- Ordered Microscope. Paid 288usd by bank wire.
- Nothing happens.
- On Aliexpress I see after some time - Order details: The payment received for this order is less than the order total after handling fees were deducted.
- Asked Aliexpress how much is missing. They refused telling me how much they received. The communication was annoyingly weird.
- The order was closed. Then Aliexpress removed "dispute button" and blocked me from any means to contact them in their platform, except the message center where I can contact the seller of the product. But the seller of course has  got no control over this - he has been waiting for my payment.
- Now six week are over and I did not get any refund so far.

And you paid such a small sum by direct bank transfer instead of via their standard escrow service why?

[Moris]

@Monkeh. What does "their standard escrow service" mean?

[Monkeh]

@Monkeh. What does "their standard escrow service" mean?

Do I really need to define escrow?

Normally on Aliexpress you pay Aliexpress (well, Alipay) via card. They handle the seller. No special fees, no 'oops it wasn't enough'.

[christopherwatkins]

I have no problems with Aliexpress.

[thm_w]

Yeah no reason to use bank transfer with Aliexpress.
Anyway, seems they gladly refund the purchase even if it is higher value and still in transit:



Seller didn't extend so no options left.

[Moris]

Just looking at complaintsboard and trustpilot you will find about 10'000 complaints about Aliexpress.

[tooki]

Which is probably a vanishingly small number of complaints compared to the number of transactions conducted.

[Bassman59]

Yeah no reason to use bank transfer with Aliexpress.

Here in the US, we can start credit-card chargebacks. American Express and Discover are both great for this.

That item didn't arrive as expected and the seller is not responding? Start the dispute process. Don't think twice, just do it. The amount in dispute doesn't matter. Just do it.

[Moris]

Some more details might help others to get a picture "how secure" Aliexpress is:

- Ordered Microscope. Paid 288usd by bank wire.
- Nothing happens.
- On Aliexpress I see after some time - Order details: The payment received for this order is less than the order total after handling fees were deducted.
- Asked Aliexpress how much is missing. They refused telling me how much they received. The communication was annoyingly weird.
- The order was closed. Then Aliexpress removed "dispute button" and blocked me from any means to contact them in their platform, except the message center where I can contact the seller of the product. But the seller of course has  got no control over this, he has been waiting for my payment.
- Now six week are over and I did not get any refund so far.

[Monkeh]

Some more details might help others to get a picture "how secure" Aliexpress is:

- Ordered Microscope. Paid 288usd by bank wire.
- Nothing happens.
- On Aliexpress I see after some time - Order details: The payment received for this order is less than the order total after handling fees were deducted.
- Asked Aliexpress how much is missing. They refused telling me how much they received. The communication was annoyingly weird.
- The order was closed. Then Aliexpress removed "dispute button" and blocked me from any means to contact them in their platform, except the message center where I can contact the seller of the product. But the seller of course has  got no control over this, he has been waiting for my payment.
- Now six week are over and I did not get any refund so far.

Your story still doesn't add up.

Normal payments on Aliexpress are conducted via their escrow service, by debit or credit card. Other options include Paypal (with additional fee), WebMoney (a Russian service which does not equate to a bank transfer), and Qiwi (see previous).

Who did you pay, how, and why didn't you just use a normal method?

[Moris]

@Monkeh
Aliexpress also offers bank transfer. I filled the payment instruction according their instructions, receiver is Alipay Singapore.
I made hundreds of bank wire payments to other companies without any problem.