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What are your best tips for finding quality stuff on AliExpress and similar?

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?

Tolstoy ,
@Tolstoy@lemmy.world avatar

I try look for higher sold numbers and review amount. Than looking for the sellers rating and also numbers.

A lot of brands have official AliExpress shops which you can reach via their website.

On the other side, get yourself a limit you’re comfortable to “lose” and buy expensive stuff locally.

sping ,

The sort option by “orders” is good for this. Far from infallible but still useful.

SolacefromSilence ,

I do the same by sorting by 'orders' and looking for better reviews. Also I usually select 'choice' shipping, so I don't have to play so many games with x seller has a price of $6 with shipping for $3, while y has a price of $4 with shipping for $7.

meldrik ,

There’s plenty of official stores on Ali and a rule of thumb is to stay away from “no name” products and products that are obvious copies of other brands.

tehmics ,

Counterfeit products are the main reason I’d ever shop ali

ChaoticNeutralCzech ,

Sometimes, counterfeits or unknown brands are so similar to the real deal that it barely matters. I’d say that basic electronics (alarm clocks, kitchen scales, calculators, SD security cams) or even RAM is fine. With appropriate expectations, parts like video or USB cables, hubs etc., small home improvement items (hooks, screws) are fine too. Avoid categories where a lot of items have fake specs (storage devices, LED bulbs, anything that claims a runtime on a Li-Ion battery). Power electronics (especially if using mains or non-tiny Li-Ion batteries) can be downright dangerous. For novelty items and electronics modules, it’s usually easy to find text or video reviews on other websites because they’re easy to uniquely describe. Remember to consider ways in which the product can be utter crap despite high reviews citing good first impressions; it also helps to have practical knowledge of testing the properties of the items and fixing common issues.

sping ,

Avoid categories where a lot of items have fake specs (storage devices, LED bulbs, anything that claims a runtime on a Li-Ion battery)

I’d say be aware rather than avoid. E.g I bought a $10 camping lantern that claimed 2.5 times its true capacity, but it still runs for hours and is a great, well designed, if flimsy, product for the price.

ChaoticNeutralCzech , (edited )

Well, depends on how much you’re OK with some problems. I knowingly bought a “2 TB (64 GB Extended)” flash drive, tested its sectors and reprogrammed it to 32-in-64-GB for wear leveling and bad sector avoidance because it was still a cheap 32GB USB drive. I made sure to label it for “non-critical use” such as movies.

As for camping lanterns, ones charged from mains might have a nasty habit of shocking their users. (The YouTube channel contains a huge number of cheap Chinese charger teardowns and most don’t meet safety criteria. Usually, there is just 1 or 2 layers of thin tape between mains and the output you can touch.)

mp3 ,
@mp3@lemmy.ca avatar

You can even have that flash drive for free if you claim it wasn’t sold as advertised!

Flexaris ,

You don’t

vext01 ,
@vext01@lemmy.sdf.org avatar

Never buy from a seller with no feedback or sales.

nichtburningturtle , (edited )
@nichtburningturtle@feddit.org avatar

If it seems too good you will be disappointed.

hackerwacker ,

Buying new, unreviewed products can save you money, since sellers often list things cheaper to get a few buyers and then increase the price.

If you’re buying something branded and it’s less than 1/2 of the US price, be prepared for it to be different than in the photos.

ICastFist ,
@ICastFist@programming.dev avatar

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

mp3 ,
@mp3@lemmy.ca avatar

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.

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