Aliexpress

Never used it before but theres bits n peices on there that are interesting.

Anything to be wary of or any scams etc?

Buy from sellers who have sold lots of items and the item has good reviews, lots of the stuff on there is fine but some is pretty bad quality.

I buy lots from there, never really had any problems but the aliexpress team have been quick to refund me if there have been issues.

It’s a mixed bag, just like Ebay can be if you buy from China. I’ve used it a few times, mainly small parts that are £10 here, but 30p from China. Has all been fine for those, then I ordered an ornamental Highland Cow. The pictures showed a head around the size of a football (it was going outside, we are not that garish!), it arrived a few weeks later, it was the size of a tennis ball. And wasnt a Highland Cow, but some longhorn thing, was awful quality, and went striaght in the bin. Never used them since, but they are just like Amazon and ebay, they sell other peoples stuff, so some can be rubbish.

Not a frequent user but I have bought a few items with no issues. Pay using paypal and I accept that if I do get any problems resolving it with the supplier or returning them may be problematic.   I am far enough ahead in savings I can afford to take hit on an item if it happens.

I’ve bought quite a few things off there over the years, including a Beelink Mini PC that was an absolute bargain.

Only ever had 1 issue, ordered a Zigbee hub, which when it arrived it wasn’t Zigbee compatible, I return to their UK returns centre and got a full refund.

Sometimes you have wait a bit for your stuff.

I have never paid any import taxes either.

I’ve been tempted recently too

never paid any import taxes either.

Is that generally people’s experience or did you just get lucky?

Anyone having trouble orderign stuff today?  Might be part of the global meltdown of IT systems, but nothign I want to buy seems to be postable to the UK, despite saying it is on teh prduct page!  It only prevents purchase at checkout.

I’d probably use it more if it was a more user friendly website, I tend to stick to eBay.

I’ve bought a load of stuff from there, mostly pretty low value but some a bit more. Their buyer protection is totally buyer-loaded- it’s a “sell a ton of things” marketplace that needs to work harder than most to make buyers feel safe, most times I’ve just had a refund within minutes, other times I’ve had to jump through a step or two (including, ALWAYS, a completely worthless offer from the seller “how about we refund you 25% for the thing we sent you that doesn’t work”) but again always ends up with full low fuss refund.

The website became absolutely terrible, mind. Though at least they’ve somewhat un****ed the search engine. “9000 results” search by amount “no results”.

I use it to buy cycling socks. Been fab. Never had import duties, I presume as such low value.

Anything under £135, and AliExpress should collect VAT, and there’s no additional customs duty to be paid.

Refunds for issues have generally gone smoothly for me, but, unlike eBay, I’ve found that the AliExpress team generally side with the seller, not the buyer. Spent ages fighting with them over a parcel that evri lost – eventually gave up and disputed via PayPal.

I’ve bought loads of stuff from AliExpress, it’s great!

But it depends your expectations, it’s very rarely amazing quality but usually good enough.

Consumables such as – rim tape, brake pads, chain rings, cable tidys, bottle cages, tyre repair things, tools, etc.

In terms of more expensive stuff, hubs from ztto have been great, cassettes from Sroad (now called spedao) have also worked well. I’m interested in a set of the hb-910 brakes as clones of trickstuff they look good.

I’ve also bought gray market genuine stuff, chainsets, derailleurs, brakes. During COVID times they were all that was available, everything was fine but not that much cheaper now.

A good site to look at Chinese bike things is https://chinertown.com/index.php there are lots of user reviews of (mainly AliExpress) Chinese sourced gear.

Meant to say, I’m happy to post specifics of what’s worked well if people are interested.

On the hardware side, I’ve had more good than bad from AliExpress, from a clothes point of view definitely more bad than good, you can get better quality and a better fit for similar value if you just wait for the sales.

I’ve bought quite a bit of stuff, only had to raise a dispute once when the seller sent me the wrong colour and then tried to convince me that although it looked black was in fact just very, very dark blue (it wasn’t a pair of priest’s sock btw). AliExpress sent a refund super quickly so wasn’t a problem.

Otherwise I’ve had a lot of camping gear and simple bike parts which have been good, I think it’s a bit more hit and miss if you want size specific stuff like clothes and shoes, or expect high end electronics for suspiciously low prices. Delivery times can be pretty random, sometimes less than a week, sometimes a couple of months, but everything I’ve ordered has arrived eventually. When that happens I’ve normally forgotten I’ve ordered it so it’s like a nice extra present!

As others have said, use sellers with good reviews and keep your expectations in check.

Or you could just buy products from companies that respect IP, adhere to environmental regulations and keeps money in local circulation rather than buying cheap Chinese future landfill tat.

But yeah it’s cheap.

And British manufactured might not go rusty so easily

Great for little bits that you can’t really go wrong with like shifter clamps/crank boots or small car parts (replacement parking sensors were less than £15 for 4 and work well). Basically if you see it on ebay and it looks like it came straight from China, it’s probably cheaper on Aliexpress.

Can’t say I buy a lot, but never had any issues aside from slightly late deliveries (much quicker than it used to be though)

Great for anodised alloy etc , socks. A mate has built and entire gravel bike including groupset and is happy. Bought some cheap, £1.99 arm warmers.Green pair were fine. White ? Hmm one arrived. A quick look showed that the particular seller sold all colours in pairs except white which were sold as singles. PMSL when I noticed. Good willy warmer.

Or you could just buy products from companies that respect IP, adhere to environmental regulations and keeps money in local circulation rather than buying cheap Chinese future landfill tat.

But yeah it’s cheap.

I just see it the same as buying own brand, dhb, lifeline, Clarks, etc equipment. It’s exactly the same stuff, just someone in Europe has stuck their sticker on it, tripled the price and selling it as their own. Most of the stuff I buy is probably designed in china, so to a certain extent I am respecting IP and I’m keeping the money in local circulation, in china. I’m also paying more for it than the rebadge brands are as they’ll buy in bulk and negotiate a much smaller fee.

I’m happy to spend money on ‘local’ brands where there’s value added, but a rebadge and a UK address doesn’t count as far as I’m concerned.

Good willy warmer.

HumbleBrag

I might buy a relatively expensive item off there, a camera lens that goes for £550 is about £200 less. Never spent more than about £50

Had a fair few bits and pieces, last items were neoprene shoe covers (bit tight but ok, prob best to order a size up) and some “Rockbros” gloves which are totally pants. Titanium nut and bolt set for the Brompton was a good buy.

Are all the rear lights shite? Had one which detached itself from saddle, I couldn’t be bothered to go back and pick it up. Got a good cheap front light though.

Tbh I buy loads of stuff.

My Stanton has a ZTTO dropper lever and KLev dropper.

My Charge Plug has some cable pull hydros.

I’ve got a Ryet 3d printed saddle coming, along with most of what I need including a frame to build up a new bike for the wife to try and get her into riding.

I’ve spent my fair share of money buying UK made and branded stuff, and I’ve just dropped a load on a new 2023 stumpy T type, so I do support the industry, but some of the Ali stuff can’t be ignored.  The 4 pot CNC brakes I bought are identical to the Clarks CNC ones and cost me less than half the price, and before anyone mentions the UK support of Clarks stuff, they don’t respond to emails, their how to videos for stuff like bleeding is often for a different model brake and they’ve been no help for anyone I know who’ve tried to use the support.

However, it’s not all sunshine and roses.

I crank I bought recently arrived branded as a 5devs one and is missing the parts to make it useable, legally I can’t return it as counterfeit goods but Ali Express are absolutely insistent that I send it back..so stale mate there.

The frame I mentioned earlier hasn’t arrived yet but it seems it’s on the way.. just slower than expected.. I’ve been buying stuff on credit card and as pay on arrival so no money moved yet.

I am waiting for some Elite Carbon wheels (to replace the Fulcrum wheels on my Stanton) as well but I was warned of a potentially long lead time on those.

I’m addition to bike stuff, I’ve had loads of Ali Express wrist watches too and again no issues with them.