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Mods from China!! [** ADMIN WARNING: NO POLITICS **]

Tredsdert

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This is probably something I should have done a long time ago, but I like shopping Alibaba, namely the app, AliExpress.

This thread will consist of stuff that I have bought from China, and a review of said item. Anybody who has purchased an item from China (specifically) feel free to post a review in here.

There's a lot of quality items you can get from China. In fact many items you buy for your Wrangler including those sold in places like extreme terrain, are made in China. You wouldn't know because you're buying from a US company, but in fact many of those items are made overseas.

....................................................

To start this thread, this post will be followed with an item which I will be purchasing from the AliExpress app. I will link you to the item which I have purchased, and keep you updated on the delivery time and also quality and any compromising factors I may run into.

Definitely be understanding that things that ship from China take anywhere from a couple days to upwards of 4 months to be delivered. It really just depends on how they ship it and if they have a distribution center stateside which they can ship from.

A little bit of background info: I have been ordering many items from Alibaba for years now. I think of myself a little bit of an expert when it comes to finding honest shops to buy from, and quality items to purchase.

The hope of this thread is that many of you may find items that you can purchase at an inexpensive price, and hopefully ones that are quality enough to meet your expectations.

On this note not to distract from the thread at hand, but there are many quality US-based companies that I feel you should support, however this thread is about my cheap side and getting really good deals at really low cost.

-----------

A little bit of facts for you, a lot of the items that you can buy on websites like extreme terrain and others are are sold on the AliExpress app and the Alibaba website, more often than at a lower cost. Not always true, sometimes the cost with shipping is about the same. However more often than not most inexpensive items that you can find on places like Amazon and the usually more expensive Etsy, or actually made in China. Many of the people you find selling items on Amazon and Etsy are purchasing their items at an unbelievable discount from China and then selling them to you at an increased price. This is why for the longest time I've been buying things from Alibaba. Who wants to pay more money for something of the same quality that they can get from China.

A couple of things to be wary of when you purchase things from China:

#1: YOU CAN MOST DEFINITELY GET SCAMMED! There are lots of low quality fake businesses on Alibaba which have the intent of stealing your money in many different ways.
#2: Stars matter, I don't purchase anything from a company that doesn't have prior orders, they have to be believable orders which I will get into at a later point in this thread.
#3: The number of store followers and overall store review percentage is extremely important. Short of reviews and stars, store followers and percentage of satisfied customers are a key indicator on whether or not a store is worth your time and money.
#4: If company rating is high enough, no prior orders are needed to deem a store trustworthy. This is a tough one. Thankfully there are many different stores selling the same item at different costs.
#5: Different stores will sell the same item. Often it will be the same manufacturer sold through different stores.
#6: Prices can vary from store to store for the same item sold. Usually if you're looking for a certain item, it's best to look at the competitive store prices. A lot of times you'll find a store that has a really high star rating and really good review scores selling an item for two times as much as a smaller store who also has quality reviews and fewer stars.
#7: Shipping cost matters! I will often search specifically first stores that have free shipping. But if no stores offer free shipping you're going to need to do some math between the quality stores you find to figure out who has the cheapest overall price.
#8: Return policies matter! Now I've been lucky enough to never have to return an item on AliExpress, however if you have to, you want to make sure that the store you are buying from has reasonable return policies. A lot of times AliExpress / Alibaba will offer a 70-day protection policy. This policy is intended to protect the buyer from a low quality item or an item that is never received.
#9: If you have a question, or any concerns, message the seller. These people want your money, in a lot of times they'll usually respond within an hour or two. Depending what time you message them, it can be upwards of 8 hours.

There's so much information to be had here, I could talk about it for days. This could be a 16-page essay by the time I finished telling you all of the information I've accrued from years of ordering from China. However the only real way to move forward is to make a purchase. So that's what I'll be doing next.

I have many items in my AliExpress shopping cart, and many of those items are things I've been waiting months or even years to order. I often find stuff I'm interested in and save to my cart.
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Tredsdert

Tredsdert

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Jeep Wrangler JL Mods from China!! [** ADMIN WARNING: NO POLITICS **] Screenshot_20230504-170210

So here's an item that I've been wanting to order for a minute. It's not made for full size vehicles, it's made for RC vehicles. However it is a fully functioning RC light bar. The reviews on it are pretty solid overall.
I feel this would be a very fun and stupid modification to do. My intention is to install it on my front bumper. I think it would be a really funny stupid mod that might turn some heads, which is totally right up my alley.

I haven't done any research into better prices for this product, so I will be searching for either free shipping, or lower overall cost without sacrificing quality or quality reviews.

Another thing I've been interested in putting some time into lately is getting a better quality more well hidden safe inside of my JLUD. The center console is great and all, but everybody knows about it and it's not very secure. You could break that thing open with brute force if you wanted to. I'd like to get something hidden maybe underneath my front passenger seat or somewhere beneath the dash. So I'll be looking for a locking storage compartment item as well.

I'll let you know what I find...
 

CaJLMetalHead

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Light bar:
Jeep Wrangler JL Mods from China!! [** ADMIN WARNING: NO POLITICS **] 1683240345842


It got moisture inside after some snow storms and rain.. but it still works...


Winch Shackle mount.. cheap.. basically the same one you see being sold in the US at 3 times the price
Jeep Wrangler JL Mods from China!! [** ADMIN WARNING: NO POLITICS **] 1683240461798
 

jhackathorne

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Winch Shackle mount.. cheap.. basically the same one you see being sold in the US at 3 times the price
Jeep Wrangler JL Mods from China!! [** ADMIN WARNING: NO POLITICS **] 1683240461798
There isn't a chance in hell I'd use that shackle. A good, high quality shackle isn't that much more that it's worth taking risks in a recovery.
 

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tk1700

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There isn't a chance in hell I'd use that shackle. A good, high quality shackle isn't that much more that it's worth taking risks in a recovery.
Agreed. It says right on the ad it's for an ATV or UTV. No mention of rated weight load.
 

sentience

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did… did you get hacked?

This is a good opportunity to remind folks to use strong passwords, preferably three or more multi-syllable words, and to avoid using the same password for multiple websites.

Also, consider using a service like PayPal to reduce risk of fraud via unauthorized purchases. PayPal processes the transaction on their end, masking your payment information from the seller.
 

C.Sco

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There isn't a chance in hell I'd use that shackle. A good, high quality shackle isn't that much more that it's worth taking risks in a recovery.
Agreed.

My general rule of thumb is, if it's something that could kill someone if it fails, don't go cheap.
 

yarmo

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Light bar:
1683240345842.png


It got moisture inside after some snow storms and rain.. but it still works...


Winch Shackle mount.. cheap.. basically the same one you see being sold in the US at 3 times the price
1683240461798.png
Please for the love of god do not use that shackle for anything other than a paper weight. If there's one thing in the world you do not want to save a few $$ on it's recovery gear. I'd rather be completely stranded stuck somewhere than try and use this on my winch to pull myself out. When that thing shatters and kills someone Aliexpress won't return your calls.
 

Der

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To be fair, this pillow from Aliexpress is actually good. And the downside is it is NOT cheap at all (50$ + ship each)......

Got 4 of these, which fits front seat perfectly and looks OE, while fits back seat marginally acceptable but I won't complain. With these installed I heard somebody says my JL's seat is comfortable for the first time... Worth?
Jeep Wrangler JL Mods from China!! [** ADMIN WARNING: NO POLITICS **] 1683245434475
 

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fastfatdude

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To chime in, not everything you buy from a china online retailer is rubbish. I have ordered parts big and small from American/ Brit/ Chinese online retailers and i find that in general, my main gripe is that chinese origin stuff tend NOT to have as comprehensive a packaging as the rest of the world, perhaps to save on freight? One example is the mopar grip handles. I ordered for the front and rear and they all came stuffed in a small box with just a layer of bubble wrap in between. If i have gotten ORIGINAL mopar (at 5 times the price), they probably come in a nice individual box and well wrapped. Dont get me wrong. Nothing was damaged, just didnt come as pretty.

Being in Singapore (we are in SoutheastAsia, NOT in China), we ought to have great connectivity via air/sea with the rest of the world but alas, freight quoted from US-SIN is astounding expensive compared to even from UK-SIN. I bought a steel side step from Quadratec and basically freight cost the same as the item, about US$350. Comparatively, i bought a steel bumper from China and the service was excellent with choice of air or sea freight. Even by air, the freight quoted for 40-50kg was only like US$100 or so. BTW, quality of the item was also excellent.

I find that in general, US being a huge market already for Jeep aftermarket sales, there is no need for them to cater to the rest of the world, hence most online shops dont wanna ship international, bar some exceptions like Quadratec and special shoutout to TrailRecon for entertaining my queries for international sales/freight. TR should be what we consider as a dropshipping company as the parts are all shipped from some central warehouse but still, whatever works right? I just find it strange that in our interconnected world, American retailers are still so inward looking. Its not just Jeep parts. I tried to buy a tent from Gazelle and contacted their customer service - guess what, "We Dont Ship International". I googled where online i can buy their tents from and 5 out of 5 said no to international shipping.

i love my JLUR but just wistfully hoping that its easier to buy stuff from US...

If you read this far, would have realized that i am off topic, so to wind off, here is my final comments on Chinese online shopping:

1. Read reviews - use google translate if possible
2. Be WARY when it is absolutely tooooo cheap.
3. Download wechat (Chinese people love it) or at least get a whatsapp contact to comms
4. China makes everything including my AEV Borah wheels so some of the stuff sold is AS good as the original ones marked up for sale in USA.
5. Make sure there are no surprises like import duties since US/Sino relationship is not exactly on good terms.
6. If its a critical failure point item, i think better to buy local, irregardless of cost.
7. To start off, i've had excellent customer service and parts from lantsun. give them a google and they are on whatsapp whilst also speaking english. How nice that is.....

Anyways, here is a pic of my rig with a mishmash of stuff from US/China...... dont flame me... i just wanna contribute what i know and leant...

Jeep Wrangler JL Mods from China!! [** ADMIN WARNING: NO POLITICS **] Borah Sid
 

roaniecowpony

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Tredsdert must be 10ft tall and bulletproof. When we meet you can bet I will say Mister Tredsdert.
 

driventoadventure

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did… did you get hacked?

This is a good opportunity to remind folks to use strong passwords, preferably three or more multi-syllable words, and to avoid using the same password for multiple websites.

Also, consider using a service like PayPal to reduce risk of fraud via unauthorized purchases. PayPal processes the transaction on their end, masking your payment information from the seller.
Whole sentences of nonsense. With random capitalization and numbers or symbols.

Also,

Jeep Wrangler JL Mods from China!! [** ADMIN WARNING: NO POLITICS **] 1683252255347
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