Tredsdert
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- Greg
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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.
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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.
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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