You may have heard about AliExpress from your friends and the comments about it might be mixed. Some of your friends highly recommended it and they told you the prices on this platform are very low. Some warn you not to buy anything from it because of their terrible shopping experiences. So, what are you going to do? If you are looking for answers to clear up your confusion, this article is exactly what you need.
What is AliExpress?
First of all, if you are not familiar with AliExpress. Here is all you need to know. AliExpress is one of the largest eCommerce companies owned by the Alibaba Group. It is a marketplace where independent businesses and factories in China sell their products directly to customers all over the world. In other words, AliExpress is like eBay or Amazon except the products are made in China. Thus, a huge variety of products are available on AliExpress, and given that the cost of labor in China is relatively low, it is not surprising to know that the prices are also low. But AliExpress also has a bad reputation for selling cheap but useless junk, as your friends might have told you. People tend to believe that it’s not legit to buy on AliExpress.
However, this is not exactly the truth. On the contrary, buying products from AliExpress is even safer than eBay. If you want to know why, the aim of this article is to give you a full explanation. Keep reading so you will know the whole story.
Why AliExpress carries bad reputation?
AliExpress is favored by a certain amount of people mainly because the products on it have relatively low prices. For these people, they are willing to take the risk. Unlike other eCommerce platforms, the products on AliExpress are made in Chinese factories and shipped directly to individual customers. And more importantly, AliExpress does not have any quality control for the products. In other words, it’s okay to just put anything on it.
So, this is exactly where the bad reputation of AliExpress comes from. There is no quality control, i.e., there is no guarantee of product quality.
Imagine that you are very excited to get the same products with a lower price, though you might have to wait for longer time, your expectation of the products is high. When you finally get the products, however, the quality of the products is crap. Then you will certainly get frustrated and go tell everyone you know not to buy from AliExpress.
It is the unrealistic expectation like this that forms the bad reputation. People expect to get products of the same quality with lower prices. Therefore, they could be very frustrated after they check out the products.
AliExpress does not have a rigorous quality control process that many other platforms might have. The sellers could put any product on AliExpress even when the quality is bad. There is no absolute guarantee of quality on AliExpress. Even the products from the same factory could be very different, sometimes good and sometimes bad. And this could explain why some people enjoy buying from AliExpress. There is still some possibility of getting good products with lower prices.
Why AliExpress is safe to buy?
If we put aside the quality control problem of AliExpress, it is actually a very safe eCommerce platform, even safer compared with eBay. The reason is that they develop a buyer protection program so that customers are put in the first place.
The rule is simple. As long as you made your purchase on AliExpress, you can always get a full refund if eventually you don’t get the products you purchased. And if you are not satisfied with the products, there are several accesses you can reach.
- The sellers. Contacting the sellers is the most direct way to make a complain. The sellers are responsible for their products and they should deal with any problem that goes with their products. Most of the sellers are responsive and will fix the problems as fast as they could. However, if the sellers are not willing to help, you can directly open a dispute with AliExpress. You will get a refund if the sellers do not show up to solve the problems.
- The AliExpress support. This is the best of their buyer protection program. You can report any of your problems to the official support. The seller will also be noticed and AliExpress will serve as the neural side to help with the situation. If AliExpress resolves the dispute in your favor, you will also get your money within 2 weeks.
The conclusion is that it is completely legit to shop from AliExpress because your interests as a customer are well protected.
After clarifying the bad reputation and safety problem of AliExpress, if you decide to give it a try, here is a step-by-step guide for your AliExpress shopping.
Step 1. Create an AliExpress account. Just go to AliExpress.com and click on the sign-up button.
Step 2. Confirm your email address. AliExpress will send you some coupons through email.
Step 3. Go shopping. Just search and browse for what you want and click “Add to Cart” like you shop on eBay or Amazon.
Step 4. The most important thing before you make your final purchase, is to check out a few things such as ratings so that you are more likely to get the products exactly like you expect.
- The number of successful orders. Don’t buy from sellers with only a few orders per month.
- The feedback rating. If the rating is lower than 4.5, you should be careful to make your purchase.
- Look into the reviews. See how people react when they get the products. You can also adjust your expectation of the products by the images or videos from these previous buyers.
These are some tips to help you avoid getting crap. However, there is no standard rule here. For experienced AliExpress buyers, they are able to make their own judgement if there is only a few reviews or successful orders and sometimes manage to buy good products with very low prices.
Conclusion
So, is AliExpress legit? The answer is definitely yes. The products are cheaper because the factories and sellers are all based in China. The bad reputation is due to the lack of quality control. And if you know how to identify good sellers or products on AliExpress, it will be the best eCommerce platform that provide not only cheap products but also well-protected shopping experience. Next time if your friends share their awful experience, it’s your turn to tell them why.
