Yes, AliExpress is legit and safe to use. It has safety measures in place to prevent fraud and cheaters from ripping you off. Along with those if you are careful and protect yourself, there should not be any problem.
When buying from any online marketplace, there will always be some risk of fraud by some immoral person looking to fill his pockets through cheating. But AliExpress is a prosperous and thriving business. If it wasn’t for a good marketplace, it would have reached such heights and been as successful as it is.
AliExpress is under the operation of one of the largest online retail groups of companies in the world, the Alibaba Group. It has various policies in place for the protection of clients that you can use to your advantage.
Ali Express keeps a close eye on the sellers so they can pick out scammers and frauds. Despite all this, people have been scammed and taken advantage of on AliExpress. But that is not by any fault of AliExpress.
Whenever there is any kind of online dealings, there will be a risk of fraud. The blame for this completely lies on dishonest people who have bad intentions and want to scam people out of their money.
All findings indicate that AliExpress is legit and safe for online shopping. But you do need to be cautious and practical. There’s a difference between making a bargain and saving money vs getting scammed and handed cheap quality products or worse scammed out of money.
Why is AliExpress so Popular?
AliExpress is an electronic commerce website that lets small business owners in China sell their items to consumers around the world. Buyers of international heritage, i.e. outside of China, can buy items from wholesalers in China and have them shipped to them through various shipping services or AliExpress’s own courier service.
Alibaba Group was established in 1999 by Jack (Yun) Ma, a Chinese businessman who founded it as a bridge between Chinese wholesalers and international clients. The Chinese could make deals with foreign clients overseas quite easily through this.
Jack named the country after Ali Baba from the story of The 1001 Nights from Arabian folklore, the merchant was very good-hearted and can be recognized throughout many different cultures in the world.
AliExpress is the same as amazon apart from the fact that all of AliExpress’s sellers are third-party sellers on AliExpress is just an intermediary between the buyers and sellers. That means that it all depends on whether you have a bad or good encounter with AliExpress, wholly on the wholesaler and not AliExpress itself.
AliExpress is an offshoot of the Alibaba Group. It was launched around 11 years later after Alibaba was established, in 2010. It was set into motion so that Chinese manufacturers can be directly contacted by buyers instead of reaching out to wholesale distributors for purchase and then resale.
This way people who buy things directly from AliExpress can save money on all their purchases. And of course, people love saving money, so the platform became quite popular.
How does AliExpress work?
If you are making use of AliExpress, most probably it’s because you want to buy something from there. If you want to use the platform as a retailer, then you need to be living in mainland China or Hong Kong.
It works much like any other website where you can shop online. There will be a whole bunch of categories of wares and goods that you can look through and the best part, is the prices are not very expensive and oftentimes below the market. You can peruse to the complete satisfaction of your heart.
Another amazing thing about AliExpress is that even though the prices there are mostly below market, they still offer coupons which will lower the price even more. Some of the coupons are from vendors themselves, which you can apply to the merchandise that you directly buy from them. Other coupons you will receive from AliExpress itself during promotions and other events. You can save those and apply them to permitted items and enjoy yourself.
Once the order is placed, you get anxious about when you will get it in your hands. You want it now, but you will have to wait. However, AliExpress gives you the tracking information of the courier service that is delivering your purchases. This gives you some peace of mind and you will be able to track the package right up til it’s on your doorstep.
If your order is defective or is not what you thought it would be, or worst case doesn’t turn up at all, AliExpress has your back.
You can directly get in contact with the retailers and take your grievances with them. If they do anything, you can even directly contact AliExpress with the details of your dispute with the retailer. They will take action and you might be able to get a full or at least partial refund.
And lastly, AliExpress has customer service which you can contact through an online chat. You can file all your complaints and protest there, in detail if I may add, against all the retailers and distributors who you believe are infringing the rules of AliExpress.
How can I Ensure my Safety when Buying from AliExpress?
When shopping at AliExpress, there are a few things you should look for before making any kind of purchase to protect yourself.
You need to remember that on AliExpress, anybody in China can become a retailer and put items up for sale, which alludes to the fact that any random person can list their business, factory or anything to sell their goods.
You should try to buy from those retailers that look legit and have delivered a lot of orders.
With all that being said, there are many amazing items on AliExpress with a great bargain. You might just have to search a little bit before you finally find the diamond amongst all the coal rocks.
Here are a few things you can do to protect yourself when shopping at ALiExpress:
Number of Orders Shipped:
You should purchase items from vendors who have 100 or at least more than 60 orders previously shipped. This way you’ll know that the items they are selling are of good quality.
Number of Reviews:
When purchasing something, always check the reviews as well as the number of reviews. Try to make sure it has at least above 60 reviews because while people will fake 10 or 20 reviews, not many people will fake so many reviews. You can guarantee the reviews and the product is genuine.
Favorable Rating Scores:
When shopping for an item, check the rating scores of the seller before ordering it. A favorable rating score would be 4 or above 4 stars for any item. This lets you know that other people have ordered this item and were happy with their purchase.
Too Ideal Prices:
Sometimes when shopping online, sometimes you will come upon an item that looks amazing and the price is extremely cheap. This is mostly a trap where sellers put fake pictures of the product to lure in customers and send them trash items. When you see something online that looks ideal and has an ideal price, ignore it and walk away.
Never Give Out Information:
Never EVER give out your information, either personal or financial, including your account details, when talking with them or even through a third-party website. That is a big no-no. The retailers should already have your information through the form you fill out for shipping/delivery and that is all they need to know. Nothing more.
Use Secure Payment:
AliExpress has a secure payment system built into the platform to provide security for you when making purchases. Your payment goes into the system and then the sellers in Hong Kong or China receive them through AliExpress.
Never Confirm Delivery Unless 100% Satisfied:
Finally, never ever confirm to a seller that you have received the delivery of an item until you have checked it over thoroughly and are 100% satisfied with the item(s) you bought.
How to Protect Myself Using AliExpress Buyer Protection?
Although there are many rumors saying that AliExpress is nothing but a scam, however, it is quite the opposite. Buying from AliExpress is extremely safe, probably more than eBay due to their buyer protection program. AliExpress assures all its buyers that if the product you buy is not what it was listed as or if it does not reach you on time, you can get a full refund.
And the amazing part, is you don’t have to sign up for it or pay a few for the protection. As a customer, as long as you make your purchase through AliExpress directly, you are entitled to AliExpress’s protection policy.
If it happens that your purchase does not get delivered to you or you get a defective item instead of what you paid for, here’s how you can protect yourself using AliExpress Buyer Protection:
Contact AliExpress Customer Support:
The first thing you should do is contact AliExpress customer support and report the issue you have with the item you purchased. This will notify the vendor as well and he will get a chance to remedy the issue.
Open A Dispute With AliExpress:
If the vendor refuses to resolve your issue then you can open a dispute with AliExpress.
Refund :
If the vendor does not make any kind of reply to the dispute, then AliExpress will give you a full or partial refund depending on the situation.
Once the whole matter gets resolved and AliExpress rules the dispute in your favor, you will get a refund and your money will be returned in 2 weeks or less.
Generally, AliExpress will protect you from getting trashy and junk products, but sometimes the disputes with the sellers can sometimes take a while when going backward and forwards in arguments.
AliExpress and Its Bad Reputation
One of the main reasons why AliExpress and its products have a bad reputation is due to impractical expectations and high hopes. When you purchase from a local store, you can see the product in person and you buy it only if you are satisfied with it. Apart from that, the quality of products goes through strict checkups before being put on display for purchase for customers.
When you buy online from AliExpress, many times your order is directly shipped from factories that don’t have many quality control checks, depending on the vendor. Thus, the product can turn out to be complete rubbish. There is no identifiable brand there as such and the level of quality can vary completely from your expectations. And sometimes, you might get sent knock-offs or fake products.
However, if you take precautions and are realistic, you might have to search a bit but you will eventually find the diamond amongst all the coals.
Why Should or Shouldn’t I Buy From AliExpress?
The primary reason why you want to or why you should buy from AliExpress would be the below market prices, the bargains and promos AliExpress offers, and the money you can save here.
Here, you’re directly buying them from vendors in China or Hong Kong, saving you the markup from local brands or retailers on products.
Additionally, the promotions and coupons you get here get you a good bargain on products. And the shipping price is extremely marginal.
One reason why you should not shop from AliExpress is when you need an item in a rush. Since your order is being shipped directly from China, depending on where you live it could take a while to reach you, unless you get express shipping which kind of negates the cheap pricing reason to use AliExpress.
Bottom Line
AliExpress’s bad reputation comes from impractical expectations from buyers. When buying, as long as you are pragmatic and cautious, you will be happy with your purchase.
Keep in mind, you find any well-known brands at AliExpress, and if you see one it will be fake. Trust your instincts and if something seems too good to be true, then just avoid it. Enjoy the cheap prices and shop to your heart’s content.
