AliExpress Opinions

I prefer to use Alibaba over Ali Express. I like to interact with the distributor. They give accurate lead times and sometimes can get better prices. When I ordered my DRO, I went right to the Alibaba listing and specified the details with a sales rep. You don't get that with Banggood or Ali Express. Heck, it's more personal attention than you get from Amazon. You can also get semi-custom specs by dealing "direct" with Alibaba. It's worth a look for medium to larger purchases.
 
I prefer to use Alibaba over Ali Express. I like to interact with the distributor. They give accurate lead times and sometimes can get better prices. When I ordered my DRO, I went right to the Alibaba listing and specified the details with a sales rep. You don't get that with Banggood or Ali Express. Heck, it's more personal attention than you get from Amazon. You can also get semi-custom specs by dealing "direct" with Alibaba. It's worth a look for medium to larger purchases.

Are they willing to work with you on single item orders? I was under the impression they wanted large order quantities.
 
Are they willing to work with you on single item orders? I was under the impression they wanted large order quantities.
Agreed, I looked at buying a PM-25-class mill from Alibaba and I could have ordered 100 machines if I wanted though there were some that would sell a single unit if I want to do all the brokerage.
 
Beware Bangood
I used to buy a lot from Bangood and still buy the occasional item but only things that I cant find elsewhere.

Reason:
their customer service is awful and their refund policy is a minefield. Minimum, you have to send pictures and video about your complaint. Despite several attempts I have never suceeded in getting a refund from BG. AliE by comparison is light years ahead with both a simple and quick dispute process, fast refunds and tracking on all items.

Bangoods prices are also generally higher than Ali E.

A tip for all of these purchases, when the item arrives check the package carefully before opening. If there is any suspicion of damage take photos. Then take more photos when the package is opened. Quite reasonably, if the dispute is about goods damaged in transit then AliE would like to see evidence.
 
Beware Bangood
I used to buy a lot from Bangood and still buy the occasional item but only things that I cant find elsewhere.

Reason:
their customer service is awful and their refund policy is a minefield. Minimum, you have to send pictures and video about your complaint. Despite several attempts I have never suceeded in getting a refund from BG. AliE by comparison is light years ahead with both a simple and quick dispute process, fast refunds and tracking on all items.

Bangoods prices are also generally higher than Ali E.

A tip for all of these purchases, when the item arrives check the package carefully before opening. If there is any suspicion of damage take photos. Then take more photos when the package is opened. Quite reasonably, if the dispute is about goods damaged in transit then AliE would like to see evidence.
I agree with all of the above.
 
I agree with all of the above.

I'd like to point out that Alibaba, AliExpress, bangood, Amazon, and even walmart.com all attempt to create a virtual mall. They provide the infrastructure for 3rd parties to sell and they take a small cut. In the case of Amazon and walmart they also compete by having their own retail offerings in the same "virtual mall".

Regarding customer support, there is only so much the "mall" can do for customer support. In a non-competition offering like ali you should expect to see inconsistent customer service depending on the store you purchase from. Generally if you get good service from a store you find you are likely better off trying to continue to use them when possible. Each store may also have a different return policy so it is worthwhile to look into that for each purchase. Some of the stores are backed directly by the manufacturer and you'll likely see similar quality items from them over time. Some stores are resellers who source all over the place and here you'll see the most variability of product quality as they try to buy low/sell high. Some stores buy QA rejects and sell them at a small discount to the same products that have passed QA. I think this is where most people get burned.
 
Thanks all!

I bought a DRO from what seems to be reputable store there as well as a handful of <$10 unbranded items like MT2 dead centers and a couple of lathe tool holders. I'm going to hold off on anything else until I see how these experiences go.

Here are a couple of my experiences after spending some time on the site.

The DRO I selected came at the recommendation of a few others on this site. The seller's store seems to be long standing and had large quantities of purchases and detailed reviews. The seller was fairly conversational and was happy to answer questions regarding the product as well as to build a "custom" package of DRO pieces to meet my needs. He was also able to provide me a manual is fairly decent English. The price of the item was not rock bottom so it seems I am paying for at least some minimum amount of quality - we will see.

There seems to be "brand" name tooling vendors from China which command a higher selling price (ZCC, MZG, ZGT, AHNO, AZZKOR, etc). I have no experience with these items, but it wouldn't surprise me to find that these are high quality tools. The prices however approach what I might pay from a US manufacturer like GARR tool or YG-1 through eBay vendors.

There is little to no fractional/imperial tooling to be had. This isn't an issue for lathe tooling or CNC mill users, but those looking for tools to use in a manual mill might be annoyed by this fact. For the same reason (as well as concerns of accuracy/quality) I would not purchase any measuring tools from them.

Shipping times for low dollar items can be 1-2 months. The shipping is free, but you better be OK waiting.
 
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