CategoriesONLINE STORES Reviews By Khalil Be.

Aliexpress.com Full Review from K

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Aliexpress.com is a Chinese giant that we often compare to Amazon by its size but the similarity stops there because Aliexpress.com has a completely different economic model than that of Amazon. The difference for the end consumer (you and me) is very important and you have to understand this difference before buying from Aliexpress.com

On Aliexpress you can find anything and everything, the best and the worst.

But is it safe to shop there? How long will items take to arrive, and what happens if they don’t? Is AliExpress.com legit? And are you more likely to be the victim of fraud if you shop there? Here are the answers you need.

Important note: Aliexpress.com did not pay me to write this article and I do not work for Aliexpress.

www.aliexpress.com

 

Aliexpress.com full review

I made my first purchase on Aliexpress.com in 2011 and have ordered more than 500 products. I am generally very satisfied but it is necessary however to think a little before making the buying decision.

Who is Aliexpress.com?

AliExpress.com is the international arm of the Chinese retailing giant Alibaba. It is, in fact, the group’s commercial showcase which acts as a gateway to the Chinese market for consumers around the world. Aliexpress has become the biggest Chinese e-commerce site. You can find almost everything except for international branded objects. For example, you won’t find an iPad Pro 2020 on Aliexpress.com, but you will find a range of quality Chinese smartphones and tablets.

Unlike Amazon, when you buy a product you are in direct contact with the seller of that product. Aliexpress.com only takes care of the connection and the payment between you and the seller. It is the seller who defines the warranty conditions, sending the package, tracking, customer service, etc. In the event of problems, you must, therefore, contact the seller rather than Aliexpress.com and if you cannot resolve a problem with the seller, you can involve Aliexpress. Most of the sellers are Chinese, so you have to use English to speak to them.

 Aliexpress.com Buyer Protection Policy

Aliexpress.com offers three types of guarantees:

Conformity guarantee: if the object purchased does not conform to its description, you are entitled to claim a full refund. Before getting there, you can initiate a refund request with the seller to see what they are offering without the intervention of Aliexpress.com.

Delivery time guarantee: if delivery takes longer than what was announced from the start, you are also entitled to claim a refund (total or partial). Please note, delivery time limits are generally 60 days, the vast majority of items, therefore, arrive before the expiration of these 60 days.

Product warranty: the warranty is offered by the seller, so it can vary greatly from one seller to another. It is sometimes possible to buy an extension of guarantee or a local guarantee (European or American) but again it depends on a seller to another.

The guarantee is one of the major differences with Amazon because with Amazon, the products are guaranteed in a uniform way and it is Amazon who takes care of the customer service. You must, therefore, read the conditions carefully before buying anything!

Aliexpress.com: The user experience

1-Language support

Aliexpress.com supports a multitude of languages ​​but these translations mainly apply to the Aliexpress.com interface. The description of the products is mainly available in English with sometimes a very approximate machine translation in other languages. If you are not fluent in English, you can order without problems but if you want more information about a product or contact a seller, English is very important. You can always use a  translator to communicate with sellers, they probably do the same to communicate with you.

2-The Interface
Those who are used to Amazon will find themselves there very quickly. Aliexpress.com works the same way. The interface is not the most modern but it is often the case for this kind of platforms. You can find a product by browsing the categories or by the search engine. You can then classify the results by opinion, sale, price,… I find that the search engine is less efficient than Amazon’s solution, it is therefore sometimes necessary to fall back on the categories to find a product

Aliexpress.com full review

3-Real Reviews
Aliexpress uses a rating system like Amazon and this system will allow you to distinguish good products from the bad ones. However, I would add an important remark. If after buying a product on Aliexpress you have not given notice, the seller will receive a default evaluation and this will slightly distort the final result. So don’t be satisfied with the stars but also read the comments, they will teach you more than the stars. If the proportion of 1 or 2-star ratings exceeds 5%, you should avoid the product if there is an alternative.

4-Payment Methods – NO PAYPAL
Aliexpress offers a variety of payment methods, you can even pay with a local debit card (in Morocco anyway).

Customs fees

From the moment you buy something outside of your country, you are exposed to customs duties if the price of your item exceeds a certain price depending on your country. What you buy on Aliexpress.com is no exception, sometimes you will be lucky, sometimes not. Customs duties usually correspond to VAT to which are added processing costs.
Some sellers will offer you solutions to reduce the chances of going through customs by changing the declared value or by avoiding certain carriers, but the risk will always exist.

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Aliexpress.com, Is it Legit and Safe to Buy From in 2020?

When you buy on Aliexpress.com, you have two stakeholders. The first is the seller from whom you buy. You should contact them first in the event of a problem/dispute. In my case, I was able to solve all my problems through this. The second speaker is Aliexpress.com. If you do not get anything from a discussion with the seller, you can call on Aliexpress.com which will take charge of the file.

Here are some points to help you:

1. Complaint period: For each order, you have a complaint period that ends when you report having received the order. If you have not received your order and the complaint period has expired, you can either request an extension from the seller (if you think it is a simple delay) or open a dispute with Aliexpress.com. If you let this time pass without reacting, it will be more difficult to get support from Aliexpress. For the creation of a dispute, I always advise contacting the seller first.

2. Chat litigation
In your order list, Aliexpress.com provides a chatbot that allows you to solve a number of problems almost automatically. The robot offers a number of possibilities for automated complaint management.

Aliexpress.com chatbot Eva

3. Communication with the seller
Before creating a dispute, speak to the seller first. If you have the impression that he is trying to save time, open the case to put pressure on him.

What to buy or not to buy on Aliexpress.com?

We can buy everything on Aliexpress.com, but we must not forget that what you buy is covered by small sellers who sometimes can disappear after a few months of activity. So don’t buy high-value items from a new seller, the risk is too high. I mainly bought objects of max 200-250 € with a good guarantee.

Clothing
I bought clothes on Aliexpress.com, the price defies all competition, for example, I bought beautiful shirts for 5 EUR delivery included. The shirts were of good quality, I don’t see any difference with the ones I bought in Morocco. The only point of attention is the size. Chinese sizes are not the same as in Europe or Africa, so you need to find the equivalent size before buying. I found shirts suited to my format (XL in Europe, XXXL in China) and the shirt is the right size, only the sleeves are a little too short.

Electronics
Aliexpress.com is a huge supplier tank of small electronic items made in China. I bought a dozen types of TWS Earphones, memory cards, hard disks, mini PCs, etc. The price defies all competition. For example, I bought a magnificent V5.0 Bluetooth earphone for almost 25 USD while the price on the local market ( Morocco ) for the same product was more than 40 USD.

Aliexpress.com full review

Lamps
I bought many LED bulbs and even decorative lamps. You can find LED bulbs for one euro, hard to find better here.

Recommendation?
If you use Aliexpress.com for products where the brand is not important, you will find your happiness. It is not a question here of buying a high-end lens for your camera but rather of electronics or everyday use, you will have many choices and very good prices.

Delivery delay

As I indicated above, it is not Aliexpress.com which organizes the delivery, it is the seller. This means that delivery times can vary greatly from one seller to another. I have sometimes had deliveries in a few days as deliveries that took up to 2 months to take the most extreme cases.

Scams?

Aliexexpress is not a scam, it is a very good marketplace. On the other hand as the site shelters many sellers, you will always find some which are not recommendable. Here it is common sense that prevails, look at the ratings, check how long the seller has been active, ask questions, Aliexpress.com customer support is not at the same level as Amazon’s, so you have to choose the products you buy well and test the field on the side of the sellers if you have doubts.

A problem?

In the event of a problem, you must first contact the seller because without doing this, Aliexpress.com will not intervene. If you do not get satisfaction, do not hesitate to put a bad evaluation and then contact Aliexpress.com. On the few problems that I had, the bad evaluation always made react to the seller.

SIDE NOTES :

On Aliexpress.com you can find anything and everything but you can reduce your risk of problems by following a few basic rules:

  • Do not buy a non-Chinese brand product (ex: Apple), it is probably a counterfeit
  • When the price is very much lower than other Chinese sites, beware
  • Look at the volume of reviews for the object and the seller (these are 2 different things), favor the sellers who are on Aliexpress.com for more than a year and which have an average above 90%
  • Read the reviews which contain text and images
  • If in doubt, contact the seller before buying

Aliexpress.com, Is it Legit and Safe to Buy From in 2020?

And you, what is your experience? Share it below to share it with everyone!

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CategoriesONLINE STORES By Khalil Be.

Gearbest.com Full Review from K

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Gearbest is a global e-commerce site based in China which is arguably one of the most popular outside of China after Aliexpress. Gearbest first entered Brazil and other countries unusual for this kind of site, but it is popularizing in Europe as well. Gearbest is very similar to Aliexpress, there are almost the same products there, but unlike Aliexpress, you address Gearbest rather than each individual seller.

I bought about twenty products on Gearbest, mainly phones (Oneplus, Vivo, Umidigi,…) and despite some problems encountered, I am quite satisfied with it.

Important note: Gearbest.com did not pay me to write this article and I do not work for gearbest.

My most recent orders: Vivo Y95, Utorch DH09, Lucky Bag with Alarm Systems, A6X Tws earbuds, an Android box, etc..

www.Gearbest.com

Who is Gearbest

Gearbest is a Chinese company that specializes in the export of products of all kinds ranging from textiles to electronics. As on Aliexpress, you will not find American or European brands, they only sell brands from China. Gearbest has a centralized model, so when you buy something you are dealing with Gearbest and not a direct seller. They offer customer service in English, the other languages ​​come from a machine translation that is always very qualitative.

Gearbest has a more modern look than Aliexpress and offers a more loyalty system. With each purchase, you accumulate points that you can convert into cash or a voucher for your next purchases. The AliExpress loyalty program does not allow you to do this kind of thing (at least not at the time of this writing). They also quite often organize fairly fun promotional activities where you play games to earn points.

  • Over 110,000 awesome products at rock bottom prices
  • 45 day no-questions-asked money back guarantee
  • Global payment options such as Visa, MasterCard, American Express, Paypal, Western Union and bank transfer
  • Local payment methods such as Boleto Bancario via Ebanx (for Brazil) are also available
  • Ships to over 200 countries. Free Shipping is available to some countries
  • A wide range of affordable shipping options.Fast shipping options including DHL, EMS, and FEDEX

Guarantees offered by Gearbest

– 7 day “dead on arrival” type guarantee:
If your purchase arrives defective or breaks down within 7 days, you can return the item free of charge and choose between receiving a replacement or a full refund.

– refund guarantee after 45 days
If your purchase no longer works within a period of 45 days, you can request a full refund. The difference with the previous warranty is that if you return the product, you must pay the shipping costs to China.

– one year warranty for repairs
Gearbest offers a one year warranty for a free repair of your purchase (when possible). Some products have different rules (ex: textile). By using this guarantee you must also cover the costs of return.

Some products have special warranties, so check the product description before purchasing.

Language support
Like on Aliexpress, Gearbest offers a wide range of languages, but most of them come from machine translations. Everything is perfectly understandable in French but certain choices of words are sometimes a little curious. The product descriptions follow the same principle but it is also understandable. If you have a question, you can ask your question in the language of your choice. Since the support is centralized, they can organize themselves to find the skills to translate the answers into the right language (through an automatic translation or by a person speaking the language in question). You will notice a lot of Spanish or Portuguese in the questions and answers, Gearbest is very popular in Brazil and Spain.

Interface
The interface is more modern than that of Aliexpress but it remains a question of taste because in terms of functionality there are not many differences. The search engine works better than that of Aliexpress and the search by category is lighter than at Aliexpress also. Gearbest is also distinguished by its customer interface where you can follow your orders, Aliexpress offers the same thing but Gearbest goes further and stimulates its customers with a loyalty system. You earn points with each purchase, you earn points by writing a review or participating in certain activities. These points can be converted to cash fairly quickly. After 3 orders totaling € 200, I already had a reduction of € 10 to be used on the next purchase.

Evaluations
Like all sales sites, Gearbest has its evaluation system and I find that it is rather well done. Like most of the time, there is a star rating system and unlike Aliexpress, there is no default score, the ratings are fairer. Buyers can also express themselves a little more, customer feedback is therefore more substantial than elsewhere. Like Amazon, Gearbest also has a question and answer system that allows you to find out before you buy. The evaluations are therefore a strong point for Gearbest but this strong point has a weakness linked to the audience of Gearbest, you will see a large number of evaluations in Spanish or in Russian, if you do not master these languages ​​the evaluations will not help you so not much.

Gearbest also has an evaluation stimulation policy because if you evaluate your order, you will receive points which you can use to reduce the price of your next order.

Payment method
Gearbest offers all the payment methods that can be expected from such a site. Gearbest supports Paypal in particular, so this will allow you to benefit from Paypal support in the event of a complaint.

Customer support
I was quite happy with Gearbest until my order in early 2019 when I had to call on their customer service. I do not know if they are incompetent or if they play the card of wear, whatever, it is not good at all. (see story below)

Customs fees

From the moment you buy something outside of Morocco, you are exposed to customs duties if the price of your item exceeds 100 EUR. What you buy on Gearbest is no exception, sometimes you will be lucky, sometimes not. Customs duties usually correspond to VAT to which are added processing costs. For an item of 25 EUR, you could very well find yourself paying more in customs fees than the price of what you bought.

Some sellers will offer you solutions to reduce the chances of going through customs by changing the declared value or by avoiding certain carriers, but the risk will always exist.

What should you buy or not buy on Gearbest?

Smartphones
Gearbest has a wide range of Chinese smartphones and the price offered is often competitive. Obviously, you should not forget the risk of customs fees because even if the prices are lower, they will still be subject to customs fees. The warranty is also important because unlike Aliexpress, Gearbest does not yet offer a local warranty. In the event of a breakdown, your telephone must therefore return to China… at your expense.

Electronics
Here we find everything, From memory cards, USB keys, surveillance cameras, kitchen appliances, vacuum cleaners and many more. Obviously these are Chinese products but for low value devices, the value for money is unbeatable. The Chinese also have their brands and these brands (ex: Xiaomi) produce quality products for an unbeatable price.

Remote-controlled toys
Gearbest has a large catalog of remote-controlled vehicles, whether land or air (drones), you will already find toys at very low prices.

Aliexpress or Gearbest?

I could not deprive myself of one or the other, I am satisfied with both and I continue to buy from one or the other depending on the products I find. If I had to buy the same products in Europe (even on Amazon), I would certainly have paid 20% more. My last purchase was a € 177 smartphone that you can’t find on Amazon for less than € 250 and even more expensive in other stores.

Q&A

Is Gearbest reliable?
Yes, but sometimes you have to be patient with customer service.

Is Gearbest a scam?
No it is a completely legitimate site.

Does Geartbest have a stock in Europe?
Yes, but this stock is quite limited, new products are often available only in China.

Do you have to master English to buy on Gearbest?
Gearbest has a site in French which is sometimes poorly translated but it is possible to place an order without mastering English. If you need to contact customer service, mastering English is an advantage.

My opinion/opinion on Gearbest

Gearbest has a better site than Aliexpress but the catalog is less well supplied, the two sites are therefore complementary. If you have never ordered in China I advise you to go through Gearbest first because you will not have to manage a possible communication with a seller to find more pieces of information or try to get a better shipping option.

I have had some unfortunate experiences with Gearbest but I keep buying from them because they have good products and so far I have always managed to get a refund for defective products.

I had a little issue with the customs for a recent order but the customer support surprised me and handled the situation .. I just can’t describe how helpful they were on that particular case.

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