[Mashiro]

Hello Post4VPS Community

Today I would like to talk with you about Chinese online shops like Aliexpress, Wish, GearBest and all the others that exists out there in the world wide web.

Do you use any Chinese online shops to buy items? Which shops do you use? How often do you order? What kind of items do you order? Do you orders arrive properly and on time? Have you ever experienced a scam or anything else bad while shopping in such shops?

Please share your stories and experiences.



My two cents:

I shop on GearBest, TomTop and Banggood. So far I only had positive experiences with the shops. The only issue I once had was that I ordered two Zircon Rock headphones at GearBest and it took over a month until they arrived. The rest all went fine. Packages arrived in proper state and mostly on time.

I mostly order electronics there like headphones, cases for Raspberry Pis, Xiaomi products and such. My recent purchases have been the Xiaomi Wiha Set with a cool screw driver and 24 bits for small screws like in phones, consoles and such. Also a few days ago I ordered a Xiaomi Mi A2 Lite and a Mi Band 3 on GearBest with priority shipping for free. The items have been shipped today. Should arrive in 8 - 17 days.

[deanhills]

I've been completely unaware of Chinese online shops.  To be honest, even though I know one can't get away from all of the products that are manufactured in China and sold under quality Western labels, I'd be hesitant to actually go to a Chinese online shop and actively supporting the shop.  There's an element of lack of trust, not knowing what the quality is going to be.  There's also a resistance to the mass production of plastic goods that are being dumped all over the world and responsible for worsening the environmental pollution at the factory source and also at the user level.  And a resistance towards a take over by China of world trade by dumping cheap products at the expense of competitors who need our support so they can continue with higher quality goods.  I'm aware that there are exceptions though in China producing quality products, however I'd rather buy those in an online shop I recognize.

Having said that, and coming from you @Hidden, I've got an open mind here.  Would be interesting to learn about experiences of others.  If someone could point out the positives, I'm open to a different view of looking at it.

[Mashiro]

I have bought a few brands that are recognized across the world from the Chinese online shops that I mentioned in my OP post. I can gladly report my experience.

Rock Zircon headphones: I have bought these headphones after reading reports that their quality and sound was great and even better than some very expensive headphone brands like Beats. I ordered my first pair on Gearbest and got them as promised after two weeks (delivery time was 14 to 21 days). The package was good and everything was in good condition. The reports and reviews were right. Superb sound and good quality for just as little as around 10 €.

The funny thing here was that Amazon Germany had them on preorder for 20 €+. So I got them rather from the source which is China anyway and didn't have to pay an inflated local price. A few months I odered two more sets to gift them to relatives. Unfortunately this order took over a month to be delivered due to shipping issues but it did arrive in good condition and working. I even got the second generation at that time already although that wasn't mentioned on the site.


Xiaomi hardware: I have bought my Xiaomi Mi Band 2 from Gearbest and it came with free priority shipping. It arrived within less than 10 days and the package was in good condition. The Mi Band 2 was in perfect condition and working. I still use it. It is the original and no fake. And again this smart watch was available locally but for double the price. I got it in a flash sale for under 20 €.

While I was in Russia I bought a Xiaomi Mi Pad 3 through one of the shops. It was ordered on Sunday and three days later I could pick it up. The original thing. Fully working and in perfect condition. It even included a EU power adapter for the charger. I use it right now to write this post.

On Banggood I ordered the Xiaomi Wiha 24 Bit set and got it quickly due to cheap priority shipping. It was the real thing. A neat screw driver with 24 different bits in perfect sizes to fix phones, consoles and other small devices. I use it already and really love it. Paid only 19 € while it goes for almost 30 € on Amazon or other local stores.

As mentioned before I ordered the Xiaomi Mi A2 Lite phone and the smart watch Mi Band 3 a few days ago from GearBest. It was shipped out today with free priority shipping. Should arrive in 8 to 17 days.


NesPi Case+ Raspberry Pi cases: I have bought two original NesPi Case+ cases for the Raspberry Pi SBCs from TomTop. Both came within the promised delivery time and in perfect condition. I compared it with the official case and it was 100% the same. So no fake. Everything works perfectly. Paid only 11 to 15 € while here in Germany the prices are around 20 to 25 €.


If anyone is interested I can post some photos of the items.

[Khadeer143]

we indian mainly depend on china products they r cheap in price but they are not gaurenteed now a days we r ignoring china products

[deanhills]

[...]

While I was in Russia I bought a Xiaomi Mi Pad 3 through one of the shops. It was ordered on Sunday and three days later I could pick it up. The original thing. Fully working and in perfect condition. It even included a EU power adapter for the charger. I use it right now to write this post.

Thanks for sharing your experiences.  Wow - a real eye-opener for sure.  I'm curious about Russia though.  Which city and shop did you buy the Xiaomi from?

What was particularly interesting for me too is that the prices you paid for some of the products may even be half that of Amazon in Germany.  Looks as though gearbest.com is having a super sale on as well. 

Only drawback for me would be customs in South Africa also in Canada.  They're two countries who can kill with custom duties because of how protected their economies are.

[Mashiro]

Thanks for sharing your experiences.  Wow - a real eye-opener for sure.  I'm curious about Russia though.  Which city and shop did you buy the Xiaomi from?

What was particularly interesting for me too is that the prices you paid for some of the products may even be half that of Amazon in Germany.  Looks as though gearbest.com is having a super sale on as well. 

Only drawback for me would be customs in South Africa also in Canada.  They're two countries who can kill with custom duties because of how protected their economies are.

The city was Omsk and I don't remember the shop anymore. It was a local shop that ordered the items for customers from Chinese shops.


Tax and customs fees are indeed always a drawback with these. So far I never had an issue though. Usually in such cases express shipping methods are taking care of taxes and customs. They might be a bit more expensive than free or standard shipping but in most cases still cheaper than having to pay the important tax/customs fee. And often you get very cheap or free express/priority shipping on Chinese shops.

[Lampard]

Sure! Why not? These Chinese online websites offer something we can't get it in our country, even though if we get it will be over-priced. Moreover the quality is also good.

I used AliExpress, but not for long time.
I was a very loyal customer of AliExpress and used to order lot of items from there and then stopped after they asked for verification of showing credit card images and some other verification such as bank statements. I would never provide these documents to these companies. Even though i contacted their customer service and asked if i can be exempted from it, which they denied. If you search on Google about it, you will find lot of same questions about AliExpress, and due to this people stopped shopping from AliExpress, in starting they will never ask for verification but after you buy some products they start this process. The items were good at AliExpress and always got refund if if packages were lost or damaged.

I am still using GearBest, and its good.
I am a loyal customer of GearBest, and still order lot of items from there. Moreover even after ordering i review their orders to get points, which can be of great use, to get discounts up to 30%. Their customer service is also good, i got refund when i ordered a drone and it was never delivered to me but Shipping Insurance is must to get full refund. The products are of good quality at Gearbest, though for some reason i see bad reviews when searching about GearBest, its not bad but i find it better than AliExpress now.

I used DHGate once, but then stopped using it.
I just ordered a single item from DHGate because it supported one of the payment method. Its really hard to find single piece for the orders less than $10 because they mostly sell products in bulk. But for expensive items its easy to find single piece. When i ordered an item, i got it within 15 days but product was of worst quality then never ordered from that website again. I can't say that WHOLE website will have products with worst quality, it depends on sellers but the website must have a check on sellers like other Chinese websites do.

[Mashiro]

On the 4th July I ordered a Xiaomi Mi Pad 4 and a fitting case for it from Banggood.com online store.

The tablet has shipped out on the 5th July (Dropship - paid priority air mail from Hong Kong). The case was shipped only one day later from mainland China (paid priority air mail via PostNL). Days passing by... the tracking code for the case has started working and I could track the order. I got the case one day ago via normal post delivery. Meanwhile the tracking code for the tablet still doesn't work and the tracking on Banggood.com says that there is no tracking information available.

The case arrived in a rather unsafe packaging. Just plastic foil. It was punctured by something small on over 10 spots but whatever it was thankfully didn't make it through the whole case (only the top layer of the front).

Days going by... the tracking code for the tablet still NOT working. I wonder what I paid shipping for and selected "tracked priority air mail". Really disappointing.