Is Aliexpress SAFE? The Pro's and Con's of Buying from Overseas

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I get asked nearly ever day about Aliexpress and in particular "Is it safe to buy from?" - Well in today's video I will talk about things to be aware and careful of, and also things you can do if you come into "item not received" or item damaged, not as described.
Though that being said Aliexpress can be a treasure trove for great value items, here are my top picks:

Time Table
0:00 Products on the Table
1:45 What is Aliexpress Exactly? (Why it isn't a Scam)
3:35 What to be aware of (cons)
7:31 Buyer Protection
8:46 Warranties and Shipping
11:16 Potential to buy Counterfeits
13:20 Pros to buying off Aliexpress
15:50 Special Dates (Chinese Lunar New Year and 11th Nov)
16:39 Question of the Day (A320 RGB Headers?)



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DISCLOSURES: Generally all links tied to products are either Amazon, AliExpress or Ebay Affilaite links, this means that if you purchase a product we earn a small sales commission, which costs you nothing extra (if you end up purchasing a product). All sponsored content will contain the word "SPONSOR" if directly sponsored or "AD." Any additional revenue stream will be disclosed with similar disclosure.

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#aliexpress #safe #online

[techyescity]

Big thanks to dashlane for sponsoring out this video -
Try Dashlane Premium free on
and use the coupon code ‘techyescity’ to get 50% off Dashlane Premium!
B550 next!

[aygulmemet]

Here's my advice:
1. Only confirm that you received your order AFTER you test it out.
2. Orders should not take over 10 days to ship. Cancel your order and get it from a different store instead.
3. NEVER cancel a dispute if the seller asks you to.
4. Don't believe in resend. For this to happen you need to create a new order for them to get a tracking number, and the new price should be changed to $0.
5. Always ask to EXTEND your buyer protection period. You are not able to open disputes if it expires.
6. If the seller ignores your messages then contact a live chat agent.
7. Never use your real name or phone number for shipping. They can call and harrass you.

Any money transaction outside of the dispute page is INVALID. You will see no receipts and have no Aliexpress Case Management Team to back you up. Dishonest sellers pretend to refund with that "7-15 working days" bullshit. Never believe in them and DO NOT WAIT. Freaking open a dispute already. Sellers delay it ON PURPOSE so that your buyer protection will expire. You will not receive any money back.

[HMU]

I just got a refund from Aliexpress for not getting an item. If I didn't get the refund from there I could always do a chargeback from my card. Online shopping is only as safe as YOU make it.

[Clearthestreet]

Bruh i swear the shipping updates be like... Arrived on a camel... Just took off 200 mph landed and egypt flew by a hawk

[nicoldengenyakeye]

YAAAY!!! Im here for that tech yes "save a poor gamer" advice

[monham]

Hey Bryan. Thanks for the run down.
I bought 6 items in mid April from AliExpress. 1 item arrived in 2 weeks. The other items were between 2.5 to 3 months with 1 item yet to arrive. This is of course due to a global virus disruption however. I'll continue to use them.
Cheers, Mon from Brisbane.

[And]

where im from, anything over 17 euros (28 aussie dollars) is charged with a 19% vat,
but many Chinese sellers type low prices on tags on small products to help buyers avoid tax
since customs don't really care investigating small packages and usually get off the hook, so all
the cpu's i bought from aliexpress were duty free

[norapper]

China is like the jungle for tech never know what your gonna find.

[adrianhawkins]

BIG Thanks to TECH YES CITY! And your fantastic videos! Glad I found your channel, c'mon Aussie!!

[davidincornwall]

I've ordered Engineering Sample CPU's, coming to the UK in about 2 weeks, which isn't too shabby.

[aphthartosyeshua]

What you said about the customs and postal services in some receiving countries being compromised is very true. I live in Ghana, and for years I've dreaded receiving anything through the post office, and so I am just afraid to make any orders online. DHL is the best option but well, its pretty more expensive than regular shipping so...

[vex]

I've been using it on a regular basis for years, so I'll share my experience here for those that are interested. Fair warning, there's gonna be a lot of text + more in the comments.

**Is it safe** : Yes, very. AliExpress has a top tier buyer protection system and to them, the buyers are always a priority over sellers. I have had issues but none were left unresolved (you usually get a partial or full refund depending on the situation and typically keep the product). With that said, you still have to prove that an item is defective or in case it's hasn't arrived, you might need to wait a bit more, they try to keep things fair towards both parties. If you get scammed, you'll be refunded and the seller will be penalized heavily. Plus, the seller doesn't actually get the money until you've confirmed arrival of goods or the period of time to confirm has expired, it's an escrow.

**Prices** : there's a LOT of re-sellers on AliExpress, it's not just one company you're buying from. That means that you could find the exact same product being sold for a much lower price than what you initially stumble onto, same goes for shipping. However, their prices are still unbeatable compared to the competition such as: Banggood (decent site), Gearbest (I'd avoid them, overpriced), Wish (nope), etc. Buying from China is always cheap, especially since you can get free shipping on vast majority of things (heavy or large things may differ).

Quick mention: *AliExpress doesn't accept PayPal* (since they've got substantial fees), except in EXTREMELLY rare cases. If you want to use PayPal, head over to Banggood (a bit higher prices, but arguably better handling but much much lower selection, also, they're just one seller unlike AExpress.. however, they are prone to hilarious advertisement claims and their so called "sales" are 9.5/10 times just a bait). Also, be sure to use coupons when you have them since they do have an expiration date (if you're using Banggood, you can type in coupon codes that you can google btw, very nifty - not on AliExpress though).

Tip: If you want to save some money in the LONG run - use a cashback service (you'll get about 5-7% of whatever you pay for after 5-6ish months). Obviously, this is not a magical solution to get things cheaper, but it's very worth it in the long run if you often use websites like AliExpress.


Additional Tip: Install an extension called LetyShops (or anything similar) - this will monitor the price changes and you'll know if it's a good time to buy something or wait a bit longer. When you see something on sale, chances are that it's not really on sale. If it is, this extension will let you know effortlessly. I recommend Topcashback US (doesn't matter if you're from US, don't worry. And you don't need a VPN / Proxy) or Topcashback UK (Not 100% sure but I think that the UK version has a slightly lower return rate, I use it when the US version doesn't register) - fair warning, these sites may take a few days to register a cashback claim, it won't show right away. And no, I'm not advertising them, I'm just pointing it out since it works for me. Your choice.

Shipping: Now this one heavily relies on the seller and the shipping service they use. Quick warning though: the corona outbreak has a MAJOR impact on shipping times, you may wait up to 3 months for an item to arrive at the moment. If you've ordered something, don't panic. This is not China's fault alone though, even your own country is probably restricting shipping times (I actually had to wait 20 days despite my shipment being in the country).

**Shipping times** - I live in Croatia and the items typically take 14-30 days to arrive, with exceptions that reach up to 45 days. Generally, it'll take longer if the item is super cheap (like 1$, they're not going to bother with fast shipping companies for such a trivial value). However, it's worth noting that some sellers have warehouses in multiple countries: US, Russia, Germany, Spain, Italy, France, Czech and so on. When you order from those warehouses, you can expect a very quick delivery (typically). As for the sellers, they usually ship the next day. If you order some large machine, you may need to wait a bit longer since they have to follow a schedule for these things (When I ordered a 3D printer, it wasn't shipped for about 1.5 weeks at all, but when it was, it arrived quickly). Keep one thing in mind guys, you won't be paying shipping for 95% of the things so it's kinda hard to complain.

Noteworthy: Sometimes you'll find a product that has 0.X-X shipping price but they note that they are shipping with the same company that's usually free - why is that ? You are not paying for shipping here. They do this to make it seem that the product is cheaper than it really is, when in fact the shipping price is a part of the product price itself.

*Import Taxes* : This is decided by your country and tax rates are different in each country. Some shipping companies also take fixed fees; no matter how much you paid for the product, you'll have to pay the same price for the shipping company taxes - this can be good (for expensive things) or bad (for cheap things). Import taxes are fairly rare and they do depend on the product. If you can avoid premium shipping companies such as DHL, UPS and alike, do it since you won't have to pay additional fees.

Tip: When buying something "expensive", message the seller and instruct them to declare a lower value of the item. This will not only lower the import taxes / customs, but it could completely negate them and you might not need to pay anything. But don't push it, you can't buy a CNC laser cutting machine and say you paid 10$ lol.

**Product quality**

Some products have a ridiculously high quality when compared to the price. I was surprised far more times than I haven't, and I've rarely been disappointed. But ultimately, it depends on the product and the price. AliExpress does have something we can consider "premium" brands. Their items will cost a bit more, but they will typically put other mainstream brands to shame when it comes to what you pay for & what you get (value) scenarios. For an example, I bought a PC keyboard for 52$ that made me depressed when I compared it to a 200$ keyboard. It was / is so much better in so many ways.

**Back to the point** - while majority of things will feature a good quality and will be incomparably better to what you'd buy locally for the same price, you do not want to buy everything on AliExpress. Some things will look amazing but will lack quality, and purchases like that are not worth it (unless you just want to try something out and it's not too expensive). As for the product specs and descriptions; DO NOT fall for it. Unless it's a reputable brand, there's a serious chance the specs will be bloated and pure BS. But let's face it, that's hardly any different from even the most established companies that are selling mainstream products, they'll always advertise more and realize less. It's just how things work. However, unlike locally, some sellers on AliExpress will have no clue just how good the product is (it's funny but I often found it to be true) and they'll undervalue the hell out of it lol.

Tip: It's essential to **read the reviews and do your research** if you want a high quality anything for a low price. Keep opening new tabs of the exact same product since sellers typically sell these products in different rates (some seller may sell only 4 items, while others might sell 400+ of the exact same items) - the more sales a product has, the higher the chances that you'll find a decent review and more information on the product itself. Good products will have little to none negative reviews (bellow 3 stars is considered a negative on AliExpress and similar sites).

[m.usamausman]

Please do a full in-detail review of that Huananzhi X99, Like what connectors it has got and what memory is best to pair with it and other stuff. Cause I'm a bit sceptical that it is missing 1 or 2 connectors that I need. Thanks In Advance.

[yourbrogames]

Yes Man!!! Could you do a video on sellers you would recommend from Aliexpress?

[BloodpactORG]

Me to ASUS: Hey wanna make that PCIe card with four NVMe slots less buggy, cheaper and actually available?
ASUS: *spit*
Jeyi, an AliExpress seller: *Hold my dazzling brushed aluminium heatsinks*

[michaelthompson]

Hi Brian, long time Tech YES City subscriber 🇦🇺👍 I purchased your $50 Nvidia Potato x58 pc from a little while have used AliExpress on and off for a few years now...purchasing generic branded motherboards, both intel and AMD models, Intel overclockable Xeon CPU’s, a number of Snowman standard and dual fan RGB models, LED pc lighting, Jonsbo cases, to name a few things and found them to be great quality and value for the money. Yes a little slow for delivery....I generally wait around 3-5 weeks to receive my goods. Only one damaged snowman fan blade received but after a photo and email I got a free fully replaced Snowman cooler and got to keep the faulty one which still worked ok. I would recommend AliExpress as a place to shop for many pc needs.

[conza]

Everyone else "B550". TYC "We just got some A320!", love your work Brian!

[UncommonKnowledge]

I purchased a Snowman CPU cooler because of your channel. The box was a bit beaten up but the cooler came perfect. Great value at only about £10.

[Bareego]

Yeah, heaps of Aliexpress packets just arrived in one giant heap :)

[Execratos]

Welcome back Tech Yes City, I've watched you since you were quite new ish. Take your time mate, we can wait if its for you.