Maybe I'm late to the game, but I just discovered this site from an advertisement on this forum. Seems like an Amazon competitor. Anybody ordered anything from them? Nothing vintage that I saw, but lots of accessories like lights, tires, etc. and prices seem pretty low. Again, please don't make nasty comments if I'm the last person in the world to know about this site, I was just looking for good/bad ratings from users before I order something. I did a search and found Ali mentioned once or twice but nothing definitive as to their overall reputation. Thanks.

Bicycle-accessories Directory of Bicycle Helmet, Bicycle Basket and more on Aliexpress.com

Caveat emptor.


AliExpress.com is Alibaba's factory direct marketplace replete with scams.

Wow....doesn't look good....anybody had any personal experiences wih them?

I have used alibaba, the b2b site. The companies I did work with were very responsive and gave me exactly what I wanted but it did take time to vet them.

alibaba will be a huge IPO pretty soon.

It's like ordering on eBay....hit and miss. There are some legit companies, and sellers. And some who don't follow up on customer service or claims.
Damaged goods on one order went ignored, and missing items weren't credited the usual way....told me they'll credit my next order instead. Sure!

Certain companies contacted from Alibaba have been fine, mostly b2b.

That's my limited experience buying for an employer.

Thanks for the info....looks like I'll stick with Amazon until they (Ali)decide to become more user friendly!!

at the risk of sounding xenophobic, i wouldn't do e-business with the chinese unless you're willing to lose the money.

if something goes wrong in the transaction, you have to return the item for refund. the loophole is, it is rediculously expensive to ship an item with tracking to china (wheras the chinese postal system is subsidized and they can ship anything for pennies).

this is how *some* chinese sellers on ebay and other sites get away with scamming people. there are cases where they literally ship an empty envelope with tracking, and the buyer cannot get his money back because paypal will require you to ship an item back with delivery confirmation (and paying for such would be rediculously expensive).

Congratulations. You succeeded!

You did just posit "Caveat Emptor", correct?

It's not a phobia because the fear of losing one's cash to a PROC-based scammer is perfectly reasonable.

The PROC is loaded with counterfeiters and scammers. Has everything to do with the government not busting the balls of the miscreants in question. But then the so-called "communist" government is a kleptocracy anyway - they won't punish outright fraud unless there is considerable embarrassment to themselves.

Having lived there, I'm afraid I agree. Yet, in a place with 1.3 billion people, some are bound to be scoundrels. Just like most everywhere else. But counterfeiting and scamming is prevalent in China.

I didn't see it.

Me neither.

That was for that particular site and if you bothered to read the article, you would know why.

Then, if you bothered to read post #4 , you would realize that I have used many Chinese vendors with great success. Scammers are the exception, not the rule.

To claim all Chinese e-commerce is a scam, as posted in #8 , is the height of ignorance and most definitely jingoistic.

I have ordered a few things and the scoundrel rate is no worse than eBay IMHO. As I recall, the payment is held in some sort of escrow by AliExpress and only after you have received your item and acknowledged to AliExpress that it arrived OK, will they release the payment to the vendor.

Generally though, everything I have been interested that was on AliExpress, I have seen on eBay, Amazon or DealExtreme.

This tends to occur MUCH more often over in the mechanics forum than it does here. I hear it's common in road cycling as well, but I only go there once in a blue moon.

If it were me, I wouldn't be too concerned about being scammed for the money, but maybe for the quality of the product that showed up. That market is churning out all manner of cheap knock offs and products of questionable quality. But I will add, lest anyone think I'm phobic or jingoistic, that while I was there I found some products the Chinese make as being the best I've seen. Underwear comes to mind. They used to make outstanding, high quality underwear, including fine Merino wool stuff. Not sure if they still do. Order some long underwear, Okane. You'll be fine. A helmet? Not so sure.

Hmmmmmm, Pegorettis for only $1000

I buy a lot from them and i love how they handling fraud/scam issue comparing with paypal ....

....I'm my supply is good for now!!!!!!! MIght be in the market for a helmet though!!!!

******************************??meant to type underwear in the title!!!!!!!!!!! damn Parkinsons!!!!!!!!!

Okay, thanks for clarifying, but it bears remembering that on Alibaba "Chinese manufacturers sell directly to customers to keep prices down."

I'm happy for you that you've been able to complete several transactions successfully with PROC-based vendors. The last one I dealt with spoofed an IP address, claimed they were located in the continental USA (they were actually in Guangzhou), and sold me a counterfeit copy of an operating system. It took about six months to get my cash back in that case.

I've had two former employers affected adversely by PROC-based business practices. In one case, the "partner" decided to steal the intellectual property, establish a satellite factory unrelated to our company, then steal the list of potential customers. Another situation involved a "partner" wasting seed money on a huge white-elephant of a building and on company cars for executives without installing any of the equipment required to actually do business.

My current employer is and was uninterested in PROC-based manufacture of anything, mainly due to intellectual property concerns they have.

It's all very nice and good to try to apply morality pet standards here, but some of us actually have more experience with this than you do. Feel free to judge, though.

That wasn't what was stated. The exact statement was "at the risk of sounding xenophobic, i wouldn't do e-business with the chinese unless you're willing to lose the money."

Even if the vast majority of PROC-based ecommerce is not fraudulent, one must examine rates of fraud relative to other locations across the globe, then decide on whether to do business based on those rates. It's no different from doing business in South America, Russia, Nigeria or the Middle East - the ethics are different from those of the western business world. The fear of getting scammed is perfectly reasonable. "Phobia" does not apply.

If the PROC was so concerned about their reputation, perhaps they should crack down more on counterfeiting and intellectual property theft, neither of which they've done. Until that occurs, PROC-based businesses shouldn't be surprised by the suspicions of their potential customers - though I suspect some of them will be butt-hurt.