eric s.

I have bought many low value products where some exceeded my expectations and some were rubbish.

The Chinese quality control and customer service levels are not up to Western standards which is why I buy low value products in small numbers - I was personally criticized by one of the vendors over the phone recently.

The most expensive item I have purchased was an IP Camera which was DOA (dead on arrival) and I raised a dispute supplying video evidence to the arbitration panel (the vendor tried to blame me for being incompetent) which I won and was awarded 77% refund (which took weeks to arrive). I then used that money to purchase another IP Camera from a different store but it turned out be the same guy running that store too. When the 2nd camera arrived it too did not work out of the box and I'll have to upgrade my PC operating system in order to get it working - I gave the vendor 1 star for not describing product accurately.

Remember, If any received products is faulty it cannot be sent back due high delivery costs therefore one needs to satisfy the dispute arbitrators with ( usually video evidence) - which isn't always easy - unlike say, buying though Amazon. Could do without the hassle, but in saying that some products are incredibly cheap.

Finally, their payment system is better than ebay's PayPal - one of the worse payment system ever dreamt up - and come to think of it, I prefer AliExpress to ebay.

Late update.

I'm now an A3 member of AliExpress ( have a medal next to my name) as I've purchased more than 60 items. Lately I bought an HTC phone for $100 which came on time and exceeded my expectations. The more I purchase the better satisfied I have become so my advice:

Do your research.

Expect long delivery time and moderate customer service.

Of the 60 + items purchased, all products arrived between 2 - 4 weeks and about 5% were defective, about 10% unsatisfactory and not as described. For the most part the product exceeds my expectations and none have arrived damaged. For these reasons I have given 3 stars as I believe it is now better than Ebay and the awful Paypal.