David P.

I've had some great experiences with DX and also some absolute shockers over the years. My overall assessment is that they are usually OK for inexpensive products that you aren't in a rush to receive. I wouldn't order anything over $100 though, and would prefer to support a different site.

Pros:

-Huge range
-Really cheap
-Once dispatched, shipping CAN be quick sometimes (< 1 week)
-I've scored some absolute steals from this site.

Cons:

-Product quality varies from average to woeful. Gadgets are generally knock-offs and clothing is very small and the dyes sometimes wash out quickly.
-Don't trust their MVP (24hr dispatch) status. I've ordered items that are supposedly MVP, only to still be waiting for dispatch a week later and the products since listed as "out of stock".
-Some packages aren't tracked and I have had some not arrive at all.

I have been a member of Interpals since the early days - 10 years in fact, so I think I have a fairly good picture of what the site dynamics are like.

In the early days, it was a great place to meet interesting people around the world. I met many good friends who I am still in touch with to this day. One of those people became my current partner of 6 years, so fair play - it has its moments.

At least it used to.

In the past 5 years, I have made zero meaningful friendships through the site, and I have not changed my approach at all since I made 5 very good friends in 2007-2012. And yes, 4 of those 5 people noticed the same shift in the site around the 2012 mark and either left of abandoned their profiles.

The community has become a vapid cesspit of pervs, narcissists and scammers. As others have noted, the response rate to messages is low. In my own experience, my messages (polite, thoughtful, interested in their hobbies) have a response rate somewhere around 20% on a good day. And that's including the ones who chat with you for the day and then pretend you are dead.

So if you are a "good" penpal who writes long, well-thought-out messages to people who you believe you could become friends with, I'd advise not to bother. The simple fact that half of your messages never even get read, and of the ones that are, you get a response to 2 in 5, makes the whole exercise a colossal waste of time.

As for the language parasites that others have referred to (albeit more politely than I), the struggle is real. I have had dozens of people who I have been helping with their English for months or years (during regular conversation):

- Demand that I write an essay for them. That's right - they see you as a paid tutor (?)
- Become extremely angry that I was not available to proofread their report before submitting it, despite having no idea what their schedule is (and a life of my own offline).
- Completely ghost me as soon as they no longer need help with English. Some of these are people I considered good friends, so it sucks when they just don't want to give you the time of day once you have served your "use" to them.

Not worth the mental anguish that it used to cause me, where I wondered what I had said or done to deserve being dropped like a molten rock for no apparent reason.

To even have a shot at improving, the Interpals team would need to figure out a way to restore the community to what it used to be, because ultimately, it isn't the admins' fault that the people have turned sour.

Can it be saved? I don't even know where you would begin to fix it. In my opinion, the horse has well and truly bolted.