[negative_zero]

I'd go one step further and say AliExpress is better than Amazon.

Anything important I get from a physical store. For cheap crap or stuff I am happy to gamble on, I'd rather cut out the useless price gouging middleman, and go straight to the source.

I've actually had very good customer service from AliExpress vendors. A NUC form factor PC I got had issues using a certain brand of RAM. They churned out a custom BIOS overnight to try get it going.

[user_named]

AliExpress sellers may also be middlemen. You generally never really get rid of the middleman.

[iasay]

Not always.

Fine example is the cheap STM32 based PLC I bought. The thing was so badly designed you couldn’t plug an RS232 cable into it because the casing was in the way of the connector. When approaching the vendor, with photos, I got offered a $5 refund and told to take the casing off (which was required for it to fit on a rail). Aliexpress sided with the seller when I complained. I charge backed the whole $75 and Aliexpress blocked me as a buyer.

I said screw it and bought a second hand omron PLC off eBay.

Then there’s the fake semiconductors on there. It’s difficult to find any genuine ones.

The only reason Aliexpress is cheap is the post cost from them is low. Returns are really expensive to china so they will do everything to avoid it. If we shot some of the postal agreements Aliexpress would be dead overnight.

[rashkov]

Yeah well my AliExpress NUC was stolen from me after I shipped it back for repair and never heard back. Was also a bios problem, black screen on boot a day after I received it. Aliexpress and the seller ignored me over multiple months and many messages. $600 lost.

[NavinF]

That’s why you use a credit card. Just have the bank issue a chargeback.

That said, I agree that AliExpress is way more stingy with refunds compared to eBay/Amazon. One time it took me 4 months to get a package that would normally be delivered in 10 days to the US. Any normal website would have just issued a refund after 30 days. Still, AliExpress is incredibly cheap and I’ve bought a ton of assembled PCBs from them that are either impossible to find elsewhere or only available with a 10x markup.