[toast0]

I've purchased a couple items from AliExpress, and it's definitely an experience. In my case, it starts with calling my credit card issuer and having them turn off all fraud protection on the card for an hour, because otherwise the charges get rejected so early, they don't even show up for customer service.

The items I purchased arrived as expected when expected, although with much more tape than expected (I guess they're optimizing for ocean shipping by making sure the packages will float by themselves!)

[smolder]

I'd been told they use excessive tape because the quality of the cardboard packaging available is so poor that it's somewhat necessary. I don't know why getting better cardboard boxes isn't the answer in that case but perhaps there's some reason for that, too.

[webmobdev]

I was just exploring some Tablet PC on AE, and one of the sellers had posted a photo of how the tablet would be shipped - it would be without the box, directly wrapped with small-bubbles plastic wrap, then wrapped / placed inside a big-bubble plastic box-like wrap and then placed inside an envelope (obviously with a lot of tape)! Looks like they prefer and trust plastic over cardboard.