Buying on Aliexpres, my one experience.

[etpm]

I have read various posts about Alibaba and Aliexpress here on TBN. Since I have bought one item on Aliexpress I thought my experience might be slightly useful.
A few years ago I decided for several reasons to buy a new Chinese made tube amplifier. These amps are for sale online from many sources. All the usual suspects such as the giants Amazon and eBay. But several other sellers as well. The exact same amp had prices that varied quite a bit. The lowest prices I found were on Aliexpress. About 1/2 the price of the lowest price I found from sellers here in the States. Or at least sellers representing themselves as being located here in the States.
I was intrigued about the much lower Aliexpress prices and so risked buying the amp from one of the sellers on Aliexpress. Of course, since the amp was not coming from a warehouse here in the US, but from China directly, the shipping cost would be higher and the wait longer. Since I had the time, and since the total price including shipping was only about 40% of the exact same product sold by US sellers, I pulled out my card and made the purchase.
After about a month my amp arrived. It worked. But one of the tubes was not the same tube that it was advertised to have. The tube in question is a rectifier tube so only 1 is needed even though the amp is stereo. In fact, the tube included is actually a better tube than what was supposed to be included. Nevertheless I wanted to test Aliexpress, I wanted to see if they would back up the products being sold even if the products are being sold by thousands of different companies.
So I complained and asked that the tube in the description be shipped to me. I would in then ship the tube that came with the amp back to the seller as long as they paid shipping. I received a counter offer. Would I accept 50 dollars instead of the tube? The 50 dollars would show up as a refund on my card. Feeling kind of crappy about the whole thing, but really wanting to test the integrity of Aliexpress in general and the one seller in particular, I accepted the offer. And the 50 dollar refund did indeed show up on my card. After the whole experience I will probably buy again from Aliexpress. I have been looking at used small excavators.
I should say something about the amp too, just because. My grandfather was a sound engineer. During the second World War he was instrumental in the development of sonar. He also engineered the first sound system for the Hollywood Bowl. When I was a little kid we would visit my grandparents on a fairly regular basis and I always got to spend time in Grandpa's audio lab. One room in my Grandparent's house was an audio lab with state of the art equipment. This was in the early 60s. So there was a mix of tube and solid state stuff. But really, at that time, tubes still dominated. So al those tubes really fascinated me then and I still am fascinated and love tubes.
Still, I am not gonna listen to music if it sounds bad even if tubes are in the circuit. That however is not the case with this Chinese amp. Paired with my very efficient Klipsch speakers the amp sounds great. Since I am using very efficient speakers the 8 watt total power from the amp will drive the speakers to uncomfortable loudness. My brother came for a visit and I had him listen to my setup. He was dubious. After listening he was really impressed. Not because it sounded good but because it sounded great. I could go on but I won't.
Cheers,
Eric

 

[California]

That's good to know. I read somewhere that the Chinese government recognizes the critical importance of exports and pressures vendors to ship overseas per contract terms. AliExpress, likewise. They have some control over the vendors who list there. So buying via AliExpress isn't as random as we might fear.

Right now shipping delay might be the frustration maker rather than non performance.

 

[etpm]

That's good to know. I read somewhere that the Chinese government recognizes the critical importance of exports and pressures vendors to ship overseas per contract terms. AliExpress, likewise. They have some control over the vendors who list there. So buying via AliExpress isn't as random as we might fear.

Right now shipping delay might be the frustration maker rather than non performance.

Yeah, shipping delays might be a concern but I think these delays affect everybody pretty much equally. My experience with a relatively inexpensive purchase makes me think that either someone is watching to make sure customers are happy or that the vendors think that someone is watching or both. Just like Costco or Amazon or Wal-Mart. They don't want mad customers. They want repeat business. AliExpress wants repeat customers and I think that their vendors probably try very hard to make customers happy. For sure there will be some thieves, but more money can be made over the long haul by being an honest and fair vendor. My sample of one experience, which statistically means nothing nevertheless makes me feel better about a future purchase.
Eric
Eric

 

[Alan W.]

I was under the impression that emission compliance was a problem with importing used equipment. May want to check into that before ordering.

 

[Oaktree]

I was under the impression that emission compliance was a problem with importing used equipment. May want to check into that before ordering.

By "emission" do you mean (air/water) pollution or RF radiation? I can't see an audio amplifier emitting any RF.
You do need to beware of any sort of transmitters from Oriental countries, be it a 2 way radio, FM adapter so you can use an mp3 player thru a car radio, etc. These technically need FCC approval to be sold/used in the U.S., but most aren't.

 

[Jstpssng]

By "emission" do you mean (air/water) pollution or RF radiation? I can't see an audio amplifier emitting any RF.
You do need to beware of any sort of transmitters from Oriental countries, be it a 2 way radio, FM adapter so you can use an mp3 player thru a car radio, etc. These technically need FCC approval to be sold/used in the U.S., but most aren't.

I believe that the emissions for the OP’s unit are more of an audio nature, prone to make the neighbors crawl up the walls when it’s operating at peak capacity.

 

[etpm]

I believe that the emissions for the OP’s unit are more of an audio nature, prone to make the neighbors crawl up the walls when it’s operating at peak capacity.

Even though my Klipsch speakers are very efficient, my 8 watt amp just can't quite drive the neighbors to call the cops. But playing "Time", from Dark Side Of The Moon, scared the cats pretty good.
Eric

 

[Alan W.]

My comment about emissions was in reference to the OPs comment that he was looking at used mini excavators.
My apologies for the lack of direction on my part

 

[ning]

I bought some low-profile inset door handles for the very occasional access to a utility space from a hallway where I didn't want the handles to protrude.

I found them on Amazon by an unknown seller with no obvious presence in the world other than the Amazon storefront, and then looking further I found them on Aliexpress for a fourth the price and same expected shipping time.

I was quite happy with the transaction.

 

[Diggin It]

Bought a $150-ish tech widget. Didn't work right, had several problems. Contacted seller, no reply, possible language issue. Started a return, sent it off. Took most of a month to get there. Still no seller contact. Filed through the site's claims process. Took a little time, but I got my full payment back.