Buying through Aliexpress?

Does anyone have experience with this site?

[www.aliexpress.com]

I want to buy these stepper motors for my 2nd project but not sure if the site has a good reputation. I just found it today and it seems to come with a good price and good promises. I know Alibaba is a good B2B site, but Aliexpress is set up by Alibaba to be used my consumers instead of big companies.

It's basically a China ebay. You are dealing with another business not Alibaba. That being said Alibaba acts as a intermediary and they hold your money until you say you receive the goods and are happy, then and only then do they pay the seller.

It's safer than just buying from random companies in China because of that.

That particular company has a diamond rating that means they have a good reputation and have been selling on Alibaba for quite some time. It can take quite some time for products to arrive if they go by China post. Expect anything from 2 weeks all the way up to 6 weeks for delivery, 3-4 weeks is average.

The main problem when buying from China is if the product is defective, you have to ship it back to get a replacement or refund.

I actually sell jewelry supplies for a living and most of it comes from this site.

These here should be the same motor (or a very similar model), shipping from the Netherlands. I have made good experiences with the vendor (although their electronics kits are of mediocre quality). Packaging of the motors when ordered in bulk should also be very good.
In the end, lower shipping time and costs may equal out the cheaper price on Aliexpress (you can even choose to pick your order up personally for zero shipping cost).

Ah, yes, only problem is that the Dutch vendor is a bit more expensive, the set of steppers has only four and I need five. I can get five through Aliexpress with a much lower price, even with the postage fee

I am in fact ordering my Mendelmax parts from the site you linked, and they replied good to my email with questions.

I could consider asking them a good price for a set of five.






uGen Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> These here should be the same motor (or a very
> similar model), shipping from the Netherlands. I
> have made good experiences with the vendor
> (although their electronics kits are of mediocre
> quality). Packaging of the motors when ordered in
> bulk should also be very good.
> In the end, lower shipping time and costs may
> equal out the cheaper price on Aliexpress (you can
> even choose to pick your order up personally for
> zero shipping cost).

I see. But don't they also have a complete electronics kit including 5 motors?
Never mind that, just read that you ordered an electronics kit from Gadgets3D

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/09/2013 06:44PM by uGen.

Ah, I see, this kit:
[reprapworld.com]

Well, I think that through the G3D kit I'm better off, since it uses the G3D steppers, from which I have read very good and positive reviews. In the wiki it says they are the 'new generation' of stepper drivers. Let's hope it's true.

Also, in my kit I get the Budaschnozzle delivered with it. So I will first put the Buda on my current printer, because my current hotend is a little bit loose, and I don't want a shaky hotend. I have a lot to do tomorrow when that kit comes in!

Resolder all the wiring, replace the X-carriage, replace the extruder, replace the hotend, etc. Oh, and place the cable chain I've printed. Awesome piece of printable material!

Beware that they usually ship with tracking and insurance and thus it takes a long time to get to your door

Ah, yes I've seen that I also have a choice for which postage-service I want to use, some have a delivery time of a few days, while others have a delivery time of a month!



ThanhTran Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Beware that they usually ship with tracking and
> insurance and thus it takes a long time to get to
> your door

I have bought a heap of stuff from Aliexpress and have only had a couple of problems, both of which were sorted out quickly. Down in this part of the world we are a bit limited for options and when compared to the prices of motors, bearings, linear rod and other parts the savings are huge. I normally buy stuff that has free shipping and it is generally 2-3 weeks delivery time. You can pay for 2-3 day delivery but it is often more than the cost of the item and if you have enough projects on the go 3 weeks is nothing really. I have once had a problem with the quality of some linear bearings so I am a bit more careful now with the sellers and only ever buy from mainland china sellers as they seem to be better quality.
On top of all that, a lot of US-based sellers are reluctant to ship outside the US and the ones that do often add costs to cover the additional hassles so free or cheap shipping is a major incentive.

---

_________________________________________________________________________________________

Richmond, New Zealand
Thingiverse ~ YouTube

I would echo entirely, everything that Wired has said. In fact, I find I can get stuff quicker through Ali-x than some others like DX.com. Those motors you found are the exact ones I purchased and they've performed superbly since I fitted them some months ago.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/09/2013 11:08PM by waitaki.

Nice comments, thanks.

I live in Holland (or the Netherlands, it's a different name for the same country ) and I notice that a lot of dutch sellers, sell items that I can find on aliexpress, but with a huge cost added. So I guess I might as well be buying from aliexpress, to save money. The only thing I have to keep in mind is the customs, they ask money for importing goods, last time I had to pay a 20 euro's extra, so wasn't too much, but still it wasn't expected..




waitaki Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I would echo entirely, everything that Wired has
> said. In fact, I find I can get stuff quicker
> through Ali-x than some others like DX.com. Those
> motors you found are the exact ones I purchased
> and they've performed superbly since I fitted them
> some months ago.

Quote
Ohmarinus
Well, I think that through the G3D kit I'm better off, since it uses the G3D steppers, from which I have read very good and positive reviews. In the wiki it says they are the 'new generation' of stepper drivers. Let's hope it's true.

Yes, I am using them on my machine and they perform great. Especially when you have very small parts for which the cooling slowdown reduces your print speed extremely, I can see their trim-pot for the cut-off times coming in handy. You can modify the standard Pololus or Stepsticks by bridging a certain resistor to achieve the same effect, though. But then again, the G3D drivers come with Heat sinks pre-equipped and are packaged in a very nice little box.

I've done a fair amount of business at Alixpress. Use epacket, dhl or FedEx or the wait is a month or so.

Just to add to the consensus above.

I have bought stacks of stuff from Ali-express and for the most part everything has been satisfactory.
The sellers all live an die by their feedback ratings so they are generally very keen to keep you happy - don't be too concerned about having to send back defective hardware. I've recently had problems with some linear rails that turned up very slightly bent and the seller just sent me more, no interest in me returning them.
If you make sure you buy from well rated sellers and filter for highest rated when you're searching for stuff, you should come away happy.
Also, if you are unsure, you can often get hold of a vendor on the internal messenger system and although their english is often a little entertaining, they are generally very helpful.

I've order something and it came its not a scam it just takes a couple weeks to come

I sell jewelry making supplies (and epoxy) for a living and I use Aliexpress weekly. It is a lot like an ebay for China goods. Most suppliers are honest but not all. Don't assume anything, if it's not in the ad then it's likely not in the product. Buy only from vendors that are rated, they have like gold ribbons (the more the better) and then they move up to diamonds. If you can buy from a dealer rated with diamonds you can have more confidence.

Some suppliers I use all the time are like 5 diamonds. I have probably had over 2,000 transactions on Aliexpress and only had 12 problems.

If the items are shipped by China post or Hong Kong post then expect 2-3 weeks delivery. DHL is around 7 days but is a lot more expensive.

I would like you admonish you of buying from Shenzhen Royal E-Commerce Co.,Ltd - 04 Store No.411887. The company works under ALIEXPRESS.COM. The company has good feedback score but it is a fake seller. I guess their feedback is just a confidence game !!!!!!!!!

I bought the exact same motors, but from a different seller (http://www.aliexpress.com/snapshot/282127686.html)
It was a pack of 10 steppers for 75€ including shipping to germany (from german warehouse).
Later I sold 5 of the motors for 55€ on ebay

If you order, do not click "I've received item......" because once you click that you can no longer open a claim or anything from what I have found. I have had a claim open on another order for 3 weeks now and I am still waiting, Aliexpress is supposedly waiting on the shipper to provide information and gave them 3 days to do so...well its been 7 now and I haven't heard anything else. I'd stick with eBay for anything higher priced.

I bought some 3D printing filament on ebay, it shipped from the States but I too encountered a customs fee... $40 on a $400 dollar order. Wasn't entirely dissappointing :p However I'm going to keep looking for Dutch resellers, also to cut down delivery time. I don't want to be buying too much at once.

---

3D Printing Blog: [www.absplastic.eu] - The Future, The Possibilities

Ramon88, I have bought my last filament through 'filamentenmeer' (Dutch vendor) [www.filamentenmeer.nl] and I am very pleased with the quality. It's Repraper filament that he is reselling and both the ABS and PLA work very well for me. With the ABS I have never encountered a problem and it's the best printing ABS I've had so far.

For PLA I have no comparison since I bought my first PLA there so I'm sticking with that vendor for now.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/08/2014 06:15PM by Ohmarinus.

which company is the most reliable, or tested and trusted at aliexpress?

Quote
tjb1
If you order, do not click "I've received item......" because once you click that you can no longer open a claim or anything from what I have found. I have had a claim open on another order for 3 weeks now and I am still waiting, Aliexpress is supposedly waiting on the shipper to provide information and gave them 3 days to do so...well its been 7 now and I haven't heard anything else. I'd stick with eBay for anything higher priced.

Just an update to this...still no action from the case. Will not be buying anything else from aliexpress or alibaba.

AliExpress is not so friendly,one reason is that they charge 5% for the seller the other is that the logistic is very slow.

---

China 3D Printing Filament Factory
0.05mm Tolerance/22 Colors/ Fast Delivery
Ana Lucia
Tel:0086-13418510805
www.ecoreprap.com
skype:ecoreprap

Quote
ecoreprap
AliExpress is not so friendly,one reason is that they charge 5% for the seller the other is that the logistic is very slow.

5% is not that much, they offer local companies a place to sell their wares on the intercontinental market. To me that sounds like a good deal. If you want to hire a stand at a convention you will pay more.

There is no problem i mean i bought many through them, you are dealing with the same kind of pro and cons you have when buying to chines ebay dealers.

Quote
victorjung
There is no problem i mean i bought many through them, you are dealing with the same kind of pro and cons you have when buying to chines ebay dealers.

Except you don't have paypal as recourse and the recourse on aliexpress is terrible. I had an item that never showed up and the tracking shows it was delivered over 5 hours away and I have been waiting on a refund for 18 days now... I ordered this item November 27.

Quote
tjb1

Quote
tjb1
If you order, do not click "I've received item......" because once you click that you can no longer open a claim or anything from what I have found. I have had a claim open on another order for 3 weeks now and I am still waiting, Aliexpress is supposedly waiting on the shipper to provide information and gave them 3 days to do so...well its been 7 now and I haven't heard anything else. I'd stick with eBay for anything higher priced.

Just an update to this...still no action from the case. Will not be buying anything else from aliexpress or alibaba.

As a seller,it's hard to do business in aliexpress too.I need keep 3pieces of each items in stock,(I have more than 300 items,maybe some of them will never be sold out).The shipment cost long time via China post.
All means I can not get my cost back in several months.

The winner is aliexpress itself,not seller.

As a buyer I've purchased a lot through aliexpress and been pretty happy every time. Never had anything go wrong , so I don't know how well they handle problems. I generally just assume some percentage of my purchases will go wrong, and often buying from ebay/aliexpress is much cheaper even with a 10% failure rate.

Quote
opeyemi
which company is the most reliable, or tested and trusted at aliexpress?

That's kind of like asking which company is the most reliable, tested, and/or trusted on ebay. Or Amazon marketplace. Or any other similar marketplace with multiple vendors under one site. There is one vendor that meets that criteria and even if there was one for motors for instance, they may not have your electronics. Or linear rod. Or some other component. Or the best vendor may have an issue with a particular order but overall they are a good vendor. That's what their ratings are, and just like any other site, you have to take their rating with a grain of salt and use your best judgement. And even then, you can still get burned.