I've started ordering two (or more) of everything I buy from Aliexpress, just in case one is damaged in shipping, lost, or whatever. A lot of times both items end up being fine and I give one to a friend. Sometimes I take one apart to see how it works.
What is really interesting is that a lot of things that appear identical on AliExpress are actually fairly different when you open them up. It's weird, because there is innovation going on, but they go out of their way to hide it.
What really bothers me is that Amazon allows people to sell things that are shipped from China without making it blatantly obvious it is coming from China. I'm not saying it's hidden, but I use Amazon because I want stuff in a few days. If I wanted to wait six weeks I'd order from Aliexpress.
>I've started ordering two (or more) of everything I buy from Aliexpress
I ordered 2x the batch of an item (which was low enough cost that even though I only needed a few it was worth paying for several more) from eBay once in order to try and decrease the risk of loss in transit and also because I figured that even if both batches turn up eventually, one would arrive before the other. Even though it was two separate sellers, it turned out that the originating address was the same and they did combined shipping of the order so I got all of them together and at the same time. Now I had ordered these items well in advance of the latest date at which I would require them but still, having them combined, I felt a bit... cheated. What has been your experience in this on Ali? Do you frequently get the items shipped together?
I have never had a shipment from two different sellers combined. In fact, I've had a single order from one seller split in to multiple orders because e-packet is so much cheaper per ounce than larger packages of similar size.
Occasionally I'll place an order that has a guaranteed delivery date in a timeframe I'm okay with, and the seller will extend the purchase protection outside of that timeframe. The other issues I've faced are that sellers will either substitute items for dissimilar items or not ship items at all if they are out of stock. I've never had a seller contest a package not received or package not as described though. I think they just figure they'll make a few dollars here or there on people who have forgotten to contest the order.
There is a stated delivery timeframe though, if the sellers frequently miss that they will get suspended. If the product matches the description and comes within the quoted timespan, I don't think it should matter where it comes from.
What is really interesting is that a lot of things that appear identical on AliExpress are actually fairly different when you open them up. It's weird, because there is innovation going on, but they go out of their way to hide it.
What really bothers me is that Amazon allows people to sell things that are shipped from China without making it blatantly obvious it is coming from China. I'm not saying it's hidden, but I use Amazon because I want stuff in a few days. If I wanted to wait six weeks I'd order from Aliexpress.