New Buying From China (incl AliExpress) guide discussion
Comments
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I have purchased a number of items from China using Gearbest and have not had any major problems. One product ended up as rubbish but was cheap so should have known better, all other products have been as described and of good quality. Do not expect the best of customer service especially when trying to track deliveries. Also purchased a mobile from Oneplus whose service has been excellent, better than Samsung.0
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Hi I tried a cheap purchase but have just received this reply:
We are sorry to inform you that we have to cancel your order for security reasons. To make sure your transaction is secure, please provide us with documentation by clicking My Appeal for further verification.
When we receive your documents, we will verify them within 3 business days. If the documents are valid, you can reorder on Aliexpress.
When I click on the appeal, it says it wants me to submit a scan of my passport or driving licence, copies of bank statements and a scan of my debit card. Obviously I am not going to do this, but I'm interested if this is a one off for that dealer. Should I try again with someone else?.0 -
You need to tell us how you are making a purchase, i.e. Aliexpress. I note the reorder is with Aliexpress and if this is how you made the original order then you need no other forms to complete or payments to make.0
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Items may be extremely cheap such as clothes, but just think why? Is it child labour or people working in appalling conditions? Try and buy Fairtrade as much as possible, not perfect but at least trying to create better conditions for others.0
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Consider the ethical implications of buying as well, such as child labour and workers conditions0
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Waste of time , and also the ethical side, I ordered supposedly silk ties which turned out to be polyester, fair enough, but when leaving a review the supplier tried everything to stop me leaving a bad review , then ordered a satchel type bag, which never turned up, cuff links purchased which were bad quality, definitely will give it a miss , banggood seem okay , but yeah if I can I am going down the not to buy China stuff , as way over priced in stores,such as tm Lewin suits made in China0
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Ive vowed (ok only to myself so far but confession here is good for the soul) that I will never ever buy again directly from China. Complete waste of time and money. Everything I've bought has gone straight into the bin. Last item to be delivered stank so badly that I am surprised Royal Mail delivered it! As they say - Buyer Beware.0
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Sorry I should have said, this was through AliExpress and that message was from AliExpress Order0
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The caution about buying electrical goods from China is a very important one. I bought an electric light bulb holder - very cheap but it was in my view very dangerous. It left the live screw of the bulb exposed and I think could have killed. It certainly didn't meet EU standards. I attempted to post a warning on Amazon feedback but they blocked my warning. On challenging this it seems their small print prevents customer feedback identifying an item as dangerous. The item is still for sale on Amazon months later. Amazon try to deny any responsibility for items sold in their marketplace but their refusal to pass on warnings about a potentially lethal product shows that they ARE involved in the transaction. I'm only an amateur lawyer (!) but my guess is that a court might well find Amazon to be partially liable if death or injury resulted after they had refused to pass on a warning of danger.0
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I would echo many points made by previous posts. As someone who has bought products for re-sale from China for over 20 years I would consider the following points before buying anything from a Chinese trader.
Ethics- Is the product made in a factory with extremely poor working conditions?
- Does the factory use Child labour?
- Does the factory use forced labour?
Safety- Are the products electrically safe?
- Does the product contain dangerous chemicals such as Lead paint or solder, plastics with toxic chemicals etc ?
- If the product is aimed at children, is it tested not to break into small parts that could cut or choke a child?
One of the responsibilities of re-sellers bringing in products from China is to do extensive testing to ensure safely, and to audit factories to ensure good working conditions/no child labour? The above list is only some of the considerations of an importer of products. All of this costs money, which is one of the reasons the product is more expensive in the UK than to buy from China.
Ultimately it's your decision if you want to buy directly from China. However I would urge for you to consider some of this and make an informed choice.0
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