AliExpress ?

[Spectrum]

Any one bought from them? looking at a electric working platform they seem to be Ok the price includes delivery, but what are the pitfalls of importing something from China into France and what extra costs could be involved? Thanks

[hughnique]

Never, as far as I am aware bought anything from them, I know Amazon sometimes give a longer delivery time on certain items and when you look at the manufacturer it's somewhere in China, I tend to avoid if possible. Is TEMU the same, they offer cheap prices, my son ordered some stuff from them in the UK, but said it was a load of rubbish when it arrived.

[Polarengineer]

I have had only good experience with them. I have at one time had a 19kW heat pump delivered where the seller organized transport, customs and delivery to my door all for the advertised price. I regularly buy bowden cable drives for my Honda backpack weed whacker and never had any costs above the advertised prices. A scissor lift or cherry picker may well need a CE certificate which is usually not a problem

[Hotrodder]

I use them several times a year, never an extra cost at the door. Never spent more than about 60€ each transaction. Things to remember: Goods can take anything up to a month to arrive from China -and- the photos that accompany the item description are usually designed to deceive, what you receive will be much smaller than it appears. The dimensions posted will often resemble hieroglyphics and not relate to metric or imperial. My wife has found the clothing sizes are at least two sizes too small or can be child's size if not specified (like with a hat). Good bargains are to be had on small electronics and hardware, cheap tools etc. but don't expect any spares if you need them in the future. Roll the dice. It may be a ripoff or a bargain.

[Loup-garou]

I bought three kinetic light switches for places where it was difficult to drop cables for a switch or the rooms had been decorated. They were fine and do their job and there was no added costs involved.

Sometimes the quantities you need to purchase to obtain the price you see is a problem.

[Naylor's Ark]

We use them a lot. They're very good for spare parts for tools and appliances. I.e lawn mower belts, vacuum cleaner parts etc.
And those obscure bits that break inside of said items.
To be honest, it's the first place we look to shop for anything.
Just make sure:
* You read the description carefully.
* Only buy from sellers with reviews. ( Obviously read the reviews! )
* Check the expected delivery date. ( They can vary from seller to seller.)

Sometimes an item can be sent from a choice of countries. Check all destinations for combination of speed and price.
Strangely enough, from France is usually more expensive and not always quicker!
Never had extra charges upon delivery.
They not as good for clothing. For that use Shen.

[Naylor's Ark]

I thought you might like an example of buying on AliExpress.
We recently needed to buy a replacement ink waste tank for our Canon printer.

Cost from Amazon fr : €16. Delivery time would be a week.
Cost from AliExpress: €5.79. Delivery took just over a week.
Delivery was free as we bought two (you never know when you'll have to replace it again) so went over the minimum spend (€10)
No extra charges were incurred.
Fitted in the printer and working fine.

[Polarengineer]

Good. for you NA. Mind you, this waste tank design is a disgrace, it should be up front and usable for non perfect copies as a mud colour, which I am sure most people would use for unimportant but necessary personal prints. Environmental poisoning.

[Naylor's Ark]

@Polarengineer
We bought a large ink tank model to save on ink.
In that respect it does work. This is the first time we needed to replace the tank.We haven't had to buy ink for years, and still have bottles of refill ink in the drawer to replenish.
We got fed up buying cartridges that say they're empty when they're not. I'm not sure if the "tank" models are any worse than cartridge models in respect of environmental issues. If you need a printer what else can you do?

Anyhoo,
I posted to give an example of using AliExpress, not to comment about printers. That was just the last thing we bought. It could easily have been a vacuum cleaner part.
I'm sure they're bad for the environment too!

[Polarengineer]

Just saying NA, I use this type of printer too.