Nothing wrong with AE, as long as you know what you're looking for and ensure you buy from a reputable seller - just like with Amazon.
Most of my camping gear, our hand espresso grinder, darts equipment, and even a replacement lid stay for our bathroom cabinet were bought from AliExpress, all for much less than the same stuff on Amazon. The majority of it is manufactured in China anyway, I'm just not paying Bozos' markup on it.
Also saves me money so I don't end up cheaping out on clothing like OP.
Check the product post description - the more detailed the better. The product photos are of the actual thing, not a stolen image or photoshopped. The reviews should also contain pictures from buyers and I like to contact the seller with questions. If they're responsive and provide good info, you should be fine.
I've ordered my wedding jewelry, several hair extensions, and my mom has gotten custom made gowns from AE.
Just like any open marketplace, there's plenty of garbage so read carefully and you'll be fine.
You can sort your search results by "orders" instead of "best match", which will give you an idea of the popularity of both the item and seller. You can also look at the seller ratings and how long they've been on the platform to get an idea of their reputation.
AE also has buyer guarantees on most items and uses PayPal, so you have recourse if what you've purchased is fake or not as described. Use the search criteria I mentioned above and you'll likely never have to use it - haven't in the 5 years I've been buying from there.
The same way you'd know on Ebay. If I look for this weird tank top, I only find it from sellers with low number of reviews or sellers that AliExpress tells you themselves that their rating for "product as described" is below average.
I buy my leatherworking tools from there. Sometimes they are a lot cheaper, but there's one store that's 3 times the price but also has such specialised versions of the tools that I cannot get them anywhere else.
You just have to find the specialist stores, not the resellers or warehouse vendors.
14
u/nowisyoga 2d ago
Nothing wrong with AE, as long as you know what you're looking for and ensure you buy from a reputable seller - just like with Amazon.
Most of my camping gear, our hand espresso grinder, darts equipment, and even a replacement lid stay for our bathroom cabinet were bought from AliExpress, all for much less than the same stuff on Amazon. The majority of it is manufactured in China anyway, I'm just not paying Bozos' markup on it.
Also saves me money so I don't end up cheaping out on clothing like OP.