I know all about Chinese ordering and order it and forget it but lately I sure haven’t had much luck with AliExpress.
I have two items that I really want and ordered them through an AliExprees store. My PayPal payment was made and after a couple of weeks it still was showing they hadn’t been shipped. I contacted the store asking what was going on and they answered back that they finally were shipped.
After almost two months, I contacted the store and they replied they were probably lost in shipment and would it be okay if they shipped out replacements? I said fine, I just wanted what I paid for. After waiting some more I contacted them twice more if the replacements were shipped? They just disappeared after that.
I put in a dispute with AE and they immediately issued a refund. Okay, that was good.
I then ordered the same two items from another AE store that others here have had good luck with and after a week they were finally listed as shipped. They promised a tracking number but of course it’s been another week and the tracking number shows nothing and yes I used all the Chinese tracking sites.
Boy, if these are ever received, it’ll be a miracle! Anyway, just ranting and playing the Chinese ordering hit or miss game.
Try going to “My AliExpress”, and then go on to “My Orders”. I have an old computer, so the resolution of my screen is not very high. When I scroll to the far right, I eventually end up in an area where I can track my order. No matter how insignificant or cheap. This is the best up-dated tracking system for AE orders. Beats 17track.
Choosing the right shipping carrier matters, although I understand this is not always under our control (!) with AliExpress.
The stuff which matters for us is to never allow our order to auto-close before opening a dispute. And please, I advice you to leave feedback once you have been able to fully assess transaction and product. The seller is also responsible of the product's quality and condition, no excuses in this regard. If you leave feedback just upon receiving a product, with barely a glace over it, how can you assess it properly?
You have a full month to leave order feedback after confirming receipt.
Also, there's no intrinsic harm in requesting a refund and later reordering there somewhere else, could also be advantageous. Generally this is my modus operandi if I feel something suspicious.
Had to use the above tracking service in one of my latest shipments. The seller said the first shipment got lost and had to reship. Despite the shipping service being listed as "AliExpress Standard" she used some cheaper carrier I guess (bought on sale), and the shipping ended up taking a lot of time.
Wellp , if you selected the cheapest shipping option the tracking number may never really work. Could be a fake number, this is pretty normal in eBay when using PayPal. Did you paid with PayPal? There's your answer.
I usually pay with Alipay, never had problems. With Alipay you won't have the fake tracking number problem, it happens with PayPal because it seems like it is PayPal mandatory, and as you may guess super cheap shipping options aren't tracked. There is the trick.
It seems that Aliexpress has gotten worse than before, pretty much 25-30% of my orders were not shipped during brand shopping week or 11/11 day. Alipay was a good experience because they refunded me each time immediately, but the fact that many shops don’t even ship the product in the first place is horrible.
If you account for the time looking for the item, hassle with another payment system like Alipay, and the lost waiting time - I could just buy the item elsewhere.
I never had any trouble with any AliExpress item I ordered. Maybe it varies from one store to another.
Because I’m addicted to them, I ordered UV-leds at 00:28h. Got notice they were shipped at 05:38h. Today.
Cheapest shipping option (I’m Dutch). Maybe I’m just asking for trouble, but I’ll let you know when they arrive.
If the provided tracking number is a working one then using one of these or a combination of these tracking services has found every one of my Aliexpress,Banggood,Gearbest,ebay etc. orders when they have been shipped and started moving.
PackageRadar – track the delivery process of your online orders.
This is interesting. Best I recall I have never got a Tracking number that did not work correctly.
Of course when the vendor says it has “shipped”… that usually means absolutely nothing. It simply means a ’Label was Created’.
Once the shipping company finally receives the package the Tracking number seems to go live. This is when the package actually “SHIPS”. This step can take from a few days to a couple of weeks or more though it seems.
I guess I have just been fortunate, but I’ll take it. . And this covers over 100 orders from China.
I find these sites to be very accurate with Tracking….
Package Radar
17 Track
USPS
UPS, FED EX, & DHL are also, if they are involved.
Aliexpress is excellent, But Avoid shipping with Yanwen Post, some of Their Packages arrive after 90 days, China post small packet plus is alot better , Delivers within 2 to 4 weeks
Not this thread, some other one, but I mentioned my first dispute with some beauzeaus (that’s french) who shipped 6 cheaper items vs 3 cheap and 3 fancy.
Seller’s “offer” was “no refund, no replacement”. Ha! Rejected that, AX got involved, found in my favor. Waiting for their response, but I imagine I’ll be seeing a refund pretty soon.
Their loss, ’cause I offered in messages to pay the difference between cheap and fancy, as long as they’d send the fancy ones. Now, seems they’ll be refunding me for the 3 fancy ones in full.
Still not quite sure how that worx, though. Total was 3.53×3, or 10.59, but the refund amount popped up as 9.51 or something. Couldn’t change it.
Still, it’s better than getting only the difference…
One other parcel (different seller) that’s still stuck at “label created” since 11.11, I asked, and was told to file a dispute and they’ll refund me. Hmm. Okay, but 01-14 is when some note says I can apply for a refund if no-show, so I’ll wait that day or so.
The issue is with individual stores more then aliexpress. I’ve had good experience ordering from the Convoy store but I’ve had issues with some other stores on there not shipping.
Choose a reputable seller (based on tenure, number of sales, shipping options, buyer feedback) and things will probably be ok. Sellers that don’t offer ePacket, China Post SP+, or CP Airmail are immediately eliminated from consideration. Not going to take chances with any other carriers.
The only time I’ve had an issue (having bought more than just flashlight stuff) is with a seller that didn’t use the specified shipping method. It took longer, but eventually arrived.