hmm after this, I tried something
First the phone of my wife, different device, different network (used mobile internet), never visited AliExpress. location disabled for all apps
Result and AE started in French
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Now the hiding of the IP and using a proxy that gives the impression I am browsing in from The Netherlands
Result and AE started in English
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And since Holland and France both are Europe, lets give the impression we are coming in from good old US of A
Result and AE started in English
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Could somebody confirm that this is about the same page you get when searching for Convoy C8 and then sort by price? It all looks pretty similar to me and my normal logged in sessions.
It seems the same results for 4 different networks, 3 different countries (and my logged in sessions have whole history of sales, searches and disputes and uses English as language)
Probably doesn’t work on something as common as flashlights… but there are hidden items on aliexpress that won’t come up on a desktop or mobile browser, but only when using their own mobile app. Prices can also vary between the flatforms, eg. for the release of Eagleeye X6 XP-L HI had lower price if ordered through the mobile app.
I’m not here to discuss morals, but abusing the refund system negatively affect all other customers… There are people out there who have never seen a real 1,000 lumens flashlight, and a cheap C8 with LB LED will suffice their needs. A regular joe don’t care about if the description says 500 meters throw but actually they get 100 at most, sometimes all that matters if they get a flashlight cheap and quick. and speaking of that…
Well secret items in the app, all I see are “super deals” with a limited timeframe, when looking for the items there they usually can be found for less searching for them (either desktop or in app)
But still that is not the point, I hope it is proven now that 1 dispute can change the offerings. And I totally get that these lights are being sold, just not advertised as Convoy C8s but as the Trustfire or any other brand they want to slap on it. Win!
1 I do not abuse the refund system, the sellers abuse good names/specs to sell
If they sell a Ski Roy Keng with LB leds I won’t mind, as long as they advertise it like that.
2 Yes regular Joe would be happy with a LB flashlight, but ordering a set with charger and 6000mAh battery can make the satisfaction vanish very fast (along with a part of ones health)
Please read the recent threads about the G700. How nice would it have been to be able to post reviews on that sellers site warning others not to get it?
And making these scammers pay and thus forcing them to stop instead of have decent BLF-ers pay to get a review or two out to warn people (still not protecting the impulse buyers who see an advertisement and click on it to get their nephew who likes flashlights so much this nice army grade flashlight with the huge discount from 250 for only 60.) People researching enough to find the BLF review warnings and threads are not the target buyers for that specific light.
I am yet to find a genuine article on Aliexpress, anybody that thinks it is a lottery with genuine items to be found are only fooling themselves. If a seller was offering genuine items for sale on AE he has the option to tag them as genuine but this opens up options under AE’s buyer protection policy. I have not seen one seller offering that guarantee.
There are plenty of good things on AE, some at ridiculously low prices, but mostly you get what you are paying for or maybe just a bit more. Item descriptions are a joke and nobody that shops on AE would take any notice of them, 10000mah 18650’s for $150 delivered and 10000 lumen flashlights for $20. The only people that get fooled are the ones that don’t know they are being fooled and if they are happy then what is the problem? I am yet to buy an article off AE that wasn’t worth what I paid for it.
I can’t see the morality in purposely buying something with the intention of opening a dispute in an effort to get the item for nothing. Many of the sellers on AE are just poor family businesses that are trying to make a living. Most just go by what they are told about the items from their suppliers and very few actually have stock at hand, they just source the items once an order comes in, that is the cause of the 4-5 day delay in shipping.
No please, it is NOT about ordering with the intention to get free stuff via disputes.
It is about WHEN the product received is not at all on par with the product page not to just accept it, but dispute it.
Yes many sellers have never seen the products they sell, and it is the factory who provides information. And the sellers can and will claim their losses at the factories. The factories will notify other sellers a product is discontinued and update the information if they ant to be able to sell their stock.
I have seen this happen, I have received thanks from sellers and confirmation of this.
Also now when I come accros a SRK with the genuine signs, I send the seller a message telling about my history with the others and I ask them to confirm with their supplier if the information is correct. Two times the product was pulled and another with pics that looks like the actual product was added the next day, and again a thanks was received from these sellers.
When I became more aware of how these things work I understood the fix some sellers are in so I am now offering a solution where the seller keeps $2.50. This covers shipping and leaves them with about the same profit they would have had without a dispute yet the factory is still forced to provide more truthfull information.
That’s pure, Free Market control in action. They don’t get to profit from your money if you don’t give it to them! Multiply that by the rest of us and down they go!
Seeing the dim, spendy trashlights the Muggles seem contented with, makes me sad; so I think we concur on that. And I’ve always been a butthead (rams & goats butt heads, right?) when it comes to getting what I paid for; I just never followed up on the process like you did. It’s good to know it seems to work sometimes!
As to the blacklist, it’s good to be hated by bad people. I believe there are ratings threads on BLF for most of the major vendors, where we can document our experiences for everyone to see… I like to think of it as a “reverse blacklist” (or whitelist for the Good ones) and it works amazingly well. Except on Alibaba they just re-register with a new false name and fade into the smoky shadows in the back of the tent. Good luck with that!
