Buying on AliExpress without PayPal, should I?

i’ve made at least 50 orders with a credit card, never paypal, never had a credit card issue

i did have 1-2 vendor issues but that is different

wle

I only buy from reputable shops on AliExpress. Such as RuiDeng, Convoy and Sofirn. IMHO HotRed Official Store is also one of them. Usually pay by creditcard. Use PayPal only if without surcharge. Shipping time is between 1 and 8 weeks. Never had any complaints or disputes. I guess you’re looking at a happy camper.

Two disputes out of the last three orders from A.E.!

A.E. refunded one, thankfully Paypal refunded the other. Kind of leery about them now. It seems, like others have stated, you have much better luck getting your items from the official stores especially if they onboard here.

Shop wisely, for vetted products from known quantities, and keep the risk of disputes low.

I started shopping with AX before it took PP, and guess I’ve never gotten into the habit even after it became an option. The one credit card I use for AX is already in its system and in the wild, so any insulating benefit from using PP has already been lost. If there’s a dispute, PP may provide an additional avenue for dispute, but I’ve never felt it to be any better or worse than what the card company already offers.

Any minor issues that have arisen were handled by the seller, and refunds where I’ve cancelled have been prompt.

Orders from unproven sellers have been low cost/risk, where an 80 cent fee would be a not insignificant portion of the cost.

Buying that designer handbag on AX because it’s really cheap, and the only place to offer it at that price, from a seller who has been in business for six months, ought to ring alarm bells.

Just gotta weigh the various factors (availability, cost, risk) , and use your head.

I don’t buy anything anymore thru Ali without using PP unless it’s just a few dollars. I ordered from a dishonest seller one time and Ali sided with the seller.
I lost a few bucks, not that big of deal but it taught me not to be so trustworthy when dealing with someone thousands of miles away that doesn’t speak English and the police side with the criminals.

i buy from so many vendors, i don’t really try to ‘vet’.

most of what i buy is VERY cheap though, i’m not getting smartphones and $500 camera drones.

i’ll get 100 magnets for $3, or balloon powered helicopters at 5/$1
or calculator watches for $1.01

it may be low quality, i expect that, but 99% of the time it does arrive, and isn’t any worse than what i expected

but to answer the question, i don’t really understand what is better about credit card vs paypal

paypal thoroughly annoys me, they sided against me once in a bad ebay transaction,
and i am actually banned for life now,
unless i pay $200 for something they should have refunded (i had my credit card take the money back from paypal, so they are annoyed),
so i have an 8 year beef with that, and try to badmouth them whenever possible.

wle

Be sure you use a credit card that does not charge a foreign currency transaction fee. I’ve only bought two items from Ali using a credit card from a credit union that offers a Visa card and was charged a transaction fee both times. Ditto for the same card used at Banggood where I bought a lot more. I now use Pay Pal backed with a debit card issued by the same CU. No transaction fee ever. The CU even called me trying to get me to revert to using the CC instead of the debit card because it screwed them out of fees. Most debit cards only cost the the seller a small fee while the CC costs them a fee and a percentage of the sale price.

@Vegas LED Fan, why exactly did that happen?

I always buy on Aliexpress in my country’s currency, and I’ve never had any problems.

Can you tell me how to buy with Paypal from Ali? There is no option to pay with paypal…

i think some vendors accept it but aliexpress as a whole, does not

personally i hate paypal but that is just me

I’m living a risk by buying tons of goods in aliexpress with my debit card

No issue so far. Once in a while I get hiccups where aliexpress charge me 6 times for one product. But aliexpress system is smart enough to return all my money and ask me to redo transaction.

Paypal may offer you protection but I felt like I get better protection via aliexpress.
Disputed a few stuff cuz they are 3 months or more late from expected arrival. Got my money refunded fast. (and then the product arrived 3 days later :open_mouth: )

Overall I’ve purchased enough to be a gold member and that made my refunds faster than ever. So far so good for me.

I always use PayPal. There were a few times PayPal sided against me. But I always manage to set thing straight by calling their support.

The problem I have with PayPal is that they freezed account like Wikileaks, Infowars and Tommy Robinson (While I don’t support them all, I still think it’s very dangerous for freedom of speech). There are also more examples where Paypal acts as an moral police. And I definitely don’t like that. If there is a good alternative I would use that.

I think you brought up some good points. I think the biggest issues with Ali and Paypal is that they both have pretty much a worldwide monopoly or very little competition in what they do. They will do anything to keep it that way. I hear some shady practices on closing accounts for some and not for others which seems odd.

The really rich will always try to control things for their causes. News just broke of that very thing.

This is like a grain of sand in the Sahara desert compared to all the things they actually do.

Ditto. No problems for me at all.

I use a debit card for AliExpress so if the money is not in the account Mastercard wont accept the transaction.

I have run into credit card fraud, which I’m 99% sure was Ali’s fault.

I have a card I have only ever used in two places: Paypal, and AliExpress. I used it exactly once on Ali, and the merchant sent me junk. It was cheap, so I never disputed it, I just left a bad review.

A few months later, my card is suddenly charged a couple of thousand dollars for various stuff on Ali. Luckily, my card company caught it, and the charges were eventually reversed. It was still a hassle, though, and I had to get a new card.

I have (stupidly) used the new card on Ali again, but without issues.

My advice is to be wary of using a credit card on Ali. It’s probably okay to use it, but beware that they don’t protect the card info. Make sure your card company has good fraud protection, since you might need it.

I have been using AliExpress for a long time now. I don’t use PayPal because of their fees and use my credit card instead. Never had any issues. My credit company charges currency conversion fee but it turns out cheaper than using PayPal conversion rates and using local currency. I have had my card saved in the past and never had any issues with unauthorized payments. I don’t save my current card just for some extra protection.

If item if not as described you have to pay return shipping or agree on partial refund. I think there is certain limit how much of a partial refund you can get. For cheap (not as described) items I either open dispute for item not received if there is no tracking, or partial refund for 80-90% of its cost. Never had a problem. I have had a problem with expensive item once, $225 telescope eyepiece, that arrived not quite as described, the seller was of no help. AliExpress offered me 30% partial refund or shipping back at my expense. The 30% was a fair compensation for the flaws in this case.

For $20-$30 items I wouldn’t worry, for $100+ I would think twice if it’s worth the risk based on seller’s feedback and on how easy it would be to prove item not as described.

Over 230 orders now on AE. Never ever problem with money return, with faulty goods on arrival or not as described. I use Alipay too. From all orders I think 5% were with issues which were resolved in my favour. Even had couple of orders come after dispute and money returned(too long shipping)

I’ve bought thousands of dollars of stuff through Aliexpress with my credit card since 2014 and never had a problem