Why?
I wrote this piece and saw this section for experiences with budgetshops.
These are my experiences and also I saw a question about the advantages of an APP for shops like this (why would a shop want to give you discount for using an app?) and the answer to that is also in the blog.
I got another one in the making about Gearbest.
So please tell me what “Budget Dealer Experiences
Discuss your experiences with the various budget and foreign flashlight sellers.” mean? Before I spend time on something dismissed as spam.
Can you read?
budget dealer experiences
You are writing about a sales platform. Not a specific shop. Aliexpress sells nothing but space on an internet page.
I think you’ve posted your discussion in the right area.
And your English translation is very good.
As to your subject matter, I can see how some people might take it as overly promotional. It kind of reads like a commercial or advertisement, rather than a personal testimonial.
Well, as poorly as I may write, I do have some reading skills.
Yes AE is a platform, but other then messages, payment, account creation, refunds, arbitrage and looking for products is done via the platform.
IN other words, the most important stuff
And even though one buys at different stores the pages one look at are all riddled with AE logos.
So in a way the platform acts and feels like a shop.
Isn’t it the same with Amazon and Ebay? They also feel like a shop more then a platform for a whole bunch of shops.
But ok, I go with you, please direct me to the forumsection where I as consumer could put the post with my experiences with AE. I think that budgetlightforum should have some global information about AE for people who do not know it, since a lot of questions on flashlights and how to get them will drop these people in this community and forum.
I would even go as far as to say that it is safer to get stuff from China this way compared to all other Chinashops if some basics are made known as I just did and thus feeled compelled to translate and post it here just for that reason.
Because your post looks more like advertisement than expressing personal opinion, also most of the members here with 50+posts are familiar quite well with aliexpress and how that place works.
Personally I have about 80 purchases from Ali, with trend of increasing disputes because individual chinese sellers would eat their balls for 1$-2$ so they sale something with China Post air mail registered option for shipping that I pay additionally but when it comes time to actually send the shipment they use cheapest untraceable shipping options despite that I paid for tracking.
If you participate on a mass sales events like 11.11 was, chances are that you will not get what you ordered & paid because most of the seller just want to promote their shops so the give something for very very low price, hundred if not thousand people buy and then they realise they are losing money so they stall, mark jour order as shipped but again without tracking and then after about month or two when you ask them where is your stuff they give you some pitiful excuses…
etc, many more examples of cheating and lying
Maybe the problem comes from the fact that the Dutch source text is a blog from me, it was not written as a forum post.
I have to add that the only reason I dared dving into this flashlight hobby that crept up on me is AE.
There are about 17 torches on their way to me and without the dispute possibility I would have never ordered these.
I stayed clear from the 11-11 deals since I saw prices rise before that so sellers could advertise with huge discounts.
Sure I can appreciate that members here know a thing or three about China shops, a lot of the people who find us via Google (and BLF seems like the best place when googling for info) may not.
Now that would be much more interesting subject for us to read.
You can delete that promo for Aliexpress and write what you ordered and why, maybe add a image or two for each light, then we could discuss if your decision was right or what you can do to make some particular flashlight better/more powerful or just how to fix annoying next mode memory (common mistake of uninformed buyers)
Oh yeah! I can’t wait to get my hands on them and start reviewing.
OK here we go, let me show you what is ordered.
There actually are a little more then 1 I just saw.
It is in the chronological order of orders.
Again let me stress, it is about the fun of testing them, a nice theme for some youtube videos for the to be created channel of my son and me. We gotten lights we liked and if the housing is OK they present a good posibility for modding, which in turn gives us an ideal learning option. If they are bad, I will be having me some disputes.
Also don’t be afraid, Panasonic cells and Digicharger D4 and XTAR single cell charger are underways. As is an decent multimeter.
I have shed some light on why and how in my introduction yesterday, but that is a long post. So do not dismiss me right away when looking over this list please.
Very cheap skywolfeye
Got this model twice, they both are planned to be given als gift to friends of my son (brothers so no problems posed by different torches of course with a triple AAA cell holder.
So a lot of experience posts (then written for this section) with presumably some or a lot of dispute progression will follow and hopefully make for some interesting reading.
And I’m not picky about whether AE is a ‘dealer’ or not since they act much in the same way by channeling all the important transaction stuff through their own set-up. One could argue that ‘drop-shippers’ (GB and many others do this) are not ‘dealers’ either but I think most folks consider AE or GB or DX to be a ‘dealer’ too.
Of all these “Chinese Mega-stores”, the only one I’m aware of with buyer protection is AE. Can you imagine GB doing that? They’d be broke in a couple days I bought my BLF Maxtoch through them and they actually held my payment until I notified them that I had received it and was happy with the transaction. IMHO that’s going a bit too far but in the right direction regardless.
I do business with them all, but I have no expectations of great service, fast shipping, or decent packing from any of them. So far I haven’t been disappointed because that’s what I get from them all with few exceptions (such as my Maxtoch for one).
I ordered a fenix batterie case from aliexpress two month ago. Got the information that it was shipped quickly. I got the e-mail that I could start a dispute if it had not arrived within two month. Pressed the button, that I want the money back. According to the FAQ I have to wait now 20 days and see if I get my money back.
That’s my first experience:
Ordered 1
received 0
money back: waiting and hoping
Nice and easy to deal with, but would be nicer if things would arrive.
Aliexpress as a platform is fine, not all sellers are great though. from my 11/11 purchases about 35% are missing and it has been more than a month now. had to extend the purchase protection and I don’t know whether the seller (!) will agree to this? why can the seller disagree to extend the protection if they might not have shipped the goods in the first place? strange.
I have bought plenty of stuff from AE. AE offer alot to choose from but have some obvious disadvantages:
1. A lot of fake products and bad shops (but there are some really good sellers there too)
2. No support for Paypal
3. Sellers often use different shipment methods than advertised
I updated and got rid of the “very good” in the title (read like an advertisement I understand)
Also added a list of pro and cons that reflect my experience and well it seems pretty clear that it is not perfect.
Thank you “The Miller” for helpful info about AE. I am new here and have found several flashlight reviews that helped me to decide what my purchases will be. HOWEVER, I was lost when trying to make a comfortable transaction without knowing “anything at all” about the process. I also rely heavily on Paypal for peace-of-mind. I finally PM’d sb56637 to inquire about AE and exactly how ordering takes place, or to learn what I could. sb56637 politely directed me to this forum which led me to your post.
I am now at last starting to learn some interesting things which appears to be a big part of purchasing products (AE) that I am reading about on this excellent website BLF.
I will be reading more posts to glean anything that helps me make a good buying decision, and would like to thank you again for taking the time to educate those not yet familiar with some of the forums linked retailers. I had a heck of a time trying to find out just what AE is and why different vendors links redirected me to AE. I now understand.
Now if I can just find the post that diagrams the different flashlight choices available for a particular need. It would be similar to the all-familiar “trouble-shooting diagram” (in high tech electrical equipment manuals) which gives a choice of yes/no trail for each particular function, and all you do is keep following the trail until you end up with the most-likely problem component. If it already exists in this forum I will gladly donate some hard earned cabbage to the author for the extreme amount of time it would take to not only write it, but to keep it updated. I also understand completely that most purchases are made on the opinions of others, but a valued members opinion is still valued! With that said, a good diagram would have several results in each function category directly relating to best choice (generally higher cost) and best value.
In other words, I guess people call it “A MAGIC BUTTON”. But from what I have been reading over many hours on BLF before joining up to learn more, I realize there is an answer for probably anything someone wants to know. It is in BLF somewhere I believe, but how do you find it without reading endless threads? I look forward to a response with the link to the magic diagram.
Anyone reading this I ask to take with a grain of salt, and keep in mind I will be a newbie for some time. Cheers
My experiences with AE are pretty much inline with the OP. Many great bargains but if you have a problem you have to ship the item back at your expense which often costs more than the item did originally. They usually give very clear and detailed photos of their items so you have a good idea of what you are going to get.
I’ve ordered three items through AE dealers and they’ve all been positive. All of them arrived within a month. There are some dealers on AE who will accept Paypal but as you know, not a lot. All of the dealers I ordered through accepted Paypal.
A couple of weeks ago I ordered another item from a dealer that did not accept Paypal. I had to pay with a credit card. I received an e-mail stating that they had received my payment but nothing since then. I realize that they’ve been closed for Chinese New Year but I hope this order goes as well as the other three.
As long as you an prove the items are not as depited or described no shipping back is involved.
When you decline the sellers solution of refund after shipping back the dispute escalates and you get to tell your story again.
AE will give a number of solutions to choose from (generally option A refund and shipping back option B partial refund no shipping back)
And then agina you can provide evidence and tell your story.
I have had 1 dispute over a crappy flashlight set with charger and cell for $15
Seller wanted items back then refund.
I escalated
AE said, option 1 partial refund $5 no shipping back option 2 shipping back full refund
(at this point I could clearly prove the charger and cell to be rubish
I responded that the flashlight could be bought for 6 so getting only 5 back would still be a bad deal for me.
Seller responded, goods are good, shipping back and then refund
Then I removed the plastic reflector spacer and found a LB star, made a picture uploaded it, asked for full refund without shipping back, since I now could prove also the flashlight was not as described.
AE decided I would get a full refund no shipping back.
I bought my BLF Maxtoch through them and they actually held my payment until I notified them that I had received it and was happy with the transaction. IMHO that’s going a bit too far but in the right direction regardless.
Cheers