Wholesale Products but Is Aliexpress a Scam?

Name: Aliexpress

Price: Free for buyers or sellers

Owner(s): Jack Ma & Jonathon Lu

Overall Rank: 7/10

Aliexpress Review

Alibaba.com is perhaps among some of the most famous sites where various business transactions take place and Aliexpress is actually its sister company. They are similar in what they avail to various individuals and this is a platform where both buyers and sellers can meet and do business with the rest of the world.

The advantage of this platform is that it affords these individuals discounted rates on products to the extent of buying in wholesale prices. Buyers can also buy wholesale products in small quantities of between 1 to 50 units for every product one opts for. However, you will hardly find a brand name that is legitimate on this site.

You will literally find everything you might be looking for but certain aspects you may want to pay attention to before you opt in include, their customer service and return policies as well as the quality of products which might not be the best for you.

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

The Good:

In a bid to protect buyers from fraudulent activities, Aliexpress has an escrow service where payment for all transactions is made and the best thing is that it allows money to be put in first pending delivery of items after which funds are released to the seller.

From the system you can find details on product specifications, you can search for products and you can review how products and sellers have been rated.

There is a wide range of quality products available here but the only challenge is that most of these are cell phone cases and bags, which can be reproduced easily.

The site is easy to navigate and you will not have a hard time finding what you need at the end of the day.

The system is also capable of organizing your orders, tracking your delivery and allows you to communicate with sellers too.

The Bad:

There is no sure way of testing for quality of products bought from Aliexpress. A product or supplier may have been given a five star rating on this site but when the product or consignment is delivered, the quality may be wanting. On the other hand, the product may have been sent to the wrong address in a case of an order gone bad.

There is also the possibility of receiving goods that have suffered breakages and this will obviously require you to return the goods back to the seller for a refund. If you have a long term relationship with them, the monies will be given back. However, if you are dealing with a new supplier, you might be forced to use other methods to get your money back.

This happens when the supplier insists on getting a five star rating from you before they refund your monies and as a result, the site has become one that is filled with fraudulent activities and one which rarely avails products of good quality.

The Ugly:

The worst bit is that if you are new to online transactions, you might fall victim of purchasing counterfeits and if you intended to sell such items on a different platform such as eBay or Amazon, they will out rightly be blacklisted for being counterfeits. Just stick with generic products and you will be fine. It is a crime to sell such product in some regions and should international customs come across them, you will lose the whole consignment and money spent acquiring these.

That is how bad it gets and you will never be able to sell on platforms such as Amazon going forward bringing an end to your business. If this was the source of your livelihood, you will be doomed.

Okay now that I have complained a bit, it really is not that bad. I just wanted to show you the worst case scenario. I have used them with my wife’s online store that was made with Shopify and it worked really well. It also has great intigration with the ZeroUp Shopify App.

Customer Support

Customer support does help resolve disputes. Think of it much like Ebay customer support and you will have a good idea what it is like.

Who is Aliexpress for?

This is a great platform for anyone trying to find products that are not branded. It is not for those people trying to find cheap name brand products! Also this is a great place along with Salehoo to utilize items in a Shopify store. It can used along with TRex Ecom as well.

Aliexpress Price

The price to use Aliexpress is free to use.

My final Opinion of Aliexpress

This is a perfect site for those who are looking to save some money on their purchases since most of the products here are generic and are meant for individuals or as resale products when using online stores. You will definitely find great deals here but be careful because some of the products are of poor quality. If you have some generic products for sale, this is the best platform for you to sell them but you need to adhere to the terms and conditions set.

The key is generic products. DONT buy name brand products here. I have purchased products from them in the past. Some of the sellers will notify you if their product is a knock off before the final purchase is made, but not all will. Point being be careful!

7/10 Legit

I did list this as a legit program to find wholesale products, but again keep in mind it is a good program if you are looking for generic products not name brand ones. If you are looking to start an online business or become more successful at your current online business, please look at my top recommendation. It takes more than just one tool to succeed in building an online business. Here is a list of the things that helped me.

If you have any questions, concerns, or comments; please feel free to list them below.