Tips on how to buy from Aliexpress and feel secured.

 Aliexpress, one of the commonly used online shopping services, for years now have been using Aliexpress since the past 4 years now without any problem. There are some certain things you didn’t know or perhaps didn’t take note before buying things on Aliexpress. For those who are new to Aliexpress am going to show you some tips that will help buying things on Aliexpress easy for you. Also Aliexpress as made payment easy on unlike some websites which requires a PayPal account before you can purchase anything. But with Aliexpress, you can easily make payment through your local bank account. Like me now for the past 4 years have been using GTB to make purchases on Aliexpress.

Tips to Stay Safe on Aliexpress

If you are buying from Aliexpress for the first time, here are some tips to make buying easy and secured for you.

1. When buying from Aliexpress, buy from a established seller i.e. a well-known seller.

Always try to buy from sellers who have been selling on Aliexpress for a long time and as a good feedback report from its buyers.  Sellers on Aliexpress mostly care about their ratings and feedbacks because it will attract more buyers to them and they are always willing to help in terms of difficulty during purchases. Another thing to do is to also review sellers past feedbacks which buyers have left behind. If these feedbacks are favorable to you and you are satisfied with them then you are good to go to buy from that store. On the product page take note of the following things:

Open (years) lists the number of years has the shop existed on Aliexpress. The older, the better. For example, the shop that was established since December 9th 2012 has been established for long. The fact that the shop has existed for 3+ years speaks for itself that the seller is here to stay. Expensive items can be shopped from shops which have existed since long.

Top Rated Seller is a badge given to sellers who have provided excellent service over a period of time. Aliexpress reviews the sellers monthly and only the best out of best are promoted as Top Rated Seller.

Feedback Score shows the number of 4 or 5 star ratings received by the seller (minus) the number of 1 or 2 star feedbacks received. Sellers with high feedback score are well established and are expected to provide good support around the clock.

Positive Feedback shows the percentage of positive feedback received by the seller during the past 6 months. The higher the positive feedback, the better. But do compare the Positive Feedback with Feedback Score as new sellers will also have close to 100% positive feedback because they haven’t sold enough and hence no real feedback from end users.

Number of product orders and feedback choosing a seller which has sold a good quantity of the product you want to buy is a good idea. You would also see buyer feedback related to the product making it easy for you to judge the quality of the product product feedback & orders Aliexpress

Established sellers also have a dedicated sales & support team which offers better communication with their buyers.

2. Completely read the item description and details before you buy.

You need to read the item description before purchase because important details can be found about that product in the item details and description. Please do not just place order mere looking at the pictures of the product, it’s good to view the descriptions and details of the product because the seller might include some useful information’s like the features, specification, quality of the product most especially mobile phones whether New or refurbished, also information’s  about shipping, refunds, and frequently asked questions.

3. Seller Guarantees

The seller guarantee is very important; sellers offer their own set of guarantees. One thing that you should definitely consider before buying expensive & branded items like IPhones, luxury watches, Samsung Galaxy and other expensive product is the Guaranteed Genuine tag. If a product that falls under this guarantee is found to be void, you will get a full refund (shipping costs included in some cases).

Returns Extra is also a good choice to have. Under this, sellers agree to accept your items back if you do not like them for any reason. You surely need to pay return shipping costs, this only make sense with products that are expensive

These details can be found under Buyer Protection section of the product listing page or under Seller Guarantees tab.

4. Keep in touch with the Seller before Purchasing

Before making a purchase on Aliexpress, always communicate with the seller through the chat messenger system provided by Aliexpress which will enable buyers stay in touch with the seller and be able to communicate just to clarify all possible doubts. You can ask any questions and the seller will reply you relating to the product you want to purchase.

Some listings don’t mention the brand of the item and some others might have identical spelling to a branded product. These items can be knockoffs and do confirm with the seller if that is the case.

5. Think twice for items with a super low price

When you see a product with a very low price, don’t think you’ve actually seen the product like a bonus or luck, just try to avoid that product because it might be a fake product or the seller doesn’t have it on sale. So it’s not advisable to go for a product which you think is too low for its price. For example you see a iPhone 6 for $150.

6. Avoid Free Shipping for Expensive Items

Try avoiding free shipping for expensive goods because the product will be sent through the National Post service and takes a long time to arrive. Also there are various factors when using the free shipping service its either your product come broken or stolen during transit or might never even get to your destination, that’s why it’s advisable to use private company shipping services like (DHL, FedEx EMS; etc. when buying items with high prices. Also ask for shipping insurance if the seller supports that.

7. Customs/Import Duties may be charged

Low price item sometimes go through the custom department before it can be cleared. It depends on the country you are to determine the amount which customs do charge. Like here in Nigeria, have been buying from Aliexpress for so long now and I haven’t encountered any problem with custom charges. But good that are expensive might also be charged by customs so when buying on Aliexpress sometime always have in mind that customs might charge. Depending on the customs inspector the actual custom price imposed on your product can be higher or lesser than the one estimated by a Duty calculator. Questions about custom duties cannot be answered by seller on Aliexpress because they are not the one in charge. But mostly products on Aliexpress are not charged by customs.

8. Don’t open a dispute before receiving any item you ordered for.

Aliexpress make provision for its buyers to dispute an ongoing transaction between the buyer and the seller in the case whereby you are not satisfied with the purchase you made or the goods haven’t arrived within the designated date of arrival. In the Aliexpress dispute service, seller only as just one chance of opening a dispute on each transaction, it’s advisable not to waste this chance especially when the seller is taking time to ship the goods because when its wasted the seller becomes safe from further dispute when the goo d arrive. For example:

A seller placed an order on the 2^nd of January and the seller as not yet provided any shipping details or the information provided is not valid till like the 7^th of January and out of impatience you open a Not ship dispute against the seller, the seller will then ship the items within the next few days and then deny the dispute by providing the shipping details. Now that your issue for dispute is resolved, you would be required to accept the resolution and close dispute. So it’s advisable to be patience before opening disputes against seller. Now that the seller’s resolution has been accepted and the dispute has been closed, the seller is now very safe because you have lost the only chance of opening dispute for a transaction. You might not even be able to leave feedback for this transaction which will make the seller even safer. So, please use your dispute carefully and try not to waste it on anything except for Undelivered or Damaged product received.

Update: Aliexpress now allows buyers cancel an ongoing dispute. Cancelling does not close the dispute and you can open up a dispute again at a later stage before the purchase protection ends. This is important if the seller is asking for more time (provided it is reasonable) or your question/query is answered in the communication. DO NOT ACCEPT the disputes unless you’re satisfied with what you have received and/or the proposal that seller has offered.

9. Test your product before confirming receipt

When you receive the delivery of your product, don’t get too excited and confirm the receipt of the item. Do use it thoroughly for a day or two before confirming the receipt. If there is a problem with the item received, contact the seller and ask for resolution. If his replies are not helpful, chat with one of Aliexpress support representative and discuss your problem. Open a dispute when they suggest you the same.

When all is done, do leave your feedback summing up your experience with the product and seller. Leave negative feedback (1-2 stars) if you’re not at all satisfied and if you are satisfied with your received product, don’t just forget about it. Instead, show some generosity and leave positive feedback for the seller/item. This helps in keeping the buying and selling system healthy