Aliexpress or Ebay

Are you an online shopper like me? I enjoy doing online shopping because I can compare the price easily. I enjoy getting the best quality and price for products. Plus I don't have to go to the store with my whining kids. Usually I ended up hurry out, and didn't have a chance to get what I want.

Anyway, let's talk about Aliexpress and Ebay from my experience. I usually enjoy buying products from Ebay. One of my friends kept bragging about Aliexpress. She said they offer good prices. She has been using it for many purchases. I finally tried it out.

My first order, I found a GPS watch for my kid. It seems to be a good watch. The price is ok but the quality seems to be a better one compare to the different models at the same price. Well, I ordered it. The next day, I got a message from the seller giving me reason and asking for $12 more before he ship it out. Long story short, I opened a dispute with Aliexpress which by the way, it made my tired mind even more tired. It was not easy to finally get to chat to customer services. After I got help from the ladies over that chat, they were very helpful, the seller sent something out by the next day. A few weeks after that, I got a notification that it was delivered. I didn't received anything though. Found out later, the seller sent it to some address that is not mine so that he can avoid the penalty from Aliexpress. I contacted him and he still asking for another $12 before he send the watch to me. I contacted the customer services 3 more times as I haven't received any update about it. By the way, each time, I have to tell the ladies over the chat the whole story again as they seems not to be able to transfer me back to whom I contacted to earlier. Plus, it doesn't seems to have any trace of report about each case. It is a gong show. At the end, I didn't get a full refund and it seems like the seller gets what he wants.

Next, I ordered a dress, as if I did not learn from my experience. The fact is, I ordered the dress after the first seller sent out "the package" that I thought it would arrive at my address. The dress arrived but not the colour I ordered. This time, the seller is very nice and very understanding. She agrees to give me a refund. By the way, in order to request a refund, I have to accept that the order was delivered. Then opened the dispute and asked for a refund. I did that but it wasn't a full refund if I don't send it back. I learned this after I chatted with another lady via customer services (again). It took me over than an hour to get a conclusion that I have to contact the seller (again) to see if she agreed to give me the full refund. Luckily, she said yes but she said she cannot do anything on her side. She asked me to contact customer services again. So I did. And I got a new lady over the chat window. I mentioned the name of another lady who I talked to earlier. Doesn't seems to know if she can see any document about this process. Then the system kicked me out twice.

Anyway, I still don't know what will happen. I just want to share my thought about Ebay and Aliexpress experience.

I found that Ebay is super easy to use. I use mobile app and it is easy to navigate for me.

Compare to Aliexpress, it is not difficult to use but there are so many functions, too many I think, that leads to so many things. To me, it just like talking to someone who is beating around the bush. I cannot get the direct answer right away. (In my last example, it took me 3 hours and still not get the answer. I just need a break from it so I didn't go back at it yet.) On the side note, I found that the desktop version is easier to use compare to the mobile version.

Shipping wise, from my experience,  the products I bought took a long time to arrive. 8 received one product with in 3 weeks after I put the order in. That was fast. Other products took any where from 3 to 6 months for me. Sometimes it did not arrive but Ebay give my money back right away, no hassle.

Aliexpress, my first few orders, except the watch, arrived with in 2 weeks. Surprisingly fast compare to Ebay. But the money back guarantee took many steps to try to get a full refund. I still don't know if I will get it or not.

Tracking orders on Ebay does not always work. Sometimes it doesn't make sense. Sometime it can not even find the tracking even though I have the tracking number.

Aliexpress, on the other hand, I can track my every order (including the GPS watch that was sent to another address in Minesota. Probably the seller's other address.) But that is how I found out about my order.

Ebay doesn't have a lot of coupons, coins and games like Aliexpress. There are so many different types of coupons on Aliexpress but there are so many conditions about how to use them as well. I have collected over than $100 coupons at one time and was able to use only $15. The coins are different though. I do like collecting coins and exchange for something I am interested. This keep me coming back to the app everyday.

In conclusion, I like Ebay better just because I feel protected as a customer. I feel like I have to go through a lot of headache with Aliexpress. There is nothing for me to follow and I am not sure where I am at on the process with the problems. The instructions on the web page are not clear and I found it quite confusing. I think I will stay with Ebay unless there are something I really want at a very good price on Aliexpress.

My suggestion if you buy from Aliexpress is to check out the coupons that the sellers offer to his/her stores. It helps giving a bit of discount.

What about your experience on either Ebay or Aliexpress? Share some with me here. Am I the only one who experience something like this? What are your thoughts from your experience using either one of them?