AliExpress, for those unfamiliar with it, is the European and Italian reference site of the Chinese online shopping giant, Alibaba . Alibaba is a huge online store, which also exceeds Amazon in terms of turnover and number of shipments (although this figure is influenced by the fact that Alibaba in China dominates the online shopping market while Amazon is practically absent).
To get an idea of how big it is, just know that on November 11th 2015 alone, I don't know for any particular reason, Alibaba has invoiced the incredible figure of 14 billion dollars!
With AliExpress, Alibaba expands its market in countries around the world, including Italy, and becomes an interesting opportunity to shop online, perhaps looking for products that are not on Amazon or at lower prices .
We are concerned with whether it can be bought on AliExpress without risk, if it is at least as reliable as Amazon is, with fast and guaranteed shipments, where there is no risk of being cheated or being victimized by fraud.
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First of all, AliExpress is an online store aimed at international buyers who want to buy in China.
Basically, it allows small businesses in China to sell to customers around the world.
For this reason, AliExpress would be compared more to eBay than to Amazon because it simply serves as a sales portal for other companies and is not a direct seller.
AliExpress is very convenient and advantageous to buy cheap Chinese electronics and IT products and clothing
If you browse some of the products on AliExpress you will immediately notice how cell phones and computers are available at very low prices so as to make you wonder if they are real savings opportunities or sensational rip-offs.
There are actually two reasons why you find very low prices for almost every product on sale.
The first is because it can be purchased directly from the manufacturer, buying without intermediaries.
The production (and labor) costs in China are, in many cases, much lower than in any other civilized and seen country in the world, and little control over imitations and intellectual property protection also contributes a lot.
This is the basic reason why almost every electronic device also costs half the normal price, because they are made in China and can be purchased directly from those who made it.
The second reason why prices are often exceptionally low is the counterfeiting of products .
like every Chinese market, even on AliExpress you can find counterfeit iPhones, fake Jeans and a lot of non-original brand stuff, especially in electronics and clothing stores.
By doing research, you can find out that scam cases are not that rare in AliExpress and that some products at bargain prices were, in reality, non-existent.
In general, if it seems incredible, it would be better to be wary and avoid buying even if every purchase is protected.
Purchases made on AliExpress, in fact, are guaranteed, in the sense that if nothing should arrive or if something different than what was described arrives, you can request a refund directly to AliExpress, without having to chase the dishonest seller.
The payment is suspended in fact by AliExpress until delivery has taken place, therefore, if there are problems or if you are a victim of scam, you can immediately report the thing on the site and make sure to get an immediate refund without any particular difficulties.
As in Ebay, there are still feedback scores that give clear indications on the reliability or otherwise of a seller.
If there are no reviews yet or if there are negative feedbacks, better move on.
As for the AliExpress site, especially regarding registration and payments, there is nothing bad to report.
The site is secure and offers the most adequate protection of information and payment data.
The only flaw, currently, is that Aliexpress in Italian is only translated perhaps with automatic tools and you can often still find pages in English or even in Chinese (such as the page to activate Alipay).
Shipments are often free, the only drawback are the times of shipments which, coming from China, will arrive in Italy in a long time, from a minimum of 15 days to 60 days.
In conclusion, shopping on AliExpress is convenient, safe and guaranteed and there should be no problem whatsoever in buying online from China from this world giant.
You can buy clothes at bargain prices and brand, used iPhones for 200 euros or less, Android smartphones for 100 Euros or less and, above all, you can buy spare parts for mobile phones to do DIY repairs, such as the LCD screen or iPhone battery.
Therefore, I recommend everyone to register on AliExpress and especially look for special or low-cost electronics products, looking for the bargain.
Signing up is free and easy to do and requires only a valid email address.
Only by making the first purchase will you have to indicate the shipping address and the payment method which can also be the usual prepaid credit PostePay or Paypal.
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