AliExpress is one of the largest online sales platforms in the world. On its website we can find products of all kinds at a very attractive price, which leads us to make online purchases of products that, perhaps, we had not even imagined existed.
Social networks are one of the main communication channels in which users share their purchases through AliExpress. They do it through unboxing, a genre of videos in which the received product is unpacked and an opinion about it is expressed. This type of video makes many people want to buy this product, either because we have found it curious and inexpensive or because it awakens in us a need to acquire it because it seems that everyone has it, and of course, we do not go to be less.
Buy on AliExpress
In Spain, online sales have been increasing in recent years and AliExpress has become the second ecommerce company with the highest turnover in our country . Since its inception, it has been gaining a reputation for offering diverse products at good prices among the population and seeing that our friends or family buy on AliExpress has frequently caused us to get used to buying from curious products to electronic devices.
Buying on AliExpress is simple, but not everything is rosy. Complaints and incidents are frequent and numerous and the customer service on AliExpress is not the best. Whether you have already bought on AliExpress or if it is the first time, it is important that you take into account the following aspects.
1. Opinions about the product
One of the aspects to take into account and that can avoid many disappointments when receiving the product is to consult the evaluations made by users who have already purchased it. This type of assessment, although subjective, can guide us in most cases as to whether the quality of the product is adequate, whether it will meet our expectations and / or needs or whether it is simply an attractive product but not worth buying.
2. Store ratings
In addition to user ratings, it is also interesting that before buying a product from a store for the first time you read the opinions it has received so far. By performing this step you will be able to detect if the seller has had delays with the estimated shipping times, if there are users who have never received their purchase, etc.
3. Products cloned or with similar names
Imitation products abound in AliExpress, from popular sportswear brands to electronic devices that are clones and that the only thing that resembles the original is in the physical aspect but whose functionalities have nothing to do with the original. It is common for some users to be attracted to a good price, but you always have to be vigilant so that they do not sell us a hoot.
Attentive to payments and taxes
In addition to making sure the quality of the product and that the seller is reliable through the evaluations of other users, it is important that we know the purchase conditions offered by AliExpress.
4. Payment methods
Currently we can make payments on AliExpress with our credit card, Bizum, PayPal or Apple Pay. The most recommended thing is that you make the payment through PayPal, since in this way if you do not receive the product you can claim it through the platform so that you can at least recover the amount paid.
5. VAT
When we buy on AliExpress, we are in front of a large Marketplace of products with hundreds of thousands of sellers, but AliExpress as such is also one of them. Whether we buy items from sellers in the common territory of the EU or in Plaza, we will have to pay VAT yes or yes . This meant that, to get better prices, we bought most of the products directly from the Asian giant, although the delay in receiving the product was one or two weeks. But this has changed. Now all the purchases we make, whoever and where the seller is, will be subject to VAT.
6. Shipping costs
As for shipping costs, we are faced with a scenario that can be very varied. Everything will depend on what the seller decides, if he wants to charge us or not, if the product comes from our own country, China or anywhere else. It is important to take this data into account, since many products that a priori have a very attractive price, a few cents, then have very high shipping costs , far exceeding the value of the product.
7. Purchase guarantee
As in the previous point, everything will depend on who you bought the product from. If you do it through Plaza or a local seller with a physical store or registered ecommerce, you will surely not have problems, but when you buy something very cheap from an Asian seller, in most cases forget about it. The first thing would be to contact us through the chat and see if the seller listens to us. It may happen that they return the full or part amount, that they ask you to send them the article first (unviable) or that they do not answer you.
8. Customs
In case we are still one of those who want to save a few euros or because what we want to buy is not distributed by local sellers, we must know that from € 150 of declared value we will have to pay, in addition to VAT, import duties . To avoid checks, many sellers label the more expensive products as gifts or with a lower value than the official, but customs agents usually check the packages and filter very few.
Buying on platforms like AliExpress can be very comfortable since you can find everything, both cheap and expensive, but you must take into account all the factors that we have mentioned so that cheap does not turn out to be expensive.
