Chinese B2C Shopping sites?

January 24, 2020 2:53 PM

I'm shopping for some odd gizmos. Wondering if there are reliable sites that I should look at besides Deal Extreme, Bang Good, Geek Buying and Brando.

Alibaba is a bit scary, since everything seems to be fulfilled by the individual manufacturer. Just looked at Wish but descriptions and search were pretty weak, is it worthwhile? Any other similar sites not based in China?

posted by Sophont to Shopping (9 answers total)

Banggood is often also fulfilled by individual sellers, its just hidden from you. But yeah it does seem in general a little more complicated and confusing.

Wish seems like straight up scam territory in many cases
posted by RustyBrooks at 3:18 PM on January 24, 2020 [3 favorites]

Also, often I have found that almost anything you can find on banggood, you can usually also find on amazon unless it's SUPER niche. Sometimes for same price and same long shipping times, sometimes more expensive but faster shipping, i.e. a US reseller.
posted by RustyBrooks at 3:20 PM on January 24, 2020

Best answer: AliExpress is very useful. I've literally never had an issue from any seller there.
posted by DarlingBri at 3:23 PM on January 24, 2020 [6 favorites]

I've heard great things about Yunnan Sourcing for tea.
posted by Carillon at 8:18 PM on January 24, 2020

If I could piggyback, 'Geek Buying' appears decent quality (and not inexpensive) - is the quality actually decent?

'Deal Extreme' and 'Bang Good' gives of pretty cheap vibes. Brando also, but looks cute - but it's mostly toys, so less of an issue.

You probably already know about, and looking for something more esoteric than, Thinkgeek and woot. I haven't been disappointed by the former but knew I was overpaying and I knew what I getting in the later, though.
posted by porpoise at 9:18 PM on January 24, 2020

With Aliexpress you deal with sellers directly, but the platform has a dispute resolution system that hasn't failed me yet - just stick to listings that have some detailed feedback already (often auto-translated but very useful) and leave feedback of your own to help others.
posted by I claim sanctuary at 12:23 AM on January 25, 2020

Thirding Aliexpress. I buy from there all the time, and on the rare occasion when an item is damaged in shipping, or the wrong item was sent, the sellers have been very quick to refund without having to go through the hassle of sending items back to China (I have mainly bought LED strip lights, party wigs and residential light fixtures).
posted by newpotato at 2:50 AM on January 25, 2020

Best answer: Aliexpress. I have ordered literally hundreds of items from under a buck each to $800 over the years, and have dealt with a few disputes and everything has been resolved to my satisfaction. The platform is extremely harsh financially on sellers who don't deliver on their promises.

The only caveat is, of course, that you cannot rely on shipping times whatsoever unless you pay for express shipping. The "free" shipping may be two weeks, it may be two months, it may be "lost" and you get a refund and then it shows up two months later.
posted by seanmpuckett at 5:50 AM on January 25, 2020 [2 favorites]

Nthing Ali express. Shipping can take ages but I have been happy with 95% of the stuff I have bought there, which is more than I can say for amazon, tbh.
posted by wowenthusiast at 7:24 AM on January 25, 2020 [1 favorite]