eBay vs AliExpress

[bxcc]

I've used eBay quite a bit for the past 15 years or so but I've never used AliExpress or Alibaba. I see that AliExpress has a little more options for buying multiple items and has better pricing for the carbon frames. I'm just a little hesitant as this might be a group purchase of about 6 frames with handlebars and seat posts and involve other peoples money. What should I be looking for and are there any do's or don'ts that I should be aware of?
Thanks

[carbonazza]

Aliexpress is the first destination I check for spare parts of any kind or gadgetry, the prices are generally incredible.
The only problem is time, shipping vary a lot, from a week to... 8 weeks.

It happened a couple of time the items were of bad quality or stopped working after a few days.
It always ended either as a deal with the seller or by opening a dispute(managed by Aliexpress) followed by a full refund without sending back the item.
But it was always for sub $100 items.

Why not try just one frame first, and let us know ?

I get more and more demands from friends too, please share any interesting link you may find there.

[bxcc]

I would like to try a couple of small items first but I was going to order a frame for my daughter for Christmas and I have some others interested in the same frame. So that led me to the group purchase idea if it could save some money for all of us. I have spoke with a couple of vendors on eBay and on Amazon but the best pricing seems to be coming from AliExpress.
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/Thru-EN-test-CUBE-mtb-carbon-frame-for-mountain-bike-26er-Carbon-MTB-Frame-3K-matte/32542755867.html?spm=2114.13010208.99999999.270.ZYqzWg

[carbonazza]

There is no problem with small items, sure.
Even when there is no buyer feedback, Aliexpress seem to enforce a strong quality( again, my only doubt is about bigger amounts, I never tried ).
In case of problems, the sellers tries to offer you pennies first, but if you refuse, they prefer to refund you on your paypal, than loose a dispute as it looks quite detrimental for their business with Aliexpress.

And here the seller makes a good effort to present well the products, and the prices are indeed great.
For instance on some frames, they offer a BB and headset, and ask if you prefer a 30 or 24mm spindle BB. Workswell sent me a useless(in my case) 24mm.

Thanks for sharing.

[karstenhorn]

I have bought via AliExpress a few times and always gotten what I have paid for. As far as I understand the seller will not receive your money before you have acknowledged that you have received the stuff that you have bought and are happy. If you start a dispute, Ali will keep the money until it is solved. From a buyers perspective Ali is more safe than Ebay - However, ALL packages coming from Ali to Denmark is getting inspected for fraudulent goods and it usually takes forever



Karsten