So, as I understand cancellation is not a right on Alix but rather a privilege and entirely at seller's mercy but does anyone have any tips on how to successfully cancel order and get refund? In the past I have cancelled may be two orders and both were accepted by seller immediately and purchase refunded, while on one occasion the seller asked me to cancel which I did - no big deal.

This time though, it is turning into a pickle. I intended to order a frame and seeing how frame ordering can be a chore on Alix I checked with seller if they had the size and color that I wanted. The seller confirmed they had it in stock and would ship immediately if I was to order it. So I ordered and the seller basically did nothing for 3 days. When I asked when will they ship the frame, the reply came as in next few days. I then asked didn't they have it in stock? The seller says no its out of stock and has given order to factory. I asked if other colors are in stock, if they are I will okay with other color to which he says every color and every size is out of stock.

Another 3 days pass and nothing. Some more back and forth later, I cancelled the order which the seller rejected and said I will send free gift with the frame for all the trouble and will ship soon. Another 2 days passed and when I enquired, he said 5-7 days more as the factory is still processing orders.

I then cancelled again and seller didn't act on it. The timer started with 48 hours for refund. Just 2 hours before the refund would be processed automatically by Aliexpress, damn seller marked the frame as "shipped" and provided a tracking number that didn't have any information.

At the same time he sent a message that, wait for 2 days and it will start showing update (which I am aware) but I didn't like the feel of this transaction. Did some Google-fu and found out that you can raise a dispute by talking to customer care, which is what I did.
The customer care raised a dispute on my behalf for refund and communicated same to the seller.

This morning, the seller messaged saying "please confirm the order first and refund will be processed within 15 days but if you go ahead with dispute it will take longer." No idea what that means. I have never gone thru this process and I am confused :S is seller bullshitting me? Has anyone raised a dispute before...what exactly needs to be done here. Just wait or confirm the order as seller is saying? The customer care is dicey at best - some of them understand exactly what I am saying, the others make you pull your hair in frustration. Fortunately the person who raised dispute was pretty well conversant and gave me the support ticket immediately. Unfortunately, to check the status of that ticket there is no direct system - you have to jump thru hoops and find a (real) customer care person.