Ali Express

[EltonFrog]

Cheap Chinesium bolts in a high load area ? Not his smartest move…..🙄

But cheap buy twice, or in his case buy cheap, fall off the bike, get bus home, throw bike away ‘cos the rear triangle was fubard.
He of course blames Brompton and won’t admit the parts he bought were made of mayonnaise.

 

[FrankCrank]

Chap who rebuilt this Brompton used AliExpress bolts . Whilst out on a group ride the bike literally collapsed in front of me.
View attachment 751052

Good to see one with a trigger shifter - proper little gem of engineering is that. Shame about the bolts.

 

[EltonFrog]

Good to see one with a trigger shifter - proper little gem of engineering is that. Shame about the bolts.

I agree.
He bought the bike a project, there were various odd and sods on, other stuff from AE, and he repainted it. It looked quite good but it wasn’t road worthy.

As result of that experience it put me off AE, that and I’m not keen on contributing to the Chinese economy.

 

[fossyant]

Very rarely use them these days. Have bought the odd light from them, but nothing in the last couple of years. I'm not keen on the employment issues - child labour etc that they engage in.

 

[wafter]

I won't use Aliexpress or Temu for several reasons. The main one being the prices are so low a workforce somewhere is being exploited. Then at these prices quality, returns possibilities, security, sustainability etc. all have to be questionable.

There's always a reason for things being cheap.

I agree with all these in principle; however in practice buying "similar" products from UK-based suppliers on the usual sites likely means you're getting the same crap with the same dubious environmental / humanitarian credentials; just paying a massive margin to a UK middle-man. I suppose arguably this addresses some of the concerns regarding returns etc, but it's still far from ideal.

Another reason to buy as little as possible; as in our cost-driven, exploititive, globalised market you can pretty much guarantee that someone or something has been mercilessly screwed along the way.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

Would you buy from this bloke?

 

[Dadam]

I’m not keen on contributing to the Chinese economy.

Best of luck with that one!
You're probably doing it anyway without knowing.

 

[EltonFrog]

Best of luck with that one!
You're probably doing it anyway without knowing.

That, alas is a certainty, but I can attempt to mitigate it by at least trying not to.

 

[steveindenmark]

I use Temu. I find it much quicker than AliExpress.

 

[Drago]

I use Temu. I find it much quicker than AliExpress.

Never a fan of that Emu after the Parky incident.

 

[PaulSB]

Most things come from China or that region, british companies buy from them, they add a big mark up on them, then you buy from the british company, so it's ok to make the rich richer.
I use aliexpress a lot , never had a problem, not a lover of temu though.

I've scrolled through the landing page and can't see a single brand I recognise. What I do see is a moto-cross helmet for £4.40. I see cycle helmets claiming to conform to EU standard EN1078 for less than a tenner. That alone is enough to tell me I shouldn't buy a single product off this website. There's a strong chance it will be both illegal and unsafe. If someone wants to put their head in one of those that's OK with me. I'll stick to my £125 Kask, the one that didn't disintegrate when a tractor hit me at 35mph.

My preference is to buy brands I know or have a background I can research and if that makes the rich richer so be it.

 

[PaulSB]

I agree with all these in principle; however in practice buying "similar" products from UK-based suppliers on the usual sites likely means you're getting the same crap with the same dubious environmental / humanitarian credentials; just paying a massive margin to a UK middle-man. I suppose arguably this addresses some of the concerns regarding returns etc, but it's still far from ideal.

Another reason to buy as little as possible; as in our cost-driven, exploititive, globalised market you can pretty much guarantee that someone or something has been mercilessly screwed along the way.

I do understand your point and it's hard to argue with in some respects except I don't buy "similar" products from UK suppliers. I scrolled the landing page, nothing on there I need or intend to buy. I wouldn't trust the quality of any item from this company.

 

[bonzobanana]

I buy from Aliexpress fairly regularly but I've had the occasional issue and found Aliexpress to be completely dishonest and unprofessional and no customer service but have made use of paypal's buyer protection mainly to sort it out. There is of course no long term guarantee with aliexpress items and so I wouldn't make major purchases there. I guess the most I've spent on one item is perhaps £80.

 

[Gunk]

I buy a bit of Chinese tat from Aliexpress, it’s a bit hit and miss, but I am secretly addicted to it.

 

[markharry66]

I buy a bit of Chinese tat from Aliexpress, it’s a bit hit and miss, but I am secretly addicted to it.

Same here, got some of the cycling gloves usually I use decathlon but as they were only couple of quid on Ali Express thought I would give them a try ended up with loads of crap for a tenner stuff I didnt need or want a bit like paying a visit to the local bike shop.