[EdgeOfSound]

Hi All,
I was wondering has anybody from the UK/EU (I assume the experience should be similar) bought stuff from China-hifi? What was your experience? I imagine for the UK there might be import duty (I gather you may not be taxed if you're lucky) to deal with but otherwise how was the experience? TIA.

 

[Lamby90]

Sorry I didn't read well, I answered it with my experience with Aliexpress not that site.
I thought you ask for buying things from China in general.
I never used that site, sorry

 

[EdgeOfSound]

Sorry I didn't read well, I answered it with my experience with Aliexpress not that site.
I thought you ask for buying things from China in general.
I never used that site, sorry

Actually I am just interested in your experience as well. What is it like buying from AliExpress? I know there are always people asking but it's always worth getting a more recent experience.

 

[Lamby90]

Well, I'm from Italy and I started buying from Aliexpress last year.
I bought some chifi IEMs (trn v90, blon 03, kz zsn pro) and some accessories like cables, tips and so on.
The items I ordered always have arrived, in a month or so but I always got what i ordered. And it's pretty safe buying from there, they have a protection that if you don't get what you ordered you got a full refund.
I think it is worth buying things not much expensive, because if you have some problems like with an amp or a dac of hundred(s) of dollars the return shipping is at your expense and ship it back to China I think it's pretty expensive (at least here in Italy).
For example I recently bought a topping e30 dac and a50 amp from Shenzen Audiostore but not from Aliexpress, from Amazon it. It was a little more expensive than aliexpress (not much, 10€) but you are covered with amazon protection, so if you have some trouble you deal with amazon and not with the Chinese seller (only for the cost of the return shipping, chinese company like Shenzen Audiostore is very very safe).
So yeah, ok buying from aliexpress but keep in mind if there's some trouble you must cover the shipping cost to ship it back, if the same item is available on Amazon for a few dollars more maybe is better buying from there with they're protection

 

[gimmeheadroom]

Aliexpress works pretty ok but you have to know what you're buying or you will get ripped off. Plenty of fakes but also possible to save huge money compared to buying the same item over the counter in Europe. Some stuff gets here quickly, others could take months I prefer ebay because the claim handling is fast and always fair and I can pay with paypal. You have to use a credit card on Aliexpress, who knows what will happen with the number.

I avoid scamazon completely. Dynamic pricing, screwing us over with more expensive products and shipping than in America, just offensive.

 

[visualmath]

Aliexpress is easy to use.
Taobao is cheaper but hard to use due to Chinese character