Anyone use Ali Express?

Stumbled on this today it is part of Alibaba which has been around for awhile but the site seems pretty sketchy. It is set up much like Ebay but all of the sellers seem to be in China. Lots of nice bikes at attractive prices but still don't think I would chance it.

Anyway I have been saying for years that Ebay is ripe for competition so I hope somebody comes along with a workable plan

If you are curious:

http://www.aliexpress.com/


Steven

For instance I searched for Fat Chance and found this one Yo Eddy that I know was for sale recently in the US

http://www.aliexpress.com/item/Vintage- ... 27937.html


did some one in China buy it and now is passing it on? maybe/ but then why are they using the same photos from the US Ebay listing (now Gone)

I bought a Mantis Valkyrie on eBay a little over a year ago.

This one:
viewtopic.php?f=1&t=221248&hilit=mantis+valkyrie

Since then, whenever I do a search for Mantis Valkyrie, I see the eBay auction pic of MY BIKE all over alibaba and ali express from many different sellers for many different bargain prices, all of them about a third of what I paid. Just do a google search for the following:

mantis valkyrie ali express

Here's one of the links from the google search:
http://www.aliexpress.com/reviews/18-stay-reviews.html

Would I buy from them?
In a word, :roll: .

My advice: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KAp9sFVdERQ

I suspect the reason they post that listing of my bike is nothing more than a way to draw you in to their shop; the ol' "bait & switch", which is illegal in most places except for (you guessed it) China.

Check out this screenshot from the above link. Note that they all include the original seller's misspelling ("MOUTAIN").

That is actually really funny, the same bike for sale by about 12 different people, don't these scammers monitor each other? I mean if you were actually trying to steal money from people would it not make sense to make your pitch a little better?


sheesh

BTW congrats on the Mantis

Alibaba is like ebay but with no buyer protection.

I can't recall if it has a feedback system, but I've never taken the chance.

They have a feedback system similar to Ebay and I guess if you went with a top rated seller things would most likely work out. The problem is that in a dispute the jurisdiction is China (good luck with that)

The fraudsters all seem to be zero feedback sellers, which I avoid on Ebay as well.

Steven