I've bought stuff off Ali Express before without any problems in the past

But I've just seen a "copy" that sells at £250 from source for just £43.

I know it's too good to be true, but it's got to be worth a punt.

My question is, has anyone had any bad experiences with Ali Express lately or is it slow delivery but good still?

Are we talking tents, tarps ? Or knock off carbon handlebars
I had a trailstar copy some years ago it was ok for the money but I buy a copy again.
My brother had some RC car parts recently delivered in time etc.

I've bought a couple of things recently, arrived well within estimated delivery times.

but it's got to be worth a punt.

Has it? Are you not simply wasting £43 rather than saving £207?

Possibly unpopular opinion ..but ...

When you buy from Ali Express you need to go into it happy with what you are funding/supporting. We all love quality and we all love cheapness but we must all recognise that, if we get both someone is paying the price for us elsewhere, either a poorly paid supplier/worker or a business who has had their IPR compromised. if you're happy with that you have to take a gamble and accept you may lose. This in my view helps the suppliers who deliver consistently as then you are prepared to pay a bit more to not gamble.

Does that make sense?

This ^

I have changed my attitude to cheap imports, I'm just not happy with the moral position. I saw feature about a factory where a worker has to reach in and remove an item in time with the process whilst the machine is still moving, almost weekly someone is killed or loses both arms. The locals are so poor that there's plenty willing to replace them.

Theses days if I can't afford to buy an item produced in a responsible way then I just have to manage without.

No raft is going to be any good for £43 mate. Walk away

Not all things in Ali express are bad. I have bought stuff from a responsible company who just doesn't have the staff and time to deal with outside their local area, so they use Ali express to do all their non local sales. They can charge a fair price for their product and Ali Express deals with all the hassle for them. I had a fair bit of correspondence with them before I ordered as I was concerned about the supplier.

Ali Express was fine, the tracking was slightly wrong as the 2nd order arrived before the 1st, but all turned up within the given time window, with no issues.

If the supplier is good and morally ok, then hopefully all should go well.

I use 17track app to track packages coming from abroad. It also works for the UK.


If they then go into the royal mail network the tracking is vague, feint or invisible after Customs.