One thing to point out: the more commoditized something is, the better it is to buy on Aliexpress. If you've ever seen the same thing sold by two different manu

One thing to point out: the more commoditized something is, the better it is to buy on Aliexpress. If you've ever seen the same thing sold by two different manufacturers, that's a sure sign you can buy it on aliexpress for a fraction of the price. The simpler the item, the better. Consumer items I've bought that have turned out to be nearly identical to what I would have bought in the US: bike tools and parts (wire ferrules, valve wrenches, chain whips, cassette tools, wear indicators) inexpensive power bricks, earphones, small hand tools (bit sets, secure screwdrivers, pin vices, wire strippers and diagonal cutters), zip ties, etc. I've also bought a load of electronics (components, microcontrollers, and assembled items). This is a little difficult, because they are generally cut corners. This is terrible for batteries, not great for power supplies, and generally is imperceptible for LEDs. If you need a weird adapter or jack, this is definitely the place to find it. Looking for stuff can be hard though, because chinese names for things aren't always the same as English ones. I don't bother with anything that is less than 25% cheaper from China, unless it is a better product or comes directly from the manufacturer (there are some company stores on Aliexpress). I basically assume I'm self-insuring for defective products. I have never been screwed on a claim, but I have received a lot of products that are just poor quality. It is pretty much the perfect place to buy white elephant gifts though. I ordered a ton of 2x2 rubik's cubes last year (and a few larger ones) and gave them to all my friends. I'd say probably a quarter arrived totally destroyed, since most were just mailed in cheap padded envelopes and they are pretty fragile, but they were so cheap I didn't care. The entertainment value was definitely worth it, a 2x2 cube is much harder to solve than it looks, and I'm pretty sure some of my friends still haven't forgiven me for that gift. Anyways, you can buy most of this stuff on Amazon or Ebay with a modest mark-up. It will be listed as "fulfilled from China" or something similar. It's a good option if you are worried about fraud, since you'll be dealing with eBay/Amazon customer service, rather than Aliexpress. I would recommend buying something cheap off AE just to give it a shot though.