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Have you ever tried to search for something on Aliexpress? It is the worst experience I have ever had. "Free Shipping" button (sometimes) shows things with fre

Have you ever tried to search for something on Aliexpress? It is the worst experience I have ever had. "Free Shipping" button (sometimes) shows things with free shipping, or the actual price of the item showing as $0.99 when that is for the optional plastic lid or whatever. Only about half the time I try to use Aliexpress it gives me the results I want. Furthermore, it is stupidly obvious when something is just being dropshipped vs coming from Amazon's warehouse, just look for the Prime logo on the items. At least with Amazon I get things relatively quickly even compared to other US based options such as Ebay or even going through the retailer directly

explodingwaffle 4y ago
My _favourite_ part of searching on AliExpress is that, when you’re logged in, 90% of any search results have nothing to do with, you know, the search query, and are just (related to) products you’ve previously looked at. Why?!?
- jtbayly 4y ago
  For the same reason that Amazon does that?
  - CamperBob2 4y ago
    To annoy me enough to send me to second-tier retailers I wouldn't otherwise use? It never makes sense to intentionally return inapplicable search results. Think about it: product search is the ultimate advertising opportunity. A customer with money to spend is proactively telling you exactly what they want to spend it on. And you're going to go out of your way to piss this customer off?! Bold strategy, Jeff, let's see how it works out for you.
    - buffington 4y ago
      > inapplicable search results Inapplicable to whom? > product search is the ultimate advertising opportunity To me, this is what lends confidence to the idea that the results are hardly "inapplicable". The results may be quite applicable from Amazon's perspective. This is just a guess, but it seems unlikely that all Amazon cares about is returning the exact perfect set of results that lead you directly to what you're intending to purchase. They may know that showing seemingly random results increases impulse sales of high profit items they have in local "get it today" warehouses. Or they know that people who search for the thing you searched for are n times more likely to buy Product X impulsively, but only if they show it to you on the first Monday morning of the month. Or maybe they've lost their minds, and have tried to optimize and maximize profits from their recommendations that they're blind to much simpler approaches.
      - CamperBob2 4y ago
        (Shrug) Well, their "applicable" search results cost them a four-figure order yesterday, when I was shopping for parts for a new PC build. It's not the first time I've given up in frustration when looking for something on Amazon. Then there's the business of repeating the same search in a private browsing window and getting substantially different results. Another great way to flush business down the drain.
lnsru 4y ago
Just bought bunch of humidity meters from AliExpress. At 1/3 of Amazon price. I don’t care they will be delivered on day in February. Amazon’s price was just ridiculous.
- mint2 4y ago
  How much should things cost? Is price the only thing that matters?
- gptgpp 4y ago
  I would encourage you to check out electronic component suppliers like digikey.com and others. I started doing this for my components and won't be going back to Amazon. I switched after getting some counterfeit components, and others so poorly soldered they didn't work. It will be more expensive than AliExpress, but much less than Amazon and you'll actually get what you order...
  - CamperBob2 4y ago
    DigiKey ... much less than Amazon You might want to check your DNS settings. I think they may have been hijacked.
    - gptgpp 4y ago
      Lol, fair enough... But if you're actually interested, I'll provide some examples to show you I'm not just bullshitting. This is using canadian Amazon and canadian Digikey, since that's where I'm from. We will compare single unit prices, since getting into bulk deals complicates things quite a bit, and is not what most inventors/hobbyists will need. Since OP was talking about humidity sensors, the only one I'm familar with is DHT11. On Amazon.ca this comes up as $11.30 CAD. [1] On Digikey this is discontinued but comes up as $7.67.[2] Yet even the Grove branded BOARD is cheaper at $9.37. [3] Anyways, maybe not the best example since it's ancient and discontinued, was just off the top of my head. Lets look at something more recent like the SHT31-D: Amazon: $14.69 [4] Digikey: $12.82 [5] Also you can buy the sensor without the board for like 9$ on digikey. The selection is just way larger. Out of curiosity though, have you personally used chinese boards on Amazon that are cheaper and generally reliable? If so is there a brand I can search for? I'm down for cheap reliable chinese stuff (that you don't have to buy for like $50 in packs of 5 - 10 to get a discount...) off Amazon, just haven't been able to find any at all. [1]: https://www.amazon.ca/Robojax-Temperature-Relative-Humidity-Sensor/dp/B0B2NN5QDV https://www.amazon.ca/Robojax-Temperature-Relative-Humidity-... [2]: https://www.digikey.ca/en/products/detail/adafruit-industries-llc/386/5356713 https://www.digikey.ca/en/products/detail/adafruit-industrie... [3]: https://www.digikey.ca/en/products/detail/seeed-technology-co-ltd/101020011/5482602 https://www.digikey.ca/en/products/detail/seeed-technology-c... [4]: https://www.amazon.ca/DAOKI-Temperature-Humidity-Interface-GY-SHT31-D/dp/B091TQTDJS https://www.amazon.ca/DAOKI-Temperature-Humidity-Interface-G... [5]: https://www.digikey.ca/en/products/detail/dfrobot/SEN0331/12324931 https://www.digikey.ca/en/products/detail/dfrobot/SEN0331/12...
Spivak 4y ago
The issue isn't who's doing the shipping. The issue is that Amazon is, for most product categories, 90% a front for Alibaba resellers. Nothing against Alibaba/Aliexpress, I get stuff from them all the time, but there are times when I specifically don't want those products. If you're willing to wait a month Aliexpress is all the same stuff for 1/10 the price.
jghn 4y ago
> Furthermore, it is stupidly obvious when something is just being dropshipped vs coming from Amazon's warehouse The issue isn't so much that you buy something and then the process of shipping from China starts. The issue is that it's often the exact same crap being sold on AliExpress, but has been filtered into the Amazon Warehouse for those SKUs.
CamperBob2 4y ago
Have you ever tried to search for something on Aliexpress? It is the worst experience I have ever had. Can't possibly be worse than Amazon's search experience.

explodingwaffle 4y ago

My _favourite_ part of searching on AliExpress is that, when you’re logged in, 90% of any search results have nothing to do with, you know, the search query, and are just (related to) products you’ve previously looked at. Why?!?

jtbayly 4y ago
For the same reason that Amazon does that?
- CamperBob2 4y ago
  To annoy me enough to send me to second-tier retailers I wouldn't otherwise use? It never makes sense to intentionally return inapplicable search results. Think about it: product search is the ultimate advertising opportunity. A customer with money to spend is proactively telling you exactly what they want to spend it on. And you're going to go out of your way to piss this customer off?! Bold strategy, Jeff, let's see how it works out for you.
  - buffington 4y ago
    > inapplicable search results Inapplicable to whom? > product search is the ultimate advertising opportunity To me, this is what lends confidence to the idea that the results are hardly "inapplicable". The results may be quite applicable from Amazon's perspective. This is just a guess, but it seems unlikely that all Amazon cares about is returning the exact perfect set of results that lead you directly to what you're intending to purchase. They may know that showing seemingly random results increases impulse sales of high profit items they have in local "get it today" warehouses. Or they know that people who search for the thing you searched for are n times more likely to buy Product X impulsively, but only if they show it to you on the first Monday morning of the month. Or maybe they've lost their minds, and have tried to optimize and maximize profits from their recommendations that they're blind to much simpler approaches.
    - CamperBob2 4y ago
      (Shrug) Well, their "applicable" search results cost them a four-figure order yesterday, when I was shopping for parts for a new PC build. It's not the first time I've given up in frustration when looking for something on Amazon. Then there's the business of repeating the same search in a private browsing window and getting substantially different results. Another great way to flush business down the drain.

lnsru 4y ago

Just bought bunch of humidity meters from AliExpress. At 1/3 of Amazon price. I don’t care they will be delivered on day in February. Amazon’s price was just ridiculous.

mint2 4y ago
How much should things cost? Is price the only thing that matters?
gptgpp 4y ago
I would encourage you to check out electronic component suppliers like digikey.com and others. I started doing this for my components and won't be going back to Amazon. I switched after getting some counterfeit components, and others so poorly soldered they didn't work. It will be more expensive than AliExpress, but much less than Amazon and you'll actually get what you order...
- CamperBob2 4y ago
  DigiKey ... much less than Amazon You might want to check your DNS settings. I think they may have been hijacked.
  - gptgpp 4y ago
    Lol, fair enough... But if you're actually interested, I'll provide some examples to show you I'm not just bullshitting. This is using canadian Amazon and canadian Digikey, since that's where I'm from. We will compare single unit prices, since getting into bulk deals complicates things quite a bit, and is not what most inventors/hobbyists will need. Since OP was talking about humidity sensors, the only one I'm familar with is DHT11. On Amazon.ca this comes up as $11.30 CAD. [1] On Digikey this is discontinued but comes up as $7.67.[2] Yet even the Grove branded BOARD is cheaper at $9.37. [3] Anyways, maybe not the best example since it's ancient and discontinued, was just off the top of my head. Lets look at something more recent like the SHT31-D: Amazon: $14.69 [4] Digikey: $12.82 [5] Also you can buy the sensor without the board for like 9$ on digikey. The selection is just way larger. Out of curiosity though, have you personally used chinese boards on Amazon that are cheaper and generally reliable? If so is there a brand I can search for? I'm down for cheap reliable chinese stuff (that you don't have to buy for like $50 in packs of 5 - 10 to get a discount...) off Amazon, just haven't been able to find any at all. [1]: https://www.amazon.ca/Robojax-Temperature-Relative-Humidity-Sensor/dp/B0B2NN5QDV https://www.amazon.ca/Robojax-Temperature-Relative-Humidity-... [2]: https://www.digikey.ca/en/products/detail/adafruit-industries-llc/386/5356713 https://www.digikey.ca/en/products/detail/adafruit-industrie... [3]: https://www.digikey.ca/en/products/detail/seeed-technology-co-ltd/101020011/5482602 https://www.digikey.ca/en/products/detail/seeed-technology-c... [4]: https://www.amazon.ca/DAOKI-Temperature-Humidity-Interface-GY-SHT31-D/dp/B091TQTDJS https://www.amazon.ca/DAOKI-Temperature-Humidity-Interface-G... [5]: https://www.digikey.ca/en/products/detail/dfrobot/SEN0331/12324931 https://www.digikey.ca/en/products/detail/dfrobot/SEN0331/12...

Spivak 4y ago

The issue isn't who's doing the shipping. The issue is that Amazon is, for most product categories, 90% a front for Alibaba resellers. Nothing against Alibaba/Aliexpress, I get stuff from them all the time, but there are times when I specifically don't want those products. If you're willing to wait a month Aliexpress is all the same stuff for 1/10 the price.

jghn 4y ago

> Furthermore, it is stupidly obvious when something is just being dropshipped vs coming from Amazon's warehouse The issue isn't so much that you buy something and then the process of shipping from China starts. The issue is that it's often the exact same crap being sold on AliExpress, but has been filtered into the Amazon Warehouse for those SKUs.

CamperBob2 4y ago

Have you ever tried to search for something on Aliexpress? It is the worst experience I have ever had. Can't possibly be worse than Amazon's search experience.