4 ms·

Temu/Aliexpress/etc are for buying very cheap clothing. 2 out of 3 items fit and 1 out of 3 is decent quality. That's still cheaper, depending on what tariffs y

Temu/Aliexpress/etc are for buying very cheap clothing. 2 out of 3 items fit and 1 out of 3 is decent quality. That's still cheaper, depending on what tariffs your country is charging. I wouldn't buy something where a warranty would be useful from them. Ok, maybe very niche hobby products, but then I wouldn't expect a warranty.

echoangle 2y ago
AliExpress is great for electronics. Not the „I need a phone“ stuff (although for that it’s fine too, I think), but more the „I need an ESP-32 module“.
- squarefoot 2y ago
  This. People buying a laptop there for ten bucks then receiving the photo of one have indeed all the rights to complain, but common sense should suggest them before the purchase the old saying that if something looks too good to be true... And this can happen everywhere there's no strict quality control or accountability. Aliexpress is great for small modules, SBCs, diy electronics in general, however I wouldn't ever buy semiconductors, batteries or memory modules there, as the risk of fakes or low quality clones is close to 100%.
  - whatyesaid 2y ago
    Yeah especially as in places like London there have been many explosions and house fires originaying from cheap foreign e-bike batteries. Some Chinese companies care about a long-term brand and place high standards on themselves but it's not true that anything online has passed safety standards. It's hard to differentiate the two due to the amount of fake reviews also.
    - echoangle 2y ago
      Yes, I would never buy something grid-powered from AliExpress, and I would be very careful with larger batteries.
      - squarefoot 2y ago
        Yes,also beware of power strips and electrical wires in general: those coming from there are increasingly made of coated iron instead of copper or brass in contacts. The side effect is a much higher resistance that makes the wire dissipate a lot more power than it should, even to the point it can overheat and catch fire if under serious load (heaters, ovens etc.). Their exceptionally bad insulation and usually smaller size than advertised make the problem even worse. Such bad cables can be used for breadboarding where small lengths and low currents mitigate the effects, but they shouldn't be considered for anything serious. I've learned to ditch almost every bundled cable coming from there after multiple bad experiences. Surplus is a good source of top notch cables that can last decades. Crappy cables can be checked using a magnet: pure copper ones won't stick. There are also reports of junk coated aluminium cables that wouldn't stick as well to a magnet, but they're rare as aluminium, at least good quality one, is not cheap.
- eurekin 2y ago
  Concur. Even a planetary, cycloidal or strain wave reducers. To be honest, I don't know, where else I could find such diverse product catalog.
- nottorp 2y ago
  Mouser/Farnell etc don't have those? Or i guess not as many options. I got my last esp-32 from Mouser iirc. In Europe. They finally sorted out EU fulfillment warehouses.
  - echoangle 2y ago
    You can get the base ESP-32 modules for example, but not most of the Dev Boards. They have some, but much more expensive than AliExpress. And then you also have to pay shipping.
    - nottorp 2y ago
      > And then you also have to pay shipping. Spoiled americans :) I've always had to pay shipping from anywhere outside my country.
- dymk 2y ago
  It's basically McMaster with slow shipping for my hobby projects. I don't need the $1000 quality and warranty of a McMaster ball screw and linear guideways, the $80 BSTMOTION brand(?) stuff has been working for me for years and is plenty accurate.
philjohn 2y ago
Not entirely. For cycling there are now a group of trusted companies that many people purchase from - WinSpace, Magene, iGPSport, that stand behind their products. I have a Magene p505 crank-based power meter - £250 delivered. It's as accurate as ones costing 4X as much, and has not shown any signs of issues in the year+ I've been using it. The idea that AliExpress is just for cheap tat is less and less true, and products in certain sectors coming out of China are just much better value for money (and often, as good as, or better quality) than you'd find from homegrown companies. For cycling, especially Carbon Fibre parts, this isn't surprising - the sheer depth and breadth of composites knowledge from years of making bikes for western brands has paid off handsomely.
- mogrim 2y ago
  Likewise in trail running, Aonijie is building a decent reputation for accessories.
- bharrison 2y ago
  Obviously YMMV, but I bought some Amazon MTB pedals rated 4.7 starts @ 9k ratings. One suffered a catastrophic failure, shearing off at the crank and I was pitched over the bars. Design and manufacturing is obviously a major part of the equation with this product sector, and no doubt the Chinese can do that as good as, or even better than domestic brands in many respects. What they don't do as well, as far as I'm aware, is any significant destructive testing. The bonus is I can now spend even more absurd amounts of money on bike components, which is the true dream of any true cycling enthusiast.
  - bkor 2y ago
    > Obviously YMMV, but I bought some Amazon MTB pedals rated 4.7 starts @ 9k ratings. Every site is different, no? Amazon isn't AliExpress. Though lately Amazon if flooded with marked-up AliExpress stuff. I'm not fond of Amazon, their customer service is more of a hit and miss since various years. That said, I've been watching Trace Velo. He reviews a lot of AliExpress cycling things. It's often bad after prolonged use. Meaning, yeah, their testing is lacking. But some brand do seem to be trying to become a trusted brand. E.g. Ugreen nowadays is often trusted. It used to be one of the many things listed on AliExpress.
imiric 2y ago
> Temu/Aliexpress/etc are for buying very cheap clothing. As long as you don't value safety.[1] [1]: https://www.news.com.au/national/queensland/news/skin-melted-off-temu-oodie-recalled-after-8yo-burned/news-story/91e56f10cc495f2444cc50d5736604b8 https://www.news.com.au/national/queensland/news/skin-melted...
- krageon 2y ago
  If you actually read the article you see this garment lacked a "flammable" label. It's not the flammability that wouldn't happen, it's just a tiny warning. This article is outrage bait, especially obvious given the incredibly graphic pictures and the high focus on emotional statements combined with the low amount of actually important detail (what went wrong? It's not what you or the article are implying, which is the fire risk).
TacticalCoder 2y ago
[dead]
marcusb 2y ago
> Ok, maybe very niche hobby products, but then I wouldn't expect a warranty. I bought a bunch of parts for a racing drone from Aliexpress because I didn't expect a traditional retailer's warranty to really matter much. ("This frame has been in a crash. No warranty.") What's the point of paying extra in that scenario?
Double_a_92 2y ago
My experience (with Aliexpress) is that you usually get what you pay for.

echoangle 2y ago

AliExpress is great for electronics. Not the „I need a phone“ stuff (although for that it’s fine too, I think), but more the „I need an ESP-32 module“.

squarefoot 2y ago
This. People buying a laptop there for ten bucks then receiving the photo of one have indeed all the rights to complain, but common sense should suggest them before the purchase the old saying that if something looks too good to be true... And this can happen everywhere there's no strict quality control or accountability. Aliexpress is great for small modules, SBCs, diy electronics in general, however I wouldn't ever buy semiconductors, batteries or memory modules there, as the risk of fakes or low quality clones is close to 100%.
- whatyesaid 2y ago
  Yeah especially as in places like London there have been many explosions and house fires originaying from cheap foreign e-bike batteries. Some Chinese companies care about a long-term brand and place high standards on themselves but it's not true that anything online has passed safety standards. It's hard to differentiate the two due to the amount of fake reviews also.
  - echoangle 2y ago
    Yes, I would never buy something grid-powered from AliExpress, and I would be very careful with larger batteries.
    - squarefoot 2y ago
      Yes,also beware of power strips and electrical wires in general: those coming from there are increasingly made of coated iron instead of copper or brass in contacts. The side effect is a much higher resistance that makes the wire dissipate a lot more power than it should, even to the point it can overheat and catch fire if under serious load (heaters, ovens etc.). Their exceptionally bad insulation and usually smaller size than advertised make the problem even worse. Such bad cables can be used for breadboarding where small lengths and low currents mitigate the effects, but they shouldn't be considered for anything serious. I've learned to ditch almost every bundled cable coming from there after multiple bad experiences. Surplus is a good source of top notch cables that can last decades. Crappy cables can be checked using a magnet: pure copper ones won't stick. There are also reports of junk coated aluminium cables that wouldn't stick as well to a magnet, but they're rare as aluminium, at least good quality one, is not cheap.
eurekin 2y ago
Concur. Even a planetary, cycloidal or strain wave reducers. To be honest, I don't know, where else I could find such diverse product catalog.
nottorp 2y ago
Mouser/Farnell etc don't have those? Or i guess not as many options. I got my last esp-32 from Mouser iirc. In Europe. They finally sorted out EU fulfillment warehouses.
- echoangle 2y ago
  You can get the base ESP-32 modules for example, but not most of the Dev Boards. They have some, but much more expensive than AliExpress. And then you also have to pay shipping.
  - nottorp 2y ago
    > And then you also have to pay shipping. Spoiled americans :) I've always had to pay shipping from anywhere outside my country.
dymk 2y ago
It's basically McMaster with slow shipping for my hobby projects. I don't need the $1000 quality and warranty of a McMaster ball screw and linear guideways, the $80 BSTMOTION brand(?) stuff has been working for me for years and is plenty accurate.

philjohn 2y ago

Not entirely. For cycling there are now a group of trusted companies that many people purchase from - WinSpace, Magene, iGPSport, that stand behind their products. I have a Magene p505 crank-based power meter - £250 delivered. It's as accurate as ones costing 4X as much, and has not shown any signs of issues in the year+ I've been using it. The idea that AliExpress is just for cheap tat is less and less true, and products in certain sectors coming out of China are just much better value for money (and often, as good as, or better quality) than you'd find from homegrown companies. For cycling, especially Carbon Fibre parts, this isn't surprising - the sheer depth and breadth of composites knowledge from years of making bikes for western brands has paid off handsomely.

mogrim 2y ago
Likewise in trail running, Aonijie is building a decent reputation for accessories.
bharrison 2y ago
Obviously YMMV, but I bought some Amazon MTB pedals rated 4.7 starts @ 9k ratings. One suffered a catastrophic failure, shearing off at the crank and I was pitched over the bars. Design and manufacturing is obviously a major part of the equation with this product sector, and no doubt the Chinese can do that as good as, or even better than domestic brands in many respects. What they don't do as well, as far as I'm aware, is any significant destructive testing. The bonus is I can now spend even more absurd amounts of money on bike components, which is the true dream of any true cycling enthusiast.
- bkor 2y ago
  > Obviously YMMV, but I bought some Amazon MTB pedals rated 4.7 starts @ 9k ratings. Every site is different, no? Amazon isn't AliExpress. Though lately Amazon if flooded with marked-up AliExpress stuff. I'm not fond of Amazon, their customer service is more of a hit and miss since various years. That said, I've been watching Trace Velo. He reviews a lot of AliExpress cycling things. It's often bad after prolonged use. Meaning, yeah, their testing is lacking. But some brand do seem to be trying to become a trusted brand. E.g. Ugreen nowadays is often trusted. It used to be one of the many things listed on AliExpress.

imiric 2y ago

> Temu/Aliexpress/etc are for buying very cheap clothing. As long as you don't value safety.[1] [1]: https://www.news.com.au/national/queensland/news/skin-melted-off-temu-oodie-recalled-after-8yo-burned/news-story/91e56f10cc495f2444cc50d5736604b8 https://www.news.com.au/national/queensland/news/skin-melted...

krageon 2y ago
If you actually read the article you see this garment lacked a "flammable" label. It's not the flammability that wouldn't happen, it's just a tiny warning. This article is outrage bait, especially obvious given the incredibly graphic pictures and the high focus on emotional statements combined with the low amount of actually important detail (what went wrong? It's not what you or the article are implying, which is the fire risk).

TacticalCoder 2y ago

[dead]

marcusb 2y ago

> Ok, maybe very niche hobby products, but then I wouldn't expect a warranty. I bought a bunch of parts for a racing drone from Aliexpress because I didn't expect a traditional retailer's warranty to really matter much. ("This frame has been in a crash. No warranty.") What's the point of paying extra in that scenario?

Double_a_92 2y ago

My experience (with Aliexpress) is that you usually get what you pay for.