Ever order from Aliexpress?

I fell in love with a particular mold, and the only place I could find it for sale was through Aliexpress. I was a little leery, but I loooved the mold, so I placed an order. It did state on the website that it could take as long as, I think it was 26 days to receive the order. So I waited. And waited. I sent a message after a month, and got one back saying that the package was late due to "overwhelming demand for logistics" (???). Not sure what that meant, but I waited some more. Today, I checked again, and it's finally in the country, Chicago to be exact, so I can finally breathe a little easier. I placed the order on November 24th, so that will probably be about 6 weeks by the time I receive it. If you've ordered from them, have you experienced similar wait times?

I've ordered from them before and so has my mother. Both of us waited quite a long time for our order and when we got our molds they where not as expected. I've ordered once and my mother has ordered a hand full of times and it seems to be a hit and miss.

On the other hand, I have a friend who has ordered quite a bit of bottles from the website and he's always had a good product come through. He does battle the long shipping times.

MarisaJensen said:

I've ordered from them before and so has my mother. Both of us waited quite a long time for our order and when we got our molds they where not as expected. I've ordered once and my mother has ordered a hand full of times and it seems to be a hit and miss.

On the other hand, I have a friend who has ordered quite a bit of bottles from the website and he's always had a good product come through. He does battle the long shipping times.

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Marisa, can you explain in what way your molds were not as expected. The price was good, and shipping was free, so maybe I should have been more leery than I was! Oh crap.

I am in the UK but also ordered molds from there. They did take a long time to come, but they were what I had expected. I had problems that I was hit with a big customs charge though which made them more expensive than I had expected.

Saponista said:

I am in the UK but also ordered molds from there. They did take a long time to come, but they were what I had expected. I had problems that I was hit with a big customs charge though which made them more expensive than I had expected.

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Well, that gives me more hope. I've ordered from China before, although not Aliexpress, and have always been happy with the quality of the molds I received. I wish there were somewhere closer to order from, but sadly I haven't found any that offer the kind of designs I'm looking for. Thanks for the input.

Honestly, a lot of the molds you see on US sites are made in the same factories in China that make the molds on Aliexpress, Alibaba, etc. When I was making a lot of jewelry, I bought a lot of my bulk supplies directly from China. They were the same items I was ordering from US-based companies, but at a fraction of the cost, especially if I needed to buy a lot. The problem is that with so many different sellers, you don't always know exactly what you're getting. The molds you get from one seller might be perfect and fit for retail sale in the US, but the ones you get from another might be seconds with flaws. Different sellers will use the same stock photos of the items, so it's a bit of a gamble. However, if the price is good and you're willing to wait for shipping, then it can be totally worth it.

ariella42 said:

Honestly, a lot of the molds you see on US sites are made in the same factories in China that make the molds on Aliexpress, Alibaba, etc. When I was making a lot of jewelry, I bought a lot of my bulk supplies directly from China. They were the same items I was ordering from US-based companies, but at a fraction of the cost, especially if I needed to buy a lot. The problem is that with so many different sellers, you don't always know exactly what you're getting. The molds you get from one seller might be perfect and fit for retail sale in the US, but the ones you get from another might be seconds with flaws. Different sellers will use the same stock photos of the items, so it's a bit of a gamble. However, if the price is good and you're willing to wait for shipping, then it can be totally worth it.

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Thanks for the info, Ariella. The price was good, and shipping was free, it was too good to pass up. If they're what was pictured, the wait will be worth it. I'm waiting with fingers crossed!

I have ordered molds, bottles and decorative embellishments and some come fast, others take weeks. But so long as you stay in the system the sellers are very motivated to keep you happy as funds are not released until you receive your item and OK it.

I ordered two products from aliexpress in October and i received one in December.. one was mold one was packing material.. i did not receive mold till date and it is written received in the bought item..i wanted to order more,but i am not sure this time.

This site is a love/hate relationship for me. There isn't a customer service rep you can speak with about problems with sellers and their tracking is sometimes shady at best since they have to put down a number just so that they can ship an item out even if the number isn't pertaining to your order (don't ask me how it works, it just happened a few times for me). I learned my lesson and don't order items that are over $15 from there so if something happens, I could cut my losses pretty easily. NEVER send anything back as the shipping would be triple the item amount (happened to me) never got my shipping cost back. Dispute it and just show pictures of the issue. You will get a partial or maybe a full refund if you argue your case right.

Other then that, I have received quite a few things from that site but it takes almost up to a MONTH to get.