I recently was looking for small 'scopes on AliExpress and this listing 1005005575297190 popped up which showed the popular FIRSI-1013D. For a seemingly Very LOW price.
If adding it to the cart , it shows as actually purchasing the smaller/cheaper FIRSI-138PRO. Which is shown in the add also but very small pic.
It could be overlooked if not alert .
I have been caught once before by this switch scam.

 

Don't remember my "gotcha" moment but I have been lead to believe I was purchasing one thing but actually I purchased something else. Was upsetting, but I got over it. Learned to look closely at what I'm ordering.

 

As already discussed, this is creative advertising. They show a photo of a product at a very discounted price. When you place the order, you are actually purchasing something else. You have to examine the Color option given to find out exactly what low priced option you are purchasing. It is called "bait & switch".

Here is an example of FNIRSI 1013D advertised at C$64.02
You will actually receive FNIRSI DCO-TC3.
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005004356408840.html

Or this FNIRSI 1013D for C$34.12 when you are actually purchasing just one probe.
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005004627293216.html

 

Read the details, then read the details, then read the details and IF you put it in the cart, check the details, price, and shipping. The devil is in the details and what you chose is not always what ends up in the cart. That part of their software is buggy and not sure just how much is on the vendors behalf. I will say that their search engine is better than quite a few other well-known sites. I recently placed an order for multiple parts from the same vendor, which usually gets you a bit of discount in the shipping. I probably ordered a dozen different parts and ended up with 1USD for shipping. Adding one more item jumped it up to ~15USD. Buggy buggy buggy... Not only that, they will aggregate orders from multiple vendors into a single overall package to cut down on the overall shipping cost but you will not be reimbursed for the decreased shipping cost.

 

Not only that, they will aggregate orders from multiple vendors into a single overall package to cut down on the overall shipping cost but you will not be reimbursed for the decreased shipping cost.

When they gave me a "consolidated shipping" upgrade, they somehow mangled the my address, so the street became the city or the state became the street, or...., or....., or..... I had 3 or 4 packages going to addresses across the country. The vendors shipped to my actual address, so some refused to accept any responsibility. In the end, I got about a third of what I ordered, got refunded for about a third, and was screwed for about a third. Plus, I was banished for "abusing the complaint system".

 

Some sellers are dishonest, others are simply not smart enough to accurately list products.
If I observe a seller being either of those they are on my never again list. And I never check them again.
If enough folks would take that sort of action the the bad guys would go broke.

 

People still buy things from these IMO crooks?
These guys are not going to stop.

 

I look at it this way -- if places like AliExpress don't take steps to address this kind of activity on the part of its vendors, then they are at least tacitly condoning those practices, if not actively encouraging them. I have neither the desire nor the patience to deal with that, let alone reward them for it. I'm sure they are of the opinion that they don't need my business -- and I'm sure they would be correct in that assessment. But the simple fact is that, no matter how little they need to do business with me, I need to do business with them even less.

 

When I read the title, I thought you meant that they were selling illegal switches.

 

If enough folks would take that sort of action the the bad guys would go broke.

What they usually do is just open another "shop" under a different name. They do receive a percentage "ranking" and if they drop below ~90% they will also just close the shop and open another one with a 100% "ranking". There is also some "gamesmanship" in item pricing that goes on. In order to be at the top of the list when using the price filter. They will list their items very cheap but jack up the shipping to insure their profit. I've seen items listed very cheap but with hundreds of USD in shipping! Absolutely ludicrous!

 

When I read the title, I thought you meant that they were selling illegal switches.

Hi,

Same here.
I thought maybe they were selling very, very high-priced switches from Cuba that were banned in the USA

I only bought one thing from AE. It was an old math book. I did not get the book I ordered. I got a refund, never ordered from them again. That was probably over 10 years ago.

 

Hi,

Same here.
I thought maybe they were selling very, very high-priced switches from Cuba that were banned in the USA

I thought that they might be mains switches with insufficient voltage rating, just the sort of thing AE might do, but much less interesting.

 

I thought that they might be mains switches with insufficient voltage rating, just the sort of thing AE might do, but much less interesting.

Hi,

Oh right, an under-rated switch, that would be very likely knowing them.
I hear bad things about AE and not just here. That, combined with some suspiciously low prices, keeps me at bay.

 

Over the past two years I've made about 175 orders from AliExpress sellers.

I wouldn't have made so many orders if I wasn't happy with the outcome, but that doesn't mean there aren't some problems. For perspective, during this time I have filed fewer than 10 disputes and all have ended favorably. The majority were settled instantly, a couple required a few exchanges with customer service, and a couple required being assertive with the seller—but in the end it's all worked out.

These are some things I've learned and practices I've adopted to maximize my chances of positive outcomes:

1. The bait and switch technique to getting eyeballs on a particular store is common. If a price seems too good to be true it probably is, in fact, almost certainly is, but it isn't too hard to tell. You can always choose the "buy it now" option and see what you are ordering if it's not clear.

2. A seller that uses this method, even it it is just to get people to look at their listing and not an attempt to cheat people, has defected on a tacit agreement to be honest and so I don't trust them. This means I just move on and look elsewhere for what I need.

3. For the most part, I limit my exposure to orders of around $10. This is usually big enough to get the most favorable shipping terms but small enough not to hurt if it goes pear-shaped. There are some exceptions to this for larger items but those are purchased from sellers know to me, or ones that present a solid aspect including a long tenure and many units sold.

4. Reviews of sellers are useless. They are almost all going to be either an automatic "I received the item and it was packaged well" or "this seller is a complete crook"—and they can be for the same seller. There are exceptions where there is photographic documentation and sensible comments and these can be helpful but it doesn't change the general rule that you can't tell about sellers from reviews.

5. Careful reading of the postings and choosing ones with photos of the actual product results in a fairly accurate assessment of what you are going to receive. Postings that rely on renderings, or make foolish claims, are ones I avoid. Mostly, I have either been pleasantly surprised by the value, or got what I expected to be the baseline. Rarely have I been disappointed.

6. Paying a bit more for better shipping is worth the money. Never buy something without tracking. Lately, AliExpress has an "on-time guarantee" with a small penalty paid to you if it is missed. They are trying to compete with Temu, so many things are now 14 day delivery.

7. I can buy things from AliExpress sellers that I couldn't get anywhere else for the price. It allows me to buy standard inventory parts for prototyping, consumables, and specialist tools that are only occasionally needed that I wouldn't be able to buy otherwise. While I wouldn't use this route for a commercial product, for hobby and prototyping it's a great way to get started before ordering from Newark, or Mouser, or the like.

8. There are several "official stores" on AliExpress. If I want to buy dev boards from Lolin, or Espressif, or LilyGo; or tools from UNI-T, or ANENG—for example, it is the official channel and the prices are better than the big distributers.

So, in the end, caveat emptor is a necessity on AliExpress. I know I am playing a game and I have sussed out the rules. It is worth the small risk to me for the large benefit. I can recommend AliExpress as a source for anyone that is willing to address it this way, but not if you expect it to be like the big distributors.

 

Half of my orders with AE have had problems. The latest was from an ad that had a picture of the ultrasonic sensor I wanted. But was only for the tiny plastic cover of the sensor.

 

When I read the title, I thought you meant that they were selling illegal switches.

Switch-selling is actually a UK term, and refers to the illegal act of offering some thing for sale at one price and then switching into another more expensive product and charging more.
In this case, it is an inferior, less value product.

 

Switch-selling is actually a UK term, and refers to the illegal act of offering some thing for sale at one price and then switching into another more expensive product and charging more.

“Bait and switch” in the US

 

I have never once had a problem with AE.

I wouldn't be caught dead using that marketplace.

 

“Bait and switch” in the US

Is it a criminal offence, as it is in UK?

 

This prompted me to look back and check all my orders I made when I built my CNC machine back in 2021.
All the CNC components were sourced in China and all the orders were placed with Amazon. So I guess I have yet to place an order with AE.