Do they really sell more by misleading customers ? What is it with the chinese ?

 

meh... sometimes just can't change the world...

btw. i see the same thing in other places, even in major brick and mortar stores like HomeDepot.

just walked through a tools section to see an employee reducing prices. battery pack, built in air compressor, why not...
so i take the first one and at the register red lights and alarms turn on, the message appears "do not sell this product, take it from the customer" and instantly i am surrounded by 4 employees to take the product away. they put it under counter and high-five each other. interesting...

 

Do they really sell more by misleading customers ? What is it with the Chinese ?

From my years of experience with AliX... They have no compunction against lying and are therefore unscrupulous. Often what is advertised as Free Shipping isn't as well as the sudden price increase found in the shopping cart (AliX's software is very buggy). They are more often than not prone to extreme exaggeration. The concept of "Snake Oil" is completely foreign to them and not a part of their culture as they are prone to wild exaggerations. The concept of Caveat Emptor is also foreign to them as any money taken from another is money well earned in the culture and it seems that cheating to do so is applauded. Same as stealing ideas and patents is a very acceptable practice in their culture (counterfeiting all the way down to and including the LOGO). Their marketing practices go far far beyond the concept of Puffery!

 

And yet people still flock there like fruit flies to a rotten banana.

 

Remember that AliExpress isn't one vendor – it's a conglomeration of numerous vendors. Not all of them are dishonest. You do need to be very careful to read exactly what you're buying. That picture of a DVM might really be just a set of test leads.

That being said, I've had a terrible experience with them. I ordered a large number of items from around a dozen vendors. Ali did me a favor and "consolidated" most of my items for shipment. Items sent directly arrived properly, but the addresses for the consolidated shipments were managed. State was substituted for street, street for city and state changed in random ways.

I reported this to various vendors when I noticed it, and the answer was they sent their items to the right address, which they had. But the consolidator screwed things up. The vendors advice was "just wait a little longer... (until the complaint clock runs out)". When I filed complaints, some vendors refunded the full amount. Some vendors made a small refund. Some did nothing. And I was banned for "abusing the complaint process." In the end, I received about a third of my purchase, about a third was refunded and I finally gave up on about a third of it.

My advice is to order a few items at a time to avoid "consolidation" and to use the vendors you find trustable.

 

You do need to be very careful to read exactly what you're buying. That picture of a DVM might really be just a set of test leads.

I’ve had this happen to me many times. I purchased an IR Distance Sensor and received just a plastic cover for the sensor.

I just bought my grandkids a gift for the summer. A Child-sized cornhole game - or so I thought.

I received 4 tiny bean bags. (That’s an American quarter in the picture as a size reference. About 1” or 2.54cm in diameter).

 

They also use "Stock" photos and not photos of what they are actually selling. Very common BAD practice (eBay has a policy of actually taking a picture of what is being offered for sale and not a stock picture). Read the details, read the details, then read them again! When in doubt you can try contacting the vendor but, in many cases, there is a language barrier. I have been "refused to sell to" by one vendor when I bought something and when it arrived it was nothing like the picture which was an altered stock picture to make the object larger. I appealed it and was awarded a full refund but the vendor refused to sell me anything afterwards. He'd take the order (software driven so he had no control) but would not ship the order and I'd have to appeal, once again, for a refund which was always granted. He was soon out of business for that "store" but I found out he had multiple stores under various names and closed any that started going down in satisfaction numbers from buyers and would start a new one under a different name. Also a common BAD practice on AliX. He was a tea vendor and it was soon after that AliX stopped all vendors from selling tea as there was quite a bit of counterfeiting and bad dealing occurring. On AliX and eBay there are quite a few vendors who actually have no product at all. They are simply drop shippers. Offer items for sale at a set price and when the order comes in, they buy the items from another vendor at a lower price and have it shipped to you and keep the difference in price as profit.

 

One aspect of the problem is that it is relatively easy to restart Chinese company with a new name. About 10 years ago when I was sourcing LEDs I would ask a company to send me the data sheet and a often the data sheet would arrive with a different company name on it. If you get into trouble selling somebody else’s IP just shut your doors and reopen the next day with a different name. Almost that easy.

 

new user discount only. The real price is ~20x more

 

Here's a good'un. Just got some 2N5486 JFETs from AliX. Was working on an amplifier circuit with them and couldn't remember the pin out. So, I threw it in the ole component tester to see what it was and got a big surprise. Even though they are laser etched 2N5486 they came up as NPN BJTs! Obviously, the factory mismarked them and they were likely sold as scrap and then sold to me as the real deal. NOT! But hey, they are NPNs with decent specs so they'll make decent switches or generic amps maybe if you don't push them too hard without knowing their limits. I filed the dispute and reordered from another vendor. You just never really know what you are actually buying there. They are rapidly losing their advantage over Amazon and eBay for goods as their shipping rates have increased to the point that for 5USD in parts it is now costing 15USD for shipping. Saw where Jack Ma, after being "missing" has bailed out of China and is now in Tokyo, Japan.

 

What store gave you the bum parts?
I have bought JFETS a few times off Aliexpress.
"shenzen IC store" way out to lunch for IDSS one batch was 10x higher so they must be another part entirely. Like 20mA for parts nominally 2mA. TO-92 package looked pretty low quality. They all tested OK as JFETs though.
Last ones I got MMBFJ201 were bang on though, from "Fantasy Electronics CO., Ltd". Would buy again, well... until stock comes in at the reputable disti's.

 

FSXSEMI FengShengXIn Store. They usually have the best prices and lowest shipping cost but I have also had bad chips from them. I always test the entire lot of chips using a basic test circuit to be sure they function as required when received. Transistors I usually put one of the lot of 10 I typically buy in into a component tester just as a basic go/nogo test and didn't catch that it was the wrong type until I went to put it in a circuit I was building. You just never really know what you are actually getting from AliX and I only buy components from them for hobby use.

 

I'd bought LMV331 comparators from FSXSEMI FengShengXIn Store and found they are so slow, just terrible.
Contacted the store and "sorry we are just a broker" was the reply. So I don't buy from that store anymore, on the black list.
They wouldn't tell me the manufacturer for the part. Probably a '358 lol.

 

Most of the stores are simply brokers of what they buy cheap on the local market and some are simply drop shippers of parts they can buy cheaply from other brokers. I have noticed that there is a slight uptick in available specs, but still leaves a LOT to desire in that area.