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Liberal 
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Posts: 11451
Joined: Aug. 2003
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Posted on: Nov. 02 2015,7:24 am |
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For things I can't buy locally, I normally buy straight from China. I've used banggood.com, dx.com, and aliexpress without a problem, but avoid using everbuying.com, bestgear.com and any site related to them.
Also make sure you don't pay with western union, pay with a visa bank card that will protect you from scumbag sellers.
Currently I use aliexpress for almost everything I order, they've got a great app and website with a huge selection. Just today I looked for a sweater for my wife and they carry 1.9 million sweaters.
If you're going to buy from aliexpress try to buy from a seller with a lot of sales and feedback, and avoid deals that are too good to be true. You can get a $3000 Les Paul for $250 but it's really just a piece of junk counterfeit without one real part on it, even the internals are counterfeit epiphone components. I'd guess they'd make nice wall art but that's about it. Also if you buy counterfeit products there's a chance customs will seize it, but the seller will refund your money if that happens.
The biggest downfall is shipping times, some products make it here in 2 weeks and others take up to 6 weeks, so if you're looking for Christmas gifts you'd better order soon.
Also they have a big sale coming on the 11/11 but when they have big sales the shipping generally takes a month at least. It will sometimes take a week or two just to ship out, and expedited shipping is insanely priced. I think 1 week delivery usually costs about $35 or more.
The app is available on the play store...
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.alibaba.aliexpresshd
One other thing is if you're unhappy with the purchase and contact the seller they will usually give you a full, or partial refund.
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The people are masters of both Congress and courts, not to overthrow the Constitution, but to overthrow the men who pervert it!
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| Post Number: 2
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Liberal
Group: Moderator
Posts: 11451
Joined: Aug. 2003
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Posted on: Nov. 02 2015,9:00 am |
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One other thing if you're interested in even better deals the place to go is the taobaomall. The site is flooded with counterfeits, so they won't ship to the US, and if you want to purchase their products you need to go through a forwarding company like mistertao.com. Even if you go through mistertao.com they won't ship obvious knockoffs (at least that's what they claim). So you can avoid that problem by not buying stuff you know is clearly counterfeit like $10 Couch purses.
I personally have never shopped there but I had planned to because the Xiaomi piston headphones sold there come straight from Xiaomi and are only about $12 a pair. Before I ordered them I found a legit seller so I bought 5 pairs from ibuygou.com for $18 a piece because I wanted backups since they're the best sounding ear buds I've ever owned. Turns out they're so well made I still have my first pair, so these 6 pairs will probably last me for years.
Another thing is the taobaomall site is in Chinese and the prices are in Chinese Yuan so you need to use mistertao for pricing and for translating the description. I've personally never used a forwarding company but I've never heard a bad thing about buying from mistertao.com
Also mistertao search engine filters out names of commonly counterfeited products so you have to look pretty hard to find the counterfeit garbage.
http://www.mistertao.com/beta/
And if you read Chinese here's a link to the taobaomall. https://www.tmall.com
And remember if you can buy the same product local, buy it local,or someday we won't have local stores to buy from.
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The people are masters of both Congress and courts, not to overthrow the Constitution, but to overthrow the men who pervert it!
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Expatriate
Group: Members
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Joined: Oct. 2004
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Posted on: Nov. 02 2015,10:02 am |
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Thanks for your review and info.
I've been looking for a specialty bicycle tool, something I'll probably only use once or twice, so cheap is okay, Banggood.com had one.
I've got an Amazon Prime Membership so I went to Amazon typed Banggood bicycle tool in the prompt, sure enough up comes the tool with Banggood as the seller, price $2.65 Via Amazon.
If I'd go direct @ Banggood.com price $2.19. Delivery time is long either way but with Amazon in the game you've got the security.
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History is no more than the lies agreed upon by the victors.
~NAPOLEON BONAPARTE
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| Post Number: 4
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Liberal
Group: Moderator
Posts: 11451
Joined: Aug. 2003
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Posted on: Nov. 03 2015,7:08 am |
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I'd go with amazon too because of the language barrier. I've had email conversations last for a week because of the time and language difference. It seems when China is working we're sleeping.
I just ordered a bunch of these, I figure it beats a stupid Christmas card. I usually buy friends and extended family a cheap Chinese gift instead of a card they'll recycle in a week or two.
http://www.aliexpress.com/item...38.html
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The people are masters of both Congress and courts, not to overthrow the Constitution, but to overthrow the men who pervert it!
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| Post Number: 5
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Liberal
Group: Moderator
Posts: 11451
Joined: Aug. 2003
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Posted on: Nov. 10 2015,9:13 pm |
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Aliexpress.com has started their annual 11-11 sale, but i wouldn't depend on a gift making it here by Christmas even though I'd guess well over 90% will make it by then.
Apparently the sale starts at 1am.
http://www.aliexpress.com
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The people are masters of both Congress and courts, not to overthrow the Constitution, but to overthrow the men who pervert it!
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| Post Number: 6
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Self-Banished
Group: Members
Posts: 22594
Joined: Feb. 2006
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Posted on: Nov. 11 2015,8:34 am |
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^^ the Chinese Amazon, what a great site to dig around on. 
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Remember boys and girls,
Don’t be a Dick …
Or a “Wayne” 
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| Post Number: 7
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Marneman
Group: Members
Posts: 166
Joined: Apr. 2012
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Posted on: Nov. 12 2015,2:36 am |
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I try to shop local when I can, but it dosen't help when landlords from the cities close a business down by not renewing a lease, saying it would be easeir to sell the building without a business in it. But now said building sits empty in the middle of our renovated down town.
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Rock of the Marne
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| Post Number: 8
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Liberal
Group: Moderator
Posts: 11451
Joined: Aug. 2003
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Posted on: Nov. 18 2015,11:31 am |
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I think its more like a Chinese version of eBay in the late 90s. I bought a knife last month based on the stainless steel it was made with because I use my knives in saltwater quite a bit so the type of metal is important. After reading some other seller descriptions I realized it wasn't the right stainless steel. So I messaged the seller and told him I didn't want the knife because every other seller says it's Chinese stainless, he seemed offended and said something about me not thinking he was trustworthy. So out of guilt I bought another knife he had saying it was a new arrival for $12.
It took two weeks to get it and when I take it out of the China Post envelope the box had Spyderco written across the top of the box. I open the box and there's a big spider engraved on handle, and the blade had a serial number laser engraved on one side and the Spyderco logo lasered into other side.
Its razor sharp and has nice action but it must weigh over a pound. I don't think you'd even need to open it to hurt someone, just smack them upside the head with it.
This is actually the first time I've ever received counterfeit items from a seller and I wonder why they wouldn't take the money they use to counterfeit it to make it a little nicer/lighter.
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The people are masters of both Congress and courts, not to overthrow the Constitution, but to overthrow the men who pervert it!
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