Sep 28, 20184 min read

Buying at AliExpress & Shipping to Philippines... How was it?

Updated: Dec 7, 2018

How about trying another shopping app? This was me when I first stumbled upon AliExpress as it appears in app store suggestions. Its just like any other shopping app but with more festive look on the interface. What captures me is the $4 discount for new buyers applicable to any store with minimum purchase amount of less than $6. Since its for limited time, might as well use it.

So I started searching for items I'm interested on and quite surprise that more varieties of product were available like same product from different seller but with different color, designs or sizes. If you're good at searching and using filter to narrow it down, you can easily find good products at reasonable or even cheaper price.

After few comparisons and decision making, I've finalized my shopping cart. I ordered a total of 11 different items from 11 different stores. I paid each thru Gcash MasterCard as it was my registered credit/debit card on the app. Then the waiting game begun. Five of the items are to be deliver at Makati near my workplace and six of which are to be deliver at home in Batangas.

And this is where regrets flown unto me as I realized my mistake which was "I should have search and read reviews online before ordering". Because I've just found out that each package was entitled to ₱112.00 as charged by Post Office. So that was a total of ₱1232.00 payable waiting for me (damn that was the same as the price of 5 items I ordered!) but I can't cancel it anymore, poor me. Anyway, getting an uplift from the waiting game, after 37 days, I finally received a call from Post Office Batangas informing that I have 6 packages and payments to be settle. They asked me if I wanted the packages to be delivered to my house or to be pick up in their office. I refused to pay 3 of the packages. In that case, they told me they have to return those to the sellers abroad, oh well. Thereafter, only 3 packages were delivered at home. That was the time I personally inquired at Post Office Makati regarding my other 5 packages since they didn't gave any updates and their contact numbers were unresponsive. They told me my packages were still in process at customs and they'll just notify me when its ready for pick up. The waiting game ended after 18 more days when Makati P.O. texted me to pick up my other 5 packages. Overall, it took 55 days to receive my packages from the date I ordered.

To be more detailed, based on my experience, here are the advantages & disadvantages of buying at AliExpress App:

Pros:

1. Offers more variety of products to choose from

2. Ideal for wholesale or bulk orders

3. Some sellers where the manufacturers themselves

4. The app interface is smooth and quite pleasing to the eye

5. Offers daily activities to win coins and coupons

Cons:

1. All items will be coming from abroad, therefore the leadtime of delivery would always be like more or less a month, worst almost two months, like in my case.

2. Unlike Shopee & Lazada that could offer 100% free shipping fee, in AliExpress tho most sellers also offer free shipping, still their shipments are currently entitled to ₱112.00 charge per package since the Phil. Post Office handles the delivery. What they lack is the coordination with main shipping companies in the Philippines.

3. The app doesn't provide detailed shipping status once the product reached Philippines. It always get stuck and end with details "at the or cleared customs". You'll have to wait until you receive a call/text from post office or you'll have to follow-up in person since their contact number on their website is unresponsive.

4. Coupons from promos/daily activities were often system picked, meaning you can't choose since they were already allotted for a certain store (sellers coupon). Its useless if you intend to buy at different store. In my case lots of them got expired.

5. You'll noticed in your Shopping Cart, some items have different shipping fee and they also varies per quantity even if they came from the same store. So if one item is entitled to free shipping but the other item is not, then the total amount would still include shipping fees. Therefore you should double check the total amount before confirming your order.

Tips:

1. If you don't want to be charged per package, then as much as possible, order in one store only. Try to find a store that offers wide variety of product at a good price and try choose only within that store. If you're ordering multiple items, don't forget to chat and remind the seller that you want all your order in one package only. If you really wanted to buy from multiple stores, then try to minimize the number of stores you're buying at.

2. Try to read reviews. It won't hurt to spare few minutes to search and read reviews. And it could save you from getting distress at unexpected charges that might knock on your door.

Hope this review have somehow helped you in any way.

Disclaimer: blogtrove.wixsite.com/sisidlan is an independent & privately owned website, and this blog was solely based on the author's app experience and do not intend to promote or be bias. Future versions/modifications of the app might be of different user experience.