How to Shop Safely on Aliexpress

1. Privacy Oriented Tips
   1. Hiding Your Email
   2. Hiding Your Phone Number
   3. Hiding Your IP Address
   4. Hiding Your Credit Card
   5. Hiding Your Address
   6. Hiding Your Phone
2. Avoiding Scams
   1. Check Store Open Date
   2. Check Detailed Seller Ratings
   3. Check Number of Items Sold
   4. Check Review Numbers
   5. Check Reviews
3. Best Sale Dates
4. AVOID CHINESE NEW YEAR
5. What To Do After Receiving Your Package
6. What To Do If Something Goes Wrong
7. Conclusion

If you are a fan of retro handhelds, the best deals come from Aliexpress. Shopping on there can be a nightmare because it’s very easy to get scammed. Below are some small steps you can take to avoid being scammed as much as possible as well as some tips to protect your privacy.

Privacy Oriented Tips

These tips are all completely optional and you don’t have to do any of them but I would recommend at least creating a new email account and using PayPal.

Hiding Your Email

I would recommend making a brand new email account just to use for Aliexpress. Using your main email account increases the possibility of it being hacked, identity stolen, or phishing scams being sent your way. At the very least, the amount of spam will increase. While I love eating spam, I don’t want to see any spam in my email.

You can use any service you want. I personally don’t trust Google but creating a Gmail account will make this next tip easier to setup.

Hiding Your Phone Number

Aliexpress and TikTok shop may require you to enter a phone number. Instead of putting in your actual phone number, you can create a Google Voice number. However, you do need to use a real phone number to create a Google Voice number, so this may be a downside for some people. This option is free and convenient but you can spend a little bit of money to get a prepaid burner phone if you don’t like the idea of giving Google any information.

Hiding Your IP Address

This step is completely optional since everyone tracks you by your browser id but it is something to consider. Using a VPN will mask your IP address. I don’t think this step is necessary because out of all the things that could go wrong, your information being stolen is more likely than someone hacking into your network.

I also do not trust any VPN. Most VPNs claim to never collect user data but data leaks have proven otherwise. Caveat emptor.

That said, I have seen Proton being recommended in some cases since you can use it for free. I have not used it myself so I cannot vouch for this service. If you want to try it out, you can go to their website: https://protonvpn.com/

Hiding Your Credit Card

This step is absolutely necessary. Use a service like PayPal or Privacy Card to hide your credit card number from Aliexpress. While some customers have had nothing go wrong, others had their credit card numbers stolen and used about a week after purchasing something from Aliexpress. There is nothing to lose by using another service and it only creates an additional method of resolving disputes if something does go wrong.

Hiding Your Address

This one is a bit hard to do and expensive in some cases. You can use a P.O. box to hide your address but P.O. boxes cost a decent amount of money. I’ve also seen people ship items to their work address but I would clear this with your employer before trying this out.

Hiding Your Phone

The Aliexpress shopping app has some pretty good deals by giving discount codes for playing games. I would, in under no circumstance, recommend installing this app onto your actual phone. Apps like this usually mine data. There is no way a company would give you an actual discount for free unless they got something of greater worth in return.

If you still want to use the app, I would recommend installing it on a phone that contains no personal information at all.

Avoiding Scams

Check Store Open Date

When you are on a listing, hover over the store name to have a box pop up with the store info. You want to check the entry labeled “Open since:” and make sure the store has been open for at least a few months. If the store has been created recently, it may be a scam. Even if the store is legitimate, there is no harm in waiting before purchasing from that store.

Check Detailed Seller Ratings

The next thing to check are the detailed seller ratings. Rating above 4.6 usually reflect a trustworthy store but these ratings can be faked. Newer stores may not have enough ratings yet as well. It’s not a definitive indicator but most of the time legitimate stores will have high ratings.

Check Number of Items Sold

I would also check the number of items sold. A listing with very few items sold, i.e. 30 items, combined with the store being newly opened would be one to avoid. The example shown above is from Cutesliving Store which is one of the more reliable stores on Aliexpress and as you can see here they have sold over 2,000 items. This number can be faked unfortunately but it’s still a good indicator overall for checking for scams.

Check Review Numbers

Related to the number of items sold is the total review count. An item that sold well with a low review count is very suspicious. Items that actually sell well typically also have a decent amount of reviews. Once again, this metric can be faked but it’s still a decent indicator for scam listings.

One thing to watch out for is the scam where a vendor will sell a legitimate item (like a 32GB microSD card) for low prices and farm positive reviews. Once they have enough reviews, they will switch the listing to a fake item (like a fake 1TB microSD card) to dupe unsuspecting customers looking for a good deal. This actually happens a lot on Amazon so it’s also something to consider.

Check Reviews

Finally, reading the actual reviews is the final step in helping to determine if a listing is legitimate or not. With the advent of AI and image generation it’s going to be much harder to spot fake reviews but generally speaking real reviews will have proper grammar and will include photos. Obviously not every customer will take the effort in leaving reviews but a popular item will have at least some.

Best Sale Dates

1. Beginning of Every Month – Aliexpress discounts items during the first five days of every month. Usually you’ll see around a three to five dollar discount along with some coupons to save you a few more dollars.
2. Major Holidays – The major holidays like Christmas, and even Black Friday have a period of time with similar discounts to the beginning of every month. You’ll often times see discounts of a few dollars along with some coupon codes to save a few more.
3. Single’s Day – This is not a holiday in the United States. In other parts of the world November 11th, or 11/11, is a commercial holiday celebrated by single people. You’ll actually see some decent discounts on this holiday.
4. Anniversary Sale – This sale that takes place around March usually has the best deals. I saw discounts of up to fifteen dollars or so for some of the handhelds. Not every store or listing will be discounted but this is generally the best time for deals.

AVOID CHINESE NEW YEAR

Avoid buying anything on the lunar new year. The lunar new year is a major holiday and almost everyone will close shop and spend a week or two celebrating it with their families. Most web stores will not announce they are closing for the holidays unfortunately.

You want to avoid buying anything near the new year because no one will be there to take orders for a week or two. Once everyone comes back, there will be a gigantic backlog of orders to work through so there will be major delays.

I would recommend waiting at least three to four weeks after the lunar new year ends to buy anything if you want to receive the item in a timely fashion.

What To Do After Receiving Your Package

Once you successfully receive your package from Aliexpress, don’t get too excited and open it right away! Take the time to record yourself opening the package. Start with a clear shot of the mailing label before opening.

Most of the time you won’t need to use the video but in cases where you don’t receive the right item or the item is broken, the merchant may require video evidence before issuing a refund, a replacement, or replacement parts.

For example, during the Retroid Pocket 4 Pro trigger debacle, sometimes they would require the customer to send a video of the broken trigger before shipping a replacement.

It doesn’t take much time and it’s better to be safe than sorry.

What To Do If Something Goes Wrong

In the scenario where you did not receive the item or the item is broken, you can ask for a refund from Aliexpress. Sometimes they will require video evidence before doing so. Most of the time if you got scammed, then Aliexpress will issue a prompt refund.

In the scenario they didn’t, you can start a dispute with PayPal. This is another reason why using a service like PayPal is invaluable. If you used a privacy card, they should have some sort of dispute resolution as well.

In the unlikely scenario both Aliexpress and PayPal don’t give you a refund, you can issue a chargeback with your credit card company. You’re more likely to succeed if you have documented evidence, which is why I recommend recording yourself opening the package.

Conclusion

That’s about it. While Aliexpress and TikTok shop are rife with scams and concerns about data being stolen, you can mitigate most of your concerns by being aware of the things previously mentioned. That said, the best way to stay safe is to never buy on Aliexpress. If you were skeptical about using these websites, then staying away from them would be the safest move.