Is Aliexpress.com legit?

[edomingox]

I was looking for some minis one day and stumbled upon aliexpress.com. It looks like a chinese version of amazon. I was wondering if the minis on there are legitimate and not pirated. Does anyone have any stories about this site?

 

[MAXXxxx]

it depends on what you mean by legit.
As you wrote it's more of a chinese amazon/ebay, so the minis are dependent on the seller and not on aliexpress.

That said most of them are recasts. I'd estimate about 90% recast ratio.

But the few transactions I saw: altough recasts the quality is good, sometimes better than the originals (FW sends you worse minis than the recasts there. Before they make the mould they clean up / fix the problems of the original). Also they send the minis pretty reliably and are not scamming you (even though there are some who take your order, don't send anything and are protected because of chinese rights)

 

[edomingox]

it depends on what you mean by legit.
As you wrote it's more of a chinese amazon/ebay, so the minis are dependent on the seller and not on aliexpress.

That said most of them are recasts. I'd estimate about 90% recast ratio.

But the few transactions I saw: altough recasts the quality is good, sometimes better than the originals (FW sends you worse minis than the recasts there. Before they make the mould they clean up / fix the problems of the original). Also they send the minis pretty reliably and are not scamming you (even though there are some who take your order, don't send anything and are protected because of chinese rights)

Thanks. That pretty much answers my question. The prices just seemed too good to be true. I play a lot of golf, so I know all about risk/reward. Buying from there is not worth the risk.

 

[MAXXxxx]

Buying from there is not worth the risk.

I wouldn't really say that.

- you'll most likely (99%) get what you bought
- most likely(90%) it will be the same or better quality then directly from the creator (same for example on nutsplanet busts, better for GW/FW items)
- most likely(90%) it will be a recast, which is really only bad if it's still being sold from the creator or you are some holy saint with a moral highground.
If it's OOP (for example up until the news of this year: confrontation minis) or is limited edition (creator says first 100-500 had luck, others should pay inflated ebay prices) I wouldn't care. It's not visible after it has been painted anyway.

 

[burdonite]

Hello.

AliExpress is very safe. I have purchased lots of things from various sellers and all but 1 have arrived. Buyers have buyer protection so any lost or unfulfilled purchases are covered.
Most purchases take about 2 weeks but I have had to wait 6 weeks for items before.

I would recommend trying it out to buy Mini's. Double check seller ratings though and always aim for sellers who have been selling for a few years (star/diamond ratings).

 

[Dragonsreach]

- most likely(90%) it will be a recast, which is really only bad if it's still being sold from the creator or you are some holy saint with a moral highground.

.

MAXXxxx that reads as if you are promoting recaster and or recasting.
Would you care to clarify that statement.

 

[MAXXxxx]

as you wish:
as long as it is not sold officially anymore, either because the original company went under and noone carried on the minis or if it's a limited edition model, that you can't get anymore (or only on ebay for 10-20x price) I don't care if it is a recast and yes in that case I do promote it.
If you can still buy the mini from the creator or someone who officially took over, then not.

some examples, if I accept recasts:
- Origen arts figures: no ( even though origenarts are not anymore, but the minis are sold by people who bought the rights from them (Pepa, F.e.r, ...))
- usual GW/FW/PP/...: normally no (they are still sold by the official creators), but in some cases (GW/FW) I can understand if someone goes that way (especially as the few recasts I've seen were all better quality casts then the ones I bought from FW)
- freebooter limiteds: yes (they don't sell them anymore and other option is hunting for years and paying 5-30x price on ebay (even though it's not a recast, but the "5 year anniversary model" took 4 years to get and costed 150 euro while original price was under 30))
- confrontation: up until this december yes (was dead, sold by no official source, not even CMON), but now another company took over and are restarting it, so not anymore (unless of course they go the CMON way and abandon it after a few figures)
- anime kits: yes (sad reality is that quite a few kits either doesn't exist as paintable-buildable kits or are released as part of wonderfes in quite limited numbers (50-100 pieces), so no real way to get them)
- infinity figures: the normal ones: no, the 'limited with book XY and we'll never release again': yes
- Kingdom death: mostly no as even their limiteds are only time-limited and do reruns of sold out models (sometimes years later, but they do it)
...

as you see it varies on a case-by-case basis.

edit:
It's also weird looking at it based on other communities.
Most (scifi/fantasy) wargame based ones (Dakka, wamp, even CMON) are totally against it
at the same time historical/scale modelling/anime ones have an even more relaxed (compared to me) opinion on it: if they can buy from source at the moment super, they do buy from them, if not then recast (even if it would be sold again from the creator in a month or 2).

 

[Pygmalion]

it depends on what you mean by legit.
As you wrote it's more of a chinese amazon/ebay, so the minis are dependent on the seller and not on aliexpress.

That said most of them are recasts. I'd estimate about 90% recast ratio.

But the few transactions I saw: altough recasts the quality is good, sometimes better than the originals (FW sends you worse minis than the recasts there. Before they make the mould they clean up / fix the problems of the original). Also they send the minis pretty reliably and are not scamming you (even though there are some who take your order, don't send anything and are protected because of chinese rights)

Are you saying that this site sells pirated goods?

 

[Zab]

while ali is great for bulk and other things, please don't support re-casters. Support the artists you love directly so they can keep doing what they love.

 

[Dragonsreach]

while ali is great for bulk and other things, please don't support re-casters. Support the artists you love directly so they can keep doing what they love.

^
THAT​

I’m not going to support recasters.

 

[Ritual]

In a way, I can see the point Max is making. You could argue it is similar to when pepople upload obscure films or music for download on the Internet, stuff that is impossible to get and noone is going to distribute in any official manner. I have no problem with that. But the difference here is that recasting is still a commercial business. I have to pay, spending money from my hobby budget (which is not endless), to get those minis. Money spent on recasts is money I don't spend on miniatures from active companies and sculptors, trying to earn a living. Do I really need that old limited edition mini from that obsolete, long-gone company that bad? No, I'd rather spend my money on something else, equally cool, that I can buy from someone who is currently active, trying to make an honest living out of talent and creativity.

 

[Pygmalion]

I would rather accept that I cannot always find every mini I might like to get my hands on than support the sort of criminal activity that destroys artisans’ livelihoods.