Fake or Fortune?---internet selling site.

[Jon Heptonstall]

Hi all.
Has anyone used this site AliExpress? Looks like an eBay-type site with some very cheap resin and white metal figures which are clearly Pegaso in origin.I'd guess they are the work of recasters,in which case they can whistle, but if these are the real deal it would be too good to miss.
How reputable is AliExpress?
Thanks.
Jon.

 

[KarlW]

I have used it once for a spare for my compressor, took it's time to arrive.
Never ventured as far as buying actual models though but I know a few cyclists bought wheels and where happy enough. (Until governing body said you would be uninsured.....)

 

[Jon Heptonstall]

Thanks Karl.

 

[Dave Ward]

Hi all.
Has anyone used this site AliExpress? Looks like an eBay-type site with some very cheap resin and white metal figures which are clearly Pegaso in origin.I'd guess they are the work of recasters,in which case they can whistle, but if these are the real deal it would be too good to miss.
How reputable is AliExpress?
Thanks.
Jon.

I've used AliExpress in the past for various items, like MP3 players, even 1/700 ships' wooden decks - I would be VERY dubious about buying any resin casts - all these products are from China, where copyright doesn't seem to mean anything. Apparently photos of the genuine boxing are used to advertise these knock-offs. You have to ask yourself how a quality European product can be sold on a Chinese Escrow site at a substantial discount? Of course you can't, they're illegal copies!
AliExpress itself isn't bad, but the sellers using their service need careful scrutiny!
Dave

 

[JR]

Anyone remember the guy from the North of England who showed a large collection of resin figures he had bought from there. Seem to remember John throwing off the forum for using knock-off stuff and going on about it .
Wouldn't trust it for figures that you recognise like the Stalingrad ones .Too cheap must be a copy .

 

[adt70hk]

Used it a couple of times for plastic kits by well known manufacturers and no problems..... But Dave has probably summed it up nicely.

 

[Jon Heptonstall]

Yes.I think you're all right.Too good to be true really. Thanks for the helpful opinions.I can understand the temptation to buy the cheap knock offs but the recasters don't do the hobby any good at all.
Jon.

 

[Mini Me]

I've used AliExpress in the past for various items, like MP3 players, even 1/700 ships' wooden decks - I would be VERY dubious about buying any resin casts - all these products are from China, where copyright doesn't seem to mean anything. Apparently photos of the genuine boxing are used to advertise these knock-offs. You have to ask yourself how a quality European product can be sold on a Chinese Escrow site at a substantial discount? Of course you can't, they're illegal copies!
AliExpress itself isn't bad, but the sellers using their service need careful scrutiny!
Dave

You have to ask yourself why you would even give these B*stards the time of day!!!

 

[john]

I’ve used it a few times for fishing stuff, I got 1000 float stops for £2 I would get 10 for that price in the shops. I wouldn’t spend more than a £2/£3 just in case, but I paid using PayPal, so you have their protection if you don’t receive it.

 

[Dave Ward]

I have limited my spend <£20 on AliExpress & Gearbest - one to be careful of is Wish.com - they have fake i-phones, fake watches & a whole lot of dodgy gear. There are several YouTube channels that cover the fails - some of them very funny! - but caveat emptor
Dave

 

[Jakko]

Apparently photos of the genuine boxing are used to advertise these knock-offs.

Or photos of finished models that were sort-of copied — that’s a recent thread on another forum (run through Google Translate) where the first post draws someone’s attention to the fact that a photo of one of his dioramas is used to advertise figures on AliExpress:



The actual figures turn out to be not quite the same:



Probably because of the difficulty involved for a manufacturer in China making casts, without being discovered, of figures in a diorama residing in the Netherlands (The diorama uses figures by various manufacturers that the maker adapted with new heads, limbs etc. to suit his needs.)

 

[stillp]

That site is well known in industry as a source of counterfeit/copied/knock off products.
Pete

 

[Bugatti Fan]

Buyers who always want something on the cheap only keep the rip of guys in clover.
Result, the company who invested in the original product loses sales and therefore a return to invest in new products.
Cheapskate buyers might as well be hammering a nail in the coffin of those genuine companies if they buy from rip off sources!

 

[Mini Me]

My point exactly!.......Thanks Noel.

 

[The Smythe Meister]

I just stick to the old adage of.....
"If it seems too good to be true,it usually is" !!

 

[Gary MacKenzie]

Ali-express was a variation on RS Components, Maplin, Tandy/Radio Shack, which has grown to sell just about anything.
Most of the parts for things like 3d printers are real - They are the parts the other kit makers use for their complete kit of a printer.
It's the newer stuff that has a lot of knockoffs, like 2TB pendrives, have one here in the house.

 

[KarlW]

Ali-express was a variation on RS Components, Maplin, Tandy/Radio Shack, which has grown to sell just about anything.
Most of the parts for things like 3d printers are real - They are the parts the other kit makers use for their complete kit of a printer.
It's the newer stuff that has a lot of knockoffs, like 2TB pendrives, have one here in the house.

Are they like this?
Dodgy HD

 

[Gary MacKenzie]

Same idea, a standard 16GB metal housed Pendrive, etch 2TB on the outside case, and use the same software to fake the ''total size reported''.
First 16 GB writes perfectly fine, after that it only creates an index file, and the actual data is lost, so you end up with a 16GB lookup system that points to a max of 16 GB data - lookup file.

There are very many GOOD sellers on Ali EXpress, it's the rogues that put people off dealing with any.

 

[BattleshipBob]

I have bought 2 trumpeter kits, good price fast service. But many cheap copies of things such as the iwata airbrush stand.

 

[Bugatti Fan]

RS components is a huge reputable company.
You can download their 3D Cad program Designspark Mechanical.
It is a completely free download for engineers to develop 3D prototypes.
STL files can be created on it for 3D Printing.