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Aliexpress is basically amazon with longer shipping time in my experience. Each seller has their own store rating similar to ebay so as long as you exercise judgement ie. Dont buy from brand new stores with 0 feedback or things that are too good to be true and avoid certain things like batteries and storage media unless you know exactly what you're buying you should be fine. I've bought a lot of stuff from there (mostly electronics) and haven't had bad experiences
This has been my experience as well with Aliexpress. I know there's a huge caveat emptor going on, but it's like you said about batteries and storage, be careful unless you know exactly what you’re buying. Like a 64TB SSD for $15.99 proooobably not the real thing. But I have gotten a lot of SBCs, some stuffed animals, and cheap costume jewelry for my wife (who knows it's cheap, but doesn't care). Weirdest "quality" purchase? My "gold colored" tungsten wedding ring was $10, comfort fit, and in 6 years still looks like the real thing. But didn't dent like my original wedding ring (which is why I needed a replacement, got smashed in a door accident). I'd never buy anything that I knew might cause a fire (like batteries) or possibly poison me (like pills).
Wish and Temu ripped me off in some of my first purchases. I was only out $30, and I know it was possible, so I just deleted my account and the apps.
AliExpress is not even close to Amazon except for the fact that it does a great job at providing a wide selection of Chinese products, but cheaper and with longer lead times.
What makes Amazon, Amazon, is its customer service. Without that, it's like eBay. But even eBay has significantly better customer service than AliExpress.
Speaking as someone who has used AliExpress a lot, it's pretty good, but only if you understand that all sales are final. Best cast scenario, the seller makes you pay for shipping which generally costs anywhere from 50% to 250% of your original purchase price.
Their customer service always defers to sellers in my experience, and even if they approve a return, what's the point if you lose money by shipping it back?
I have had three Aliexpress orders go bad, and two of them I was refunded. One of them I was not, despite the fact their own shipping still showed it as on it's way to New Jersey. They kept insisting I "pick it up at the local post office." I pointed out Virginia was not near New Jersey. I was denied, but only out $8. As far as Amazon vs. Aliexpress, I will agree with you about Amazon customer service being better. But I have had "AliExpress shipping times" on some Amazon products, which led me to believe that the particular store was outside their local jurisdiction.
Amazon support has been terrible for me, while AliExpress has come through almost every time.