Is Damaged Packaging from AliExpress Normal?

syousef on 08/12/2024 - 18:26
Last edited 08/12/2024 - 19:01 by 1 other user

I'm new to AliExpress after resisting the urge to buy from there for years.

Recently caved bought a mini massager gun from AliExpress that was posted here in the lead up to Black Friday and I was pleasantly surprised at what I got for <$3. The inner packaging (product box) wasn't in great shape but I didn't think much of it and thought probably a one off and not worth complaining about.

So anyway I ordered 4 more to gift to family at the full price of just over $6 each and they just arrived. The outer package looked beat up and one product box was so bad I had to throw it out. Another was marginal and the other 2 were bad but at least intact. They looked like they'd been thrown around and had both impact and water damage. Thankfully the guns themselves worked and these are for close family but I've just given them to them to try and they're no longer Christmas gifts because who wants to give someone a Christmas gift that looks like it's been beaten and drowned? Again it's so cheap it's not worth complaining.

Anyway is it normal? Should I just expect this from AliExpress? If so I guess gifts from there are out of the question.

Poll Options

  • 75
    Yes it's normal. It's cheap dude!
  • 1
    No it's not normal. You were unlucky.
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Comments

  • Clear on 08/12/2024 - 18:28
    +3

    Yeah boxes being put in bags and then getting thrown about during transit will do that. In an ideal world they'd put the boxes in another box and ship it that way but it costs more money.

    • HeWhoKnows on 09/12/2024 - 08:01
      -4

      They dont use any bubble wrap or protection.
      As you said, they just throw everything in an outer bag and hope for the best.
      Whilst the packaging gets knocked around a bit, the product usually arrives in good condition.

      My biggest problem with AliExpress is getting a refund for faulty goods.
      You have to fight with the Ali "bot" and hopefylly get onto a real person, who then just reads a standard script.

      Hopeless Customer service

      • Clear on 09/12/2024 - 08:24

        Are you going through live chat to get a refund? I lodge a dispute through orders and upload as much evidence as possible using basic easy to understand English (no slang), as they'll often translate it to Chinese.

      • Clear on 09/12/2024 - 09:51

        I knew what it was before I even clicked haha. Basically 11/11 Black Friday sales every year.

  • Protractor on 08/12/2024 - 18:28

    Did Australia Post or any of the same courier operators/ppl they use, have their paws on the item during transit?

    https://tinyurl.com/APBestPractiseBusinessModel

    • syousef on 08/12/2024 - 23:41

      Way too much effort there on Jim's part, and he didn't urinate on it, but otherwise not far off.

  • MS Paint on 08/12/2024 - 18:31
    +1

    Sounds like an exciting Christmas party for your family if everyone brings their guns along.

    • Protractor on 08/12/2024 - 18:33

      That left over trifle's getting a workout.

    • syousef on 08/12/2024 - 23:40

      They were going to be stocking stuffers. But I'm not soiling stockings with those boxes!

  • Stuj on 08/12/2024 - 18:45

    This is a little topical but just on Friday I saw 2 white totyota hatches in the carpark behind the Pet Barn in Lane Cove, they were basically full of the Ali express grey satchels, and they had them on the ground and were swapping sorting them between cars in the full view of everyone walking by. I was a little shocked. They went exactly treating them with respect either. I did take a picture as well, dont know why

    • Protractor on 08/12/2024 - 19:05
      +1

      Pics or it never happened

      • Stuj on 08/12/2024 - 19:20

        How do you upload a pic here ?

        • Protractor on 08/12/2024 - 19:26

          Step 1, you search this forum in the appropriate section.
          Step 2 Bonus points (apparently) if you also add an MS Paint diagram.
          Or make yourself some $$ and send images to the MSM.Then the whole country gets to see the proof of what happens to our precious cargo at the hands of highly over paid primates

    • bargaino on 08/12/2024 - 21:01
      +1

      Sounds like it might be the new "iMile" delivery service.

  • djones145 on 08/12/2024 - 19:34

    is it a good gift for 30 to 40 year old males?

    https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/882937

    asking for a mateeee

  • rumblytangara on 08/12/2024 - 19:34
    +1

    Bought $3 and $6 items off the extra cheap fleamarket that is Aliexpress and is surprised by… ratty packaging?

    This is like being surprised by walking on a dark cloudy day and getting wet.

    You're not buying stuff from Aliexpress because each box is hand couriered to your door by a coachman wearing a cap and white gloves.

    The stuff that I get usually arrives in crappy cardboard boxes, some of which are smooshed. Or just bubble wrap and ziplocks. It is totally normal.

    • syousef on 08/12/2024 - 23:38

      It's not just ratty. Crushed and soggy with what may have been the start of mould. I wouldn't have bothered posting if it was just a crushed corner. It is suprising nothing was damaged or had fallen out, but it hadn't.

      Anyway lesson learnt - no gifts from Ali.

      • rumblytangara on 09/12/2024 - 10:43

        Buy from Ali, factor in separately sourced gift boxes?

        • syousef on 09/12/2024 - 14:25

          That could work I guess. But if I got a massager as a gift I'd want it in the original, unopened box. The possibility of it having been used is kinda nasty.

    • syousef on 08/12/2024 - 23:36

      That'd plus rain would explain what I got.

  • n3ck3ntry8bort0rgasm on 08/12/2024 - 19:39
    +1

    do you mean product box? yes it's normal.

    plenty of other things I got shipped from asia, not from aliexpress as well that came with a massive crushed corner or bent out of shape. the product inside was fine though.

  • c64 on 08/12/2024 - 19:44
    +4

    how some of the stuff that is sent to me from aliexpress arrives intact beggars belief

  • bargaino on 08/12/2024 - 21:05
    +1

    I would not say normal, but very common. It depends on the vendor.

    Aliexpress just uses the grey plastic bags. It is up to the vendor to package the goods, and some are better than others.
    Often, it is just the original factory packaging, and any decent quality consumer goods in China are packaged with such maltreatment in mind.

    • n3ck3ntry8bort0rgasm on 08/12/2024 - 21:20
      +1

      I would not say normal, but very common.

      yeah maybe I should have said that. doesn’t happen with every package (arrive damaged) but it does happen often and it doesn’t even worry me.

      • syousef on 08/12/2024 - 23:35

        It's not something I like but if it wasn't a gift it wouldn't have bothered me much.

        • n3ck3ntry8bort0rgasm on 09/12/2024 - 16:34
          +1

          if it wasn't a gift it wouldn't have bothered me much.

          my bad didn't read your whole post. yeah with a gift packaging matters.

          if it means anything some items just have really shoddy packaging to begin with. so even if it's undamaged it looks absolutely terrible. it's rare but I have had this on expensive gifts before and it just ruins it.

  • ihfree on 08/12/2024 - 21:31
    +1

    Stuff from overseas on Amazon arrives with damage to the box on occasion.

    My last batch of items arrived with boxes intact. I've never really noticed anything out of the ordinary for AliExpress.

  • Protractor on 08/12/2024 - 21:47

    Does a bear shi……

    • reactor-au on 09/12/2024 - 09:44
      +1

      …t on AliExpress packaging??

      • Protractor on 09/12/2024 - 10:23

        Not just Aliexpress. APost and Startrack etc ( most logistics in Australia share a lot of the same goons) are gold medalists in incompetence,ignorance and excuses.
        Clearly 'you get what you pay for' does not apply to the cost of APost/Startrack etc

        • reactor-au on 09/12/2024 - 11:08

          I got to say, my local AP postie (on the electric bike) and the AP subcontractor (in the white van) are friendly and nice to my deliveries. YMMV, my previous suburb was slack.

          • Protractor on 09/12/2024 - 11:19

            @reactor-au: Our local PO is great,too. And our posty. Efficient,reliable,trustworthy and good people. But the system on the whole is shit. What happens within the juggernaut is damaging to the few decent operators they have. And they know this at the top. They look away,tolerate or enable third world standards and charge first world rates.
            The Minster overseeing this essential service has always been weak.On both sides.They allowed the rot to continue.

        • syousef on 09/12/2024 - 14:27

          All my Amazon stuff this year has been immaculate. The worst I've had from Amazon is one order of some USB hubs repackaged to save on postage. But the boxes they used were in good shape.

          • Protractor on 09/12/2024 - 16:34

            @syousef: Clearly Amazon have 'actual' standards they try to maintain. Their competition? Not so much. I reckon APost have a gall.They put up snail mail rates regularly, using the excuse they need to 'carry it ' to maintain their core parcel services. Meanwhile that service is = 3rd world standards to hundreds of thousands of clients per annum.

  • c2pv1ru5 on 08/12/2024 - 22:22
    +1

    Cheap knockoff from China. It will not have good packaging.

  • gbinitt on 09/12/2024 - 14:39

    Probably Fast Horse Express. You're lucky the package was delivered.

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