Why Is Everything So Cheap on AliExpress? Plus, How to Avoid Scams

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A comprehensive look at AliExpress’s prices & products
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Alongside other Chinese retailers like Shein and Temu, AliExpress has become popular international destination for cheap goods. In fact, their items are so cheap that it’s almost suspicious. In this article, we’ll explore why AliExpress is so cheap, if that’s a bad thing for the quality of the items, and what you can do to avoid being scammed on the platform.

Why are products so cheap on AliExpress?

The cost of labor, cost of goods, and cost of shipping are all much cheaper for Chinese companies than they are for companies in the majority of other countries. AliExpress also relies on nearly zero middlemen to connect buyers and sellers, which dramatically reduces prices.

Section 1 of 5:

Reasons AliExpress Is So Cheap

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  1. It’s cheaper for a business to produce 1,000 of something than 100 of something. AliExpress is located in China, which produces a higher number of goods than any other country on the planet. [1] Because so many items on AliExpress are made in bulk, the prices are much lower than they’d be in another country.
  2. AliExpress sellers typically make their own goods and then ship directly to consumers. This makes the entire process cheaper than it would be elsewhere. For example, on Amazon, you might buy a good from a storefront that’s hosting on Amazon. They’ll buy the item from another country, ship it to their warehouse, then ship it through Amazon who reroutes it through their warehouses. That’s a lot of drivers to pay! [2]
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  3. The workers in China who typically build and ship the products you’d buy on AliExpress are just paid less than the workers in other countries (or even just other companies in China).
    • For comparison, the average American worker earns $58,120 a year. The average Chinese worker earns $16,153 a year—and the workers at the AliExpress shops likely learn even less than that. [3]
  4. If you want to buy and sell items online in the United States, for example, you need to register a business license with the state, pay for insurance, follow labor laws, cover environmental regulations, and file tons of paperwork. The companies working with AliExpress don’t have nearly the same kind of overhead. [4]
  5. China doesn’t have a lot of the labor laws and protections for workers that workers in many other countries have, which reduces the amount of energy and money companies there have to spend trying to prevent unionization, fight raises, or worry about blowback for firing rabble-rousers. [5]
  6. It’s a lot cheaper to just steal another company’s product than it is to spend time developing and manufacturing your own version of the thing. China has a reputation for stealing designs and not respecting intellectual property laws in other countries, and that’s partially why goods are so cheap on AliExpress. [6]
  7. AliExpress (and China in general) is a much more competitive marketplace than what you’d find in a lot of other countries. The high level of competition leads many sellers to price their goods well below the market rates you’d find in other countries. [7]
  8. China is a net-exporter of goods, which means they sell more things they make than buy more things they don’t. To help soften things for its citizens, China’s government actually helps pay for a lot of shipping costs. This makes goods cheaper to sell in China than they’d be elsewhere. [8]
  9. If you want to file a complaint or talk to someone about a defective product you received from AliExpress, you’re out of luck. None of the sellers at AliExpress have customer service departments on par with what you’d find at say, Amazon or eBay. This is a big cost-saving measure for the sellers on AliExpress.
    • This isn’t to say that AliExpress doesn’t have buyer protections or money-back guarantees (they do), just that you won’t be able to talk to a real person if you need help.
  10. As a rule of thumb, the bigger a business is the more likely they are to have a bigger inventory than their smaller competitors. This can create cycles where a seller on AliExpress has more items in inventory than they’d like, which leads them to heavily discount the items to get rid of them faster. [9]
  11. The commodities and goods required to build things are (usually) just cheaper in China than they are elsewhere. If the stuff you’re using to make items you sell are cheaper than your competitors’ stuff, it’ll be a lot easier to undercut them when it’s time to sell. [10]
  12. The Chinese yuan (renminbi) is a globally devalued currency compared to the other major global currencies (the US dollar, the Euro, and British pound are all worth much more). As a result, making an item in China is generally cheaper than making an item in a market where the currency is worth more. [11]
    • The Chinese government is also a lot more active when it comes to manipulating their currency’s value globally, so they have more control over how it moves compared to other currencies.
    • Just FYI, it’s not automatically good or bad for a currency to be devalued. In fact, it’s good for China’s economy as a net exporter! Since their version of the dollar isn’t worth a lot, it’s cheaper to buy goods in China and the return when you sell them internationally is a lot higher.
  13. With so many variables working in favor of the sellers at AliExpress, it just ends up being a lot cheaper to run a business in China than it would be in most other countries. Since the costs to operate are cheaper, the prices for sold goods are naturally lower. [12]
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Section 2 of 5:

Is AliExpress legit?

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  1. Individual sellers who operate on AliExpress may not always be legitimate, but that’s true of sellers on platforms like eBay and Amazon, too. AliExpress is not some kind of scam site that exists for nefarious reasons—they just want to make money by connecting sellers and buyers.
    • There are definitely some counterfeit items on AliExpress. If you see a brand name item that seems way too cheap to be real, it’s probably fake. You’ll get the item in the mail, but don’t expect it to work as well as the real thing.
Section 3 of 5:

Is it safe to buy products on AliExpress?

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  1. AliExpress is no different than Amazon or eBay in the sense that it’s just an online marketplace for other people to sell things. It has typical seller protections you’d find at most online marketplaces. It also uses the same type of cybersecurity methods as other retailers, so your credit card info is likely in as much danger at AliExpress as it would be on any other platform. [13]
    • One kind of annoying safety feature at AliExpress is the buyer protection, though. You typically have to wait 60-90 days before getting any refunds if you have an issue with a product.
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Section 4 of 5:

Are products on AliExpress high quality?

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  1. You are taking a bit of a gamble every time you buy something on AliExpress. You could be getting a phenomenal deal on an item that would be more expensive locally, or you could be paying a cheaper price because you’re getting a junky version of what you want. [14]
    • Look at reviews! AliExpress doesn’t appear to delete or manipulate reviews and American buyers are often very up front about what they receive quality-wise.
    • The less complex the item is, the more likely you are to be happy with your purchase. For example, you’re very likely to be let down by an electronic litterbox for a cat, but metal shelves are unlikely to disappoint you.
Section 5 of 5:

How do I avoid fake items on AliExpress?

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  1. It’s extremely normal to find something that might cost $75 in the US sell for around $50 on AliExpress, for example, but that $10 MacBook is very likely to disappoint you. [15]
  2. If you find the item on Amazon and AliExpress, it’s likely to be a solid buy. Amazon has much stricter quality controls, so if a good passes the sniff test for Amazon and it’s cheaper on AliExpress, you’re probably just getting a deal going with AliExpress.
  3. There have been serious privacy concerns over things like USB drives, solid state drives, hard drives, projectors, phones, and other items that rely on the internet that come from AliExpress. Users have reported finding all kinds of malware and suspicious stuff on these items. [16]
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      References

      1. ↑ https://www.visualcapitalist.com/the-worlds-largest-exporters-of-goods/
      2. ↑ https://chinadivision.com/understanding-aliexpress-shipping-and-delivery-process
      3. ↑ https://www.forbes.com/sites/miltonezrati/2023/01/30/the-east-west-wage-gap-not-nearly-as-compelling-as-it-once-was/
      4. ↑ https://2017-2021.state.gov/chinas-disregard-for-human-rights/
      5. ↑ https://2017-2021.state.gov/chinas-disregard-for-human-rights/
      6. ↑ https://foreignaffairs.house.gov/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Egregious-Cases-of-Chinese-Theft-of-American-Intellectual-Property.pdf
      7. ↑ https://www.ecb.europa.eu/press/blog/date/2024/html/ecb.blog240903~57f1b63192.en.html
      8. ↑ https://www.csis.org/analysis/hidden-harbors-chinas-state-backed-shipping-industry
      9. ↑ https://retailowner.com/Inventory/Costs-of-Excess-Inventory
      1. ↑ https://www.latitudemedia.com/news/catalyst-unpacking-chinas-cheap-battery-costs/
      2. ↑ https://www.ig.com/en/trading-strategies/what-are-the-top-10-most-traded-currencies-in-the-world-200115
      3. ↑ https://www.themanufacturinginstitute.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/cost-manufacturing-operations-globe.pdf
      4. ↑ https://www.security.org/digital-safety/is-aliexpress-safe/
      5. ↑ https://www.dropshippinghustle.com/product-quality-on-aliexpress/
      6. ↑ https://www.security.org/digital-safety/is-aliexpress-safe/
      7. ↑ https://www.nyu.edu/life/information-technology/about-nyu-it/nyu-it-news/the-download/the-download-features/cybersecurity-free-usb-ransomware.html

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