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Who loves Aliexpress


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Hey watch guys, I've recently got into a bad habit of trolling through Aliexpress' site. Random search inputs but mostly watchmaker's tools.  Just the cheaper consumables stuff, I'm addicted lol. All those little bits and pieces that normally I would pay 3,4 and 5 x as much for to seller that bought their stock from the same place.  2 lots up to now and another on the way, this 3rd lot brings my total to only around 40 quid for 30 items. I'll wait for this lot to arrive then chuck it all on my bench and post some pictures. The majority comprises of drills, diamond burrs, degussit stones, sharpening stones, disks and brushes, pkus a few random hand tools and dc electronics.  This kind of stuff is a fraction of what we'd pay in the uk. The bigger stuff isn't and sometimes even more.  All free delivery (  evri if you can deal with their shite service )  and Ali must have a warehouse here in the UK as it arrived in 3 days.  Don't know if anyone has noticed but Ali have 2 baskets , a main  and a separate 10 item only basket that has a minimum item order for free shipping and added discounts for extra item orders. What's your ethics on buying all this usable crap from China and not paying ebay sellers the 400+ %  mark up ?

Edited by Neverenoughwatches
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12 minutes ago, HectorLooi said:

Hehe. Aliexpress just me a summary of all my purchases last year. It's shocking. 😬

Haha I understand where you're coming from Hector, but you never know, its stuff that you might actually use one day....possibly 😅

3 minutes ago, tomh207 said:

I think I must have 50+ browser tabs open there for all sorts of bits and pieces, I don’t buy often but have a few things that I will be ordering soon. The rest will need to wait a bit till my “round tuit” pile goes down a bit 🤣

 

Tom

Most of the stuff i bought were tools for making parts , setting levers and such, so tiny files , stones, diamond burrs and diamond disks. I was really surprised how cheap they were for the quality. The difficult bit is making sure that evri don't mess up the delivery....again 🤨

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I've just bought another microscope with a double boom arm. So that makes 9 microscopes so far. In fact, I'm just about to open the box. With AliExpress everyday feels like Christmas day!

I've bought probably close to x 100 ST36 movement and watches from various sellers and only a couple have had a broken screw or missing case clamp.

 

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16 minutes ago, Jon said:

I've just bought another microscope with a double boom arm. So that makes 9 microscopes so far. In fact, I'm just about to open the box. With AliExpress everyday feels like Christmas day!

I've bought probably close to x 100 ST36 movement and watches from various sellers and only a couple have had a broken screw or missing case clamp.

 

I'd be a bit nervous about buying anything big, mainly because of the use of evri as the delivery company. You have to be diligent and make sure you are constantly checking you emails for delivery updates.

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I've had very mixed experiences with Ali-X. Sometimes, you get a good deal on something usable.

Last thing I bought on Ali-X was an ST19 watch. The classic Chinese chronograph. Turned out to be a quartz fake. They had me send it back, but then did nothing at all about policing the fake. I reported it, and they took the listing down, only the seller IMMEDIATELY relisted it with a slightly different title (still just as misleading and fake). That sort of failure to police their sellers is jarring.

Another time, I got something that was missing pieces and parts, the seller was non-responsive, so I filed a complaint. They found AGAINST ME because the tracking number showed up as having been delivered... No recourse. No appeal.

The shipping company they use in the US is crap too, and marked a package as undeliverable address or something (rather than hold onto it for a few days like every other shipper) and sent it back to China with no refund or recourse because I was evacuated for a wildfire at a scale that made national news! 

I'm maybe 50/50 at this point, and unless it's something I truly can't find elsewhere for an even remotely similar price, I avoid them.

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The previous delivery guy assigned to my area was excellent. For big packages, he would open my gate and leave it on my porch bench. But alas, he has returned to China because he can't stand the weather in Singapore. 

The new delivery guy is cr*p. He just throws packages over my gate and onto the driveway. I have a proper parcel dropbox installed on my boundary wall. It's big enough to take a shoebox sized package but this new delivery guy probably doesn't even know what it is.

I just sent a nasty complaint to the delivery company a couple of days ago. And they actually replied and apologized and promised to look into the matter. We shall see.

My addiction is worse, I buy kitchen gadgets, cat toys, apparel, electronic spare parts, gardening tools and supplies, welding supplies, etc.

I was thinking of ordering laboratory glassware for distilling my IPA. But with this new delivery guy.... I'm not going to risk it.

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2 hours ago, Neverenoughwatches said:

degussit stones,

I buy all the other things you noted, but had not thought to look for degussit stones. I just did a couple of searches and could not find anything. Can you recall and share what is the "alix translation" for what we know as degussit stones? Various attempts at "ruby stones" "ruby polishing" "ruby sharpening" "ruby degussit" got me conventional sharpening equipment at best.

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7 minutes ago, mbwatch said:

I buy all the other things you noted, but had not thought to look for degussit stones. I just did a couple of searches and could not find anything. Can you recall and share what is the "alix translation" for what we know as degussit stones? Various attempts at "ruby stones" "ruby polishing" "ruby sharpening" "ruby degussit" got me conventional sharpening equipment at best.

They not called degussit stones on Ali but look very similar Michael,  give me a minute. 

Screenshot_20250331-150612_AliExpress.jpg

Screenshot_20250331-150706_AliExpress.jpg

Screenshot_20250331-151132_AliExpress.jpg

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Oh my, electronic equipment, all the way from china on a DC10 Decota. You're braver than me Andy. 😅

1 hour ago, rehajm said:

…am I supposed to be wearing mine out? 😊 

🤔 it's better not to, then you won't need to buy more....because that's a....

Now turn that dial up to 10 !

 

Now tell the truth ....who didn't bang their head to that ?  If not then you're not completely alive and kicking.

Edited by Neverenoughwatches
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3 hours ago, Neverenoughwatches said:

They not called degussit stones on Ali but look very similar Michael,  give me a minute. 

Finding all of these, I have ordered about a half dozen round, square, and triangular types all for around the price of one 100mm length stone of any type from Cousins.

Can't wait to use them to anglage a Timex.

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32 minutes ago, rehajm said:

Guilty. Supposedly Brian Johnson lives a few minites from my neice in Florida. I’ve threatend to go bang on his door… 🤕

He’s a genuinely nice guy, if you bang his door with your head he’ll likely offer you a cup of tea and an aspirin 😂

Tom

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