Has anyone bought from alibaba.com?

Pimpom

Disciple
Now that AliExpress is out of reach, has anyone ordered anything from their parent site alibaba.com? If so, please share your experience.

Alibaba is obviously aimed at the wholesale market but the minimum order quantity for some products is 1 pc. The site can be opened normally without a VPN.
 
Now that AliExpress is out of reach, has anyone ordered anything from their parent site alibaba.com? If so, please share your experience.

Alibaba is obviously aimed at the wholesale market but the minimum order quantity for some products is 1 pc. The site can be opened normally without a VPN.
I have, ordered a mini pc from topton. Overall was a good experience, the supplier representatives are pleasant enough, but they usually speak broken english. Can't fault them for that, and you can convey the basic intent easily enough.

They shipped via fedex. I asked them to devalue the package, which they did. Being fedex it arrived within a few days (imagine my surprise when something from China arrived under a month), also attracted a 40 ish % import duty on the declared value. Paid online.

As for the actual product, it was exactly as promised, but I'd suggest vetting a supplier before placing an order.
 
If the declared value is under 10k you don't have to pay import duty right?
No, it doesn't work like that, the customs department will assess the value of the items rather than what you get the seller to declare, if the item is small they usually let it go, but if it's shipped via a good service like DHL/FEDEX etc. then they will definitely flag it.
I ordered some CPUs, and I got the seller to declare them as dead or non-working and valued it at $30, the seller shipped via DHL, but the customs process started while the parcel was yet to arrive in India, they asked me to declare exactly what the items were and what I was going to do with them. once the parcel landed in India they "assessed" the value of the CPUs as Rs. 5000 instead of the Rs. 2700 that was mentioned on the invoice. on that Rs. 5000 they charged me Rs. 3800 as customs + other charges that DHL charges which totaled up to Rs. 5000/- so basically more than 150% custom duty on an item that was only valued at Rs. 2700/-
Now if I was actually importing "dead/non-working CPU" I'd be furious. but since I am not, it is a small price to pay based on the actual value of the CPUs ;)
 
If the declared value is under 10k you don't have to pay import duty right?
Upon scanning them, if it is evident that they are generic low-cost items, they don't charge any custom duties. If customs evaluate the price as less than 2000, then they don't usually charge anything.

Anything declared above 2k will definitely be opened and verified. Any electronic item declared as less than 2k is also bound to be evaluated further. FedEx, DHL and reputed couriers will always submit the items to customs for which they charge extra.

I have been purchasing items on and off from eBay through this year, usually ones that are priced around 1-2k on Amazon but are available for 200-500 on eBay from Chinese sellers. The good thing is that now even China Post parcels arrive in 2 weeks which used to take 30-60 days during the heydays.
 

20% tax for using credit cards abroad from Oct 1; foreign trips, shopping to become expensive...

Buying stuff from abroad is not going to be possible very soon. 20% on CC and then 42-77% import.... WTF, Gormint?
 

20% tax for using credit cards abroad from Oct 1; foreign trips, shopping to become expensive...

Buying stuff from abroad is not going to be possible very soon. 20% on CC and then 42-77% import.... WTF, Gormint?
It was just postponed. The 7 lakh in a FY exemption is still there. Can also be adjusted against IT returns as it is advance tax, not a charge.

Seems to be more of an initiative to track people spending lakhs on foreign trips while under-declaring IT returns.
 
@DigitalDude all from alibaba.

photo_2024-03-28 18.03.06.jpeg
 
40% customs extra I assume? I haven't used my SnS account in ages - does Aramex take a 'customs handling fees' or something like that?
 
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