5 Reasons NOT to Buy Wholesale Fashion Jewelry from Aliexpress

Dear readers, today I am going to talk about very specific, but very important topic for many of you – Wholesale Fashion Jewelry from Aliexpress. And reasons why not to buy it there.

Since 2009, I think, AliExpress is a marketplace targeting international buyers, where you can find all you can only imagine. It allows small shops in China to sell all over the world.

When it comes to fashion jewelry, you can find items that cost almost nothing – 10 cents, 15 cents and etc. We have talked a lot about how beautiful and fashionable is jewelry from Aliexpress. But now, let’s talk about why you should not rely on Aliexpress if you’re a wholesale jewelry seller.

Reason 1 – Low Quality

First, and maybe the most important reason why not to buy wholesale fashion jewelry from Aliexpress is that products sold there have no quality expectations at all! It can be even extremely dangerous when it comes to electrical products. I think you’ve heard those news at least once that phone battery exploded or changer started burning or etc.

As we are talking about jewelry, it may seem that nothing that dangerous could happen to people. And here I would say that it is not in fact true. You never know what material is your jewelry made of. Maybe your ring is from the bins where chemical wastes were stored. Or maybe you necklace is from the radioactive metal and etc.

No certificates or quality assuring documents will be given to you if you buy earrings for 10 cents. Moreover, no one asks about that while buying such cheap things. So, this is, of course, up to you to decide. Maybe I am even over exaggerating, but I strongly believe that better safe than sorry.

Another thing that is worth mentioning is that your items may be of a low quality itself. You may buy something that will not last even a week. So, if you still consider buying through Aliexpress then don’t choose too cheap.

One of experienced wholesale fashion jewelry sellers, we were contacting while preparing this post, has commented following regarding Aliexpress fashion jewelry:

“Quality issue has always been a problem when buying jewelry products from Aliexpress, and we don’t think this situation will get better.

As most of the customers on the Aliexpress are retail customers now, many sellers take the orders from each customer as one-time business. They don’t care about whether the customer would buy again. And the price competition is quite intense on Aliexpress, which force the sellers to sacrifice quality to achieve lower prices.”

I would not even say better.

Reason 2 – Counterfeit Production and Fraud

This seems to be already native wording for products from China. China is considered as one of the hotbeds of counterfeit production. And this is a pity thing. In fact, China produce a lot of quality items and even more true brand items. But, on Aliexpress you can never be sure.

While dreaming that you buy an original, you may get only counterfeit items at highest prices. If you protest against, don’t wait from Aliexpress to be an impartial judge!

There is a pretty high possibility that you become victim of fraud or counterfeiting when you shop there. You should not even Google a lot to find proofs. Pictures on Aliexpress usually do not reflect the truth. Sometimes I think that buying through Aliexpress is like online dating: You never knew what you get. 🙂  There is even special keyword to that – “Aliexpress fails”. I took the best for you!

That is what I told you. Brands on Aliexpress are very special. 😉

And one related to jewelry.

And my favourite.

In any case, shopping on Aliexpress can be super funny.

Reason 3 – Security Policies

Aliexpress itself is a kind of Chinese imitation of eBay without Ebay’s and Paypal’s protections. Their customer protection seems to be based on the principle that is widely called “laissez faire, laissez passer” simply meaning let it go as it goes. So, when opening a dispute with a seller, be aware that  in many cases you will lose your time. Except probably having such an obvious cases, as I showed above. And even if so, when it comes to jewelry, it might be very hard to prove a fraud.

There are literally thousands of people complaining how they got cheated and Aliexpress support is nowhere to be found. Of course, if you behave wise – avoid too cheap products, check detailed description precisely, contact seller before purchase, request real photos and, finally, buy from established sellers, probably you will not get a chance to check the quality of Aliexpress support. But you can never be 100% sure.

Reason 4 – Shipping Problems

Free shipping is usually sent via the National Post service and takes a long time to arrive. So, if you’re trying to avoid keeping an extensive stock, this option is not for you. Delivery on time is not about National Post.

Moreover, there is also an extended risk of items being delivered as broken or even never reaching the destination. In this case, it will be almost impossible to get a refund, as usually you do not get tracking number. Or in case you do, it may work only on the territory of China.

So, seller in reality does not know for sure either you have received a delivery or trying to cheat him. And of, course, will not agree on refund. Here is when Aliexpress should intervene, but we know already about the quality of their support.

So, while free shipping is okay for low priced goods, do choose some decent shipping service (DHL, EMS; etc) when buying items with high prices or wholesale. Also ask for shipping insurance if the seller supports that.

Reason 5 – All the same

Traditionally, Aliexpress fashion jewelry shops have all items the same. Suppliers on Aliexpress usually carry small quantity of designs or only some specific styles. Uniqueness on Aliexpress is low. More likely, you will see 10 shops selling same items, but with significantly different prices. So, if you want to work only with one supplier, Aliexpress might not be the case. I think you prefer to choose one good and trustworthy supplier with a variety of designs, than few suppliers with one item design.

Aliexpress and Chinese market has a lot of controversies. Nevertheless, don’t think that I advise not to work with Chinese suppliers. What I really advise is – don’t buy wholesale fashion jewelry through Aliexpress. There are numbers of really trustworthy producers in China, that create quality and uniques fashion jewelry.

And if you want to really get some – contact a specialized wholesale fashion jewelry sellers. Different from the Aliexpress sellers, they need to establish long term business with their customers, as long as they want their business to keep growing. Their prices definitely are not the lowest ones compared to Aliexpress.  However, it will still be more beneficial to you.

Such shops usually order from selected producers as they are interested in continuous inflow of stock and long-lasting partnerships. Traditionally, they do a very strong quality control during processing the orders.

In the same time, to make sure their customers (wholesale purchasers or you, basically) have enough profit margins, they keep the prices low. By saying “low”, I mean that prices are low for a certain quality level.

So, be careful, think twice before buying and remember – better safe, than sorry.

References: Yiwuproducts, Aliexpress, BoredPanda.