AliExpress Cyber Monday

guerney

Esteemed Pedelecer
Sep 7, 2021
10,222
3,000
There are great bargains, but they end in about 14 hours. Many items are available with £3 off for every £15 spent (filter using the checkbox on the left pane), up to a maximum of £12, on top of discounts which are already quite substantial, for some items.

I've learned to first check the seller's rating, before looking closely at the product details and price. This sort of event is perfect for fly by night chancers, who either have no rating or very poor ones.

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guerney

Esteemed Pedelecer
Sep 7, 2021
10,222
3,000
Hope some of you got bargains....I've spent rather too much on things I don't actually need right now. All of a sudden, it doesn't seem worth buying from AliExpress at any other time.

AliExpress's search is completely out of whack, which is when Google's site specific search comes in handy.
 
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Nealh

Esteemed Pedelecer
Aug 7, 2014
20,131
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I was only looking for one item an secured it with a healthy 50% discount to the usual retail price, the £3 off for every £15 spent covered the p&p. Sadly though I think seller sare still ripping off customers with the tax charge as doubt any charge will go to the treasuary.
 

guerney

Esteemed Pedelecer
Sep 7, 2021
10,222
3,000
I was only looking for one item an secured it with a healthy 50% discount to the usual retail price,
Makes you wonder what their profit margin is.

I chucked all of the items I wanted into the shopping cart, then searched for each item again, but cheaper and with free P&P - it took bloody ages, because I also filtered for top sellers only, who were also offering the £3 discount for £15 spent - let's hope my AliExpress purchases work out better than they have thus far.

Often they "Upgrade" delivery and the delivery charge disappears, but unhelpfully this only happens after you've placed the item in the cart containing other items. And they do that by region, depending on where the item is being posted from by the "Global seller" (plural), without mentioning where the "Global seller" in question is based.

They appear to be combining delivery for some items, like Amazon: Will this risk attracting the attention of customs? Envelopes vs bigger boxes.

Looking forward to the other AliExpress upcoming sales...
 
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StuartsProjects

Esteemed Pedelecer
May 9, 2021
1,690
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AliExpress's search is completely out of whack, which is when Google's site specific search comes in handy.
It remembers what you have searched for in the past. When you search for something new you get pages of stuff you searched for before and only a few items of what your looking for.

I have a portable version of Firefox on the desktop, I often use it for searching Ali and get far better results. Since its not my main browser deleteing the cookies, which mess up the searching, is not a problem.
 

guerney

Esteemed Pedelecer
Sep 7, 2021
10,222
3,000
It remembers what you have searched for in the past. When you search for something new you get pages of stuff you searched for before and only a few items of what your looking for.
Very interesting, I hadn't noticed that, but I did notice once you have found the item you want, the listings lower down are more likely to feature what you were searching for in the first place, but after awhile you realise they're unhelpful repeated listings from a few rows above.

To find things initially, I used Google's site search ie "site:aliexpress.com widget", adding operators such as "+" and "-" etc. as required. Unhelpfully, Google results were from their Vietnamese site, the URLs from which had to be truncated; copied and pasted into Vivaldi - if you don't do that, Vivaldi's view turns Vietnamese, and you have to change it back to English and GBP, and switching back doesn't always work first time, or the second time - cookie clashes probably.

I also narrowed the search to AliExpress results only at shopping.google.com

It's worse than Excite was in the 90s!

I have a portable version of Firefox on the desktop, I often use it for searching Ali and get far better results. Since its not my main browser deleteing the cookies, which mess up the searching, is not a problem.
I delete cookies regularly using the Webdeveloper addon, but sadly my version of Firefox on Win7 isn't compatible with AliExpress. and it won't get updated by Mozilla. The only browser which works great on Win7 is Vivaldi.

 
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thelarkbox

Esteemed Pedelecer
Aug 23, 2023
690
219
oxon
Google search for aliexpress - genius - thanks..

picked up 5l of wd40 and a digital inclinometer, the later an unnecessary splurge and the wd40 was a must have and a steal with £10 off. both via amazon, neither prime deals so still waiting for delivery..
 

guerney

Esteemed Pedelecer
Sep 7, 2021
10,222
3,000
Of the 10 items I ordered through AliExpress, only the Neoteck multimeter has arrived. 4 items were sent to a warehouse to combine delivery by stuffing into a big box, which I worry could get me charged by customs for - I'd have preferred valueless looking envelopes. One item was out of stock, and AliExpress may issue an automatic refund. Other items are being sent independently and slow, and a bunch of bargain "24W" E27 LED bulbs have no tracking data available at all.

Chinese sellers on Amazon got into the spirit of things, but I was unimpressed with Amazon's own offerings, because I don't nor ever will sign up to Prime. After being repeatedly pissed off, I bought something from China and ceased searching.

Among other objects, I'm quite pleased with this unecessary purchase (or will be, if or when it arrives), because it was £15 cheaper than Amazon and about £10 cheaper than ebay - I might get around to hooking up an electric blanket through an inverter in my shed powered by my ebike battery, in my remote off grid garden, or beer fridge in the summer, or become a bike trailer ice cream man being attacked by whichever ice cream van mafia controls the area I attempt to sell from, spin decks rocking a sound system at festivals, power salvaged tv sized indicator LED lights etc.


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guerney

Esteemed Pedelecer
Sep 7, 2021
10,222
3,000
I needn't have worried about a whole bunch of separate orders stuffed into a big box being stopped by customs, separate padded envelopes arrived in one big cheap looking bag.

There are still a lot of great offers on AliExpress - it doesn't have a search engine as such, it has a suggestion engine somewhat based on what you click - therefore if you page down through the free 5 day delivery "3+ items from US £1.99" offer on the AliExpress homepage, while clicking on items of interest, similar items to the ones you clicked, load as you approach the bottom of the page. I think... unlike Ebay, sponsored listings on AliExpress are not clearly marked, which makes searching for things you actually want, an even murkier experience.

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Along with watches I don't want, for me loads of very temptingly low priced bike stuff appeared, based loosely on my AliExpress search history. My bank account hates me, and has put out a hit on AliExpress.

I'm surprised this 20A 36V to 12V converter I ordered, is so close to 12V:


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AndyBike

Esteemed Pedelecer
Nov 8, 2020
1,173
514
There are great bargains, but they end in about 14 hours. Many items are available with £3 off for every £15 spent (filter using the checkbox on the left pane), up to a maximum of £12, on top of discounts which are already quite substantial, for some items.

I've learned to first check the seller's rating, before looking closely at the product details and price. This sort of event is perfect for fly by night chancers, who either have no rating or very poor ones.

Mouseover:

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Bungle's let himself go a bit.
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guerney

Esteemed Pedelecer
Sep 7, 2021
10,222
3,000
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guerney

Esteemed Pedelecer
Sep 7, 2021
10,222
3,000
What's the watch in the middle? Does it count down to the end of your life or something like that? It goes red after 3 o'clock, then nothing!

Please reply soon because you've only got 2 hours left.
Surplus stock from Amazon's big order: Red indicates when child slave factory workers are running on empty, and they get 2 hours sleep during every 12 hour period. I'll be keeping them busy... added another 10 items to my cart, including this for the acoustic Dahon Espresso. Looks like it could be a bright headlight, and it's battery cells or pack might even be replaceable in a year or two. Also considering buying other things I've been considering buying for awhile, at much lower prices than before, with free 5 day delivery while it lasts.


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guerney

Esteemed Pedelecer
Sep 7, 2021
10,222
3,000
Of course, some of this stuff could be actual trash. But there's oodles of cheapo bike related stuff, worth a look.


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guerney

Esteemed Pedelecer
Sep 7, 2021
10,222
3,000
+20%, free 5 day delivery.


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guerney

Esteemed Pedelecer
Sep 7, 2021
10,222
3,000
I hope this AliExpress sale continues. Weirdly prices keep dropping - I've been buying oodles of all sorts of tat while it's cheap, and 5 day delivery is free.

Rather than play pot luck from the homepage, or luckier pot luck: Search for the item you want using AliExpress's so-called search function, and as usual you'll be presented with loads of irrelevant results, including lisstings for the item you searched for. CTRL "F" or using the menubar EDIT>FIND IN PAGE using your browser on PC, to find the specific text "5-day" (without quote marks) within the pages, to find instances within the page of the item you searched for at an acceptably low price, which are also shipped for free in 5 days for orders over £8. Then add the cheapest listing to your shopping cart.


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guerney

Esteemed Pedelecer
Sep 7, 2021
10,222
3,000
Prices have dropped again, pick 3 cheapo items (more useful than the one below) for free 5 day delivery.


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guerney

Esteemed Pedelecer
Sep 7, 2021
10,222
3,000
This headlight arrived today, isn't a bad purchase overall, particularly because it's now about £1.50 cheaper. Is it worth the asking original price? Hell no.

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It's horn function is terrible, low volume awful buzzing noise - I doubt it'd alert pedestrians even if you sounded it directly behind them. Worse, the horn switch connects via USB-C, so you have to keep it's rubber flap open, which will let in rain. I continue using my Hornit Mk1 140db instead.

The last time I used battery powered headlights was in the 1980s, and this headlight is a much brighter than those twin AA powered things, but not as bright as one of my ebike battery powered "1800LM". I haven't tried it on the road yet, but I think this is a light for increasing the odds of being seen, not so much for seeing potholes with. It has a full sized USB port on the back, serves as a power bank, can be unclipped and used as a torch. The box says it contains 18650, doesn't say how many but it's small so probably just the one? Repairable probably in a year or two, or whenever the cheap Chinese cell(s?) it undoubtedly contains dies a death.

From a full charge at highest of three brightness settings, constant, it lasted 3 hours and 41 minutes. Lower power modes are available. This is for my acoustic bike, so 10 minutes would have been enough.


I'm rather more pleased with this laser rear light:

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On it's downward pulsing line effect mode with flashing lasers, it's still going over 3 hours later. Well worth buying, especially now that it's reduced in price. It's brighter than the laser blinky flasher it replaces, has more than twice the number of frickin' laser beams, well worth the money. The only thing I don't like is the positioning of the charging port - it's on top! That rubber flap isn't going to keep rain out! Stupid positioning for a charging port. I'll have to protect it with gaffa tape or something. If it's mount could rotate, it would have replaced the light on this, but pointed down for the lasers to project on the tarmac to my right.

EDIT: I've just now discovered that it can replace the thin horizontal light on the Guerney Siderating Illumimaker™after al - it's octagonal at the back, can be mounted at 45, 90 degrees etc. I'll have to use it's constant mode, to prevent it being mistaken for an indicator.

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guerney

Esteemed Pedelecer
Sep 7, 2021
10,222
3,000
This also arrived today, feels warm, but not thinsulate or thick fleece levels of warm. Not windproof, or very, because it's easy to breathe through. Can be worn as a scarf, hat, or full ninja. It's a few pence cheaper than this now.

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