Alibaba.. Scam?

[Brandi93]

Anyone bought a graphics card from alibaba? Found a 1660 for €246 shipped but I'm hesitant from China due to long shipping times and all. 

[WkdPaul]

it depends on the seller, like ebay and Amazon 3rd party sellers.

[Analog]

If it is an actual 1660 it is probably a refurbished card. It could very well also be a scam. Anyway, I personally wouldn't buy a graphics card from Alibaba, AliExpress, Wish.com or any other site like this. 

[Murasaki]

Ultimate question: does it have a VGA port?

[Rameares]

Check how long the seller has been selling and the feedback rating. prices are not much differnet to what you see on other used sites so the usual if to good to be true probably is.

[riklaunim]

7 minutes ago, Brandi93 said:

Anyone bought a graphics card from alibaba? Found a 1660 for €246 shipped but I'm hesitant from China due to long shipping times and all. 

Alibaba is bulk orders mostly. Aliexpress is for end users. There you look at the seller (how long he is up, the reputation) and what's the shipping method - if it's without tracking or the seller isn't rated etc. then it's a malicious offer.

[Analog]

Just now, Rameares said:

Check how long the seller has been selling and the feedback rating. prices are not much differnet to what you see on other used sites so the usual if to good to be true probably is.

 

Especially that last part is always true. This is from Alibaba as well:

 

[oali24]

4 minutes ago, Murasaki said:

Ultimate question: does it have a VGA port?

vga ports are the best, I wish they still made modern graphics cards with them, work great on crt.

[aisle9]

I don't trust GPU purchases from anywhere except Amazon, Newegg, other major domestic tech retailers, and eBay. Why do I trust eBay? Because they have a 30-day return window for everything that starts when you receive the item. If the RTX 3070 you get is actually a GTS 450, right down to the VGA port, you're getting your money back no questions asked--but it is still a waste of your time and your funds are tied up while it's on the way and for up to two weeks after you file the claim.

[Brandi93]

[Maticks]

Problem with these sites you wait forever for The item to be shipped from China. That's before the pandemic.

I've ordered things in August still waiting. If you are lucky you should have it around Xmas. You'd be better off buying the cards from a local store or someone selling Thier rig. Once ethereum mining is dead you'd get some big rigs for next to nothing. That's coming sooner than anything from China.

[LogicalDrm]

Alibaba is marketplace for business buyers. It by large is not scam anymore than eBay or Amazon is. Individual sellers and buyers protection with those sellers is whole another thing.

 

But what you should think most when buying from outside of your own country, is how much will the import fees and tax be. For example, if you are in US, you will get hit by that 25% tariff when importing from China. In EU its VAT+ possible import fees.

[RoseLuck462]

Don't

[Brandi93]

20 hours ago, LogicalDrm said:

Alibaba is marketplace for business buyers. It by large is not scam anymore than eBay or Amazon is. Individual sellers and buyers protection with those sellers is whole another thing.

 

But what you should think most when buying from outside of your own country, is how much will the import fees and tax be. For example, if you are in US, you will get hit by that 25% tariff when importing from China. In EU its VAT+ possible import fees.

Our country is 18% vat on imports. But I guess you can undervalue the item a bit to avoid paying like 36 euros on a 200 euro item. Like for example when they ask for proof of purchase, edit the price from 200 to 80 for example and you only pay like 13 euros fee

[Spotty]

2 minutes ago, Brandi93 said:

Our country is 18% vat on imports. But I guess you can undervalue the item a bit to avoid paying like 36 euros on a 200 euro item. Like for example when they ask for proof of purchase, edit the price from 200 to 80 for example and you only pay like 13 euros fee

That's called fraud, and if they discover that you're fraudulently declaring items to avoid paying taxes and duties they can confiscate and destroy the package.

[LogicalDrm]

10 minutes ago, Brandi93 said:

Our country is 18% vat on imports. But I guess you can undervalue the item a bit to avoid paying like 36 euros on a 200 euro item. Like for example when they ask for proof of purchase, edit the price from 200 to 80 for example and you only pay like 13 euros fee

As said, that would be fraud. And very easy to uncover. Seller/sender has to include invoice which states the price for the item. And having the items details on there with sellers details, its one search and you are caught. Then its heavier fees than what you would have been paying, criminal record and possibly even jail time if proven that you did it knowingly (or even in collaboration with seller).

[8tg]

Just pay attention to what you’re buying. Aliexpress is no different than any other online sales platform. If it’s too good to be true, it probably isn’t true.

 

 

[tkitch]

If you're okay with throwing away the money?  Give it a shot, and maybe you'll be successful.

 

If you can't afford to throw away that money?  Don't.

 

[Andreas Lilja]

24 minutes ago, 8tg said:

Aliexpress is no different than any other online sales platform. 

Minus the counterfeit graphic cards.

[8tg]

3 minutes ago, Andreas Lilja said:

Minus the counterfeit graphic cards.

Every single platform is covered in fake video cards. Arguably aliexpress at least let’s you buy Chinese AIB options like Maxsun, Yeston, ASL, Viendia, Huananzi, etc 

[dizmo]

22 hours ago, LogicalDrm said:

Alibaba is marketplace for business buyers. It by large is not scam anymore than eBay or Amazon is. Individual sellers and buyers protection with those sellers is whole another thing.

 

But what you should think most when buying from outside of your own country, is how much will the import fees and tax be. For example, if you are in US, you will get hit by that 25% tariff when importing from China. In EU its VAT+ possible import fees.

Unfortunately, that's simply not true. There are loads, and loads, and loads of fraudulent ads on Alibaba.

Take this for example: https://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/High-Quality-ASUS-GeForce-RTX-3080_1700006244091.html?spm=a2700.galleryofferlist.normal_offer.d_image.334f2c69SBNg9v

 

It uses GRRD5x, doesn't have the right VRAM values, they don't have any feedback, etc etc. There's many, many many postings like this.

[LogicalDrm]

5 minutes ago, dizmo said:

Unfortunately, that's simply not true. There are loads, and loads, and loads of fraudulent ads on Alibaba.

Take this for example: https://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/High-Quality-ASUS-GeForce-RTX-3080_1700006244091.html?spm=a2700.galleryofferlist.normal_offer.d_image.334f2c69SBNg9v

 

It uses GRRD5x, doesn't have the right VRAM values, they don't have any feedback, etc etc. There's many, many many postings like this.

I'm sure if we go and seek, we find just as many scams on ALL other marketplace sites. Seriously, stop your bs bias towards Alibaba just because its owned by Chinese businessman. The site itself is not scam, just like eBay isn't. Does it do better or worse job than eBay? Most likely not.

[8tg]

Identify the fake video cards from aliexpress:

Onda 6gb GTX 1060

Maxsun 3gb GTX 1060

ASL GTX 1050ti

Yeston RX 580

Colorful RTX 3090

Colorful RTX 3080

Colorful 2080ti Kudan

Maxsun RTX 3060ti

ASL GTX 1060

 

let’s get into the real challenging ones:

Vienda 750ti

Graphicsplayer 750ti

Onda RX 550

Huananzi 750ti

 

wanna guess which ones are fake cards?

 

 

 

 

wanna know how many

 

 

 

 

 

none of them are fake, every single one is a real card made by a real company 

[dizmo]

Just now, LogicalDrm said:

I'm sure if we go and seek, we find just as many scams on ALL other marketplace sites. Seriously, stop your bs bias towards Alibaba just because its owned by Chinese businessman. The site itself is not scam, just like eBay isn't. Does it do better or worse job than eBay? Most likely not.

That's actually not at all why, nor did I ever say that at any time. As a moderator, you shouldn't have such biases towards members of the forum.

I didn't say the site was a scam. I simply said it's not the same as Amazon. You also have far more protection from eBay than you do Alibaba.

[LogicalDrm]

16 minutes ago, dizmo said:

That's actually not at all why, nor did I ever say that at any time. As a moderator, you shouldn't have such biases towards members of the forum.

I didn't say the site was a scam. I simply said it's not the same as Amazon. You also have far more protection from eBay than you do Alibaba.

Your posts didn't clarify which part was "unfortunately not true" before going into linking to a scam ad. So logical conclusion is that you meant my post, or the first part of it, as whole, claiming that Alibaba is scam site as itself. Which, fortunately, isn't true. Amazon has marketplace with fake ads. Just like Alibaba. Ebay's whole business model is to be marketplace.

 

I have not looked into what kind of buyers protection or customer care Alibaba or Aliexpress do offer, so I'm not gonna comment on that.

 

And I will also point out bias when I think I see it. Regardless of being moderator or not. Is it true or not, I don't know. But I'm getting really tired of people bashing companies because of where they originate from. Especially when US has companies with EXACTLY same business principles.