August 11, 2020

Buying electronics on AliExpress

I have been doing this for several years now with complete satisfaction. I never buy huge quantities or anything truly expensive, so my risk in that way is small.

The only downside is the wait, which is usually several weeks. You are buying direct from China, which appeals to me a lot. No middle man is taking a big markup and the hard working people in China are making the money.

But what is the wait? I thought I would just start keeping a record of things I order, and how long it takes for them to arrive. 

ESP8266 ESP-01/01S 5V WiFi Relay Module $2.36		May 8 to August 11 2020
Orange Pi 4 (RK3399) $62.43 ($53.50)			July 27 to August 11, 2020
10 3.3/5 volt level shifters  $10.48			August 2 to August 13, 2020
5 2x16 LCD screen w/ i2c  $17.82			July 25 to August 14, 2020
10 STM32 "blue pill" $24.92				July 27 to August 14, 2020
6 18650 battery gadgets $16.90 				August 14 to August 27, 2020
20 i2c IO expanders $17.15				August 15 to August 20, 2020
Orange Pi 4 (RK3399) w/emmc $68				August 12 to August 31, 2020
ESP8266 ESP-01/01S WiFi Relay Module (2)		May 8 to September 11, 2020
3 Convoy S3 $17.07 each ($54.55)			Oct 10 to Oct 31, 2020
1 Convoy S2+ 365nm $25.67				Oct 10 to Oct 31, 2020
5 DC-DC up modules 2 lots $1.65				Oct 10 to Oct 31, 2020
40 * 4 wire jumpers $13.95				Oct 12 to Oct 31, 2020
5 * 0.95 OLED displays $12.76				Oct 16 to Oct 31, 2020
120 M to M jumpers $5.07				Oct 21 to Nov 20, 2020
20 PCB perf boards $19.97				Oct 22 to Nov 20, 2020
10 STM32F411 black pill $46.86				Ocb 29 to Nov 20, 2020
An ugly note about my STM32F411 purchase. When I got my credit card bill, there was a $10 "cash advance" charge. I paid using Paypal on AliExpress, maybe that is something to diligently avoid -- and apparently it is. I am searching on this and it seems widespread, so don't use Paypal when you purchase on AliExpress. I filed a dispute, but they quickly rejected it and frankly it isn't worth $10 to hassle with more phone calls to my Banks call center.

One package arrived 10-31 with 5 smaller packages inside. The big package shipped from Hebron, Kentucky. An interesting way to handle logistics for groups of inexpensive packages from China. Actually the total for the package was over $100.

Typical shipping times currently seem to be a little over 2 weeks.

The Relay Module are an all time record. 12 weeks for the first one. I am pretty sure this was from "TZT teng Official Store". The second pushed that to 16 weeks. Unbelievable. The wheels grind slow, but they did deliver!!

I'll also note that I have always been exceptionally pleased with "Shenzhen Xunlong" who offer the Orange Pi boards.

Feedback? Questions? Drop me a line!

Tom's Computer Info / tom@mmto.org