Basically, it's a factory-direct, wholesale marketplace. If you're familiar with eBay, you know what I'm talking about. Everything is very cheap and most of it is cheap for a good reason.
However, I've found so far that I haven't bought anything that a chain store such as Glassons or TopShop would beat in quality. It's all the same stuff, ultimately. And a lot of the time, those stores are over charging me for a novelty blouse I'm only going to get $10 worth of wear out of.
As far as service goes, it varies shop-to-shop on the site. We're very quick to be suspicious of Asian based online stores, when it's not like we're getting good customer service closer to home. In my experience, they're actually a whole lot nicer and much more willing to sort out a solution. Don't let Pidgin English scare you!
I mainly use the site for clothing and jewellery. I don't know what most of the site is like, and I don't really feel the need to know. Apparently most of the purchases off the site are consumer electronics, and I guess it's good for that, but Absolootely is about fashion and so we'll just skip over that.
Here are some of my rules for using the site effectively:
-The search filters you should use, for clothes, are 1 Piece Only, Free Shipping and 'L' size, then put the Sorting in Price (low to high).
-ALWAYS check measurements. If the product you want doesn't have them, find another person selling the same item and use their measurements. Check with the seller if you're not sure, they tend to be very quick to reply and helpful.
-Be prepared to buy XL- and don't take it personally. I fit size 10-14, which is completely average for a white girl, but Asian girls are smaller in size on average, so Asian sizes are smaller. Clothing sizes aren't people sizes, you're not fat if you're buying an L, trust me!
-Don't rely on the Search function. The sellers on aliexpress don't tend to have copyright, so if you're looking for Star Wars related stuff, you'll only find half of it by typing the franchise name into the search bar. Also, some words will get lost in translation.
-'Free' size does not mean 'One Size Fits All'. It means 'One Size And That's Size UK6."
-It isn't real. That Lazy Oaf / Asos / Zara / American Apparel / Black Milk shirt is as genuine as that Chanel necklace.
-Check the feedback. Nice people like me will leave comprehensive, clear English, reports as to the actual quality of the item and suggest how many sizes up you should go.
-If you like the style of a product, but not the colour or pattern, it may be available in others. Do some searching around. I've also seen products listed as 'Free' by some sellers, but have sizes on other listings. Dig around a bit.
-If you'd like to know how much money you're saving, you can easily find the original of the product (should it exist) by Google searching by image.
-If there are words that you can't make out on the product, run! It's probably Pidgin English.
And last, but not least, watch this space! Absolootely is here to be your numero uno Aliexpress companion, as well as being generally helpful about shopping. If you don't feel like scrolling through hundreds of pages of sweaters, then let me do it for you!
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