I ordered an iPod from Alibaba back in the day and it was most certainly not an iPod. I think they’re more reliable than back then, but who knows. It’s always a gamble ordering from those kinds of sites.

One time I ordered a PS2 kit from some janky-ass Chinese site. The kit converted it into a flip top and included a CD that would let you play burned games. After a couple months of it not showing up, I figured I got ripped off, which I half expected anyways. 3.5 months later the kit showed up at my doorstep and actually worked. Haha! I used that thing for years after making the conversion.

I bought a 2DS on AliExpress. It was fine, original shell but a little scratched up. JP model. One dead pixel.

$211CAD so about $150USD. I’d do it again, I didn’t end up using it much as I had plans for it that didn’t pan out but I had no issues with it.

I order from there quite a lot. I’m not really a fan of buying Chinese stuff but all the electronics are made there whatever you do and this way I’m cutting out the man-in-the-middle dickhead types who closed all the local factories and moved production to China just to push up the share prices.

I’ve always found it to be pretty good, remember that you don’t really deal with Ali that much, rather individual shops selling their stuff on there. I’ve had problems with stuff arriving broken before but I’ve usually found their customer service to be pretty amazing, they’ll often replace stuff without much fuss. I once ordered a Bitcoin miner before realising later that it was a scam, and Ali refunded me all the money.

The two main problems are that nothing on there is good quality, it’s all just cheap Chinese stuff. The second problem is that it takes ages for everything to arrive.

I’ve ordered various things from AliExpress before, I’ve never had any major issues. One item was DOA, and another never arrived, but In both cases I got refunded quickly and easily.

It seems no worse than any other online marketplace now.

I assume these 3DS units are some sort of refurb. Are they Chinese region units?

It’s a gamble with risks that your local chains who resells the same stuff usually shoulders for you. I’ve bought a lot of stuff here, including original electronics, up to ≈$2k a piece. Research is your first best friend, the second best friend is a camera you record unboxing with to prove to Ali you deserve a refund. I’m not into 3ds market, but if nothing alarmed you before you placed an order, it should be okay, I guess.

It’d be interesting to see your report after you test it.

AliExpress is either a scam or a great deal. There is no inbetween. I have been successful with clothing from them, and even an Xbox One wired controller that had both joysticks at the top like a WiiU Pro controller. I haven’t been scammed yet, but I do know that it can happen.

Have fun with your half-brick or whatever you’ll get in the package.

My question is… Why from there? 🤔

I’ve bought a lot of stuff from AliExpress in the past 10 years. Including some $10.000+ purchases. There have been problems, but overal I’m happy enough with the whole thing.

I feel everyone is trying their best to make it all work, but in the end it’s pretty complex to get something from the other side of the world to your home. Plus the language barrier can be a thing, where nobody in the chain really speaks any English. Usually the people at AliExpress, the seller and the actual people shipping the goods are pretty far apart from each other (China is a big country) and don’t always communicate the best.

Now there are of course a lot of scammers, just like on sites like Ebay and Amazon. AliExpress really does do their best to ban the scammers and prevent them from coming back, but it’s like fighting a flood with a broom and doesn’t do much. Recognizing the scammers can be pretty hard sometimes. The trick I’ve used is to either rely on small communities of people interested in the same thing recommending a shop or simply talking to the seller. If the seller is happy to talk to you and willing to do just about anything you ask, it’s probably a scam. If they are kind of grumpy and say this is what we do take it or leave it, you’ve got a proper seller on your hands. Especially with large equipment as I’ve bought, the seller wants to talk shop about the machines all day, but if you have any special requests regarding shipping or customs, it’s a no go. They will also happily provide you a quote for a fully custom machine if you ask, with actual good prices for what it is, but still very expensive.

If something does go wrong with your order, don’t count on AliExpress doing anything. They are just the platform provider and don’t know you or your order. They aren’t involved in any way and handle millions of orders a day. Just use the tools they provide to talk to the seller, they will often happily help you and every time my shipment got lost, they refunded or sent another. If a part broke in shipment, they shipped me a replacement. And just because the product wasn’t what you thought it was or the shipment got lost in transit or there was something else wrong, doesn’t mean the seller is a scammer. Don’t report them as one, as for small shops this can cause problems and for the larger established shops AliExpress simply ignores the reports. Usually the seller does their best to get you your stuff, but when sending something from one side of the globe to the other, shit happens. International tracking has gotten so much better the past couple of years, so it’s easier to see where it went wrong.

AliExpress has also gotten very good with customs, they present you a price which is based on what you are going to pay. No hidden fees that get applied later in the process. They discount the product in the shopping cart with an indication of what you have to pay for customs handling and import fees. In the past this used to be a problem, where the price was too good to be true, only to turn out to be exactly that. But these days they are very good.

So if you have patience, do your homework and be careful out there, AliExpress can be a great source for products. If you want to be a Karen and shout at someone for not delivering the crap you don’t need within 24 hours, please just go to Amazon.

One thing to note: There is an environmental impact to buying directly from China and there’s no guarantee the products weren’t made by slaves in poor working conditions without mind for safety or the environment. So don’t go buying small crap you can get anywhere from there. Buy locally where possible and if you do order make it something big or buy a larger shipment. But this isn’t really an AliExpress thing, this applies to sites like Ebay as well as other big Chinese shops.

I sold most of my consoles because of emulation. The 3DS, however, is a keeper. It’s silly but I love the glasses free 3D effect so much and that cannot be achieved via emulation.

I see tonnes of Chinese sellers refurbing Gameboys

Generally the PCBs are OEM from Japan. Everything else though…

I don’t trust AliEx any more after I took the loss of 3 orders for ~$60 in 2020. When I called, they hung up on me at random every time. After the 3rd try I washed my hands and walked away. Stealing from me once is on them, twice would be my own fault. Prior to that experience I spent a few thousand dollars on the platform for odds and ends.

I expect something like this to be an emulator and nowhere near the quality of a real Nintendo product, but I could be wrong. I would buy used or a homebrew project that is well documented and might cost a little more.

I’ve seen a few YouTubers buy AliExpress 3ds consoles, and all of those have been refurbished, often with after market shells which, while often not terrible, aren’t Nintendo quality. If the console shows up, it’ll probably be fine, but you’re still not necessarily getting an amazing deal. I got my New 3ds LL (Japanese version) in excellent condition from a seller on eBay based in Japan for about $25 less and I got one with an upper IPS screen - but mine is in black. If you really want a special 3ds and you’re okay with a decent reshell, buying through AliExpress might be an alright option.

I’ve bought a bunch of stuff, but never anything important or particularly expensive. Random crap like LED strip lights, screws, bearings, and springs for 3D printing projects, or even filaments. Never had any issues, but I’d still be apprehensive buying something more expensive.

Also bought mine off AliExpress. It was one of the fake pokemon shell models, so that feels a little cheap but looks nice. Otherwise the unit functions perfectly, no scratches on the screen and buttons are responsive.