Reality of buying phones, tablets from AliExpress or Taobao

Since I buy stuff occasionally from AliExpress or Taobao for review purposes, I want to share some info that you should know before buying electronics on those e-commerce websites.

Prices and availability

Prices of electronics on AliExpress and Taobao are quite competitive, and oftentimes includes free shipping or very low cost shipping.

The variety of electronic products you can find is huge. We know popular brands such as Samsung, Apple, Xiaomi, but there are countless companies that make electronics as well, popular in China but relatively unknown to the rest of the world. It's common for products to release in China weeks before they appear in other countries. But often these products, especially phones and tablets, are installed with the local China ROM (in Chinese language) instead, of course.

The prices for products from less popular companies can be really attractive. But as the saying goes, you get what you pay for.

China ROM vs Global ROM

A phone or tablet with China ROM is one where the user interface (UI) is in Chinese.

If you want English UI, you have to look for devices with Global ROM. Global ROM is made so that devices can be sold to customers outside of the market. Global ROM can be made by the company that makes the device or it can be made by developers not affiliated to the company.

First thing to check before buying Global ROM devices is to check whether there's Google Play Store or Google Play Services. Without Google Play Store, you'll be limited to using China app stores where most apps are in Chinese, of course. Global ROM can come without Google Play Store, e.g. Huawei phones and tablets.

Even without Google Play Store, you can still sideload apps by downloading the APK files for the apps to install them manually. Some apps will require Google Play Services to work properly. Without Google Play Services, you can't re-activate or restore your purchase that was made through the Google Play Store. If the app requires Google Drive for backup, that's obviously not going to work.

Second thing to check is whether you can update the firmware, UI, OS in the future. Don't assume you can update the system or UI when you read online about new updates or features released by the company. The phone or tablet will still work without the system updates, however you won't have access to new features or security fixes.

Resale value

The resale value of an imported device with Global ROM is likely lower than the local official release.

If the product is never going to be released officially in your country, resale price of the imported unit will be stable. If you had bought an imported unit, and the company releases product officially at a later date, you'll have a difficult time selling the imported unit later on. A device with official warranty coverage is definitely going to fetch a higher resale price than an imported set.

So is it worth the savings to buy an early release device with Global ROM vs waiting for the official release which may or may not come? Only you can decide. Some people change their phones or tablets so frequently they just write off all the losses made by the sale.

Note that if your Global ROM does not allow system or feature updates, it's will affect resale value too.

There's no international warranty

It should be quite obvious that electronics exported out from China have no international warranty coverage. Technically speaking, if you don't mind shipping the item back to China for servicing, you can get warranty coverage but it's usually too expensive to ship things back to China.

Returns

Shipping out from China is cheap but shipping into China is expensive.

I've actually tried to return a tablet I bought and was successful in getting AliExpress and the seller to accept the return.

However, I found out the local post office here in Singapore can't send items worth over SGD 400 overseas. For high valued items you have to go through private courier or delivery companies, such as DHL or Fedex, and their shipping charges are significantly expensive. And the heavier the item, the more expensive.

You can under-declare the item's value but if the item is lost, the insurance isn't going to cover the whole value. And I'm not sure if China will tax imports, which if they do it means the seller will have to pay for the release of the shipment from customs.

In the end, I decided not to return the tablet I paid SGD 1100 for.

Pros and cons

The main pro of buying from AliExpress or Taobao to me is the variety of products you can get. You can get some good savings with electronic products as well if you go for less known companies. I've read that there are good savings for furniture but I can't confirm.

Anyway, it would be attractive to buy from AliExpress or Taobao if the savings is 20% or more. For electronics from popular companies, you can get some savings but usually not that much. So it might not be worth the money to import them. But the most important thing is whether you can get system or feature updates.

Have you bought phones, tablets, electronics from AliExpress or Taobao before? Let me know your experience in the comments section below.