AliExpress Scammer

[Dan Carmell]

I’ve mentioned this before, but there’s a copycat scammer and below is the real and original 365Days Stationery Store’s announcement about that. They told me not only have they lost customers but their vendors supplied orders to the scammer! Apparently it has been very damaging, after this store has earned a good reputation.

 

[A Smug Dill]

I have an outstanding order with the “365 Days Stationery Store” — chosen purely on pricing of the offer, during AliExpress's 11.11 promotion campaign — and so far it does not look like that seller will fulfil it for me. Every one of the more than 50 orders I placed with other sellers has shipped; some have already been received.

 

The seller has asked me (tersely, or at best in broken English) to cancel the order; and when I politely asked it to tell me exactly which items are supposedly not in stock, and when it would be able to restock so that I can have the goods at the prices I've already “locked in”, it just ignored me (even though the messages have been read, and I could see the seller has been “active” in the system several times since).

 

I am doing that seller the courtesy of extending the dispatch deadline by 4 days, but if it doesn't respond, then (as I've already advised the seller) I'll just let AliExpress automatically cancel and refund the order, and hopefully that will make more of a black mark than if (I as) the customer took the initiative to cancel the order.

[Dan Carmell]

Dill, apparently that’s happened to other customers and some ended up angry and believing the original 365Days was responsible. The person behind the scam also left negative feedback for 365Days and attempted to sabotage them in other ways. It’s put the goodwill they’ve earned at risk. 

[A Smug Dill]

Dan, that is why I prefer to let AliExpress's system deal with it and dish out censures, penalties, or sanctions as the marketplace operator sees fit. Word-of-mouth can be misheard, misread, or misinterpreted by fellow customers; but the platform itself won't get the seller account wrong, and whatever is done through the system should stick like glue to the correct culprit. Unless this alleged “scammer” is doing all this for no reason other than to sabotage, instead of actually trying to trade (and unfairly leverage some other shop's good name) and make money, it's ultimately counterproductive to accept customer orders and not fulfil them.

 

I was ordering at lower effective prices than the “real” 365Days Stationery Store would sell the Admok pens; and that is why it just about never gets any of my orders or spend.

 

Of course, there are consumers who don't look closely (and don't want to spend the effort, even if you tell them bluntly to do so), and thus would or could be fooled.

 

For all the disrepute that Mary's stationery Store and its other storefronts have “earned” themselves, in the majority of cases they do deliver; and these days AliExpress itself gives sellers little wiggle room to get out of a full refund if something is unsatisfactory about an order.

[Driften]

I bought a Pilot 74 from the store "365 Days Stationery Store" and it shipped and arrived no problem today.

[mke]

16 minutes ago, Driften said:

I bought a Pilot 74 from the store "365 Days Stationery Store" and it shipped and arrived no problem today.

 

And is it really a Pilot 74?

[Driften]

18 minutes ago, mke said:

 

And is it really a Pilot 74?

Yes it is.

[Dan Carmell]

9 hours ago, A Smug Dill said:

Dan, that is why I prefer to let AliExpress's system deal with it and dish out censures, penalties, or sanctions as the marketplace operator sees fit. 
…

For all the disrepute that Mary's stationery Store and its other storefronts have “earned” themselves, in the majority of cases they do deliver; and these days AliExpress itself gives sellers little wiggle room to get out of a full refund if something is unsatisfactory about an order.

Your POV has merit, it’s certainly true people will do what they will do. 
 

Still, knowing the situation I felt the need to warn and hopefully give a measure of aid to this merchant who I’ve had so many good transactions with. 
 

AliExpress is designed so that cheating a customer is very difficult, that’s true and why I buy there with confidence. 

[Driften]

In the future I think I'll make sure there is no space, but in my case of the Pilot 74 the other store included Pilot's box and checking now 365Stationary in their listing does not. I like having the box for the day I go to sell a pen, but buying from a more trusted vendor and not one trying to steal others customers is also important.

[Dan Carmell]

7 hours ago, Driften said:

In the future I think I'll make sure there is no space, but in my case of the Pilot 74 the other store included Pilot's box and checking now 365Stationary in their listing does not. I like having the box for the day I go to sell a pen, but buying from a more trusted vendor and not one trying to steal others customers is also important.

I got the new Hongdian WA351 today from 365Days—no case, just as you said and that’s more commonly from them than not, except when you get into more expensive pens. They did send both Moonman V60 pens cased. I suspect there’s a higher shipping charge over a certain size or weight and that partly explains it. I routinely see pens priced with and without box at different vendors. Almost every vendor on AliX sends more expensive pens with the case, in my experience. 
 

Certainly a new Pilot 74 (and other pens from there up) deserve a box, unless the price is so low as to justify it. Boxes help in resale, which is why I have learned to keep boxes although I hate them. I keep the boxes for better Chinese pens. They do serve as another layer of protection when shipping, at least. 

[SpencerianDream]

Fingers crossed, they had (have) Pilot 845s at a very good price so I rolled the dice. $380 all in after coupons, which was $120 (now $140) cheaper than the cheapest eBay seller. 
 

I’m frankly rather sceptical that I will receive my order but I did pay with a credit card so if AliExpess’ own buyer protection doesn’t come through, my card should have me covered. Supposedly it should ship in a few days. Will update here as the order progresses. 

[SpencerianDream]

Can confirm, seller is at least a sometime scammer. If I were you I would NOT order. 
 

My order was unshipped for days, then yesterday he asks me to cancel since “out of stock.” I figured that was his problem and we’d play the game a bit, so I asked when it would be back in stock. He asks me again last night to cancel. I saw the message this morning and also checked order status which has now magically updated to shipped on the 26th and delivered on the 27th. Which is most definitely not the case. I took screenshots of the message history and the tracking dates and contacted AliExpress CS. 
 

They advised me to wait until after the estimated delivery time of the 12th and then file a dispute. If at that point they can’t instantly refund my money I’ll contact PayPal. 

 

[A Smug Dill]

@SpencerianDream Same situation here.

[A Smug Dill]

Phew. AliExpress just (separately) refunded each of the four pens on my order today, for the reason it unilaterally revised to, “Package sent to a wrong address” after deeming the original reason, which by the way was chosen by an AliExpress Live Chat agent who raised the dispute on my behalf, of “Purchase Protection is running out, but package is still in transit” to be invalid.

 

(The tracking info still shows, when checked directly on Cainiao's website, the shipment is “Awaiting seller dispatch”.)