My AliExpress Finds - Tech Products. Are They Worth Your Coin?

Hey everyone,
So for those that don't personally know me, I am an AliExpress addict. There's nothing more I love than browsing the weird products, in the hopes that I'll come across something useful and worth my money.
I've been buying from AliExpress for 4 years now, and looking back I've never really had a bad experience..
Although it does take roughly 3-4 weeks for your items to arrive, you can't expect much more for the price you're paying for the items. There has been one or two times where I was buying something as a gift for someone and I've selected faster shipping that you can pay for. I've had items arrive from China within 5 days of my order being placed. To select faster shipping, if you select under the shipping option before you add the item to your cart it will give you a number of different postage options and prices to choose from.


The main thing I end up buying on AliExpress is phone cases. I seem to have this weird talent of buying phone cases and before they arrive, the phone breaks and I can't use them any more. The cheapest phone case I've bought was €1.50 a the dearest I've paid was €5.42 (which was actually a case for my sister).
The phone case I'm currently using I only received this week, it was only €3.34. I ordered it on 28/02/2019 in a batch order and it arrived on 31/03/2019.

AliExpress works similar to eBay in that you have multiple different sellers. My top tips are when looking at a product, look at how many orders have been placed and read the reviews. Reviews with pictures are the best because you can see exactly what the products look like and you can almost see the quality of them too.

What comes to a shock to most people and will probably come as a shock to you too.. is the fact that I actually bought my phone on AliExpress too. My boyfriend bought me a Xiaomi phone for Christmas 2017, it was working great but after dropping it and cracking the screen in October I brought it to a repair shop to get the screen fixed. They replaced the screen and the following day the screen cracked itself again because it was fitted too tight. Unable to use the phone because the keyboard was writing whatever it wanted to write at all times and getting nowhere with the phone repair shop (avoid the GSM centre in Waterford at all costs). I decided I'd just buy a new phone.
I knew I wanted another Xiaomi phone but because they're Chinese made, they didn't actually sell them in Ireland at the time (which has changed since thank god). I found a seller on AliExpress who was selling tonnes of the Xiaomi phones and they had great feedback and reviews, so I decided to place an order. I ordered the Xiaomi Mi 8 which was €345.72 including a phone case and a screen protector. I then paid an additional €23 for courier delivery to Ireland. The phone arrived in 7 days and I've had no issues with it at all since I bought it!
Click here to see the product listing for the phone I bought.


The phone I bought doesn't have an earphone jack so I bought a spare type c earphone adapter so I could use wired earphones with it, which was only €0.99 and works like a charm. I've since bought myself a pair of Beats Wireless headphones as a graduation gift to myself (not from AliExpress obviously) but I have the adapter as a backup if I ever need it which is super handy.

One of the more gimicky products I bought not knowing would it work or not was this mini GPS tracker. I wanted to get one of the Tile GPS trackers for a while but I didn't know if I'd use one or not so I decided I'd get one on Ali first to see if I would use it.
I bought this one for €1.64 and so far so good. The tracker already came fitted with a battery so I didn't awkwardly have to go find a tiny battery which I assumed I would have to. The product came with instructions on what app to install that works alongside the tracker. It was easy to navigate and understand which was nice for a change (I hate instruction manuals).
Basically once the tracker is turned on you can press a button in the app to locate it, it will make a beeping noise almost like an alarm until you turn it off. Or, you can access the map to see where the tracker is located. Looking at reviews people are using them for loads of different things such as finding their keys, locating their car in big car parks and keeping track of their pets if they're known to wander. I haven't put it properly to the test yet so I'm not sure how well it really works, but for the price.. if it doesn't work so well I won't be mad because it was super cheap.



The last product is a Wireless Bluetooth FM transmitter. These are so handy for cars that don't have the aux or USB option to play music through the car speakers. They're usually pricey enough to buy in shops around the country so when I saw them this cheap on Ali I said I had to buy one even just to try it out.
This syncs up to your phone via Bluetooth and transmits the audio via your car radio. Previous ones I've bought have been a let down because they've had crackle sound but the sound with this is crystal clear. I've used this a good few times since it arrived and I'm so impressed. Definitely going to buy a back up in case my current one breaks.



Are you AliExpress/Wish/eBay mad? Let me know what you're ultimate online purchase was!

As always thanks so much for reading,
Claire x