The whole truth about discounts on AliExpress

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

A lifehacker will tell you how to get discounts on AliExpress and distinguish real from fake ones. Buy as cheaply as possible and don't be fooled.

We love AliExpress for its great selection and humane prices. Even with the sky-high dollar exchange rate, many things are more profitable to buy there than offline. Especially if you get a discount. This can be done at sales, through coupons and a mobile application, as well as by looking in the "Last minute products" section. But Chinese sellers are often cunning. Therefore, let's put everything on the shelves.

Burning goods

This is the name of the section on, where things are exhibited with discounts up to 70%. Apparel, electronics, household goods and other offers from the Mall and Chinese sellers at really delicious prices.

Where does this generosity come from? It is profitable for sellers to carry out such promotions from a marketing point of view. But this is the ideal. In reality, sometimes they sell illiquid goods or make discounts on things with a pre-inflated price (more on this later).

The section "Last minute" is updated three times a week (Monday, Wednesday, Friday) at 10 am Moscow time.

The stock of the goods is limited. But the sold-out items remain on the promotion page, they can be bought at the regular price.

Almost for nothing

The last tab in the "Last Minute Items" section is called "Almost Free" (appears shortly before the start of the round). There are even more discounts: 90% and higher.

If you're lucky, the thing will get you almost nothing. The key phrase is "if you're lucky." New lots in the "Almost for nothing" tab appear half an hour before the start of the next round of the "Hot Goods" promotion. But from the start they are sold out in a matter of seconds.

How is this possible? The fact is that freebie lovers arrange a real hunt for "free" goods and go to many tricks to place an order first.

They take everything almost for nothing, without looking at the seller's rating and product reviews. As the saying goes, it's a sin not to buy an iPhone case that costs 500 rubles for ten times cheaper, even if you have it in your fifth.

The most common life hack: a few minutes before the start of the promotion, constantly updating the page with the product, have time to click the "Buy" button. A window will appear with a choice of product parameters (size, color, and so on) and the "Confirm" button. By clicking on it, you will see an error: "Sorry, there are currently no units available for ordering" or "This product has been sold." Contact the seller. " But this is not a reason to close the page. You just need to follow the timer and start updating it half a minute before the start of the promotion. At hour X, you just have to enter the captcha and quickly place an order.

Even more advanced users, in order to save time on choosing order parameters and go directly to the captcha, change in the page code

class = "buy-def buy-coming"

coming to now.

It is worth noting that after a series of updates on AliExpress, it became more difficult for freebie hunters. Earlier, if you are late, you will not make a purchase. Now you can even buy a sold-out product, but at a regular price. In the heat of excitement, many users do not notice that they are placing an order without a discount. Then you have to cancel it.

It is very difficult to buy something for almost nothing. Especially expensive branded items. But you can snatch small things. If you want to try your luck, use the following tips.

1. Refresh the timer page as often as possible. Especially if there is less than a minute left before the start of the promotion.
2. Decide on the purchase in advance. To find out how many items you are interested in will be offered for sale, open the page with it and replace the word group with the word gaga in the address bar.
3. Check the seller's reliability. Ali-shopping lovers will quickly help to do this, where products from the "Almost for nothing" category are displayed and you can quickly check the purchase risk, or special browser extensions: Aliexpress Seller Check and others.

Mobile app discounts

AliExpress has iOS and Android apps.

With the help of them, you can make purchases at any time from anywhere in the world. But the main thing is that many of the products in the app are cheaper.

With the help of discounts, AliExpress promotes its applications, and also saves on partner rewards. Of course, you can get cashback when making purchases through the app, but this is a little more troublesome. Not everyone will bother, especially since there are also discounts.

For example, a men's leather bracelet. At the time of this writing, the seller was offering a five percent discount on it (the price tag is 362 rubles with kopecks).

If you find this bracelet in the application or go to it using the QR code, the discount will be already 6% (price - 358 rubles with kopecks).

The savings are minimal, but they will not be superfluous if you buy a lot on AliExpress or buy an expensive item.

Fast deals

In addition to Hot Deals, the AliExpress app has a Quick Deals section.

The principle of operation is the same: discounts of 30, 50 and more percent on various goods, the stock of which is limited. But a round of each promotion only lasts three hours. At the same time, the goods that will be sold in subsequent rounds are known in advance and notifications about the start of trading can be configured.

Mobile bonuses

This (or Coins & Coupons in English) is the name of another interesting section in the AliExpress mobile application. There, users can collect local currency, which gives a number of privileges.

AliExpress coins are, in fact, bonuses that can be accumulated only inside the mobile application and exchanged for certain goods or coupons (from the marketplace and from individual sellers).

On March 31st each year, unused coins are turned into pumpkins and burned.

On regular, non-sale days, coins are awarded for daily visits to the application and victories in games ("Guess the Card", "Lottery of Fortune"). You cannot buy mobile coins or donate them to another user, and you cannot cash out.

The “Daily Bonus” is updated every day at 10:00 Moscow time.

The reward increases every day. If you enter once, you will receive only one coin. If you open the corresponding section of the application two days in a row, you will have five coins, three - eight, four - ten, a week - 15, and so on. In just a month, you can get 433 coins. But if you miss even a day, you have to start over.

You can exchange coins for goods or coupons in the same section - "Mobile bonuses". To receive the goods, you must pay the specified number of coins plus one cent. New coupons appear hourly and are valid for the next seven days, while only one coupon of each type can be received per month.

AliExpress coins are fun, exciting and profitable. Then why are many users disappointed in them?

First, coins are very expensive. The best lots at reasonable prices are taken apart by the same freebie hunters in a matter of seconds. The same picture with coupons. There is only one $ 8 coupon per hour. Try to trade!

Secondly, the probability of multiplying coins in games tends to zero. And thirdly, the coins have become a bait for scammers who promise to wind up the counter, which is technically impossible.

Coupons

Discount coupons are perhaps the most profitable way to save money on AliExpress. Coupons can be from AliExpress itself and from sellers, since Ali is not a single store, but a marketplace that brings together thousands of retailers. The former applies to all products (or categories of products) from all sellers. The latter work only in a specific store.

Coupons have:

• face value (what part of the purchase price is covered - $ 1, $ 5, and so on);
• expiration date (until what date should be used);
• the minimum purchase amount (how much you need to buy to use the coupon).

Coupons are activated at checkout in the last step.

Coupons from AliExpress are distributed in large quantities in advance or during sales. They can also be exchanged for coins (see above).

You can get coupons from stores for free in several ways. If you buy a lot and often from the same seller, then he may put a coupon card in one of the packages so that you can continue in the same spirit.

Also, stores are constantly holding internal promotions and offer various coupons. They are all collected.

You can check the availability of the coupon in your favorite store or search for the item as usual. But pay attention not only to the seller's rating and the number of orders, but also to the offers to use the coupon on the product page.

Finally, you can find a coupon or promotional code on sites working with the AliExpress affiliate network.

You can control coupons through your personal account, the "My coupons" tab. It displays valid and invalid coupons from sellers and from Ali. Next to it is a section with special coupons that are given out on special occasions such as the 11.11 sale.

Sales

Grandiose! Mind-blowing! Incredible! It's all about AliExpress sales. Recently, they have been so actively advertised that it is simply impossible to pass by.

Sales on AliExpress can be roughly divided into thematic and seasonal. The first include promotions on the occasion of Halloween, New Years, including Chinese, Valentine's Day, March 8 and other major holidays. Among them, it is worth highlighting the birthday of AliExpress (for Russia, this is April 10 - the day the company entered the country's market). But the festivities in the form of a fall and special offers begin in March.

Seasonal sales include World Shopping Day on November 11 (also known as Bachelor's Day), Black Friday and Cyber Monday. The latter are also held at the end of November, but every year on different dates.

Perhaps the biggest excitement is the 11.11 sale. In 2016, AliExpress's revenue exceeded $ 18 billion that day. The average bill for Russians was $ 11.3. As a rule, they bought not one, but several goods.

But even more than orders, there were discussions: what is a sale on AliExpress - an attraction of unprecedented generosity or a scam?

In fact, everything is simple. There are three categories of sellers.

1. Conscientious, who are not profit for the sake of, but advertising to reduce prices for high-quality and popular things in their stores. There are few of them, but they are.
2. Sellers who raise their prices before the sale, but just a little so that people still get a discount. A trifle, but nice. There are many more of them.
3. Greedy for profit, who deliberately inflate prices before the sale so that with a discount goods turn out to be more expensive than without. At the same time, the seller can, without a twinge of conscience, sell the same product in his store at a regular, non-promotional price. There are also a lot of them.

Browser extensions and add-ons that track price dynamics will help you figure out who is who and identify fake discounts: AliExpress Advisor, AliExpress Shopping und Cashback, AliExpress Assistant, AliExpress Tools.

The principle of operation is approximately the same everywhere. We install the extension and see how the prices for the product we are interested in have changed recently. And everything is immediately clear.

Discount request

Finally, one more way to get a discount. Some people forget about him. Others are simply embarrassed to use it.

You can ask the seller for a discount.

You can bargain on AliExpress, and there is nothing wrong with that. For example, if you want to buy five products at once from the same seller, why not write to him and ask him to lower the price?

If he agrees, place an order, but don't pay yet. The seller will see it and change the price tag in your cart especially for you. After that you will be able to pay for the order.

And don't be ashamed of imperfect English. The Chinese are also not native speakers and often use a translator.

Output

Discounts on AliExpress are not a myth. With the help of coupons and sales, you can buy things really very profitable. But like any marketing tool, Ali discounts should be treated with common sense.

1. Don't click Buy when you see a delicious price tag. Check seller ratings, read reviews.
2. Don't chase freebies. Patient and thrifty shoppers always find great deals.
3. Do not be lazy to check discounts for fake news and bargain with sellers.

Write in the comments what is the maximum discount you have ever been able to get on AliExpress and how did you do it?