Buying things on Aliexpress and getting it shipped to Nigeria

Posted by Felix Okoli on Tuesday October 28, 2014 at 10:9:38:

One of the fantastic international websites I like to shop from in the China based one called Aliexpress. Aliexpress is a retail website owned by China's biggest e-commerce brand Alibaba. Aliexpress works a bit like shopping websites like Amazon and eBay but offers something more - Global international delivery and this includes Nigeria.

I had a good experience with shopping on ALiexpress when a friend of mine needed an alternative source to buy a generator Automatic Voltage Regulator SX460 for his 20KVA generator. The used England AVR normally bought for him by his generator mechanic normally cos him more than N15,000 per unit and he had already changed this generator part more than 2 times in a year. I had advised him to buy a new one and since I'm an online shopper, I decided to check out the prices of these parts on sites like Aliexpress and Amazon for him. Personally, I don't normally advise people to give money to their mechanics to buy parts for them because that would amount to spending more than the right price on buying spare or replacement parts. Besides, he is just a mechanic and not a merchant and that's why one should first of all check out the right prices of stuff before giving money to people to buy things for you.

I checked out the price of the stuff at Aliexpress and noticed that it was selling for under N6,000 per unit and this was a unit his mechanic was buying for more than N15,000 despite the fact that is was a Tokunbo/used part. He paid me and I helped him buy up to 0 units for him, saving him money from further exploitation by his generator mechanic.

The first thing about Aliexpress which I love so much is the fact that it saves you money. Yes, it really saves you money. Secondly, it allows you to buy new stuff directly from China and you can buy things like electronics, computers and car replacement parts. Most of the items also sold on Aliexpress normally come with free shipping and they do this because most of their shipping is for light items that are normally shipped using postal mail. So, expect your item to delivered to a NIPOST office close to you and it's most likely going to come from China's Postal mail service.

I ordered for the item on Aliexpress, paid with my Nigerian bank issued Visa card and got a notification that the item will be shipped to Nigeria soon. With Aliexpress, it may take some time to receive your item in Nigeria and so I normally recommend them for things you don't immediately need. You just have to wait for about 30 to 60 days depending on the deadline which the seller offers you.

Once the item has been shipped, you will know by checking your order status and you can give it a week or so before using the provided tracking number to track the location of your pacakge. You will be able to track you item from the time it leaves China to the time it gets to Nigeria. I was also able to use the tracking number to know when the item reached Nigeria and then I also confirmed that the item was with NIPOST by the time I checked the tracking number on NIPOST website. Yes, Aliexpress' tracking number also works on NIPOST website and you would see this one the item has arrived Nigeria within about 30 days.

Once my item has been received by a NIPOST office close to my Local government, I got a note from NIPOST that I have a package to collect. The note contained the exact tracking number on my Aliexpress order and so this made me know that the package has indeed arrived. The next step then was to visit the NIPOST office to collect my package since they don't normally deliver items such as these. It seems NIPOST only delivers letters and not parcels.

When I went to NIPOST office to collect my package, I went with my National ID card and also a photocopy which I submitted along with the Note containing my tracking number to the package distribution officer. He checked my package and then gave it to me. Then, I didn't have to pay any handling charge for collecting my Aliexpress parcel but it seems that they've recently introduced a handling charge of N500 per package.

Once I've received the package, the next step was to log into my Aliexpress account and went to orders to confirm that I've received the package, I guess that would give the seller a good rating and also encourage hims to keep doing business with me.

Aliexpress is a good place for Nigerians to shop for a lot of things online. The only draw back is the slow delivery time that takes about 30 days but it really saves you money and you'd also get to buy a lot of new stuff. Forget all these Used items that are now sold in Nigeria. Buy it new from Aliexpress and for a lot cheaper.

Shop on Aliexpress