Buying from Alibaba?

[Spectrum]

Anyone done it? any problems, what about tax and imports? its a large metal water feature we are looking at from the far East, I understand that Alibaba is a bit like Amazon, so the price I get quoted should be the price I pay with no nasty surprises, or Iam I being a bit naive. Thanks

[L Austin France]

I've bought several smallish things from them with no problems & no surprises.
Delivery is always prolonged compared to say, Amazon, but always arrived.
I think they have a facility in France for onward delivery to avoid any duties etc.
Good luck with a large metal water feature.

[Polarengineer]

I bought a large heatpump (19kW €2000) via them, I showed concern about transport and duties and the Hong Kong supplier said that they would arrange delivery and duties and that this was included in the price. It turned up about a month later on the doorstep no further charges. Dialogue with the suppliers went very well and I submitted to them my installation piping and wiring diagrams as theirs were not up to scratch. They were very grateful and so was I.

[Loup-garou]

I bought a number of inertia light switches from them. As others say, they took a wee while to arrive but I was very happy with the price and quality of the items.

From memory, it is worth checking where some of their stuff comes from (often recorded as an either/or) as I recall a number of things were potentially sourced from Russia - this may have changed in the last 18 months.