I'm still waiting for the delivery of my 10 kg PETG... and somehow I doubt I will ever get it.
So, am I being scammed, and will I ever see a refund?
SMIC Technologies
The shop (SMIC Technologies) is 'closed for vacation' and doesn't reply. So, I asked AliExpress for a refund. Which... might happen.
Their helpdesk, friendly as ever, told me not to worry, bla bla bla, and initiated a refund request. Will I ever get my money back? Will AliExpress ever get their money back? Who knows...
The shop SMIC Technologies' status is currently shown as:
"Exit platform involve"?
Sounds like they're leaving AliExpress...
... but that's not the case, according to the helpdesk (26.08.2024 approx. 15:00 CET), the shop is 'on leave'.
I have some serious doubts.
The Others
Armed with doubts and the insatiable hunger for cheap filaments I went on a shopping spree, and found suspiciously similar offers... Let me rephrase that. The offers are IDENTICAL.
- https://nl.aliexpress.com/item/1005007595984162.html
- https://nl.aliexpress.com/item/1005007595341557.html
I did try to open a chat with the two above, and you guess what? They're both on vacation. Right.
You know what? Let's have a look at the shops, and see how many reviews were left, and how much feedback those two shops got. Ah, how sweet... they have pretty much the same number of reviews and customer feedback... Fxckxng zero.
Both stores are merely a month old, with a one day difference, and identical contents, and resemble the unreachable SMIC shop a little too much for comfort. I pointed this out to the AliExpress help desk service, but they were confident these are different shops... I think I'll have to add another cynical "yeah, right" in here somewhere...
Well, we'll have to see if SMIC ever returns from their holidays. And I feel fairly confident in my prediction that both the Nova Technology Store and the Thomas Chain Discount Store will soon be unavailable, and indefinitely on holiday.
Honey, I'm baaaaack!
The Nova shop suddenly replied when I asked a silly question... If they had the item in stock, and why the store had no reviews:
... but... they gave exactly the same answer when I asked about the lack of reviews. Duh.
Alternatives
There's nothing to be found at 5.31 per kilogram, convincing me even more these are scammers. But I found plenty of other, more reputable sources. The best price was 7.04 per kilo - which is pretty good, to be honest - though that seller has a few negative reviews related to price manipulation and incomplete shipments. Nothing major, but not a clean sheet either.
- 10 kg Jayo PETG (11 kg, actually, 10x grey) at 65.82 + 11.66 = 77.48 including shipping (7.04 per kilo) - https://nl.aliexpress.com/item/1005006161634102.html
- 10 kg Jayo PETG (5x black, 5x grey) at 81.35 including shipping (8.13 per kilo) - https://nl.aliexpress.com/item/1005007480525829.html
- 10 kg Sunlu PETG (10 black, or 5 white + 5 black) at 85.83 including shipping (8.58 per kilo) - https://nl.aliexpress.com/item/4001317391495.html
- 5 kg Jayo PETG (5.5 kg, actually, 5x grey) at 44.65 + 4.08 = 48.73 (8.86 per kilo) - https://nl.aliexpress.com/item/1005004908443885.html
- 5 kg Sunlu PETG (5 white) at 23.62 + 22.14 = 45.76 including shipping (9.15 per kilo) - https://nl.aliexpress.com/item/1005005915807101.html
- 5 kg Sunlu PETG (blue, red, white, grey, black) at 46.76 including shipping (9.35 per kilo) - https://nl.aliexpress.com/item/1005002120795353.html
- 5 kg Sunlu PETG (5 white, or 2 white + 3 grey) at 47.70 including shipping (9.54 per kilo) - https://nl.aliexpress.com/item/1005006634135363.html
Sunly appears quite active (both as Sunlu and Jayo) with multiple (?) vendors selling different packages. Prices can be all over the place, but you should easily find PLA for around 10 euro per kilo. Note that I am based in the Netherlands, and that the price you find on AliExpress might be much lower (or higher) than mine.
It's a pity that my choice of colors is somewhat restricted. They've either sold out quickly, or never shipped it to Europe in the first place.
I verified the pricing of PLA vs PETG, and it indeed looks like PETG is getting cheaper than PLA. I'm still looking for the cheapest mix-pack of PLA.
What did I buy in the end?
5 kilos of Sunlu orange PETG at roughtly 9 euro per kilo. It's more than enough for its purpose (testing stuff) and will offer some contrast with my build plate collection.
Refund
Yes, AliExpress refunded the full amount. Now... what other scammer can I give my money to...
Continued in...
... Round 2!
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