AliExpress.com

[neilestrick]

Every year I buy about 150 oil bottle pourer spouts to get me through the summer. I always buy stainless steel spouts so they don't corrode. Chrome spouts will eventually corrode with oil, and will corrode very quickly if used for vinegar or dish soap. I usually pay around $1.50 per spout or more, and they are always made in China. So this year I decided to go straight to the source and try an order from AliExpress.com, which is an online sales site for Chinese manufacturers. I know there are moral/ethical/political/patriotic issues with buying from China, but that is not my point for posting this. I'm simply letting people know my experience, and you can make your own decisions on whether or not it's for you. Besides, this forum specifically forbids political discussion. I will say I was very paranoid about the whole thing, so I didn't place a huge order.

I found that there are several suppliers for most products on the web site, and they all have their own pricing and delivery schedules. Most of them say about 2 months for delivery, so it's not quick. I found one that had the spout I wanted with a 3 week delivery, so that's where I placed my order.

My main concern with the whole process was the safety of my credit card information, and not getting the products I ordered. I did a lot of online research, and found that it wasn't any worse than placing an order anywhere else, like buying from eBay. The key is to make sure you use their payment system, and do not every pay through another method that the seller asks for, because that is probably a scam. And just like eBay, there is a system for resolving disputes, and sellers have ratings. I also used a credit card that I knew would let me dispute charges.

So I placed my order, which was for 100 spouts for $54.61, which is 1/3 of the price than I usually pay. The order shipped within a couple days, and arrived today, in just under 3 weeks. The spouts look great, just like they did in the photos. I'm very happy with my purchase.

Again, this isn't an ad for AliExpress, I'm just letting you know how it went for me. You can decide for yourself if it's worth the perceived risk.

[hitchmss]

@neilestrick Im getting ready to place my order for spouts as well, so great timing on this post! I pay the same price, $.54/unit ordered through webrestaurantstore.com. Been buying these pourers for a few years now and they are good quality, solid stainless. The plastic/rubber gaskets are good, but not great; at this price point though, its the best Ive found.

Did the sellers you worked through offer any bulk order discounts? I generally buy them a couple hundred at a time, but would buy them in bigger bulk if the price was right. Would you mind listing the seller's name you worked through? Ive always come across Aliexpress in different shopping excursions in the past, but never went through with it because it kind of seemed like a back alley deal....good to hear you had a good experience!

[neilestrick]

26 minutes ago, hitchmss said:

@neilestrick Im getting ready to place my order for spouts as well, so great timing on this post! I pay the same price, $.54/unit ordered through webrestaurantstore.com. Been buying these pourers for a few years now and they are good quality, solid stainless. The plastic/rubber gaskets are good, but not great; at this price point though, its the best Ive found.

Did the sellers you worked through offer any bulk order discounts? I generally buy them a couple hundred at a time, but would buy them in bigger bulk if the price was right. Would you mind listing the seller's name you worked through? Ive always come across Aliexpress in different shopping excursions in the past, but never went through with it because it kind of seemed like a back alley deal....good to hear you had a good experience!

WebRestaurantstore.com is great. I've ordered from them before, but the spouts I like aren't as cheap. The company I ordered from on AliExpress is WowShine. When I ordered mine, they had several bulk pricing options. Today they don't have that many options unless you want to buy 1000 pieces, but you should be able to find multiple sellers for the spouts you like, and one of them is bound to have bulk pricing. I have always used spouts with real cork in the past, but this time I'm trying out the ones with silicone gaskets. I like them much better than the plastic gaskets, and the spouts I got don't have any plastic or silicone showing when they're on the bottle.

[hitchmss]

@neilestrick Thanks for sharing that info! Ill check out the seller! Yea, 1,000 units would take me about 6-7 years to go through; if the price was right though! I buy corks for my wine stoppers at 5,000 units!

The gaskets on the ones I buy I believe are some kind of plastic, and not silicone; they dont "spring" back out as well after being compressed for a while in the bottle necks. Ill see if I can find the ones you got! I like the idea of silicone better and the cost is about the same as what I pay now!

[DirtRoads]

Looked at my AliExpress account and I've placed 95 orders with various sellers.   I was a platinum buyer last year.      You basically escrow your money until you get the product and give feedback.  I've only had one order that wasn't what I ordered (it was just a mistake) and they replaced it promptly.  I don't see any risks at all ordering here.   Actually I use my bank debit card.   You can use pay pal (at least with some vendors) but it costs more.  I use the Ali pay, that holds your money until you rate the transaction