Anyone deal with Banggood/Gearbest?

[biggman100]

I was just curious if anyone had any dealings with either of these places as U.S. buyers. If so, what did you think of them? Any complaints? Looking online, they both seem to have a lot of complaints through the BBB, so I'm not sure if they are worth dealing with or not.

 

[Slim1990]

I’ve used Banggood and AliExpress. Shipping can take a while and tracking is pretty much nonexistent. It can be hard to deal with vendors due to language barriers etc. Overall I don’t have much complaints but I also wouldn’t order anything of great value, due to communication and/or dealing with missing/broken shipments. I ordered a set of hex drivers and one of the shafts were broken upon arrival, but could still be used with some locktite. I tried to contact the vendor, didn’t get anywhere so I just gave up and moved on as it was only a few dollars.

 

[WoodiE]

@biggman100 I've purchased from both. They are slow to send, most everything is coming from China but they do eventually make their way here. The quality on a lot of the items can be really hit and miss. Those points aside I haven't had any issues with them.

 

[Jerry-Rigged]

I have bought a lot from Banggood.com. overall I am happy with them. If you shop the internet hard you can find cheaper prices than banggood, but I kind of trust them more than some of the other web shops. For shipping, if you pick the cheapest free shipping, it is very very slow. I will normally spend the 1 or $3 to upgrade shipping and get tracking. This will get it to me normally in about a week sometimes two weeks.

As for gearbest, I have only made one order through them, and I made sure it came out of the USA Warehouse. That was my 3D printer, and I had it in about a week. I do hear more horror stories about non delivers from gearbest then I do from banggood, which is why I shop mostly at banggood even though they are a few dollars more expensive than gearbest on the same items.

 

[Jerry-Rigged]

Also, customer service. If you have an issue with a bang good purchase, you have to be willing to play their version of the customer service game. Do not expect Amazon Prime level service. The banggood customer service game involves taking a video of your issue, even if your item is completely non-responsive, send them the YouTube link, and wait a week or so. Maybe exchange 2 or 10 emails. Also, this is why I always get tracking on my banggood purchases. This way you can prove if it was a non deliver.

If you have the patience to play their customer service game, they will fix your issues. I have had probably half a dozen different issues with different orders from delivery issues, two parts missing, two Dead on Arrival speed controllers. They have always fixed the issue. A few times though, it took a while to get it fixed. 1 missing parts issue that I had involved a back order, so it took several months before I got the replacement parts. Annoying, but they eventually came through.

 

[Slick2500]

I've only ever purchased something from Gearbest once, it was a toy grade remote control tractor for my nephew, it shipped out right away and was at my door in about 2 weeks.

I have made 2 purchases from Banggood over the years. The first time I made a purchase from them I bought a JX servo, it also shipped out right away and was at my door in a week and a half from China. My second purchase was a Hobbywing Max8 combo, it again shipped out right away but either got held up leaving China or in customs here in the States because it took almost 3 weeks to arrive. Both times I used the cheapest shipping option with tracking.

 

[Getmp3s]

Gearbest experience : I had a dead servo and dead radio on a $120 HBX RC buggy, i asked for warranty as it was only a month after purchase, it took about 20 emails back and forth for another month, best i could get out of them for my effort was $20 refund, they outright refused to warranty saying their vendor did not have the parts. Their web site says full 1 year warranty but customer service refused to honor.. A condition of me accepting the $20 refund was that i never can ask for more customer service issues on this product again. Lol.. I was only offered this refund because i threatened to post my lack of warranty fulfillment experience on this forum, so there you have it. No warranty with gearbest but if you want to wage war with their customer service department, eventually you can get some cash back. I was able to buy the replacement parts i needed on AliExpress to get the HBX buggy up and running successfully. I don't recommend buying anything that you would expect a warranty with on gearbest

 

[hamz9561]

I've bought some 3D printer parts (springs, print plate and upgraded extruder) and haven't had any real issues. These were all shipped from the US, however. YMMV.