DH Gate purchases...

[NancyJohnson]

Has anyone here actually purchased a bass through DH Gate or these Ali-Baba sites?

I'll admit a fascination with these You Tube Chibson/Chickenbacker unboxing videos; the pre-opening excitement through to the post-unveiling disappointment.

[Newfoundfreedom]

Never heard of DH Gate. I'm assuming it's another Chinese Alibaba clone?

So before the usual kick off about actually daring to suggest buying a copy of something, I've never bought an instrument through Alibaba but I did often used to buy mobile phones. 

The biggest problem is you never know how much you're going to get stung for when it hits customs. 

If it slips through you could get a perfectly useable bass that looks something like your desired shape for a bargain price. 

If it gets stopped and taxed you could end up with a relatively expensive pile of poo. It's too much of a lottery. 

[BassApprentice]

From what I've heard it's very much luck of the draw quality and execution wise. 

 

If you can find a seller that has a good grasp of English then you can maybe communicate what exactly you are looking for otherwise you get what might be a guitar - might be pieces of wood joined together 

[mentalextra]

12 hours ago, Newfoundfreedom said:

The biggest problem is you never know how much you're going to get stung for when it hits customs. 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=17c8-8uTFfQ

Edited June 12, 2019 by mentalextra

[Woodinblack]

Yep - I bought my wrongo from aliexpress

 

[uk_lefty]

I saw them advertising lefty stingrays in a pop up ad a while back. The ad claimed they were genuine, etc. All for £283 or something daft. They had even done the "made in California" sticker on the back of the headstock. I would never buy from one of these, not only because it's a rip off but you just don't know where your money is going, what shady practices may be going on in the factory etc. I know you can say that about many big brands but when the end product is blatantly illegal there's less chance of them having a CSR policy and all the checks you'd expect a supplier to say Tesco to eventually be subject to. You just wonder how many people take a punt like many BC'ers hoping they get something useable and how many genuinely think they're getting something of a good deal from the back door of the factory.

I once bought some sports gear off eBay from Pakistan thinking that's ok it's where all the factories are. On eBay he had one bit of feedback saying FAKE DO NOT USE but loads of good feedback, so was it one person not knowing what they were looking at? Not so. What was supposed to be carbon fibre was a well painted piece of wood using the manufacturers stencils, a blatant inside job at forgery by either one or two of the workers or the factory themselves. I threatened the seller with trading standards and reporting to the brand, I even got offered "fifty genuine Figueroa Armani leather jackets" as compensation!! 😂 I got my money back and reported him anyway. 

[mcnach]

11 hours ago, mentalextra said:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=17c8-8uTFfQ

 

Very interesting.

A while ago I was tempted to get a bass from a seller/builder on AliExpress that had pretty good reviews. I wanted a cheapish 5 string, and after talking to them it was obvious they could get any configuration I wanted, which was key, as what I wanted was not really available elsewhere, and I was willing to take the risk at around £250... at worst I'd get a wall decoration: I'd have to pay a lot more for a Picasso

Their examples showed a Fender logo. I asked for no logo, or to use my own. No problem, they were happy to do that.

In the end, I got cold feet and my interest for a 5-string went away so I never ordered anything... but it showed me that if you want to avoid a blatant counterfeit, you can. Some of those sellers do produce decent stuff (for a budget instrument), but it is risky at many levels. I would not spend money that I cannot afford to lose (although AliExpress customer service is good, light years ahead of eBay!, not sure about DHGate), and just don't go for a straight copy using someone else's logo etc.