Shopping on Aliexpress from Nigeria

Posted by Felix Okoli on Friday April 4, 2014 at 11:54:29:

When it comes to shopping online on a foreign site from Nigeria, Aliexpress.com, a China based website, has proven to be a cool shopping website where people can shop globally for any item and get it shipped to their countries and this includes Nigeria.

One major reason why Nigerians love patronizing Aliexpress is because their products are always cheap and secondly, they ship your product down here in Nigeria, unlike Amazon and eBay who have boycotted most African shoppers.

How do you order for an item on Aliexpress and get it shipped down here to Nigeria?

How to shop on Aliexpress from Nigeria
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1. The first thing you need is a means of making payment. You can apply for and get a Visa or MasterCard from any bank in Nigeria. It can be funded with US dollars or Naira. You should also tell your bank to enable it for online shopping if it is a Naira card. Most USD cards are already enabled for that.

2. The next step then is to visit the Aliexpress and create an account if you haven't registered. While creating an account, choose Nigeria as your country.

3. Log into your account, and choose products you want to buy.

4. Check the specifications before placing your order.

5. Add items to your card and checkout.

6. On checking out, choose your shipping option. They will give you shipping options and prizes of shipping to Nigeria for various couriers such as DHL, UPS, China mail and so on. Slower shipping tends to save costs but it also takes a lot of time before getting to you.

7. When you receive your item, notify Aliexpress so that payment would be issued to the seller.

Some shipping companies take like 7 to 14 days to get your product to Nigeria. The product will be shipped down to Nigeria for you. If sent through the slow mail service, it would be sent to a close NIPOST offic where you will have to go an collect it after you have being notified.

Tips to avoid being scammed
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Aliexpress being a market place where everybody is allowed to showcase and sell their products, there is a probability of getting scammed there. To avoid being scammed

- Buy from customers you have an established relationship with
- Contact the Seller to confirm the availability of product
- Always buy from that a Seller that has positive previews from Buyers
- Take advantage of free shipping if the Seller offers you the option
- Make use of the escrow system where you only pay for product after you receive it.
- Don't send money through western union or other means other than card payments