Buying from Aliexpress through NIPOST: Before you place your order

A growing number of Nigerians now do their online shopping on Aliexpress and they get most of their packages through Nigeria's Postal Service - NIPOST. One of the reasons why many Nigerians now buy things from Aliexpress is becasue they come with every low prices as some of those items tend to be priced much lower than their local prices at retail stores in Nigeria. Another reason why people buy from Aliexpress is because they have a very large inventory of products which is unrivalled by only a few online shopping giants such as Amazon or eBay.

Aliexpress allows people across the world to buy things from China, the manufacturing giant in Asia. Goods produced in China have already found a good market and have dominated industries in Western Europe and the Americas but now they are also reaching out to Africa with Africa's biggest market being Nigeria.

The thing about Aliexpress is that they do really offer one of the most affordable shipping costs for online shoppers such as those who buy from Nigeria as one doesn't have to pay a high cost just for buying a single or multiple items from China. It's a good online store that allows consumers to buy things at really low retail prices and still be able to have it delivered to their countries through postal mail which helps beat down shipping costs.

Shopping on Aliexpress is something that consumers, retailers and wholesalers tend to find profitable as it removes the need to pay for an airline ticket to China just to buy products. Some people travel to China to buy items but with Aliexpress, they have an option to buy it online and receive it in their country.

My first experience with buying things from Aliexpress from Nigeria was a good one and I didn't have to pay any extra fees just to collect my package at the local NIPOST office but nowadays, the Nigerian Postal service in Nigeria has introduced what we refer to as a handling charge. I guess this is probably their response to increasing orders coming from Aliexpress through their door.

The cost of getting an item from Aliexpress to Nigeria through NIPOST has now been increased by the introdction of handling charges at the post office and so every online shopping should consider this before placing and order on Aliexpress. The only other costs associated with buying at the website is the product cost and the international shipping cost(if any).

Nigerian buyers can reduce their online shopping costs with Aliexpress by buying items in bulk units rather than single units. The handling charge is a flat fee payable for items weighing under 2kg and so it's normally good to check the weight of your items before buying if you are concerned about the total acquisition cost of the item(s).

There are 4 ways I know by which one can reduce his online shopping costs on Aliexpress as a Nigerian resident and these are by :

- Getting USD at a low exchange rate
- Buying from sellers that offer the lowest prices
- Buying items in bulk or wholesale quantities
- Buying from a single seller.

Different sellers on Aliexpress normally ship items differently to NIPOST when sending it to Nigeria and so you may pay multiple handling charges for all those items.

The best cards to use are the Naira cards(Visa or Mastercard) and not the USD cards(Visa or Mastercard) based on my experience since the USD cards normally require that you fund it with USD which you may have to get at the black market at a high rate. Naira cards tend to offer you a more reasonable rate that varies with the daily bank forex rate.

So, when shopping at Aliexpress, don't forget to include the fee you have to pay at NIPOST as a handling charge and I hear that the fee goes higher than N500 if your package is more than 2kg. One may also have to pay custom duties if your item is dutiable but don't worry, it is mostly for items worth a big value and not for small value items.

Buy things from China through Aliexpress