Aliexpress brings China to Nigeria

The world now buys from China because a lot of manufacturing is done there and this has turned the once impoverished nation into one of the richest countries in the world. Nigerians too are not left out as there are already a lot of things that are being imported from China to Nigeria.

Some Nigerians travel to China to conduct business meetings and close importation deals. Some don't need to travel to China to do that since they can just make a phone call while others are also already seeing an easier way to buy from China - Aliexpress.

Aliexpress is a child of Alibaba - China's e-commerce giant. Aliexpress is a shopping website that has thousands of products listed for mostly retail sale and one good thing about that website is that they deliver worldwide. Some of the items being sold on Aliexpress come with free worldwide shipping as they mostly do this by postal mail which makes it cheaper.

Aliexpress has opened up a portal that connects Nigeria to China such that as long as Nigerian have the need to buy something and China has the products already at low prices, the relationship keeps growing stronger.

How Aliexpress works is that it's a portal that brings buyers and sellers together by allowing Chinese merchants to list their products on the site and then allowing online shoppers to buy safely from the website by making payments to Aliexpress' escrow account after which the seller is expected to ship the ordered items to the buyer's address.

A wide variety of items that I've purchased on Aliexpress come with free shipping to Nigeria and this is apart from the fact the the order itself did really come at a good price. Do items sold on Aliexpress come with low quality? Well, not all of them but by the time you get to deal with a couple of sellers and read the buyer feedback, you'll be able to separate low quality sellers from high quality ones.

When the buyer pays into the escrow account, the money will be held by Aliexpress on behalf of the seller and for the security of the buyer either until he confirms that he has received the goods or before the buyer's protection period expires. Aliexpress' buyer protection period protects buyers from being defrauded by sellers and guarantees a full refund of their money in case the seller doesn't deliver items or delivers an item that is different from what was initially offered. There is normally a time frame during which this buyer's protection remains active and buyers are free to raise disputes to Aliexpress within the period it is active.

Aliexpress makes it easy for Nigerians to buy from China by offering a lot of useful items for cheap and also delivering or shipping them by using the affordable postal mail service although some merchants also offer buyers the ability to use a faster mail delivery service provider such as DHL or Fedex.

There are lots of Nigeriasn already saving money by shopping for several items on Aliexpress without the need to travel to China. Some of the things they buy on Aliexpress include wedding rings, gowns, suits, laptops, mobile phones, solar chargers and so on. Most of the items which are readily sold and delivered to Nigeria from China through Aliexpress are items that are light and can be shipped as parcels through postal mail. You can also buy light car parts and accessories from China through the site but it's mostly in small quantities. If you are thinking of going for wholesale quantities, you can try wholesale trading sites like Alibaba.

When an order is placed on Aliexpress by a Nigerian buyer, the next step is for the seller to accept the order and begin to package and ship the item to Nigeria and when it is sent, a tracking number is normally uploaded and displayed on the buyer's order status. With that tracking number, the Nigeria buyer will be able to track the item from China till it gets to Nigeria's postal mail service. When it arrives Nigeria, it can further be tracked to a specific postal office using the NIPOST website.

Aliexpress packages are normally sent to the Postal office closest to the buyer's local government area in Nigeria and when it is available to distribution, NIPOST will normally inform the buyer by means of a notification note containing the tracking number of the order. The buyer will then use the note and a photocopy of his identification card to pickup the package from the NIPOST office.

Aliexpress, unlike America's eBay and Amazon is gaining ground in a lot of countries in Africa such as Nigeria by offering direct shipping to buyers in these countries and I guess that's one of the things that are making China a much richer country than the USA. American companies might need to open up more to Africa and in this way get more customers on board for more sales.

Nigerians have spent millions of Naira on shopping websites like Aliexpress and I don't see it ending any time soon as long as the oil money keeps rolling in, the economy keeps growing, China keeps producing cheap goods and as long as Nigeria remains an import dependent nation.

Is Nigeria being caught in the web of the Chinese dragon? Would Nigerians ever be able to escape the need to buy from China? Only time will tell.

However, I think that the Chinese market has opened a good alternative for Nigerians and Africans inclusive unlike in the past when most of them who were colonized by Europeans used to look West for products. Now, Nigerians and Africans are looking East and China is smiling to the bank.

In the past, most of the products being needed by Nigerians used to be sourced and imported from Western nations but as manufacturing costs increased and the level of trade imbalance grew bigger, Nigerians are now seeking a better refuge in Chinese made goods.

Some would say that Chinese made goods are low quality or sub standard but most Nigerians don't mind since they also come at low prices. Besides, high quality goods are also made in China and that is from where most products sold in Europe and America are exported. So, it basically depends on what the buyer wants or the specifications desired.

Prices for items sold on Aliexpress are mostly listed in US dollars for Nigerian buyers and they can make payment using any of the available globally accepted card brands like Visa and Mastercard. I first used my USD Visa card on Aliexpress and later also tried a Naira Mastercard and they both worked successfully.

There are lots of cool and useful stuff one can find on Aliexpress and this is portal highly recommended for online shoppers. You might just have to wait for at least 30 days to get your item delivered.

Buy from Aliexpress