Selling gadgets (like smartphone) from Aliexpress, feasible or bad idea?

Delivery time will te slow. Returns will be very hard to deal with. And about Xiaomi, don't forget that every Google service is blocked, so you need to root them and install a fresh android. This could be a problem. Xiaomi phones can't be sold outside China as well, if I remember correctly, so there could be legal issues as well.

I have considered doing something similar myself, but in the end decided not to. Too many problems.

You can sell anything really, as long as there is a market. That said, you need to do your homework first. Ask yourself:

1. Are there people who'll buy the phones? A bit of Googling told me Xiaomi is very popular in Asia, but not so much in Western countries.
2. If you find a market for the phone outside Asia, is there anyone else selling the same phone/gadgets? If there are several competitors, people are making money. If you can't find a competitor, most likely there's no money to be made. OR it's a goldmine and you'll rake in boatloads of cash.
3. Will the sellers handle the deliveries and accept returns? Try and find some who do because that will save you lots of headaches.
4. Take a look at this website: http://startupbros.com

DISCLAIMER: AM IN NO WAY AFFLIATED TO STARTUP BROS. But I find their opinions quite informative.

Hope that helps

One of the posters above me has cited legal concerns. Since I'm not familiar with the brand, I'm not qualified to comment on that.

But, I would say that dropshipping, in its very essence, is not the best business idea. E-commerce works best if you have the inventory with you.

If you drop ship, you won't have control over the following:
1. Delivery time of the product
2. Quality of the product
3. Pre-sale questions about questions only the person who's familiar with the inventory could answer

Furthermore, if there are refunds, which is more likely if your source decided to pull one over you and deliver bad products, you'll end up with lost time and resources, not to mention the stress.

Aliexpress is a great platform, but there is a reason the big guys buy in bulk, take control of the inventory, and deliver themselves. To be honest, that's the best way to ensure that your customers come back to your store (repeat customers are the life of any business after all), and you make a decent profit.

If you've done your market research, and you feel this product would sell, I'd highly recommend having the products delivered to you before you sell them. If you have the budget, that is. E-commerce is a great business model, but it is not one that can be ethically started with a low startup cost.

AliExpress has the e-packet option on some of their products, which expedites the shipping portion.

There are some suppliers stating that google service is installed (MIUI global rom is installed) so I dunno, but thank you for pointing that out.

I see. Thank you

That's what I'm worrying but buying my own inventory would entail high start up costs probably more than $1,000

Buy some of what you want to sell and check the quality.

al

I would highly advise against selling electronics you purchase and drop ship from Aliexpress.
Too much of a risk, not enough reward. Refunds galore.

Here are two links on dropshipping that you might find interesting:

The Ultimate Guide to AliExpress Dropshipping (January, 2017)

https://www.oberlo.com/blog/aliexpre...hipping-guide/

The Definitive Guide to Dropshipping with AliExpress

https://www.shopify.com/blog/1176071...ith-aliexpress

Hope you find it useful. Good luck!

Timothy