Purchases from AliExpress are being held up, lost or stolen mid-delivery allegedly by our government departments. Last week, we reported that a lot of Pakistanis are facing problems when ordering stuff from AliExpress, which is one of the biggest online marketplaces in the world.
While our initial story was based on a comprehensive ProPakistani survey of AliExpress users in Pakistan, there remained a chance that the issue was not on a countrywide scale.
However, our readers’ votes on the online poll we did clearly indicate that most of the Pakistani shoppers are facing shipping issues, particularly when they’re ordering stuff from AliExpress.
About 73% (over 1,700 individuals) of  the AliExpress shoppers said that they had been facing delivery issues in recent times.
This is by no means a small number and the votes were cast from all across Pakistan. In other words, it strengthens our initial analysis that some ‘force’ is intentionally blocking AliExpress orders after they reach Pakistan.
73% people have faced shipping problems after ordering from AliExpress
The problem isn’t limited to Karachi only. Items which were directly shipped to other cities via air post, have also gone missing after reaching Pakistan. Sadly, there is no single culprit to launch an official complaint against and the problem is seems to be widespread.
The State of ECommerce Industry in Pakistan
Pakistani customers continue to face problems with e-commerce. Our local online market cannot match the product range and cheap prices of AliExpress, which is one of the reasons it is gaining popularity worldwide.
Yet again, we have been left wandering as corruption, lacklustre management, lack of awareness, and absence of an observing authority continue to come in the way of consumer interest in Pakistan.
It has been reported, that customers who regularly ask for refunds for their undelivered orders, end up getting their AliExpress accounts blocked. In this case, it is not the customer’s fault, as they don’t receive their packages.
The postmen report back that the item is delivered, while retaining possession of the item. In simpler words, when a postman gets your package and keeps it for himself, he himself reports that the item has been safely delivered in Pakistan. But the reality is that you never get your hands on it, but when you ask AliExpress for a refund repeatedly, it ends up as a negative point towards your account.
No marks for guessing what happens to an account with way too many negative points.
AliExpress can block your account if you make too many refund requests
A Bad Experience Made Worse
A reader reported that he went to his local post office to inquire about the postmen from the Post Master. The postman who used to deliver items to the readers’ area admitted to ‘misplacing’ the packages. The reader claims to have recovered the items from the postman’s possession later on.
This is just one example of who could be involved in this whole process. We have received multiple reports of customs and post office staff being involved in stealing international packages.
If this trend of missing packages continues, Pakistan could get blacklisted from AliExpress. The authorities have to take notice of this problem and come up with a solution to assist the general public. A bad reputation could also hinder Pakistan’s prospects as a future market for Amazon and eBay.
What You Can Do To Help
We would like our readers to help us locate and identify the regions which are facing the most shipping issues. We would also like to know the types of items which commonly get misplaced.
About 27% of the users do get their order on time, suggesting that there might be certain product types and regions where the shipping problem does not occur.
By filling a small form you can help your fellow citizens solve the problem and locate the culprits in their areas. Click here to take a short survey.
This was bound to happen! Ali Express was ignoring the rules by sending everything as gifts to avoid paying any customs. How can anyone compete? This will continue to stay like this etc and it should!
riiight … while the local market is filled with overpriced CRAP !
salute to your tame logic !
Its not AliExpress who get the benefit of tagging items are gifts, its consumer. Do you want your govt to put custom duties in small items too? Maybe you’ve large pocket but we don’t
Just pointing out that there is a law and a store labeling products as gifts is breaking the law since those are not gifts! Sooner or later this was going to happen! Your moaning won’t make it legal!
I agree when you do something illegal the Postman has every right to steal your stuff. If it isn’t labeled as gift all of a sudden the postman will start delivering your stuff.. Go farhan show these people to abide by the law or else postman wrath will be upon them.
but they don’t have right to just steal it and take home like postmen. you’re saying that if something is labelled as gift postman has right to steal. What are you guys? retards or just pretending to be?
I purchased a cellphone for $87 and I was charged $24 as custom duty. Wow almost 25%.
I never ordered a cellphone from aliexpress but as per Pakistan custom tarrif, any make/model of cellphone is subject to just Rs. 250 custom duty… $24 is way too high
I personally paid 2500 PKR for two phones. No law and order here. It just that satisfies the custom officer :@
Mobile, Laptop, Camera etc all that stuff will charge customes in Pakistan so if you want to order these items online alays get ready for a bribe kind of customs.
farhan ghafoor sahb ham choti choti personal use wali items py tax kyun dain?
Bahi na do! Maina kon sa kaha ha do! Law hay kay aik store sell kar raha hay products and calling it gifts. Sooner or later they are going to be penalized for that!
stealing your stuff is now the new way to penalize someone. Sooner or later the government will start stealing your cars/bikes because you don’t follow the traffic laws. Go Farhan Go.
If you drive a car in Pakistan that has been imported without customs paid, The Government DOES actually impound your car!
You’re saying that if for example, I want to order something, then it should be labelled as gift or not?
Someone mentioned that if you order via registered mail it’s workign fine in the last article http://propakistani.pk/2016/05/10/playing-ugly-all-aliexpress-orders-being-blocked-at-karachi-port/ . I personally received my packages fine as well last week but before that 5-6 packages went missing but since Sellers refund you it doesn’t matter!
As for gift or not I don’t know. Maybe they are blocking packages from china/ali express randomly! was just pointing out how aliexpress was bypassing custom by labeling packages as gifts.
Stores should be panelized. Not WE.
The actual beauty lies in our Religion Islam.
And actual stupidity lies in you. People who hate their own religion and their own country their own family.
well said
No Brother/Sister Because of Islam we dont make rule and say “Allah Qyamat mein poochy ga”
Where are Islamic rules? We r still under British law. U can compare our law with Saudi Arab where Islamic rules are imposed n u can consider crime ratio.
It is not due to competition as many small sellers themselves import from aliexpress and then sell stuff here.
nope, this happens mostly to nonregistered parcels, which cannot be trackedd = customs / postmen ki mojan, jisko jo pasand aiay rakh lo, kon poochay ga
#IslamicRepublic Beauty
This is really a serious matter for our emerging e-commerce market.
Being an Islamic state this is expected.
It has nothing to do with it mate :)
Why such things not happen in India. While our many social norms are same.
it is pseudo islamic thats why this is happening here.
Tujhey Islam se itni hi nafrat hai to India Janey se tujhe kis ne roka hai.ja uder Mata shiri k charno me ja.apney aap ko Muslim show kerta hai tu.apna asal hinduo wala naam likhney se kyo darta hai.
Ignorance is a bliss mate. It might happen there. We live in a third world country with full of corruption.
You have dozens of Muslim countries with nothing like this problem.
Explain that?
so that mean Islam has nothing to do with countries that is called contries law which make the countries to take action Islam give you solutions not it make a automatic action on the law !
I have ordered more than 10 items from AliExpress fortunately received all only 1-2 products took some time but they arrived (in Lahore), seller refunded me for them as it took few more days than the time that seller had promised on website. Only once my parcel was stopped by customs due to high value items, got that cleared after paying taxes. When i went IMO to get my parcel cleared i had a chance to observe their system and after discussion with few employees i understood these points learning my lesson.
Always take caution when ordering from abroad
1. Avoid ordering expensive items thru ordinary or cheap postal services (as they have high chances of getting lost/stolen) + you might end up in IMO clearing your parcel by yourself.
2. If you really want to order something expensive use DHL, UPS, FedEx etc as they clear your parcels from customs on your behalf and later collecting taxes & duties from u or Try to use services like PkShip.com, magiclamp.pk, youpickwebuy.com etc
I would conclude with this, Be ready to pay TAXES on whatever you order. Mostly trouble is with huge or high value items.
Another attempt by ProPakistani to stop buyer to purchase anything from AliExpress and give a chance to shiitty cheezmall. But We all know the truth and we will continue purchasing from AliExpress as I have received 34 out of 35 orders from them in Faisalabad. Another article paid by Cheezmall
You are getting this wrong. We are trying to highlight a problem to get it fixed.
The Beauty of Loyalty of Mr. Aamir lies that he reads and try to respond mostly when questioned.
I dont know him personally but believe me He is not such type of person.
For god sake aamir I know you are right in highlighting this problem but dont publicize is as Pakistan’s failure. It is Pakistan’s postal service failure which is root of all this problem.
Bhai Jan yeh bhes tou chalti rahey gi. Aap yeh batao purana design kab wapis araha hai? Dosra PTCL ne 4mb broadband pe smart tv connection free kar do hai (not app as app is already free) us pe kuch roshni daalien.
Design is ready, bass final QA Chal raha hay.
Is design mai kya kharabi hy? Ye to abhi recently lagaya hy apne.
4mb broadband pe smart tv connection free??? kab kahan? where u got the news? i just know they have app or pc software for smart tv for 4mb users.
Yar ptcl helpline 1236 pe call ki thi, kisi numainday ne confirm kiya tha k 4mb pe ab smart tv connection free de rahey hain just settup box k 5000 dene hain. dosray din jab lagwanay k liye call ki tou dosray representative ne kaha k nahi 4mb pe nahi de rahy. Triple play option hai jis k 2250 charges hain us main 4mb broadband, freedom package aur smart tv included hain. so is liye yahan pe baat ki takay dosray resources se confirm ho. us pehle waley numainday se mainey yeh bhi pocha k bhai yeh kab se free kiya hai tou us ne kaha k kuch hi din huwe hain. mainey kaha kia yeh limited time promotion hai? tou kaha k nahi fihal aisa limited ka nahi bataya gaya.
Well I know these ptcl walasare never clear about anything. Even if they say free they still bill you and you have to get some higher ups involved to fix the issue. I was told free modem exchange on 4mb once but they still billed me and I had to call many times just to get it removed from the bill. But I had to submit bill before.
What does mean of So many back to back articles on AliExpress in recent week? And promoting cheezmall which has total products one can count within 15 minutes.
A xiaomi’s Piston 3 earphone costs around 5$ on AE but on Cheezmall it has a price range more than 3000 I think
ok I think I know why xiaomi is banned from Pakistan. xiaomi like some other chinese phones use same sim2 imei as sim1. So it is not in GSMA approved list. Thats why PTA banned it.
GSM Association IMEI Allocation and Approval Guidelines
GSM Association have the following policy regarding Dual (or Multi) SIM phones:
If each SIM is associated with its own transceiver, then each transceiver/SIM should have its own associated IMEI number. i.e., a dual SIM phone should have 2 IMEI numbers; a three SIM phone should have 3 IMEI numbers etc.
Man, you are an extremist?
Did you ever purchase anything from Ali express?
I have been a victim and paid hefty amount in so called custom duty. And you know the worst part, our custom also bargains and take bribe to release your parcel.
Aamir never asked you to buy from CheezMall, its your choice from where you want to shop.
Read my comment again. I received 34 out of 35 parcels in 3rd largest city Fsd. Because I know which shipment method is good for purchase.
Zafar Abbas Rizvi is right. I’m also an A3 member of AliExpress and I usually get average 80 to 85 percent items. Actually, when I look at my orders history I noticed that the unregistered parcels (Free shipping/Seller Shipping Method) are the ones which mostly lost during shipment. So my stats are like… Received 40% Unregistered items and 95% Registered air mails. I also asked with my local post man, and he also suggested that try to always bring items through registered air mails. I think giving extra 2 to 4 bucks worth for your valuable items.
One last thing worth mentioning here that as I experienced the delivery rate of registered air mails from Banggood.com is 100%. So just try not to use seller’s shipping method or free shipping if you are facing shipment issues.
Aliexpress is not only, I have paid USD$300 tax on my DSLR Camera bought from Ebay.
Agreed. I live in Rawalpindi and have received 20 out of the 22 orders I have placed on AE. The two items lost in transit were small ones that cost less than $5. So, I don’t blame PakPost. I have received many other orders from across the world without any problem. The bottom line is that they are providing us services in an out-dated system of pen, paper, wax, and ropes. They need to be mordernised.
Still they have all record If You go to IMO in GPO, But your parcel must have been a registered one like china or Singapore registered airmail.
Items do go missing and there are problems I have lost a lot of packets from Ali Express but you also have to consider there side of things since the sellers are independent a lot of them dont actually send the items
yes right many sellers even send fake tracking numbers which even dont get updated after “”receiving information”” part.
May b.
Same is the case with ebay !
Always use Registered Post then you will never face problem.
fact is postal services are on the brink due to parcels from China a post man told me but I then went to GPO myself and then saw the same. Pakistani sarkari nokarie walay still opening each and every big parcel weighting it again and then writing contents on paper then on register then re sealing it with postal glue and stamp. In modern trade this slow snail service can’t work. Never in the world this happens not even at out airport. They do open the luggage but it is scanned from the xrays which are powerful enough to see the entire shipment. But for post office they live in dark ages in 1950.
fact is postal services are on the brink due to parcels from China a post man told me but I then went to GPO myself and then saw the same. People there still opening each and every big parcel weighting it again and then writing contents on paper then on register then re sealing it with postal glue and stamp. In modern trade this slow snail service can’t work. Never in the world this happens not even at out airport. They do open the luggage but it is scanned from the x-rays which are powerful enough to see the entire shipment. But for post office they live in dark ages in 1950.
Yep, they opened every item, even a $16 item ox was opened after I received it.
Fact is postal services are on the brink due to parcels from China a post man told me but I then went to GPO myself and then saw the same. People there still opening each and every big parcel weighting it again and then writing contents on paper then on register then re sealing it with postal glue and stamp. In modern trade this slow snail service can’t work. Never in the world this happens not even at out airports. They do open the luggage but it is scanned from the x-rays which are powerful enough to see the entire shipment. But for post office they live in dark ages in 1950 and have no desire to improve. When you pay bribes to get job in govt institutions what else do you expect from a small salary? of-course many will try to get back their bribe and money for their families.
I had ordered around 10 products , just got 5 of them last week, 2 had not been delivered to me after they had been delivered to the International mail office in karachi according to tracking. Upon searching for mail office no from Google inquired about my products they had been in custom’s custody for wanting of duty. One had been cleared without duty for the other i had to go and pay at their office at I.I chundrigar road .
Problem was they didnt notify me by any call etc that it was in their custody, i had to contact them myself, so i think everyone should contact their office for product inquiry if its not delivered to u.
Now waiting for my further items to come
AliExpress please look at the corruption index for Pakistan. Immediately seizes operation in pakistan.
I have ordered the charging port for my samsung tab p7510 yesterday and selected Honk Kong Post Air Mail. The seller has updated with the tracking number. But when I enter the number on Hong kong Post website they say “There is no record on the subject item.” I dont know weather the item is shipped or not. :/
Give it 2-3 days to update in the system. These tracking numbers are sluggish to update. I am sure it has shipped.
Alright. Lets See. Thanks for your comment.
This is a poorly researched article. Seems like the writer never actually bought anything from AE himself.
Seconding the majority here, I have been making purchases from AE for 2 years now and only 1 order got misplaced among 180+ orders. And I got refunded for that.
So asking over 2,000 people about Aliexpress deliveries is not a researched article? Over 1,700 people are wrong in saying that they dont get most packages since Feb?
Sorry who? 1,700 ghost respondents? Right. Now take a look at the comment rest of the comments.
Yeah take a look at the rest of the comments.
For your knowledge your votes don’t count multiple times if you set a certain criteria. These are real votes. Just because people aren’t saying what you are saying means they are wrong?
Over 300 people also said they weren’t facing problem, but of course they seemed real to you.
Learn to accept that there are people in the world with different lives facing different situations. You should be happy you are in a lucky area where this doesnt happen. Just because it didnt happen to you doesnt mean it didnt happen with anyone else.
Or perhaps people like you are lobbying against AliExpress to leave us to the mercy of these local e-garbage sites?!
Are you trolling??? Cuz it looks like it.
When I cannot vote more than once and I dont own PollDaddy. How can I tamper with the votes?
Does it look like I like local online stores? Users dont have anything to worry about except that AliExpress might Pakistan soon. Of course raising such an issue would be wrong until AliExpress bans us.
Get out and ask your postmen about it. This needs to be resolved. Warna in e-stires k pas bhi kuch nahi bachay ga jo khud wahan sai order karwatay hain
I also had a similar bad experience. I started sending the stuff to my cousins in UAE to bring it back home. Either you will not receive it at all or if you will receive it then half or most of the items would be gone.
o bhae kon khabrein de rha hey ye ProPak ko !!
Just a suggestion… why don’t they sign an agreement with Private Courier Companies like TCS, Leopards, OCS etc. atleast they would be a safer option for the consumers.
May be in-transit Insurance is the key factor of Ali Express continuation of order delivery!!!…in Pakistan, this is the secure way of doing business by transferring risk to an insurance company.
Had ordered over 20 items from AliExpress over the span of 5 years and only on one occasion faced the issue of not getting the item. Refunds are easy with AliExpress even if the seller is a cheat but the high percentage ProPakistani editor mentioned on packages being lost is too hard to digest.
How did you conclude 3 out of 4 items are being lost?
As per poll 73% people faced delivery issues. It doesn’t mean 3 out of 4 orders are being misplaced.
Please do not twist facts like other news papers/sites.
I am concerned reader who expect quality work from ProPakistani.
Sadly we don’t see much quality in their work so far.
Do some maths. 73 percent can be rounded off to 3/4. Besides, it was over 75 percent before.
And the title says orders not items.
No it means that 73% of people faced issue in life time.
They didn’t placed one order each if that was the case then your calculations are right.
Yes it is one order per person since the votes were one per person.
No it doesn’t..
Dude do you even Logic? Poll says “Have you faced issues getting deliveries from AliExpress?”.
Lets say I have lost 1 order out of 10. I will click ‘Yes’.
Your analysis doesn’t take account of orders i successfully received.
What kind of twisted logic is that?
Well that’s your mistake if you would say Yes. Because you should say no. “Faced issues with deliveries” means multiple delivery issues not just one. You will get a detailed answer soon once ProPK write on the form which people have filled. There’s a form at the end of this post. It will clarify everything.
My own experience has been that the postoffices which deal with internal mails have started to block packages where they suspect that the contents price is undervalued. I myself received a letter and had to go to Postoffice in chaklala garrison pindi to pay customers, sales tax and other charges which amounted to 50% of the package’s value. So now its no longer cost effective to order online if you typically have to pay 50% of the price in the form of taxes. It to be noted that the custom duty was only 5%, while all other taxes inflate it beyond expectations.
Phr Tamasha shuru. BAHI RECENTLY I HAVE RECEIVED A MOBILE PHONE FROM ALI EXPRESS. Ajj tak koi problem nahi huwe mughe.
My parcel of 5 smartwatches is lost in pakistan
Get the tracking number of your order and call pakpost. Give them tracking number and ask them about the package.
5 dollar sales fake ha.
I’m not going to advise people to import phones or tablets from this method .
Unrealistic article, It;s due to some particular post offices, about 95% of my orders reach to my door step.
i made my account on aliexpress last month and ordered four products just for testing their service. i received two products within 20 days via China Post Registered Air Mail. But i am still waiting for other two products which were shipped by China Post Ordinary Small Packet Plus.
So i think registered mail delivers fast. lets see when remaining two items are delivered.
I have ordered 20 items so far from which 2 of them never reach me in Islamabad. Most of the small packages ordered under china post mail reached me. Most packages i received are not mentioned as gifts, their price can be seen on package. As of my experience if you order through Fedex, DHL or any other paid service you will surely get custom duty note with it. Try not to order electronics from AliExpress because of the recently imposed 40% additional government tax on import on it.
I have ordered about 25 items from Ali Express.. 6 destined for Hyderabad, Pakistan, and the rest for Seoul, South Korea. All of the orders were safely delivered and all were sent as gift packages. The problem is not about sending gifts or evading taxes. If countries like South Korea, Russia and the UK can accomodate Ali Express terms, then Pakistani authorities should also facilitate such shipment of their packages.
If it hasn’t happened to you it doesn’t mean it cant. I have received 30 parcels up till now but that does not mean that other people are not facing problems.
Same problem I am facing.
This is completely wrong. I can assure everybody that neither Aliexpress shipment has any problems nor custom in Pakistan is withholding anything. What you need to do is track your shipment online. The link of Pak Post website to track the international shipments with a tracking number is:
http://ep.gov.pk/track.asp
Write your tracking number and it will show you the status. When you see the entry, “receive item at office of exchange in destination country”, then you need to call the International Mail Office (Karachi or Islamabad). Just call, give them the tracking number and they will tell you the status and further procedure.
I have always received my package in Lahore and Islamabad. No problem with the Pak Post. They are really cooperative people. You need to give them a chance before blaming Pakistan and everything else.
Good, same here
whats the process of complain in this sorta case,like post GPO is responsible?
to Whom we complain any idea.>>????
First track your order online using Pak Post Track website. Then call IMO office after the packet has been received. If the packet is shown as received and you haven’t received it, then you complain to the person in IMO.
IMO?
for south karachi any contact details>??
Check pak post website. They have numbers for all the IMO offices of Pak Post. You can also call Pak Post Help line or customer care complaint number for help.
The articles are highlighting that some e-commerce store could be behind this. They clearly state that people could buy things cheaply from Aliexpress but now they are facing this problem.
The stats mentioned here are from authentic poll which you can check in the previous post.
Aap ko nahi hui leken baqi 1,700 readers ko to hui hai na
proppkistani deleted my comment, lol, clearly indicated that you dont was ali express to be work. Ali express is best website ever, no problem at all on my side. work perfectly, recently received my item on time.
ordered but still not received
USB magnetic Charging Cable
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/9b0dd71e6426bb0ba71de9edceb28517348cb841e747a40e60d8789dd5131df5.jpg
What the hell is this none of my package arrived.. I ordered almost 15things from aliexpress and none of them came.. what to do any suggestions please.. the tracking order stop working after the package arrive at airport..
Aliexpress is not the only portal who put item as gift it is Amazon and Ebay do so same for people and undeinvoicing. I am shopping from Aliexpress last 4 years and almost 400 order has been made I believe only 8 to 10 orders have been lost and which have been refunded sucessfully.
Shopping online in Pakistan is a worst expreince esepcially on “Kaymu” “Yavavo” while “DARAZ” “Shophive” are good portals, rest online pages on facebook are 95% crap as I believe they are buying from Aliexpress and same stuff they are selling on high prices in Pakistan with Facebook pages and other medium too.
Pakistani Customs officials. lower and upper ranks and pakistan postal service officials along with airline personels are responsible. A decent investigation into the matter within the three deptts can easily curb this problem.