Not sure what you mean. Could you be confused by taobao?

 

I'm sorry you're correct. Taobao.

Is aliexpress similar to Taobao or is it more like showz?

 

AliExpress is more like ebay (minus auctions), search for anything and everything through different sellers and buy. ShowZ is a dedicated store for bots/figures that does their own thing. On ShowZ what you see is what you pay, but AliExpress you'll have various shipping and tax.

 

Where will you see the shipping and taxes in advance? Should I assume various products means various shippers and thus rather than 1 shipping fee, instead I'll have to pay multiple shipping fees for each item? What's the likelihood that something I order won't arrive? What's a ball park estimate time frame for shipping 1 month? 2 months?

 

A lot of the shipping will show on the list of items when you search for something. I have seen a number of items that don't show whether it's free or has a charge, but when you click on the item there is shipping in the details. It also depends on the item because AliExpress allows a seller to use one listing to sell multiple items which can be confusing sometimes because quite often it displays the most expensive item but with the cheapest items price, maybe a tactic to draw you in. If you buy multiple items even from the same seller, the shipping charges tend to stack up instead of giving you a cheaper combined shipping unless the seller offers a combined rate or AliExpress offers some kind of promo. The tax will show when you add to cart and click checkout. Unlike some sites/stores that make you go through 4 to 5 pages before seeing the total, it's simple with AliExpress, so I recommend to just add and checkout to see what the total would be.

Personally I've never had a problem receiving anything from the sellers I've bought from there. AliExpress holds the funds til the buyer receives the item which is more of a safeguard. Ship times that I've had were all about 1 month, sometimes quicker if they immediately ship but most of what I've bought has had about a 3 to 5 day period before seeing shipping, which happens at a lot of stores like ShowZ, Bombusbee, Terry's etc so I'm used to it. There is a thread with reputable sellers so if you question a seller/item, you can see what you're in for. Overall AliExpress is a good place to shop.

 

F**k, they still have it. At $199, do I want this or the Jinbao knockoff? I hear good things about Jinbaos's, and I must have watched emgo's videos a thousand times, but I can't decide. Anyone have any input?

 

What is the other one you are compared with Jinbao KO? Sorry I didn't follow this post

 

Sorry, my bad. I thought the original Gravity Builder was long gone, but turns out BBTS still have it in stock ("GT-99DX ReBuilder with Golden Pistol"), for 199 shiny american dollars. I have a JB ko ordered from aliexpress, but I could still cancel it and order an original instead. I don't want both, I don't think.

 

But you are in Norway, the shipping to Europe from US will be a monster for such a big set.

 

Erm, well, $67. Shipping for the JB from China is about $32. Shipping plus the sales tax on import works out to about $80 more for the GT than the JB.

 

I have both.

The original Gravity Builder with the official upgrade kit. It’s stylized, but that’s why I like it. In terms of size and aesthetic, it fits with CHUG or 3P/CHUGsterpiece:

The JB OSKO with LikeToys upgrade kit is significantly larger (MP-scaled). It’s much more G1, but with excellent real-world vehicle details and design cues:

So it really just depends on what you’re after in terms of aesthetic and scale.

 

That's really cool! I don't know that I'm after a specific aesthetic; I don't have space for that. I used to, (and I tried to do displays, like a CHUG shelf arranged by color) but now I just have two shelves, so it's not going to be a display as much as it is just a bunch of robots on a shelf (I used to know a guy who does museum displays for a living, and he said there's a big difference between just a bunch of cool stuff in a display case and a proper museum display; I'm going for the former, more or less). I have one shelf already:


And another I've cleared of boardgames:


So there's going a Devastator in there instead of Hercules, because I hate him (he used to be paired with Feral Rex, way back when, who I also hated, but fortunately someone else liked him, so he was possible to sell, unlike Hercie).