Many times we receive this comment: why do I get two different prices on AliExpress? When the sales are approaching, we also receive another version very similar to the previous one: why does a price come out before clicking on the ad, and then another price comes out when entering?
That's why we're going to explain to you how AliExpress prices work, what you have to take into account when buying and how to make sure that what you're buying is really what you think. Whether you are a newcomer or already have some experience shopping at this famous website, we recommend you read this guide.
Why are there two different prices on AliExpress?
This is one of the most repeated questions in the blog comments, and the truth is that the answer is quite simple. When we are going to buy a product that has different options (colors, quantities, finishes…) the prices can vary. Let's put ourselves in a situation… we are looking for a dress and suddenly we see something like this:
As you can see, there are two different prices for the dresses on the right. But if we go to the ad, we will see that there are various colors and sizes available. By clicking the color and size, we will end up with the final price of the product. For example, in the following image we have chosen the dress in red and size L, the final price will be US$ 11.40 plus shipping that has not yet been included but is listed below.
In the case of the dress, it is very simple, but on other occasions, it is difficult to differentiate what we are buying, for example when we buy technology. To understand it better, imagine you want to buy this camera: there are two different prices, as we said before if we choose one of the packs we will get the final price. But how do we know what's in each pack? Well, this is a very simple trick that few people know: just leave your mouse over the different options to see what each one includes. In this case, the pack on the right is more expensive because it includes two lenses.
As a personal recommendation after many years of shopping on this website, w also think it is very useful to read the product description well, in these cases the sellers usually put what difference there is between one pack and another. If in doubt, we always have the option of asking the seller before buying to be clear about what we are paying for. If you are still not sure how to contact the seller without buying, we recommend our Guide to contact AliExpress sellers.
And if you are buying from the mobile application, everything works the same, except for the last part: to know what each choice includes, you only have to click on it and a small description will come up directly. As you can see, when you click on the second option, the description will be: “dual-lens”.
Why does one price come out before entering and another price comes out when choosing its features?
This is another question that you ask us a lot on the blog. Well, this usually happens a lot in sales. For example, on the 11.11 promotion page, the products are always shown with the price they will have on the day of the sale, but when they enter it is more expensive because we have to wait until that day to buy (and do so before the stock runs out). It is also possible that the price will change when we add the product to the basket and put our shipping address, as shipping costs are not the same for all countries.
In short, in the end, the price we can trust is the one that comes out at the time of payment. Let's take as an example of the camera we have seen above. If we add it to the basket, we will see that the seller automatically gives us a discount because we spend more than 255.68 euros on purchases, so we are left with 407.01 euros. But as you can see, the store itself also offers several coupons. We recommend you to look at these coupons before you buy, as they can save you a few euros. In this case, as our purchase is of a very high value, it offers us a discount coupon of 4.28 euros that is added to the previous discount.
Therefore, at the end of the €416.42 worth of the camera, we will only pay €402.73. When you already have some experience shopping at AliExpress it is easy to detect these coupons, price changes, discounts… But in the beginning, it is very important to pay attention to each step and check everything so you don't make mistakes.
Why does AliExpress show me a price but charge me more?
Sometimes it is possible that in AliExpress an amount appears at the time of paying for your purchases but a higher amount appears in the payment account. This happens because AliExpress only accepts US dollars, euros, pounds, and rubles. If the currency of your country is none of these, a currency conversion will be made to pay for the purchase and this may carry an associated commission. In addition, some entities also charge for their currency exchange services or for purchases abroad. In any case, it is best to ask the entity that manages your money for the payment details and see what has been charged.
More tips and tricks in our tutorials
At AlixBlog we love to help you with your AliExpress purchases, that's why we have a section with tutorials where you can find more items like this to save money and shop more safely.
What do you think of this guide? Have you learned anything new about this famous website? We'd love to hear from you, so feel free to leave a comment below.