no you said "yuck" to imply there is something disgusting, which considering the end good your buying probably come from the exact same factory is a bit silly, and as i said if you prefer to go directly and accept the longer delivery times then sure thing find a local re-distributer of that stuff, but i wouldn't kid myself that they are somehow better quality or give you improved results (at least in this case with NFC tags, other goods yeah "alibab bad no buy from them"). better customer service and faster delivery times are pretty much the only advantage on this occasionNot really racist. Anything you order from there takes 30+ days to get to you, the order can get confiscated by customs, it can get lost far easier and is far more likely to be fake.
I am very happy to pay double to get the tags 25 times faster, shipping confirmation and the ability to get a refund nearly immediately if something went wrong.
Everyone in the electronics industry (like me) won't touch alibaba with a 10 foot pole attached to a ship
as for avoiding alibaba in general, sure thing you can if you want but if you don't just buy any old crap you are generally ok on there its all just deciding whats more important cost or security and finding a happy middle ground sure i wouldn't go buying high risk items like flash drives off alibaba in bulk as you would just run the risk of getting burnt, but individual components or stuff like NFC tags i wouldn't worry too much about, order it on a credit card if you don't trust them so you can do a chargeback if it never arrives
i guess it really all boils down to are you a re-distributer looking to get stuff as cheap as possible to get a good profit or a end user who just want to feel safe, and yeah i can agree here that most people in this thread should consider themselves end users who just want their stuff as fast and safe as possible
Last edited by gamesquest1,