Is it possible to order xiaomi from aliexpress. Central Russia

This article will focus specifically on resellers, those companies that import smartphones from China, make a markup and sell them here. We are not talking about chain stores; with them and their markup of 100%, everything is clear.

In all cities there are companies that sell Xiaomi smartphones and even provide their warranty on these devices. Unlike popular stores (I think you know very well which stores we are talking about), resellers have lower appetites for markups, but they still exist. On average, the markup is 2-3 thousand rubles for a Xiaomi smartphone up to 10 thousand rubles and more than 3 thousand rubles for other smartphones. But it's not just about the markup. Let's look at all the pitfalls when buying a smartphone "in transition", and also find out all the pros and cons of such a purchase.

Pros.

The smartphone is here and now.

Opportunity to buy a smartphone here and now. I know people who did not want to wait half a month from China for their package to arrive. They wanted to get a smartphone right now. And resellers are a good option. You can drive to the store and in ten minutes be the proud owner of a new device.

Possibility to check the product before purchasing.

In general, Russian Post also has such an opportunity. It's just that not everyone knows about it. But unlike Russian Post, they immediately give you a smartphone, which you can turn on, look at, and if you don’t like something, refuse to purchase. If you buy through Aliexpress, you will have to issue a return Money, wait for this return, in general, waste your time.

But there’s a problem here: if the packaging has been opened, it will be extremely difficult to check whether the smartphone was “used” and whether it is refurbished? To some extent, you are still buying a pig in a poke.

Opportunity to save.

As I already said, buying in a regular chain store smartphone, you are faced with an inadequate markup from the Xiaomi store, which can reach up to 100% of the cost of the smartphone. It is clear that the store must earn money and pay taxes, but in the best case, the markup should be 30-40%, taking into account the 18% tax, where such “greed” comes from, I personally don’t understand.

There is no need to wait two or three weeks and be afraid that the smartphone will not arrive. Remember the story that happened in May 2017, when Smart Orange banned the purchase of Xiaomi smartphones from Aliexpress? For those who don’t know, let me remind you. There is a company called Smart Orange, which is the official distributor of Xiaomi in Russia. She was not satisfied that a large percentage of smartphones go from China to Russia, bypassing official supplies. The distributor decided to block this channel. And then the worst thing happened - parcels with smartphones began to be turned away at customs and many people did not see their smartphones.

But this story is so-so, after a month everything was returned as it was and everyone felt good. In reality, now a very small percentage of parcels do not reach their customers. And mostly people buy smartphones from resellers here so as not to wait for a package from China.

Availability of guarantee. Ha ha ha. Of course it’s a joke, what kind of guarantee are we talking about when you buy a Xiaomi smartphone? I have seen repair reports from many people who repaired smartphones in authorized centers in Moscow. In my opinion, the service center regards any defect in a smartphone as non-warranty.

And if the reseller provides his own repairs, maybe he will do it better? Also unlikely.

Minuses.

Cat in a poke.

Indeed, a very big and fat pig in a poke. Where was the smartphone purchased, how did it get to Russia, was it repaired, was this smartphone returned? You will not be able to get an answer to these questions.

Plus, there is a great chance to buy a “Chinese”, that is, a smartphone that is supplied only for Chinese market. There will be a lot of problems with such a smartphone. In particular, there will be no normal support for the Russian language, frequencies may not match and you will not be able to receive 4G LTE, or maybe you will get a brick when updating your smartphone.

Conclusions.

I believe that it is better to buy a smartphone directly from a seller on Aliexpress. It’s enough to choose a seller who has a lot of reviews, read them, look at the characteristics of Xiaomi, its modification, and firmware version. Yes, it will take longer, you will have to wait two to three weeks for the package to arrive, but it will be much more reliable.

You will already know where this smartphone was purchased, what country it is intended for, what the warranty is for it, and so on. And if something goes wrong, Aliexpress returns the money. Remember, until you have confirmed receipt of the parcel, the seller will not receive your money; it will be held by the site.

By the way, I know many people who bought Xiaomi smartphones in transition and their gadgets work great. So, it all depends on you. If you can check everything before purchasing, then nothing bad will happen.

With the growing popularity of Xiaomi, the number of stores offering its equipment has also increased.

Before buying smart home devices, everyone asks themselves the question: Where is the best place to buy Xiaomi devices and not overpay, but also not be deceived.

Let's look at the most current stores, their pros and cons.

Xiaomi in the Aliexpress store

Perhaps the most popular way purchasing Xiaomi equipment. A huge area with various shops that have their own discounts and promotions.

Probably everyone has bought some small thing from the site at least once. Assortment list is huge, this also applies to Xiaomi technology.

Aliexpress itself does not sell anything, but only represents a platform for different companies and shops. If you enter a query in the main search, it will display a large number of results:

A large selection allows you to find the best deal, but you should not focus only on price. The main indicator of reliability can be considered the store rating, the number of orders and positive reviews. It is also worth paying attention to the packaging of the product, especially if you decide to buy a set of devices:

The goods are sent only after full payment has been made for the goods; you can pay by credit card, QIWI Wallet, WebMoney or Yandex money. After payment, the seller sends the parcel and you just have to wait, usually delivery takes from 2 weeks to a month and a half. Please note that when choosing a delivery method, tracking information is available, then the parcel is assigned a track number that can be tracked on the official website of the Russian Post.

A few words about precautions: when you receive the parcel, be sure to weigh it and carefully examine the packaging for signs of tampering. If everything is in order, take the parcel home. Videotape the opening of the parcel; this can be a decisive factor if what is inside is not what you ordered. Aliexpress acts as a guarantor in the relationship between the seller and the buyer; in case of non-conformity of the goods, you can open a dispute for a partial or full refund.

The disadvantages of this store include long delivery and no warranty for the product.

You can definitely buy on Aliexpress. This is one of the most simple ways order goods in China.

Another Chinese store of various equipment and gadgets. It differs from Aliexpressa in that it is a separate independent platform, i.e. When buying from Aliexpress, the price includes the platform commission and the seller’s commission, but there is no platform commission. This makes it possible to make the price of Xiaomi equipment more acceptable and affordable.

If you are afraid to buy equipment in some unknown store, then feel free to cast aside these doubts. Gearbest recently celebrated its fourth birthday and during all this time the number of buyers from Russia has only grown. But despite this, Russification of the store is done through Google translator, which significantly reduces the quality of online shopping.

In terms of assortment, Gearbest is inferior to Aliexpress, but regarding Xiaomi equipment, the difference is insignificant.

Until recently, prices were noticeably lower than those of competitors, but with increased popularity, prices were on par with similar stores. Before purchasing, it is better to monitor several sites and choose the most attractive price. Also popular on Gearbest are daily discounts on certain products, as well as discount coupons. You can track them on thematic forums and groups in in social networks.

The purchase is made by analogy with the previous store, quite simple and clear. And the shipping is no different.

And then you need to pay attention to the advantage of this store -. This is a huge plus compared to other Chinese stores, and the tech support is courteous and responsive (based on my personal experience, maybe lucky). If you are planning to buy something, compare prices on AliExpress and GearBest, if the price of herbest is more profitable, then feel free to buy here.

Xiaomi in the Chinese store Banggood.com

Available free shipping, but without the ability to track the parcel. You will have to pay an extra couple of dollars for the tracking number (for products that are cheaper than $25). Reviews about delivery can be divided into 2 camps: those who receive delivery in a couple of weeks and those who wait more than a month and a half. Upon receipt of the goods, it is necessary to fully check the functionality of the goods and only then confirm receipt. Buyer protection is noticeably inferior to the Aliexpress system.

If you have complaints about the main Chinese stores and want to try something new, then the store is perfect for this.

Buy Xiaomi on JD.ru

If you are already asking the price of a product, comparing different offers, then you should pay attention to the store.

This is also a fairly old store, it was founded in 2004 and until 2015 it was doing well in the Chinese domestic market. But competition is high and to maintain positions it is necessary to develop. And in 2015 the store goes to Russian market, on a separately purchased domain in the RU zone. It is worth noting that the creators did a good job on localization, although the product names are reminiscent of AliExpress. It was alleged that JD entered into an agreement with Russian Post on expedited delivery, but this did not particularly affect the timing: 7 days for order processing and 40 days for delivery. Basically the same as our competitors.

The assortment and prices are also a plus of the store, although they do not reach Aliexpress.

But technical support, according to reviews, leaves much to be desired. The store also has promotions and coupons, but from time to time there are problems activating them.

Before you buy something valuable, it is better to try to order a small item to check the timing and quality of delivery. You can buy, but only if the price of the product is noticeably lower than other stores.

Buying Xiaomi on Taobao.com through an intermediary

Many of you looked at the prices in RMB on the official store. One yuan costs about 9 Russian rubles, so we look at the price, multiply by 9 and get the cost of the product in rubles. And if to make a purchase in the official Mi.com store you need a Chinese bank card to pay in yuan, then on the Taobao.com website you can pay in rubles using VISA and MASTERCARD cards (payment with a 3.5% commission).

Taobao is an online store similar to Aliexpress, but delivery is carried out only within China, so an intermediary is required for purchase.

If you have a friend in China, then you are very lucky. Without any problems, you can order equipment to his address, and he will send it to you by international mail. If suddenly you do not have such an opportunity, then there are a lot of services on the Internet that act as an intermediary for the Taobao site. We will look at the example of the intermediary site yoybuy.com.

Purchasing principle:

1. You find a product on the Taobao website and copy the link;
2. Paste the link on the intermediary’s website youbay.com and click buy;
3. Select product characteristics and click the "Add to cart" button
4. We pay using one of the available payment methods and wait for the parcel to arrive at the intermediary’s warehouse.
5. After the order arrives at the warehouse, we need to arrange the parcel and select a transport company.
6. We pay the cost of delivery services and wait for the parcel to arrive.

About the cost of delivery, the price is determined for each kilogram, i.e. if your order weighs 200 grams, then you will pay the same as for delivery of 999 grams. So it’s better to arrange parcels for whole kilograms. The approximate cost of delivery can be calculated using the calculator:

Often, buying through an intermediary is more expensive than buying from the same Aliexpress, but if you want to buy a lot of light goods, then it is more profitable to order through an intermediary.

Buy Xiaomi in Moscow in the FoxPox.ru store

If you don’t want to wait for long delivery from China and live in Moscow, then you have an excellent chance to purchase Xiaomi equipment in the FoxPox.ru online store.

A very large selection of devices in stock (more than 600 items), convenient location right in the center of Moscow at the Pushkinskaya metro station (Moscow, Bolshaya Bronnaya St., 23, building 1, office 215) where you can touch any device and check its functionality. Each product comes with a warranty, and if suddenly it has already expired, it is possible to repair the devices.

If you don’t want to go to the store, the store delivers goods throughout Moscow for only 220 rubles.

Purchasing Xiaomi from the official store Mi-shop.com

Not so long ago, or rather in 2016, the Smart Orange company appeared in Russia, which is part of the RDC Group holding.

The first joy of the appearance of an official dealer gave way to disappointment - the assortment is extremely small, at exorbitant prices, which are 2 times higher than Aliexpress.

The decision to ban the import of Xiaomi goods also added negativity. individuals, which was lobbied by one of the owners of the company - Arkady Yashkov (member of the expert council at the Federal Customs Service of Russia). For some time Xiaomi phones actually deployed at customs, but under public pressure this decree was canceled.
But let's put the negative aside, because there are certain advantages: I came to the store, looked and felt the product and immediately bought it. The first impression when I visited the store was a large amount of Xiaomi equipment that you can see in person. TVs, smart devices, but you can only buy phones and related products, everything else was labeled "Coming soon."

Over the past 2 years, the assortment has grown a little, but has not yet come close to the full number of positions. At the time of writing, there were only 21 products in the “Smart Devices” section, and not all of them were in stock.

Buying from the online store Mi-shop.com, or from official outlets retail sales you receive a full guarantee for the purchased product. This is perhaps the main advantage of buying from officials. It’s also nice not to wait a month for the delivery of goods, but to come and buy.

There are also a huge number of other online stores. Prices there are usually 2 times higher than in Chinese stores. But the product may be in stock, which will allow the product to be quickly delivered to the buyer. EPN cashback service, you can read about how to use it in.

Buying Xiaomi is different from buying any other household appliances, a certain amount of experience is required to purchase devices profitably and safely. But let’s hope that the manufacturer and retail stores will work on the quality of their work and the speed of delivery of goods.

Xiaomi Official Store is the official Xiaomi store on Aliexpress, where you can purchase original brand products with a quality guarantee.

Over the course of several years, Xiaomi has been able to become one of the leaders in the list of the best manufacturers of modern mobile devices and other equipment. The constant increase in sales shown in the financial reports indicates high level trust among users of Xiaomi products.

In this store you will find a wide range of Xiaomi products: Cell phones, tablets, laptops, headphones, routers and other products. All of them are conveniently sorted into categories, so you can easily get to the desired section of the Xiaomi Official Store, where you can select a product and place an order.

Xiaomi official store on AliExpress is called Xiaomi Official Store and you can visit it by following the link.

Another nice bonus when purchasing mobile phones from the official Xiaomi store on AliExpress is that some products can be ordered from a warehouse located in Russia. For residents of the Russian Federation, goods are dispatched within 24 hours and delivery will take a few days. Now you won’t have to wait for the phone you ordered from China to arrive in the mail after 30 or more days.

On AliExpress you can find a large number of various sellers who offer to buy Xiaomi products, but all of them are not official. In addition, these stores most often cannot offer customers free warranty repair if the device fails.

IN Xiaomi official store on AliExpress you can buy mobile phones, laptops, Mi Band fitness trackers, TVs and many other types of products from the Chinese manufacturer.

Reviews of the Xiaomi Online Store

The official Xiaomi store was opened on AliExpress in 2010 and has already managed to conquer high rating and trust among clients. To date, the number of reviews on the Xiaomi Official Store has amounted to more than 29,000. and 98.6% of them are positive.

As you can see, the Russian Xiaomi is not going to lower prices for its range, even in comparison with the notorious local retailers and their harsh price tags. Oddly enough, in company salon Redmi Note 3 turned out to be even more expensive than in mobile stores. How can one not remember that a month and a half has already passed since the release of the fourth generation Redmi Note, and in Moscow you can get it from gray trucks for 10-14 thousand, depending on the version.

We don’t see any laptops yet, they will start selling a little later, but now we can already guess how much they will cost. Let’s take the average markup on smartphones as a starting point - we’ll get about a 70% increase in price from unofficial sellers. Xiaomi Mi Notebook Air with a display diagonal of 12.5 inches (Core M3/4 GB/128 GB) today can be bought for an average of 42 thousand rubles. With a markup of about 70%, its price will increase to 71,400 rubles. For that kind of money, you can go for the cool and time-tested HP Elitebook Folio or the obviously more powerful Acer ASPIRE S5-371. Otherwise, save about 8 thousand and buy ASUS ZENBOOK UX305CA.

An even happier fate awaits the Xiaomi Mi Notebook Air with a 13.3-inch diagonal and Intel Core processors. In case of markup of about 70%, the price of the laptop will jump from 70 thousand rubles to 120 thousand. If this happens, I’m ready to meet fans of the brand at the company store and drink in a nearby bar to the peace of the official Xiaomi retail store. Indeed, with this development of events, even Apple MacBook Pro 13, which only the lazy have criticized for its high price, will turn out to be much cheaper.

How many times can a Chinese Xiaomi be repaired for the price difference with the official model?

“Officials” like to flaunt how qualified and fast service, which, they say, cannot be compared with these contractors of yours that Aliexpress offers. In fact, spare parts for exotic models remain in short supply even in Moscow - for example, our colleague (a person with good connections among electronics manufacturers)

Since March 15, 2017, another one has appeared in Russia official distributor, Smart Orange company. It sells Mi equipment and supports users throughout Russia. It sounds good, but not everything is so simple.

What is the problem

A week after the loud announcement and the appearance of the official store, users on social networks complained about the following: Russian customs, by order of Smart Orange, began to unwrap Xiaomi smartphones ordered on sites like Aliexpress and send them back to China.

It is worth noting that we are talking about users with single orders, and not about gray suppliers and delays of entire batches of “gray” products intended for sale in the country and tax evasion.

Such illegal actions were noticed at the customs offices of Yekaterinburg and Orenburg. They have already affected many users who never received their Xiaomi phones from Aliexpress.

How do they explain this?

The Smart Orange company itself has officially confirmed its participation in the “scheme” and explains it as follows:

According to the letter of the Federal Customs Service dated March 15, 2017 and paragraphs. 2 p. 1 art. 313 of the Customs Code of the Customs Union, paragraph 1 of Art. 1515 and paragraph 4 of Art. 1252 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, as well as Article 18 of the Universal Postal Convention, Xiaomi smartphones imported through unauthorized channels are not allowed to be introduced into civil circulation on the territory of the Russian Federation. Recently, cases of suspension by customs authorities of such consignments have become more frequent. The situation also applies to orders from individuals placed on foreign online trading platforms and sent to Russia by post.

The company also calls on all users who are faced with a similar problem to become their customers and buy the same Xiaomi smartphone from them with an additional discount. This is the loyalty program.

What about prices in Russia?

The appearance of an official distributor in the country is an excellent event, which should primarily be aimed at improving service and user support, and secondly, at sales of official products. But Xiaomi fans on social networks noted the high cost of Mi smartphones; some models are sold 2 times more expensive than on Aliexpress.

For example (32 GB), which is sold on Aliexpress for 8-9 thousand rubles in the Smart Orange store, will cost 12,999 rubles. The Mi Max phablet with 32 GB of memory costs 19,900 rubles against the Chinese price of 12-13 thousand. Mi Note 2 - 34,000 rubles versus 25-26 thousand rubles.

How to order a Xiaomi smartphone so that customs does not return it

Users note that the problem specifically affected Xiaomi smartphones; light bulbs, bracelets and other smart gadgets pass through customs without problems. And we note once again that cases have been recorded at customs in Orenburg and EKB. And so, here is a small list of tips on how you can buy Xiaomi on Aliexpress so that customs does not return it.

• ask the seller not to indicate that this is a Xiaomi smartphone (let him indicate Meizu, Bluboo, Venee or any other less popular brand)
• ask the seller not to indicate that this is a smartphone at all (let him write in the declaration that it is a gift, a photo frame, etc.)
• ask the seller to repackage the smartphone in another box so that it cannot be identified, without opening the package
• please do not send to the customs indicated above (although this is difficult)

What will happen to Xiaomi in Russia

The Xiaomi brand is very popular in Russia, Ukraine and other countries. No small merit in this is due to the Chinese stores that sell Mi equipment to the whole world. What will happen now to the Xiaomi brand and products in Russia?

The two main drivers of sales of Xiaomi smartphones are low cost and balanced characteristics. Without one of these components, the meaning of the devices of this brand is lost. There is a very small chance that in Russia users will start buying Xiaomi phones en masse at a double markup; such a scheme simply will not work. Most users will switch to similar smartphones that can be easily ordered from China: Meizu, LeEco, Huawei, Vivo, Oppo and others.

Xiaomi Tech proudly announces its record sales every year; if you compare the numbers, it becomes clear that a large percentage of these sales come from international markets, where the brand is not represented at all. The merit of these sales is precisely Chinese stores with reasonable prices and worldwide delivery, but the manufacturer is usually silent about this in reports.

Thus, depriving Russian users opportunities to order affordable Mi smartphones at Chinese sites, Xiaomi itself will face losses and a drop in global sales. The current situation harms not only ordinary customers, but also the Mi brand.

We hope that Chinese stores will adapt to such conditions and will “whiten up gray products” by simply repackaging Xiaomi phones in regular white boxes, without logos and inscriptions.

Instead of conclusions

Do you remember the times of Redmi 1S, Mi3 and the first Redmi Note with a 5.5-inch HD screen? When all Xiaomi devices were sold in these cute beige boxes made from recycled cardboard. When even while waiting for the parcel there was something pleasant and magical. And when you picked it up at the post office and opened the coveted box, your delight knew no bounds.

Today, the popularity of Xiaomi has made the company highly commercial and this is felt in all aspects. The new products come with a locked bootloader, and the recognizable beige boxes have become featureless white, like Apple's. Today everyone is trying to make money from brand fans by raising prices and cutting off supply routes. But many do not understand what exactly fans want from Xiaomi, since they themselves are not fans.