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I wrote a blog entry some while ago about a lighting order I made from China, but it's buried amongst all the other posts now, so I thought I'd start a thread here. My search into ordering lights direct from China came about because I saw a picture of the vibia cosmos pendant lights on Pinterest and was smitten by the lights but not the price. I originally ordered some from one Chinese source that I had been pointed in the direction of, DHGate. This is similar to AliExpress in that it's just a market place for squillions of different sellers. I can't recommend DHGate based on my experience. I originally ordered my lights from them back in June and despite being told 3 times that they had been despatched, they have never arrived. I cancelled the order but was ignored and my payment was released anyway and I'm currently struggling to get a refund, so I wouldn't use them again. On the other hand, my experience of AliExpress has been very positivve. It has a good user interface and, if anything, appears to be cheaper than DHGate. My goods were shipped via air freight but with zero transport costs to me (Chinese companies get massive subsidies from their government for transport costs) and they have arrived just over two weeks later. I'm in possession of one half of the order, the remaining half is with the Post Office delivery office as they hang onto it until you've paid the customs charges, which I did this evening and the final lot will be delivered on Wednesday. The goods I've received so far have been very well packaged with corner reinforcement on the boxes and a wooden framework inside it to protect the pendant light. Hopefully, the others will be as good. Anyhow, I reckon I've saved quite a bit of cash on these and the customs charges weren't onerous at a total of £27.34. Blog update to follow once I've got the complete order and taken photos.