Saturday, April 11, 2020

How to Buy Fake Lego in 2020



I'm reposting this Its-Not-Lego blog post I did way back in 2014 when I first stumbled onto the world of not Lego building block sets, otherwise known as Lego compatible, alternate Lego and downright fake Lego.

I've updated the blog post to reflect what has changed in 2020.  I've also removed all the eBay references, as I feel this is no longer a viable platform to purchase Lego compatible building sets.  I now only use the Aliexpress shopping platform to buy my not Lego sets and minifigures.


Mini-figures




Mini-figures can be bought individually, or in sets of 4, 6 or 8.  You can also buy big figs either in sets or individually.  The knock off minifigure world used to be dominated by Sheng Yuan and Decool, but now the best quality bootleg mini-figures in 2020 are made by Kopf, World Minifigures, Pogo and Xinh.  There are other less known Chinese brands but their quality is questionable.  Some of those brands include Dargo and Koruit.  The most popular themes for minifigures are Superheroes and Star Wars.

If you ever need to find a particular Superhero or Star Wars minifigure, I recommend using the HeroBloks website.  I find it's a great resource in searching for that elusive minifigure.





Building block sets


Building block sets can be bootlegs of older and newer Lego sets, or unique designs by Chinese brands such as Sluban, Enlighten, and Ausini.
Sluban makes a few airplane and city vehicle sets.  Enlighten sets clones some of the older Lego sets like submarines and trains.  Ausini makes their own train series that Lego has not produced.

Examples of knock off Lego sets are Creator and City sets or more recently, Modular buildings and Star Wars themed sets.

The latest block company to enter the foray was Lepin.  They successfully cloned all of the Lego modular buildings and several of the large Star Wars sets.
However, they were shutdown in 2019 when the Chinese authorities clamped down, but since then there have been a number of newer brick brands to hit the scene, namely Sembo, King and Mould King.


Where to buy - Aliexpress


I've been using Aliexpress since early 2014.  Aliexpress is like an online mall where many sellers have virtual storefronts.  You are basically dealing with a seller and not Aliexpress directly, although they will try to mediate disputes.  There's no auction style listings, only fixed price listings.    Some listings will state a minimum quantity that needs to be purchased, because they might sell both retail and wholesale.

Some items will be shipped for free and others will charge for extra shipping.  I don't know why but it takes up to one week for a seller to ship an item, and then it takes over one month for it to arrive.  Aliexpress guarantees shipment within 2 months or 60 days.  If you don't receive your item after that period of time, you can raise a dispute and get your money back.

It's somewhat intimidating for new users because of the plethora of products available.  There's a learning curve to figure out how to filter out the items you are looking for.  Start by browsing the Toys / Blocks category and use the search filters to find things you are looking for.

Be warned that seller ratings and feedback are irrelevant. Do not trust any of the feedback or reviews because they may be bogus.  Even  sellers with great ratings will still try to scam you.  You have to understand that it's buyer beware and ethical behaviour is not always followed on Aliexpress.

You may discover some amazing deals, but even though they are listed, the seller might not actually have any stock.  I have bought items only to find out that the seller lied about having inventory. Sometimes they will give you a fake tracking number and indicated that they shipped it when in fact they didn't.

There is no requirement for a seller to honour an item's price.  They might decide not to sell you the item because they realized they priced it too low.   Sometimes they try to ask you for more money after you have bought.  If that happens raise a dispute right away.  I tried to file an Aliexpress complaint against the seller, but there are limited complaint categories and if it isn't listed, they will not listen to your complaint.  Seller asking for more money after an item purchase is not considered as fraudulent by Aliexpress.

Your only recourse is to get a refund but you will have to raise a dispute and wait sometimes up to one month to get your money back.

Paypal is not an option for Aliexpress users.  I have purchase protection on my Visa card so I use this as my payment option.




Package Tracking


Most items come with a tracking number but there are two types, one for small packages and one for larger packages.

Small packages are usually sets of mini-figures or items under ten dollars.  The tracking numbers associated with these items consist of ten numeric digits.

I use this website to track packages originating from China.
https://www.17track.net/en

Larger packages come with a different format tracking number, ie: RI586779712CN.  
The first letter will always be R and the last two letters will be CN, sometimes SG or HK. The last number is a check digit to verify the other numbers in the tracking number.

Here's a link to the Blocks category on Aliexpress if you are interested to know what sort of sets are available.

Here are some popular searches for building sets on Aliexpress.


1.  Modular Buildings

2. Technic sets

3. Star Wars


Hope this information has been useful to you.  As always, thanks for visiting Its Not Lego and See you next time!


Sunday, March 22, 2020

Success and Failure Buying Not Lego on Aliexpress in 2019, Part 2



 I made this website to let you know about the latest Lego alternate, knock off and bootleg sets that I find on Aliexpress.  I also want to share with you my personal experiences that I've in using the Aliexpress shopping platform and hope that you find this information useful and helpful.

So I get a lot of questions in my comment section about finding reputable fake Lego sellers on Aliexpress and what I can say is that it's really fluid.  There are some shops/sellers that give great prices and service, only to disappear after a few months.  Then I've had well known fraudster stores that actually shipped me ridiculously cheap bootlego sets, then try to shaft me on the next order.

In this second of two parts blog post, I'm going to share with you, my personal success and failures in dealing with the various sellers and stores I had in the past for July through December of 2019.   

Ok, let's continue!

July 2019 stores - Success


Bicky Toy, Pleasure Shopping, Annaa Store, XingSheng Toy store

July 2019 stores - Failure


None!

August 2019 stores - Success


Buildmoc, Age Of Innocence store, Funtiming store, Dream Toys, Shop4403001, Morefun, Kacuu, Shop4616029, Dhp store

August 2019 stores - Failure


None!

September 2019 stores - Success


Buildmoc, Shop4616029 store, Transing store, Morefun

September 2019 stores - Failure


None!

October 2019 stores - Success


Hero Block, King Bear, Gikids

October 2019 stores - Failure


None!

November 2019 stores - Success


SuperGalio, Moc Bricks, Pengyuyan Store, Jjjkkk store,

November 2019 stores - Failure


Taiyang - never sent
SuperGalio - never sent

December 2019 stores - Success


Hero Block, Baby Cutes store, Changan store, Morefun, Shop5498092, Minifigures Toy store, Toy World store

December 2019 stores - Failure


Dream Toys - item not received
Luckk Toy - item never sent
Varus Store - item never sent

Final Word


In summary, you will find that I had a very small percentage of items that were never shipped or never received.  I received a full refund from Aliexpress after raising a dispute within the allotted timeframe.  The most egregious Aliexpress sellers are the ones that pretend to ship you an item and then give you a fake tracking number which never works.  In those cases, I definitely leave those stores negative feedback so that others can be more wary of dealing with them.

Don't let one or two bad apples on Aliexpress deter you from finding those great not Lego deals.    Hopefully, by me listing out those offending stores and also highlighting the good ones, you'll feel more confident about which stores to deal with.

How about you?  What successes and failures have you had buying not Lego on Aliexpress?  Did you get your money back or did you have lots of problems?  Please share your experiences in the comment box below.  Hope all your Aliexpress transactions are successful!   Don't forget to check out my latest not Lego reviews on my Its-Not-Lego blog and latest minifigure and MOC reviews on my BricksandFigs blog.   And please follow and like my Instagram @itsnotlego!   Bye for now!

Sunday, March 15, 2020

Success and Failure Buying Not Lego on Aliexpress, Part 1



I made this website to let you know about the latest Lego alternate, knock off and bootleg sets that I find on Aliexpress.  I also want to share with you my personal experiences that I've in using the Aliexpress shopping platform and hope that you find this information useful and helpful.

Firstly I want to say that it makes me really happy to see all the great comments on my blog.  Thank you so much guys!

So I get a lot of questions in my comment section about finding reputable fake Lego sellers on Aliexpress and what I can say is that it's really fluid.  There are some shops/sellers that give great prices and service, only to disappear after a few months.  Then I've had well known fraudster stores that actually shipped me ridiculously cheap bootlego sets, then try to shaft me on the next order. Yeah, I'm talking about you Super Galio store!

In this blog post, I'm going to share with you, my personal success and failures in dealing with the various sellers and stores I had in the past year of 2019.   In part 1 of this post, I'll look at the purchases I made between January and June 2019.  I'll make a follow-up post for July through December of last year (aka, part 2), coming soon!

Here we go!

January 2019 stores - Success


Hunting Fun, H&H Block, Goldtoys, Jile Blocks, Morefun, Bricks Minifigs, Yuwan Toys, MilkMilk, Bawelo

January 2019 stores - Failure


Shop368008 - did not ship

February 2019 stores - Success


Jjbxin, Museum, Meoa, Stzhou, Kacuu, Shop4380041, Morefun

February 2019 stores - Failure


Timerobot - cancelled

March 2019 stores - Success


Heroblocks, Eurobricks, GiftedMonkey, Selina, LpgoToy, Bricks Artwork, Morefun, Jile Blocks, Lixiang Toys, Bricks Minifigure, Toynbee

March 2019 stores - Failure


Aliexpress 2.0 - item not received
9886Bai - item not received
Hero Blocks - item not received

April 2019 stores - Success


Puzzles and Toys, Shop4403001, Selina

April 2019 stores - Failure


Hero Blocks - item not received

May 2019 stores - Success


Chinatown store, Puzzles and Toys, Jile Blocks, Buildmoc Store, Shop4397045, Beoutdoor, Baktoy, Irtoys, Shop3616098

May 2019 stores - Failure


Nin Blocks - item not received
Lpgo Toys - item not received

June 2019 stores - Success


City Toy, Buildmoc store, Dream Toys, Beoutdoor, Big Cabbage, Shop4403001, Toynbee Store, Bicky Toy, Iloveblock, Moc Bricks

June 2019 stores - Failure


Dream Toys - wrong colour sent

Final Word


As you can see, I've dealt with quite a few stores on Aliexpress, and there are some that I can say are pretty good like BuildMoc, Jile Blocks, Morefun and Puzzles and Toys, just to name a few.  I've also had mixed results with Hero Blocks, Dream Toys, and Lpgo Toys.  Will that stop me from using them again?  Probably not, because I did have some success with them at one point and maybe the item got lost in transit, we'll never know.

Just wanted to say in all the failed cases above where the item was not sent, not received or wrong item, I received a full refund from Aliexpress after raising a dispute within the allotted timeframe.  It takes awhile, but with persistence, you do get your money back.

How about you?  What successes and failures have you had buying not Lego on Aliexpress?  Did you get your money back or did you have lots of problems?  Please share your experiences in the comment box below.  Hope all your Aliexpress transactions are successful!   Don't forget to check out my latest not Lego reviews on my Its-Not-Lego blog and latest minifigure and MOC reviews on my BricksandFigs blog.   And please follow and like my Instagram @itsnotlego!   Bye for now!

Latest update:  I've had people contact me requesting links to the stores I mentioned, so here they are in no particular order:

BuildMoc store

Morefun store

Big Cabbage

Puzzles and Toys

Jile Blocks