What is going on with Aliexpress Bundle Deals?

I buy a reasonable amount of crap from Aliexpress. If I need something, but not in a hurry, Aliexpress is usually my first or second choice. It's actually become a bit of a personal challenge to get the best possible deal on Aliexpress, often just to save a matter of cents.

They have a couple of buying options that can get things here (Australia) in less than two weeks and with free delivery. Items are mostly significantly less than buying locally, and many items on eBay come from China anyway and take the same amount of time.

One of the buying options is "Choice" where you get free shipping if you buy a minimum of AUD $15.00, otherwise shipping is $2.99. You also get your order within something like two weeks or they offer a small credit. My orders have always made it on time.

Choice is usually a consistent buying experience, although I have noticed that sometimes I find an unusually good deal on a product and add it to my cart, but if I don't checkout at that time, by the next day it is no longer available. I guess that makes sense if it's a great deal, but it just seems odd that I happen to find this great deal the first time looking for the product and then it disappears.

The other good buying option is "Bundle Deals". The delivery time is the same and shipping is free if you buy three or more items, even if the items are $1 or $2. You can also usually save another $2.50 if you buy six items at the same time.

But there is some weirdness with Bundle Deals. Firstly, like all Aliexpress prices, GST (Goods and Services Tax) is not included in the advertised prices and is added on at checkout time. But with Bundle Deals, the GST is not the usual 10% of the advertised price.

For example, I recently had an order for $17.17. The GST should have been 10% which would equal $1.71, but instead Aliexpress changed $3.62 – which is 21%! But sometimes it's more and sometimes it's less.

I've tried to work out how they calculate this. I've checked against the crossed-out usual price and I've checked against the price less discounts and the usual shipping cost, but nothing makes sense.



Even their help for the tax amount clearly states that they collect 10%.

The other weirdness relates to price fluctuations. Many if not most prices on Aliexpress tend to fluctuate a little and appear to be adjusted at least once or twice a day. But Bundle Deal prices fluctuate a LOT.

It's almost as if there is some marketing at work, although I'm not sure. You see a good price and you add the item to your cart, but you don't checkout. The next you come back and the price has gone up by 10%, but you still don't checkout. And then you come back later and it's gone up even more.

I've watched items go from $15 to $25 in the space of a couple of days. I've followed the AUD to Yuan exchange rate at the same time and although I have sometimes noticed a connection, the exchange rate change has never been as much as some of these extreme price fluctuations.

I've also checked that the prices I am seeing are the same as what are being shown to others, and unless there are some real sneaky tracking tactics going on, they are the same.

The strange thing is that at the same time, sometimes some prices go up and some go down.

Let me know if you have had similar experiences with Aliexpress or can explain any of this.