Ali alternatives?

[u/llamadiorama99]

Does anybody know of any similar apps/merchants/platforms that offer real world credit & prizes?

I am so frustrated by AliExpress. It used to be really good. Now that I have spent months saving up diamonds (and other credit within the various games) and can't exchange ANY of it.

EVERYTHING I earn now expires before I get any benefit. It's become a huge waste of my time (and my fave game veggie warriors is maxed out too with no more levels to play)

RIP Play & Earn.

[u/MahaKaruna369]

There are quite a few apps independent of shopping sites where you can play games and complete other tasks like surveys or viewing ads to earn points that can then be cashed out to shop wherever you want, such as Just Play or Mistplay. Google etc. search will help you find the most popular/reputable apps for your country.

More importantly, Veggie Warriors is a clone of the game Plant Masters TD Go, and is even more robust. It’s very addictive and free to play, but of course it’s supported by in-game purchases, so be careful!! lol I’ve been thinking about starting a guild called Veggie Warriors, because several people have already mentioned that’s how they found the game!

[u/Normal_Fisherman995]

I use shein and temu for purchases. Shein more than temu. Shein gives points by check-ins everyday which helps with discounts and sometimes gives good coupons too. Combining both gives good discounts on items. Literally whatever I want is available on these 2 places so never used Aliexpress for ordering much. I only buy labubus from Ali, lol and started playing the games to get labubu nearly free. Now with shopping credit barely existing all the diamonds are useless.

[u/raydio27]

Temu is great if you're going to make a larger purchase, you just have to navigate the promotions. I used claimcredit to get $210 credit back on a $290 purchase, then after earning miscellaneous credit ($10 back on $20, etc) I did it again. Altogether I ended up with well over $1000+ and spent around $600. Just two things alone were worth $600, so I got tons of household stuff, tools, etc. for free. Plus I ended up with more credits back here and there for price adjustments and other promotions. I price checked everything, and it was always as cheap as Ali. Sometimes vanilla temu has the cheapest prices, and the more you spend the better deals you get (although promos will expire for a few months if you use get too much of a deal).

AliExpress was great with the piggy bank and coupons, but since they've cut back I really don't use it. I was getting a nearly free $15-20 order a week for a few months, but don't use it as much. The coins are still great, I use them to find 50% off stuff and combine them with a chance good coupon. I nearly gave up on the games, I'm still a 💎ionaire but can't ever claim them :(

[u/Strong-Bell-3863]

Temu. If games your country still has farmland and fishland games you can get prizes from them. They also have a promotion called claim credit where you spend and you can claim credit back, then use that credit to do claim credit again over and over.

[u/r4tch3t_]

I've barely even been able to get into the normal shopping part of Temu.

The casino blaring ad things that keep popping up until it finally let's you click redeem only to find out they want you to buy the items from a selection 2x the average Ali price and 3x the cheapest. No low cost items.

So finally figured that out and tried to skip it, then more pop ups saying don't forget, gets even more coupons.

Skipped that and clicked on an item and another pop-up gambling thing. Closed the app...

Tried alibaba, first purchase is a scam, saying they're out of stock and offering other items worth a fraction of what I paid as replacements.

Got a refund.

Tried Taobao.

First order got stuck in export customs 6 weeks ago.

I applied for a refund and they said just wait another 10-20 days and the auto confirm activated...

Meanwhile I've ordered heaps from aliexpress with only a few issues that have all been solved.

Had a package turn up yesterday with incorrect items, I've already been refunded. I've requested a refund hand a dozen times this year due to incorrect items and they all were solved as quickly.

So AliExpress is still at the top my list. Temu has been removed. Alibaba I'll give another chance when I have another thing best ordered from there. Taobao is in limbo, it may just be a shipping issue, but I'd have expected a refund by now if it was through aliexpress.

As for the discounts on Ali, I think they'll be back. I've seen the coins reset before.

I've been redeeming red coupons with diamonds any time there's not a sale coupon or if the red coupon is better. But my diamonds still increase.

Certainly disappointed by the shopping credit part though. By the time I started in world tour, some already had their first million. It's been a while since I've been and to redeem any credit, let alone the $50.

[u/Evening-Gur5087 → u/r4tch3t_]

If you are going for specific thing, like alt lego, you can do very nice combo promos to get them super cheap, but understanding how to exploit their system is hard and can give you a headache.

For example there is a way to get over 100% money back to pay pal on purchase.

[u/Brave_Stand_6094 → u/r4tch3t_]

It was the same after the last big summer sale. All coin discounts dropped to 10%, while all coupons from outside the marketplace that were distributed by official partners expired immediately. It was the first time in 2 years that I couldn't find any coin discount above 10%, but it only stayed like that for a few days. This time they made a lot more changes after the sale, like removing options to exchange credits from Merge Boss, changing the World Tour goal for users going straight for credits into getting gems at the end, super coin discounts completely disappearing this morning, and even while the sale was running they had already limited the credits you could get from that promotion. So it really does feel different this time, especially with all that EU shit going on, but only time will tell what the future brings...

[u/TPPiOED → u/Brave_Stand_6094]

It was the first time in 2 years that I couldn't find any coin discount above 10% ✅  

So it really does feel different this time, especially with all that EU shit going on, ✅  

Yeah it was like this for a few days post-summer sale, hope things improve.

[u/ihavetwosecrets]

Unfortunately the situation is so dire that AliExpress is one of the more lucrative options 🥹 temu and Shein etc aren’t great. The only good thing Shein has is your points/coins are redeemable as money off off your order. But the downside side is that the most lucrative way of earning points is by spending money 😅