The point is you can get it the next day on Prime. You're paying for availability (between 1.8x, 2.2x markup), and ease of sending a product back should it not match your expectations.

Edit: also, big brands like Aukey have stock available next to you, so there's only one middle-man (Amazon), and it handles the logistics, so it's not like it's doing nothing…

I recently moved to Spain from Canada, and have pretty much bought everything on AliExpress. They’re making a big push into Spain and most things are available with 10 day delivery. It’s not Amazon prime quick, but it’s worth it for the savings. AliExpress would take 2-3 months to get to Canada.

And you also have some products located in EU and ES warehouses that arrive very quickly. They have this "AliExpress Plaza" which is products located in Spain .

You know? I don't get your obsession with same/next-day delivery. Besides that, my first shopping on Aliexpress involved some microcontroller boards which I've ordered between 3 and 4AM in my local german time, after long searching. Clicked on some fast delivery option for a dozen EURos more, because it didn't matter, compared to what they would have cost elsewhere. Went to bed, next day passed with no thought about delivery, because I expected it to be about 3 days at best, probably a week. Then the next noon the postman rang my bell. That was unexepected. Shenzen->Hamburg in about 30hrs. And no, wasn't local fulfilment. Got all the stamps from customs, and whatnot else. I'd say that is fast enough, even EXCELLENT!

I have a surprise for you if you think AliExpress sellers are not middlemen. Even the local Taobao, JD, and Pinduoduo are mostly professional sellers. D2C is on the rise, but still relatively rare in China. Ecommerce is extremely competitive and specialized here.

Can you expand in how the middlemen work in China in regards to factories and the platforms?

You go to a company saying "we sell your wares on Amazon.com," and sign a contract. Your goods come in from one end, cash comes out on another.

Usually that's all

If the guy sucks, you go to another one.

You can see a company called Ugreen, which ended up with multiple "official stores" on online marketplaces this way.

Contract enforcement in China is of course non-existent. It's good if you manage to get a prominent handle for your own brand, in worst case somebody else can do it for you!

I know a man who regularly have to smack pretender "official stores" of his brand few times a year.

This also works the other way around, somebody with a vicious lawyer can coerce Alibaba, or JD into handing your (likely well doing) online store to them on a claim that you don't own your own brand name.

Factories aren't on Ali. English speaking businesses that but from factories are.

Then it's at least one middleman less.

But if you go to the manufacturer directly, you will have to buy in bulk.

And in the case of Alibaba, be registered as a business, not an individual.

I think I bought this Switch case from AliExpress that was listed on Amazon for like $18 but on AliExpress it was like $6. And if you went on a wholesale site, the same case was there for under $3 if you bought like 500+ units.

What I'm paying for with Amazon (compared to Aliexpress) is easier return/refunds.

The only reason I don't is Prime. When I need something, it's usually in an ASAP timeframe. I'm fairly convinced that Prime is actually what keeps Amazon in business.

AWS and other digital offerings’ profit margins are what Amazon’s valuations are based on.

Otherwise, they are not that different from most other big retailers.

Yeah. The thing is some people think they can buy non- crap from china there. And it is getting really difficult even if you're ready to pay extra.