With AliExpress, my orders never feel like a negotiation. I put stuff in the cart, eventually push the "buy this stuff" button, give them money, and stuff eventually shows up -- just as with other e-commerce sites for decades.

Sometimes it's slower (months), and sometimes it's stupid-fast (a few days), but outside of things like Chinese New Year the sellers generally seem to be very prompt at handling the orders and getting things into the delivery stream.

I've come to expect most things to show up in a couple of weeks (at least here in the States).

I'm not doing anything particularly weird, I don't think. My order history consists of almost entirely of small electronics (sometimes components, sometimes populated PCBs) and 3D printer parts, from dozens of different sellers.