Is Gearbest legit? It is a well-known internet seller and shipping website that began in 2021 and cater to millions of customers worldwide. Like any other online seller, it ship's its products instantly and promptly within 15 minutes after purchase. If your product is damaged upon receipt, you can either request a return or exchange.
I have never personally ordered from Gearbest, but I am aware that it has many positive feedbacks from satisfied customers. Still, I wondered how long it took them to deliver my parcel and how did they get my package in such good condition in the first place? I checked out their customer service email support, but I still had a lot of unanswered questions so I decided to write an article about it to help others make an informed decision. My main intention is to give my unbiased opinion of the company.
The very first thing I noticed about Gearbest is that it is an extremely reliable online seller. Their website is very professional and all the contact information and pictures are clear and easy to find. I found several email support emails and telephone numbers, so I called them up and spoke with a customer service representative. They were very friendly and I got the impression that they are dedicated to making sure that all their shoppers are fully satisfied and will come back to buy more consumer items from them.
The next thing I looked into was whether or not it was an accredited reseller of consumer electronics in the USA. On their homepage, they claim to be an authorized distributor of Sony, Phillips, Samsung, Apple and other famous brands. On their contact page, they claim to be an authorized partner of local Chinese stores. But on further digging, I could find very few brick and mortar stores that are listed as their customers' local distributors. Their online directory only has two pages, one for general consumers and another for Chinese consumer electronics. So they are not an actual distributor of these specific regions' electronics.
I also wanted to see if they follow through with what they say they will do. On their website, they claim that they will pay you in cash, but will also allow you to use the money you paid them in Chinese currency (Chinglish for you Asians) when you make your purchase. But there are no photos or proof of this, just their word.
From my investigation, this seems to be an over-hyped advertising tactic, at least in my opinion. They do have several listings of Chinese electronic stores for consumers within the USA, but are they all reputable stores? I'm not one hundred percent sure that it's totally legit, because I don't know how the Chinese government deals with foreign companies that operate on American soil, but from what I've seen online, all seem trustworthy.
The other thing I found out about them is that they don't accept credit cards and PayPal as forms of payment for their Chinese consumer products. This makes sense, since many people would like to make a purchase of an item they want to have, but aren't able to. However, if you want to make a purchase, the best way is by using Chinese currency - the RMB. So, if you were wondering if this Chinese e-commerce platform is a scam, you might want to re-consider. At least, for the time being, there doesn't seem to be any scams involving Chinese consumer products. But there might be some unethical business practices and dealings that you should be aware of.
A big red flag that I see with them is that they require security badges for transactions in order to process payments and make purchases. You might think that this would be a problem, but this isn't actually a problem. Since they follow government procedures to screen these individuals, you'll have peace of mind knowing that your sensitive information is protected. In fact, only people who work for the company itself (which I assume is the case) are allowed to have access to the consumer database to perform transactions, and only authorized vendors can have items within the system.