You’re looking at a seller on AliExpress and something feels off. Maybe the ratings seem too perfect. Maybe the reviews sound generic. Maybe the prices are suspiciously low. Maybe you’re already mid-transaction and starting to wonder if this seller is legitimate.
“Fake seller” can mean different things. Sometimes it’s an outright scammer who never ships anything. Sometimes it’s a seller using fake reviews to appear trustworthy while selling garbage. Sometimes it’s a legitimate seller who uses deceptive tactics. Sometimes it’s a new account created to scam for a few weeks before disappearing.
Here’s what you need to understand: AliExpress has millions of sellers. Most are legitimate, some are mediocre, and some are deliberately fraudulent. The platform’s verification systems are imperfect. Fake sellers slip through. They manipulate ratings. They game the review system. They use psychological tactics to appear trustworthy while planning to scam you.
But they follow patterns. And once you know those patterns, they’re detectable.
Let’s break down what fake sellers actually are, how they operate, how to spot them before you buy, and what to do if you’re already dealing with one.
TL;DR
Fake sellers on AliExpress include: outright scammers who never ship, review manipulators inflating ratings with fake feedback, bait-and-switch operators using stolen photos, and temporary accounts created to scam briefly before disappearing. Spot them through: sudden rating spikes, generic reviews without photos, stores with no history, prices far below competitors, stolen product photos, and evasive communication. Avoid them by checking store age, reading negative reviews carefully, verifying customer photos match listings, and watching for rating manipulation patterns. If you’re already dealing with one: don’t confirm receipt, dispute immediately with evidence, and don’t trust seller promises.
What “Fake Seller” Actually Means (The Four Types)
“Fake seller” isn’t one thing. There are different categories, each with different tactics:
Type 1: The Ghost Seller (Outright Scammer)
What they are: Sellers who have no intention of shipping anything. They collect payments, mark orders as shipped with fake tracking, and disappear or ignore you until buyer protection expires.
Their business model: Create an account, list popular products at attractive prices, collect as many orders as possible in a short window, mark everything as shipped with fake tracking, ignore disputes, cash out before AliExpress catches on, abandon the account.
Lifespan: Usually 2 to 8 weeks before the account gets shut down or abandoned.
Primary tactic: Running out the buyer protection clock with fake tracking and stalling.
How common: Relatively rare because AliExpress does ban accounts that accumulate disputes quickly. But they still exist.
Type 2: The Review Manipulator (Fake Reputation)
What they are: Sellers who might actually ship something, but their ratings and reviews are artificially inflated through manipulation. They appear trustworthy when they’re not.
Their business model: Create or buy positive reviews to appear as a highly-rated seller. Sell low-quality products or inconsistent items. Enough people don’t dispute to stay afloat. When disputes happen, fight aggressively or offer minimal partial refunds.
Lifespan: Can operate for months or years if done carefully.
Primary tactic: Fake reviews offering refunds for 5-star ratings, paid review services, or bot-generated positive feedback.
How common: Very common. This is widespread on AliExpress because review manipulation is hard to detect and enforce.
Type 3: The Bait-and-Switch Artist (Deceptive Marketing)
What they are: Sellers who use professional photos (often stolen from legitimate brands) to make their products look high-quality, then ship cheap knockoffs or completely different items.
Their business model: Attract buyers with beautiful listing photos. Ship whatever cheap inventory they have. Hope buyers either don’t dispute, accept low partial refunds, or can’t prove the mismatch convincingly.
Lifespan: Can operate for months, especially if they occasionally ship acceptable products to maintain some positive reviews.
Primary tactic: Stolen product photography and misleading descriptions.
How common: Extremely common, especially in clothing, electronics, and home goods categories.
Type 4: The Temporary Account (Burn and Churn)
What they are: Brand new accounts created specifically to scam for a short period. They build no reputation, just list popular items, scam as many people as possible, and abandon the account when disputes pile up.
Their business model: Create new account. List in-demand products at competitive prices. Get a few dozen to a few hundred orders. Never ship or ship worthless items. Ignore disputes. Let AliExpress shut them down. Repeat with a new account.
Lifespan: 2 to 6 weeks typically.
Primary tactic: Operating before AliExpress’s automated systems flag them for high dispute rates.
How common: Moderately common. AliExpress tries to prevent new accounts from listing certain products, but scammers find workarounds.
How Fake Sellers Manipulate the System
Understanding their tactics helps you detect them:
Tactic 1: Review Manipulation
Method 1: Refunds for reviews Sellers message buyers after delivery: “Leave a 5-star review and we’ll refund $5 to your PayPal.” This artificially inflates their rating with paid positive reviews.
Method 2: Review exchange services Sellers use third-party services where people get paid to create AliExpress accounts, order products, leave 5-star reviews, and get refunded. These reviews look real but aren’t genuine customer experiences.
Method 3: Bot accounts Some sellers use automated bot accounts to generate generic positive reviews. These reviews are typically short, vague, and posted in clusters.
Method 4: Deleting negative reviews Sellers pressure buyers to delete negative reviews in exchange for partial refunds or replacements. “Remove your review and we’ll send you a free replacement.”
How to detect it:
- Reviews that are all 5-stars with generic text (“great product,” “fast shipping,” “recommend”)
- Sudden spike in reviews all posted in the same time period
- Very few customer photos despite hundreds of reviews
- Reviews that don’t mention specific product features or experiences
- Perfect or near-perfect rating (99%+) on a store with thousands of orders (statistically unlikely without manipulation)
Tactic 2: Stolen Product Photography
How it works: Sellers download high-quality photos from legitimate brand websites, Amazon listings, or other sellers. They use these professional images to make their cheap products look premium.
Why it works: Buyers assume the photos represent what they’ll receive. By the time the cheap version arrives, the seller has already benefited from the attractive listing.
How to detect it:
- Do a reverse image search (Google Images) on product photos
- If the same image appears on multiple AliExpress listings from different sellers, it’s stolen
- If the image appears on brand websites or Amazon, it’s stolen
- Look for watermarks or logos that don’t match the seller’s store
- Compare listing photos to customer photos in reviews (major mismatch = stolen photos)
Tactic 3: Fake Tracking Numbers
How it works: Seller marks the order as shipped and uploads a tracking number. But the tracking is either:
- Completely fake (numbers that don’t exist in any tracking system)
- Real tracking from a different shipment (to a different country or different customer)
- Tracking for an empty envelope or worthless item (generates “delivered” status)
Why it works: Buyers see tracking movement and assume their package is coming. By the time they realize it’s fake, buyer protection has expired or is close to expiring.
How to detect it:
- Tracking shows delivery to a different city/country than yours
- Tracking updates are extremely generic with no specific location details
- Package shows as delivered but weighs only a few grams (too light for the actual product)
- Tracking never enters your country despite weeks passing
- Seller uploaded tracking within minutes of order (suspicious for standard shipping)
Tactic 4: Store Age Manipulation
How it works: Scammers buy or hijack older AliExpress accounts that already have some history and positive feedback. They then start scamming under this “established” account.
Why it works: Buyers check store age and see “opened 2 years ago” and assume the seller is trustworthy.
How to detect it:
- Check the store’s product listing history. If a store that sold electronics for 2 years suddenly only has clothing, that’s suspicious
- Look at the timeline of reviews. If there’s a gap (no reviews for months, then suddenly new reviews), the account might have been purchased
- Check if the store name changed recently (sometimes visible in older reviews)
- Look for sudden changes in seller behavior patterns
The Fake Seller Detection System (Before You Buy)
Use this systematic approach to vet every seller before purchasing:
Checkpoint 1: Store Age and History
What to check:
- When did the store open? (Look for “Store opened” date on seller profile)
- How long have they been actively selling?
Red flags:
- Store opened within the last 3 months (too new, higher risk)
- No visible store history or founding date
- Store claims to be established but has very few total orders
Green flags:
- Store opened 1+ years ago
- Consistent selling history over time
- Gradual growth in orders and reviews (not sudden spikes)
Checkpoint 2: Rating Pattern Analysis
What to check:
- Overall positive feedback percentage
- How ratings have changed over time
- Distribution of star ratings
Red flags:
- Exactly 100% positive or 99.8%+ (statistically improbable without manipulation)
- Sudden jump in rating (was 92%, now 98% in one month)
- Almost all 5-star reviews with very few 4-star or 3-star reviews (real products get some middling reviews)
- Recent rating significantly different from older rating
Green flags:
- 95% to 98% positive (realistic range for good sellers)
- Stable rating over time
- Natural distribution (mostly 5-star, some 4-star, occasional 3-star)
- Rating matches the quality described in reviews
Checkpoint 3: Review Authenticity Check
What to check: Read 20 to 30 reviews, focusing on recent ones and negative ones.
Red flags:
- Generic, vague reviews (“good product,” “great seller,” “recommend”)
- Reviews all sound the same or use similar phrasing
- 50+ reviews posted in the same week
- Reviews mention “received refund” or “seller gave me money” (review manipulation)
- No customer photos despite hundreds of reviews
- Positive reviews contradict customer photos (photos show problems, text is glowing)
Green flags:
- Specific, detailed reviews mentioning product features
- Varied language and writing styles
- Customer photos that match listing photos reasonably well
- Reviews mention both positives and minor negatives (feels balanced)
- Recent reviews are consistent with older reviews
Checkpoint 4: Customer Photo Verification
What to check: Look at photos uploaded by customers in reviews.
Red flags:
- Very few customer photos (or none) despite many reviews
- Customer photos look completely different from listing photos
- Photos show significantly lower quality than advertised
- Photos reveal the product is much smaller, different color, or wrong material
Green flags:
- Many customer photos available
- Photos generally match listing photos
- Minor variations are explained (lighting differences, color variations)
- Photos show the product in real-world use
Checkpoint 5: Negative Review Analysis
What to check: Read the 1-star and 2-star reviews carefully.
Red flags:
- Multiple recent reviews mentioning “scam,” “fake,” “never shipped,” “completely wrong item”
- Complaints about seller being unresponsive or refusing refunds
- Reviews warning others to avoid the seller
- Pattern of serious issues (not just shipping delays, but actual fraud)
Green flags:
- Negative reviews are about minor issues (slow shipping, minor quality variance)
- Seller responds to negative reviews and tries to resolve issues
- Complaints are specific and addressable, not about fraud
- Negative review rate is low (under 5%)
Checkpoint 6: Price Reality Check
What to check: Compare the seller’s prices to other sellers for the same or similar products.
Red flags:
- Prices are 30% to 50% lower than all competitors
- Branded products at prices that are impossibly low
- Price is too good to be true (and it probably is)
Green flags:
- Prices are competitive but within normal range
- Slight variations explained by shipping options or quantity
- Pricing matches the seller’s positioning (budget vs. premium)
Checkpoint 7: Communication Test
What to check: Message the seller with a specific question before buying.
Red flags:
- No response within 24 to 48 hours
- Generic copy-paste response that doesn’t answer your question
- Poor English that makes communication difficult (increases risk of misunderstandings)
- Evasive or vague answers to direct questions
Green flags:
- Response within 24 hours
- Specific, helpful answer to your question
- Professional communication
- Seller seems knowledgeable about their products
Red Flag Combinations (High-Risk Scenarios)
Individual red flags might be explainable. But combinations indicate fake sellers:
Extreme danger combination:
- Store opened within 3 months
- 99%+ positive rating
- Generic reviews with no photos
- Prices 40%+ below competitors
- No response to messages
= Almost certainly a fake seller or scam operation. Avoid completely.
High danger combination:
- Sudden rating spike in past month
- Recent negative reviews mentioning scams
- Customer photos don’t match listing photos
- Seller won’t answer specific questions
= Likely using manipulated reviews and deceptive tactics. High risk.
Moderate danger combination:
- New store (under 6 months)
- Few total orders (under 1,000)
- Limited customer photos
- Price seems too good
= Might be legitimate but unproven. High risk for anything expensive. Only buy if you can afford to lose the money.
During Transaction: Ongoing Monitoring
Even if a seller passed initial vetting, watch for these mid-transaction warning signs:
Red flag: Immediate shipping without processing time Real sellers need 1 to 3 days to process orders. If tracking is uploaded within an hour, it might be pre-made fake tracking.
Red flag: Tracking shows unusual patterns Package supposedly departed your country (backwards routing), tracking stops updating after initial movement, package shows delivered to different location.
Red flag: Seller asks you to do things outside the platform “Pay extra fees via PayPal,” “Confirm receipt now and we’ll send tracking later,” “Close the dispute and we’ll refund you directly.”
Red flag: Seller becomes unresponsive after shipping Initially responsive before purchase, now ignores messages after you’ve paid.
Red flag: Seller pressures you repeatedly Multiple messages asking you to confirm receipt early, close disputes, accept inadequate solutions.
What to Do If You Realize You’re Dealing With a Fake Seller
If you discover mid-transaction that the seller is fake:
If you haven’t received the item yet:
Step 1: Don’t panic, but act quickly You still have buyer protection. Use it.
Step 2: Monitor tracking closely If tracking looks suspicious, screenshot everything as evidence.
Step 3: Don’t extend buyer protection based on seller requests Only extend if tracking legitimately shows the package is in transit.
Step 4: Open a dispute before protection expires Don’t wait until the last day. If you’re within 2 weeks of expiration and the item hasn’t arrived or tracking is fake, dispute now.
Step 5: Upload all evidence Screenshots of fake tracking, evidence of stolen photos, seller communication showing evasiveness.
If you’ve received something wrong or nothing at all:
Step 1: Don’t confirm receipt This is critical. Never confirm until you’re satisfied.
Step 2: Document everything Photos of what arrived (or didn’t), screenshots of the listing, tracking details, all communication.
Step 3: Open a dispute immediately Don’t give the seller a chance to stall. Dispute right away with clear evidence.
Step 4: Request a full refund For fake sellers, don’t negotiate partial refunds. Demand full refund.
Step 5: Don’t trust seller promises If they promise to “make it right” outside the dispute system, ignore them. Keep the dispute open.
Step 6: Escalate quickly If the seller doesn’t respond within 2 to 3 days or responds with inadequate offers, escalate to AliExpress immediately.
If you already confirmed receipt (worst case):
Step 1: Contact AliExpress customer service immediately Explain you were scammed and confirmed receipt under false pretenses.
Step 2: Provide all evidence Show that the seller was fake, that you were deceived, that the item doesn’t match the listing.
Step 3: File a credit card chargeback If AliExpress won’t help, contact your credit card company. Explain fraud, provide evidence, request a chargeback.
Step 4: Leave a detailed negative review Warn other buyers. Be specific about what happened.
How AliExpress Handles Fake Sellers (And Why They Still Exist)
What AliExpress does:
- Monitors dispute rates (accounts with too many disputes get flagged)
- Uses automated systems to detect review manipulation (imperfect)
- Bans accounts that accumulate evidence of fraud
- Requires some verification for new sellers (varies by country)
- Investigates reported sellers (when volume is high enough)
Why fake sellers still exist:
- Millions of sellers make individual policing difficult
- Scammers create new accounts when old ones are banned
- Some buy established accounts to bypass new-seller restrictions
- Review manipulation is hard to detect algorithmically
- Enforcement is reactive (waiting for complaints) not proactive
- International jurisdiction makes legal action difficult
- Profitability of scams incentivizes persistent attempts
The reality: AliExpress is better at handling fake sellers than it was 5 years ago, but the platform’s scale makes complete prevention impossible. Your personal vigilance is more reliable than platform enforcement.
Building Fake Seller Detection Instincts
Over time, you’ll develop intuition for spotting fake sellers:
After 10+ purchases, you’ll recognize:
- What legitimate seller ratings look like vs. manipulated ones
- The “tone” of real reviews vs. fake reviews
- Normal pricing patterns vs. scam pricing
- How real sellers communicate vs. how scammers communicate
After 20+ purchases, you’ll instinctively know:
- Which stores “feel” trustworthy based on subtle cues
- When customer photos confirm or contradict listings
- What typical shipping patterns are for your country
- Which product categories have more fake sellers
After 50+ purchases, you’ll rarely get fooled:
- Fake sellers become obvious within 30 seconds of looking at their store
- You’ll spot review manipulation patterns immediately
- You’ll know which risks are acceptable and which aren’t
How to accelerate learning:
- After each purchase, note what signals were accurate
- When something goes wrong, analyze what you missed
- Read other buyers’ experiences in forums or communities
- Share knowledge with friends who also use AliExpress
Takeaway
Fake sellers on AliExpress are real, but they’re detectable. They follow patterns. They make mistakes. They rely on buyers not doing their homework.
Your defense isn’t hoping AliExpress will protect you (enforcement is imperfect). Your defense is systematic vetting: check store age, analyze rating patterns, read reviews critically, verify customer photos, compare prices, test communication.
Most importantly: trust your instincts. If something feels off, it probably is. There are millions of other sellers. You don’t need to take chances on questionable ones.
The sellers who survive and thrive on AliExpress are legitimate businesses building long-term reputations. They have 95% to 97% ratings (realistic, not perfect), thousands of completed orders, consistent review patterns, customer photos that match listings, and responsive communication.
Find those sellers. Avoid the rest. And when you spot a fake seller, walk away before they get a chance to take your money.