If buying Android phones, check out AliExpress.

My old phone was stuffed. When I was looking for a new phone, I was prepared to have to increase my budget a fair bit for the new phone. I was reading that DRAM and NAND prices surging so phone brands were raising prices sharply.

I was interested in POCO X8 Pro. Two days after its official launch, I checked out its price on Ali Express (it was not available elsewhere then).

For the spec I was looking for (12GB DRAM + 512GB NAND), the price was $666. It was so much more expensive than my old Redmi :(

Then when I was looking through the Ali Express page. See Pic 1. You could see the discount tab. At the time, there was a bonus from Ali Express. Remember the Chinese e-commerce market is competitive. There are often promotions to boost sales. I clicked through to the discount tab. There was another bonus from the Xiaomi store. Cut and paste the additional code on check out (Pic 2). Lo and behold, I ended up saving as much as $200 on the phone.  Almost the same price as my old Redmi ($450 or so).

Payment was through Paypal (to stack another $20 off). So not really concerned about credit card details etc etc...

Delivery took 3-4 weeks. Tracking was good. It showed when it reached airport in China, cleared custom, arrived in Sydney, then on board for delivery. The phone was delivered ahead of its delivery estimate.

These days I like looking at the Mi.com (AU) website... Checking out the same model on eBay at times as well. Ha I got a good deal (Mi.com price a month later... Pic 4).

OK.... To be fair, the risk is always about if the phone has problems afterwards. With AliExpress, the situation is no worse than if I buy a phone on line from eBay or other online stores. How do I take it back if there is a problem. Answer is bloody hard. I had some dud phones before bought online. I ended up just got another new phone. Guess if you are concerned about warranty, buy a phone from like Samsung, or Apple from the physical retailers to be safe.