I've been using Ali long before it became mainstream and rate it very highly. And I'm typing this message on a PC built almost entirely out of Aliexpress parts.
But you need to know how to use it and what to buy. You need to understand what you are looking for and ignore all the advertising nonsense.
Some things are of really high quality, others are not worth the price of petrol to take them to the tip.
For carbide-tipped tooling bits, the Huhao brand is top quality. Had their TCT-tipped drill bits and router bits for over a decade of reasonably hard use and they are excellent and about 1/10 price of similar stuff here.
For tct inserts, just look at the specs and buy what you need. Don't just buy the first listing that says they are for woodworking (they might not be or they might be priced at 3x markup because of the way they are marketed). You'll get the same bits from the same factory at 5x-20x price markup here. It's incredible just how greedy some UK vendors can get when re-selling drop-shipped Chinese parts.
And I'm assuming you're making your own handles for them, because, why wouldn't you?
As a rule of thumb, avoid the cheapest and the second cheapest options. If you go for medium-priced stuff, you tend to get a lot more value for your money compared to buying in the UK.
I've bought drill bits in .1 increments and they seem to be of good quality and work just fine. Not much cheaper than buying from Beufort to be honest, but I needed to spend a few more £ to get free shipping from China so added them to my basket. Some of the sheapest drill bits sold on Ali can be unusable.
I've treated myself to a set of ER32 and ER20 collets ("AA" quality, i.e. second best grade, whatever than means) and an MT1-ER20 collet chuck. Haven't used them much, but I can't say anything bad about them so far.
Taps & dies are taps & dies. Cheap & they work.
PS I don't rate most sandpaper, regardless of where it was bought. Most of it is such poor quality these days, I wouldn't care to wipe my butt with it. Just buy a few rolls of professional grade stuff, for example SIA from BND abrasives. At least you'll only cry once - when you're paying for it.
