Who Bears the Cost of AliExpress Logistics?

Who Bears the Cost of AliExpress Logistics?

In today's thriving e-commerce landscape, cross-border e-commerce platforms like AliExpress have become an important bridge connecting global consumers and merchants. However, behind this globalization of trade lies a topic worth discussing who should bear the cost of logistics on AliExpress? This not only concerns the balance of interests between buyers and sellers but also directly impacts the healthy operation of the entire cross-border e-commerce ecosystem.

First, let’s start with the basic operating model of AliExpress. As an international e-commerce platform, its core competitiveness lies in providing small businesses and individual sellers with a low-cost opportunity to enter international markets. For these sellers, they often lack the resources to independently handle complex cross-border logistics affairs. By collaborating with multiple logistics companies, AliExpress has built a global logistics network aimed at simplifying logistics processes and reducing operational difficulties. In this context, AliExpress itself plays the role of an integrator, consolidating fragmented logistics services and offering a unified service interface for sellers.

However, this model also brings new challenges-how to reasonably allocate logistics costs? Theoretically, logistics costs can be shared by several parties the platform, the seller, and the buyer. Specifically, as a platform, AliExpress has the responsibility to ensure the quality and efficiency of logistics services while also having the obligation to control costs to maintain competitiveness; sellers need to pay certain logistics fees as part of using the platform's services; as for buyers, they usually see the total price including shipping costs when purchasing goods, meaning they indirectly bear part of the logistics costs.

It is worth noting that in recent years, with increasing market competition and technological advancements, AliExpress has been continuously adjusting its logistics strategies. For example, at the beginning of 2025, AliExpress announced the launch of an upgraded version of its logistics service called Worry-Free Logistics, aiming to further optimize delivery experiences and shorten transportation times. One feature of this service is the introduction of more localized warehousing nodes, enabling goods to reach destination countries or regions more quickly. Despite this, it also means that AliExpress needs to invest more funds in infrastructure construction and technical support.

So, where will these additional costs ultimately be reflected? From the current situation, AliExpress has chosen a relatively balanced approach to address this issue. On one hand, the platform attracts high-quality sellers by improving service quality, thereby increasing overall transaction volume; on the other hand, it moderately raises logistics charges in some regions to offset operational expenses. Of course, such actions are not without controversy. Some sellers have reported that although Worry-Free Logistics has indeed improved shipping speed, the resulting higher costs have placed significant pressure on them. Especially given their already slim profit margins, additional logistics expenditures have undoubtedly increased their burden.

At the same time, the feelings of buyers deserve attention. Given that product prices on AliExpress are generally lower, many consumers are accustomed to enjoying free shipping services. Once there is a noticeable upward trend in shipping costs, it may lead to dissatisfaction and even affect order conversion rates. How to balance the interests of sellers while considering buyer experience has become an urgent problem for AliExpress to solve.

In summary, the distribution of AliExpress logistics costs is not a straightforward answer but rather the result of a complex negotiation among multiple parties. In future development, AliExpress may need to adopt more flexible policies, such as customizing differentiated solutions based on different market demands or exploring new profit models to alleviate pressure from a single channel. Only in this way can true win-win situations be achieved among the platform, sellers, and buyers.