Georgia Man Says He Ordered Drill Online But Only Got Printed Photo of Item: 'This Is Really Bad'

"I just don’t like to get scammed," the man said.

January 28, 2025

A printed photo of a drill is at the center of an alleged scam that left a Georgia man perplexed, to say the absolute least.

In a recent report from regional outlet WTOC, Sylvester Franklin, of Savannah, detailed his decidedly paltry online shopping experience after attempting to get a drill and a pressure washer sent to his home. Back in November, Franklin said, he placed the order in question through AliExpress, ultimately spending around $40 on the would-be drill and $22 on the pressure washer. For the latter, Franklin alleges he received “a screw,” i.e. not a pressure washer.

As for the drill, Franklin, as seen in the video above, says he never received a physical item at all but was instead sent a printed photo showing the drill he thought would soon be in his hands. Speaking on the unfortunate incident, Franklin underscored his commendable disdain for scammers at large.

“This is not good,” Franklin told the local outlet. “This is really bad. All this is bad. Don’t scam nobody. I just don’t like to get scammed. If you spend your money, you wanna get what you paid for.”

As noted in the original report, this isn’t the first time AliExpress has been the subject of criticism, both in Georgia and beyond. The shopping platform is owned by Alibaba, a China-based tech company. In 2021, China fined AliBaba billions, with regulators alleging anti-competition methods were used by the company. By last August, the company had finished a required three-year rectification process in connection with the fine.

For those unfamiliar, AliExpress, in terms of its setup, operates not all that dissimilarly to Amazon, meaning it serves as a marketplace for a slew of individual businesses. This, of course, means the quality of the products being offered can vary greatly, although both platforms have their ardent supporters who would argue that having success as a shopper simply requires learning how to discern the questionable from the legit. As for shipping times and overall ease of use, one could argue that Amazon easily has the upper hand.