AliExpress Shipping Method Comparator — Cost × Speed × Customs

We built an editorial table from courier-aggregator statistics and AliExpress help pages: Choice is fast-ish free consolidated shipping with VAT usually prepaid on Gulf lanes; Standard is tracked and middle-of-the-road; economy is cheapest, slowest and highest customs risk because it is unbrokered post; express (DHL and friends) is fastest but the courier clears customs itself and bills duties plus a brokerage fee on delivery. We min–max normalise cost and days across the four options and blend them by your priority (cheapest 80/20, fastest 20/80, balanced 50/50), subtracting customs-risk and limited-availability penalties — so “free” and “fastest” don’t automatically win.

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   Step 1: pick destination and price

   The country changes the days (the Gulf is faster via consolidated lanes, North Africa slower) and availability: Choice is limited outside the Gulf.

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   Step 2: choose your priority

   Cheapest, fastest or balanced — the ranking and each method’s score shift with it.

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   Step 3: read the ranked table

   Each method shows its shipping-cost band, arrival days (median to realistic worst case), who clears customs and what may be billed on delivery, and the estimated total excluding duties.