Has anyone bought a fishing reel from them? Even with the tariffs the prices seem reasonable.

About a year ago before the tariffs really kicked off, I grabbed a zillion for less than $200 because people on here found the deal and posted it. That is my one and only order from them ever and it was perfect. I'm unaware how it is now.

scott

I’ve ordered reel parts etc, no issue other than very slow shipping speeds.

@softwateronly - I just checked, Zillion G (USM made in China) best price is $279 on A/E, includes import duty, and there's a coupon that covers the $16 A/E slow-boat shipping charge.

it makes a lot more sense to buy a JDM reel from Digitaka (made in Japan) - with duty and free Fed-Ex, $260.

I bought one A/E reel I like, at least after modifying it quite a bit - I also like the Aioushi and CDZ champion-ferrule offset grips for round reels and separate rod blades, which are 1/3 the cost of comparable rod grips from Japan. (I mostly don't like A/E rods with one exception, this ferruled-butt rod blade is Japanese)

- mostly, I buy bearings, fasteners, small tools (bits, taps, end-mills), e.g., blue M2.5s on my surf Ambassadeur side plate.

And yes, planning ahead - shipping is slow-boat.

I haven't bought one from Aliexpress, but I've gotten two from Temu. The Seasir Mansory baitcast reel. I bought

the first one last year and was so impressed I bought another one. The brakes are mediocre, but minus that it's

light and good quality. It comes with two spools...a shallow and regular. Only $38 shipped from USA!

Reels in the moderated-word country are gradually getting better with more innovation. The Sabre reel I showed above, which imitates Millionaire CT, shares the drive and multi-disc drag stack (and mag brake?) with the Seasir @Flushdraw mentioned - so much copied from Abu, I was able to use swapped-out drag star from my ZPI Alcance to reduce offset weight.

Japanese Doryu is importing and bench-tuning some of these reels for JDM, here Reply Badger (which led me to the $45 Sabre). This is the best 3" weightless senko reel I have, and the drag is smooth and big range.

AMO is one maker of quality parts, spools, and has gone far enough to make a bench small-frame Ambassadeur clone that swaps parts with Svangsta 2500C. They've also improved on the original with a barstock frame, for a little Beast reel. I think @redmeansdistortion will have one of these to show.

I brought a telescopic rod with a baitcaster and a spare BFS spool…. All for the whopping price of $38.00 bucks.

Like everyone has said it took awhile to get here. For a cheap toss around in my truck reel it was ok.

I've purchased both a reel and rod from AE. No issues other than longer shipping and that actually ended up being a lot quicker than quoted.

Ive never seen good deals on reels... Cheaper to buy them from Japan...

I've purchased 7 reels/rods in total since the tariffs last year and had zero extra charges. I've had a 1P rod shipped via UPS, but most come through their regular channels and your last mile courier. I'm sure the price increase on most items. The biggest difference is that a lot of items aren't being sold to USA buyers anymore. It's harder to find user to sell the new knock-off DC reels or stack discounts on Bates AKA Loongze or CDM Shimano/Daiwa reels.

On 3/6/2026 at 9:13 AM, bulldog1935 said:

Reels in the moderated-word country are gradually getting better with more innovation. The Sabre reel I showed above, which imitates Millionaire CT, shares the drive and multi-disc drag stack (and mag brake?) with the Seasir @Flushdraw mentioned - so much copied from Abu, I was able to use swapped-out drag star from my ZPI Alcance to reduce offset weight.

Japanese Doryu is importing and bench-tuning some of these reels for JDM, here Reply Badger (which led me to the $45 Sabre). This is the best 3" weightless senko reel I have, and the drag is smooth and big range.

AMO is one maker of quality parts, spools, and has gone far enough to make a bench small-frame Ambassadeur clone that swaps parts with Svangsta 2500C. They've also improved on the original with a barstock frame, for a little Beast reel. I think @redmeansdistortion will have one of these to show.

Tariffs ran about $12 on these.

The frame is so good I ordered another, have yet to install as I just got out of the hospital from an emergency surgery last weekend.

AliExpress has been shipping very quick these days. I've bought a decent amount of AMO parts over the last couple of months and have been getting them in 7 days from order submission to delivery.