San Diego & SoCal Fishing Forums

Here's my experiences with some online tackle places:

Ali Express: Low prices, arrives in reasonable time. The color is sometimes not the same as advertised. For example, motor oil red flake had so many red flakes it was basically red. They have so many sellers and they are all fly by night that it is luck of the draw on color and quality. They do have very low price high quality extremely small Texas rig worm hooks, which is very hard to find.

Tackle Express: Fair prices, relatively low shipping so it's a good deal if you buy enough stuff to spread the shipping costs over the tackle. Arrived quickly.

Lockett Lures Outlet: They charge your card as soon as they see the order, which may be days later, but before they ship. Weeks passed and no order arrived. Customer service responded to only the first of several emails. They replied that they were sending the order right then. Not true. They did not respond until I got my bank involved by disputing the charge. I then received an email saying they were shipping my order. It arrived in about a week. The order was not my order, it was some of what I ordered and some of other colors but they were all 1" curly tail grubs which is what I ordered. They do say on their website that they reserve the right to switch items based on availability. The quality is low, you can see the ragged edges of the molded soft plastics. I only ordered from them because the prices looked good and so few outfits offer 1" curly tail grubs, which I like in both fresh and salt. After they stopped responding to my emails I looked them up on the BB and it seems that I am not the only customer who had to get the bank involved.

Check the place out on BBB before you order.

Appreciate the info. I haven’t used AliExpress yet. Can you (or another member) provide names of trusted sellers? Thanks man!

Socalspartan wrote: Tue Nov 11, 2025 8:33 pm Appreciate the info. I haven’t used AliExpress yet. Can you (or another member) provide names of trusted sellers? Thanks man!

Tsurinoya. The products work and they have shipped quickly. Don't just take my word for it though, several other members have used them on my recommendation a couple of years ago including @Pourboy . For the price they are some of my favorites. Honestly rivaling a few of my JDM baits at a fraction of the cost. I haven't ordered any for a bit, so I am not sure how tariffs are effecting them.

Dannicus wrote: Wed Nov 12, 2025 5:59 am

Socalspartan wrote: Tue Nov 11, 2025 8:33 pm Appreciate the info. I haven’t used AliExpress yet. Can you (or another member) provide names of trusted sellers? Thanks man!

Tsurinoya. The products work and they have shipped quickly. Don't just take my word for it though, several other members have used them on my recommendation a couple of years ago including @Pourboy . For the price they are some of my favorites. Honestly rivaling a few of my JDM baits at a fraction of the cost. I haven't ordered any for a bit, so I am not sure how tariffs are effecting them.

I second that. The Tsurinoya baits are awesome! I've gotten a bunch of thing from Ali Express that I really like and are inexpensive.

Excellent. Thanks guys.

I have placed three orders with Lockett. All of the baits were top quality.

Not to be nit-picky...

Half of the stuff I received wasn't what I ordered.

If you need curly-tail grubs, Bass Pro Shops' Squirmin' Grubs are reasonably priced and available in many sizes and colors.

The colors from Lockett are excellent. The customer service is abominable. A customer should not have to get their bank involved in order to process a transaction. The shape of the lures is good but the edges of the molds are ragged. If they sent the stuff in reasonable time I would have given them a review that said some of the stuff was not colors I ordered but all of the colors were great.

Thanks for the tip on Squirmin's Grubs.


Every Ali store except 1 has been good.

The good:
vampfly
OUTKIT Viking fishing store
AOrace
NEPTUNE SPEAR
DUODUOYU
Fishing Store
Shop 1103837482
Goture
JYJ Fishing

SeaYolo did not charge me but they cancelled the order because of a shipping issue.

I've bought a ton of stuff on aliexpress. All excellent quality lures and tackle. I will say there were some orders that took a LONG time to ship. Like 3 months, but they either all eventually arrived, or the seller would contact me and refund me if there were shipping issues. I would say if you need something right away, just buy local/domestic seller. But if you just stocking up on tackle, order your stuff from aliexpress.
The one plus with slow shipping... I forget I made a purchase and when it arrives it feels like a Christmas surprise.

Tackle Warehouse is my go to

Tackle Warehouse is my go to..

ALI EXPRESS buyers beware! Check your credit card statements for "cash advance" fees, if you have recently shopped on Ali Express. I made a couple of small purchases at the beginning of this month, and on both of them, the vendor tacked on a ten dollar cash advance fee. It won't show up on your on-site purchase total either. My purchases were 11.79 and 12.38 each, and I didn't find out about the cash advance fees until I was going over my monthly card statement, this morning. The fees show up independently from your purchase, so you won't know what the heck they are until you call your card company for the information. And Sadly, the card company cannot remove the charge.
I have been buying stuff from Ali Express for several years now, and this is the first time I spotted this scam fro a vendor. I am not going to be buying anything from Ali Express anymore, because I don't agree with vendors robbing customers just because they can.

TaBASSco wrote: Sat Nov 22, 2025 9:15 am ALI EXPRESS buyers beware! Check your credit card statements for "cash advance" fees, if you have recently shopped on Ali Express. I made a couple of small purchases at the beginning of this month, and on both of them, the vendor tacked on a ten dollar cash advance fee. It won't show up on your on-site purchase total either. My purchases were 11.79 and 12.38 each, and I didn't find out about the cash advance fees until I was going over my monthly card statement, this morning. The fees show up independently from your purchase, so you won't know what the heck they are until you call your card company for the information. And Sadly, the card company cannot remove the charge.
I have been buying stuff from Ali Express for several years now, and this is the first time I spotted this scam fro a vendor. I am not going to be buying anything from Ali Express anymore, because I don't agree with vendors robbing customers just because they can.

P.S. I disputed the charges, and Ali Express feigned (or not) stupidity and denied my refund of these charges.

https://discounttackle.com/ always seems to have something on sale, and they're out west, so shipping is as fast as Tackle Warehouse.

Supercontinent seller on AliExpress sent me the stuff fast. One of the lures was supposed to be smoke top white bottom and it ended up being gray top lavender bottom. The other colors look ok.