Almost every time I need to buy something small, like a phone case or piercing jewelry, I go to eBay and see a few options. If I don't limit my searches to domestic (I'm in US), I can almost always get the exact same product shipped from China for 1/4 of the price. The only downside is that shipping often takes over a month and there is little to none customer service. It seems like a lot of ebay sellers buy the products from China and sell them with mark-up. For the last few purchases I've actually bought straight from China and waited anywhere between 5-8 weeks for it to get here. It's perfect for little things you don't need urgently. Anyone have similar experiences?
I've never bought anything directly from China but I've heard complaints from those who have and it always is that it takes too long to get what you bought. That in itself isn't bad but there's also a likelihood that a counterfeit product will be delivered. That's probably the reason why some of their products are much cheaper.
Besides the risk of counterfeit products. I only suggest it if You know what you're doing or have a trustworthy friend in China or family member there that could do the favour to cover all the shipping details.
Yeah, I totally see how the risk of counterfeit products can be high, especially if you are buying something fancy/luxury, like a brand-name handbag or electronics. But I was mainly referring to small items like cell phone cases (difference of paying around $10 from Northern US or $0.99 from China but with 6 weeks shipping) or little knickknacks. I don't really care if my cell phone cases are counterfeit because, let's face it, most of them are made in exactly the same place and then the brand names are slapped on them through the distribution process.
I've bought a lot of times from Ebay already, and mostly from Chinese sellers too, and their shipping time is indeed quite long, like around 3 weeks to a month or even more. I am quite used to the long waiting time though, since I'm a patient person. Some of the products from China are quite good, so it's worth to buy from Chinese sellers.
I have done this countless times on eBay where I have purchased something to only discover that it is indeed coming from China. The longest I have waited is nearly three months. While you usually can get the goods at a fraction of the cost, there is never any customer service and usually the products are of substandard quality. It never looks anywhere near as good or works as good as it is advertised.
Yeah, I have done this. It's not really a big deal if it's something small that you don't need right away. I probably wouldn't do it with anything that has a high price tag (due to lack of customer service and the thought of having to wait on returns, etc.). I've mainly used this method for some video game posters and stuff that my daughter wanted. I started shopping in advance, so it wasn't an issue the it took quite a while to arrive. They were actually cool, and I got them for much less than they would have cost from other sellers. She was quite happy. They are still hanging on her wall.
I've bought plenty of small things directly from china in the past. If people really want something yesterday, they should know better than to buy from China.. I hate it when sellers get bad ratings because of shipping they have no control over. It can take forever.. common knowledge at this point, accept it lol. I would never buy anything of value from there though.. too easy to get ripped off; but for small things, I'm willing to chance it and not complain if it takes a while or if it's cheaply made. You just paid next to nothing for your item; what do you expect? lol. That said.. of the many many small items I've purchased, only one was unusable and a small few weren't as I expected but liked them anyway. The rest, I've had no problems.
I used to buy from a seller in China who claimed the charging cables and headphones were made in the same factories Apple used, but the seller warned that the hard drives they sold were garbage. The under the table agreements involving "second teams" who manufacture identical products when official factories are supposed to be closed means that a lot of "knock-off" are basically identical, but the moral quandary this raises dictates for the most part I avoid buying from sellers based in China, especially if the brand name matters. I also learned the hard way don't order just before or during Chinese New Year.
My usual haunt in online shopping are stores that are located locally. As you said, it takes a month from China for the item to reach you in the US. But one time I unconsciously purchased a bag from Hongkong. Actually the store is here in the Philippines but I didn't know it was dropshipping and the product came from Hongkong. In fairness, the delivery was less than week. However, there was a surcharge for the tax. Sorry, I already forgot the exact amount but it's quite big. So now I always clarify that what I would pay is the net cost and nothing more otherwise I will not buy.
Currently, I am waiting a delivery of USB drive from China. I bought this product on bay about two weeks ago, and th estimated delivery time is one month. When I buy from local online stores, I get it delivered on the same day when I am in the same town, and in two days when I am in another town. It takes a lot of time for the Chinese product to deliver,however, the time is nothing because the product is really half the normal price in my town.
A happy shopper who buys in China!? I never thought I'd see the day LOL But hey, kudos to you, you're one of the lucky ones then! I personally refuse to shop for anything in China, especially online. I have a few friends who love shopping in China, but only when they're able to get themselves over there and actually see the products. They tell me over there you get varying quality grades of the same item. The sellers ask you what quality you want. Now if they did that online, and cut right back on the shipping timeframe, maybe I'd consider buying from China.
If you choose freight service you are definitely chose the wrong Taobao agent, I am a Chinese student in the USA, I used to buy lots of stuff for my classmates and friends like clothes, Chinese foods, tea, bags, digital eletronic products and send them to the USA twice a month. The freight service only takes 4~6 days from the day it leaves the Taobao agent warehouse. You can take a look at their Taobao store:Log In, their service is very nice, they also have an English website taobaoguides.com to help foreigners shopping from China, That's awesome.
Ok, this sounds interesting@barginrocks....but what exactly is that link? Sorry but I'm a little confused. What is a 'taobao'? I went to the tabobaoguides.com but I wasn't actually sure what I was looking at? Is there anywhere on there that I can look at a list of reputable sellers who sell high quality products?
There are sites like Wish, FocalPrice, DealExtreme and DHGate that sell incredible stuff for cheap. The last two are mostly used for wholesale, though. I have ordered quite few times from FocalPrice and Wish and I had to wait up to 50 days to receive the items I ordered. But I can't complain since the shipping is free of charge. The good thing now is that DealExtreme has warehouses in Europe, Australia and United States. That means the items get shipped to your place in less than a week's time.
I just ordered a romper online and it came from china. I did expect it to take about a month to get to me but miraculously it only took a week. When I seen it in the mailbox I was very surprised. The romper turned out not to fit right and stuff but the shipping was pretty amazing especially coming all the way from China.
I always get thrown for a loop a little bit when I am looking at shipping rates and I can get cheaper options from China then I can from the UK or other countries are way closer than that. I guess it just goes to show you that the location is not really what is the determining actor in a lot of these deals, which is kind of confusing but I guess it makes some sense.
Well, rz,3300 the only problem if you get something shipped from China, be prepared to wait for it. I ordered something from China once that was promised by a certain date, perhaps six weeks in the future. It never arrived, and I was forced to cancel the order. It was disappointing. That is just one of the issues.
Lushlala, the link I sent is a Taobao agent for forest_kitten because he said it takes too long time to ship from China, taobao is the biggest C2C online shopping site in China, it has 8 million stores and more than 1 billion products listed. If you need qualified sellers with high quality goods I suggest you make a list of the products name with your requirements then send an email to [email protected], they will pick up some for you as a reference for you to compare.
I also mostly buy things from China and they do take a very long time to ship but I'm always willing to wait because if I compare the prices of their goods to other countries, they are way much cheaper so I wouldn't mind the long wait. I mostly buy Christmas gifts online from China so I usually purchase months before December. It's worth the wait though because their products are also mostly of good quality. You just have to know where to look for quality China products.
