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Preps from China
5 September 2013, 13:28,
#1
Preps from China
This is being debated at current on a different thread, but to stop it going off track, I'm starting this one.

First up, I'm not for or against China, the industrious little fellows.

The issue is that many people have had MAJOR problems shopping over in China or buying Chinese made equipment/items.

The situation is pretty normal, but it comes down to a few different things.

One thing is called outsourcing. This is where you have something and it's made somewhere else. You have sourced a factory or process to make your products, but you do not own them. Think of it as contracting work out. Well, it turns out that MANY factories actually made US brands, but are located in China. These places have very high standards and all their items are of very high quality.

The second thing is called 'Knock Down' items. These should be considered as forgeries of the originals. That Smith and Wesson knife that is spelt Smith and Weston.

The third thing is...expectation. Expectation is the resulting outcome of personal experience, belief, and second/third part influences. If I sold my XBox (I don't actually have one, but bare with me) to you, you'd expect it to work. Would it work as well as a brand new one? It should do, yes. Would a Flextronics made XBox from Singapore work as well as one from me or from PC World? Truth is, yes. ALL XBox (it might be PS3's, but we're using XBoxes for this example) production is outsourced to Flextronics in Singapore. The expectation is that certain unknown companies are making inferior products, just because they're made by a separate company to the 'branded' company.

Lastly, one of the reasons why so many people have had bad experiences buying stuff from China is because they are human. As humans we're 10 times more likely to talk about a bad experience than we are to talk about a good one. If something bad happens on a shopping trip, you'll tell 10 times more people than if something good happens. For example, ice cream parlour, you get awesome service. So what? Who are you going to tell? Now let's say the ice cream jockey spits on your ice cream when you ask for more topping. You'll be telling every person and their dog about this crazy jack-off (haha, I love this expression. Read it earlier today in an email) that gobbed on your vanilla ice cream!

The way around it...buy from someone reputable and thus give all the problems to them. No offence Beardyman (but you're a reputable business, so I'm using you as my example), but if you buy through Sid's, if any of the products are from China, you can guarantee he's tested them (I used to get stuff to test, so I can promise the testing is rigorous) but also that he will be the one fitting the bill if the products he receives are crap. If he gets a load of crap stuff, he's not going to risk his business reputation, so he'll be the one fitting the bill to buy the stuff. End result, if you buy from Sid's, you know it's good quality.

Personally, I have a load of friends from China (uni, house shares, family, etc) so that's me safe. But if you do not have that kind of connection, I'd recommend just sticking with the UK company to buy stuff from. Anything that sucks....it's their problem, not yours.
Dissent is the highest form of Patriotism - Thomas Jefferson
Those who sacrifice freedom for security deserve neither - Benjamin Franklin
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5 September 2013, 14:05,
#2
RE: Preps from China
China is like anywhere else. Some stuff is good some is bad. You have to make your choice. A reasonable quality item or none because the quality one is too expensive for you at this point until you save up.
Skean Dhude
-------------------------------
It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is the most adaptable to change. - Charles Darwin
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5 September 2013, 14:07,
#3
RE: Preps from China
Less one in a hundres items I purchase out of china is below my expectation.

OK quality of some of is means it wers out in half the time of top of the range items from European or American suppliers, but this is usually more than compensated for by the cost which is often 10x less expensive. I'm serious about that Ten times less expensive.

I will keep buying from China, that's for sure.
72 de

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STATUS: Bugged-In at the Bug-Out
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5 September 2013, 14:13,
#4
RE: Preps from China
using escrow services when buying from china is a must if its high value purchases
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5 September 2013, 15:46,
#5
RE: Preps from China
Got 2 things from china dam sight cheaper. 1 item turned up and one did not, e-mail them refunded in less than 20 minutes. So no problem I will get more from china if and when I need it.
Failure is NOT an option
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5 September 2013, 19:23,
#6
RE: Preps from China
Also when purchasing from china if you are given the choice of DHL EMS etc go for EMS as they don't try to hit you with import tax bills VAT etc
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5 September 2013, 20:31,
#7
RE: Preps from China
Ive seen the exact same product on sale from a british company at 3 or 4 times the price of the chinese company that they bought it off.

No wonder the economy's dying with that sort of profiteering.
I tried to be normal once.... Worst two minutes of my life...
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5 September 2013, 20:42, (This post was last modified: 5 September 2013, 20:44 by Geordie_Rob.)
#8
RE: Preps from China
I've been buying tablet computers from china to sell, here in the uk. My very 1st attempt I got conned & lost £50. Not a massive amount but enough to research more thoroughly to minimise the risk of it happening again. Once I took steps to research the seller (a good way is to google the sellers company name + the word scam) thoroughly & take steps to safeguard my cash, I'm now ordering £1500 at a time with no bother.

When ordering, if the seller insists on western union/money gram or bank transfer, make sure the payee name is a company name. If its an individuals name then it's 99% likely a con. Even if they come the line "it's the managers name" or "the company account has had issues", don't fall for it. It's how I got conned & it seems, thousands of others aswell.

Use PayPal or an Escrow service & you should be fine.

Remember the golden rule: If it seems too good to be true, it most like is.

(5 September 2013, 19:23)David075 Wrote: Also when purchasing from china if you are given the choice of DHL EMS etc go for EMS as they don't try to hit you with import tax bills VAT etc

What's EMS? I just used DHL or FedEx & accepted 20% vat as part of the costs I had to cover. Maybe better to inbox me so I don't take the thread off course.
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5 September 2013, 20:55,
#9
RE: Preps from China
You have to take into account that UK Sellers have to pay import tax and then duty on the whole price of each item including the shipping price added to that (which is over 30%)
Then UK sellers have to sit on the stock and then when they sell to make a profit they have to charge vat on the top. (Another 20%)
Then you have additional costs like advertising, websites, warehouse, heating, electric, staff, wages. UK postage.
Its cheaper to post something from china to the UK than from Coventry to Birmigham.
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5 September 2013, 22:57,
#10
RE: Preps from China
I have found items like maxpedition are near identical because they are with out the brand name.

The reason it gets out sourced is because it is cheaper there and they have the equipment for example the Uk doesnt have many factories with the equipment to make shoes on a grand scale but because there are so many companies in the east with the capabilities that you are spoilt for choice
It's not the end of the world, but you can see it from here

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