- Original Poster
- #1
Hi, Guys, I've been doing some shopping from china for quite a while, today, I want to share some tips with you guys.
First of all, I am a small business owner, I am not buying huge amount of items from China, but few thousands per month.
We all know items from China are cheap, because China is a world factory nowadays, many things that are made in china, some of them are good, some of them are totally craps, so how to and where to buy good quality items in China with good prices??? Well, there are few ways of doing it.
1. Google it
If you search by keyword like "shopping in china, import from china, china goods etc" , there are tons of links come up to the result pages. Some of them are good, some of them are bad, and then you may spend days and nights visiting each site, writing enquiry emails to find the answer to your question. Quite a lot of people are enjoying the way of doing it. It is a pain to me. In the end, I may end up with empty brains.
2. Worldwide famous China Manufacturer Directory
Here comes some good site which is really good to help.
www.alibaba.com
www.dhgate.com
www.made-in-china.com/
I'm not listing more because sites above are totally enough for you to find what you need. It sells everything on the site. I used to import lots of items from alibaba.com. And on alibaba.com, you will find many manufacturers in China which selling their products. But to get a good price, you need to buy a lot.
3. Shopping Agency Site
One of my friend introduce me a website a while ago which is the biggest C2C and B2C website in China, originally I thought he was saying ebay china, but it is not and actually ebay china is not popular at all. Instead, the website calls taobao.com, and I did a research on taobao.com and notice it is part of alibaba.com as well. Things selling on it mostly are for the people living in China. The point is the price on there is much cheaper than alibaba.com, I guess the alibaba.com is for export business, taobao.com is just for locals.
After I did few researches, I found what I need, and the price is much cheaper than alibaba.com and other export sites. But the problem is I am not resident in China so I could not buy it. The sellers do not do international shipping, well, some of them can do it, but most of them don't. So I started keep searching, and I notice there are some sites are doing taobao buying services, you find what you need on taobao.com, then you forward the link to them, of course, you can ask more questions in the email for more details about the item, because taobao.com is in Chinese language, I do not understand, but the agent can translate the description for you. They charge 10% commission of each item, say for example, an item costs 10GBP, they will charge for 1GBP so the total cost of this item is 11GBP. And they accept PayPal , bank transfer, and western union, when I place order, I pay 50% of the order cost as the first payment , and they started to buy the items from me, after they are arrived in their office, I complete the second payment and they ship the item to me.
There are tips on shipping as well, because with DHL, you will be charge import duties. With EMS or HK Post, there will be no import duties for the shipping. In the beginning, I prefer DHL because it is safe, even the price is bit higher. But soon I realized it is not a good way of buying. And they recommend me use EMS, and yes, EMS is not charge me for anything. Well, that package was even weight about 40KG, lol. When EMS reaches UK, Parcelforce will take over. So when the package arrives, it is not with royal mail, it is with Parcelforce.
Below there are some taobao buying agent sites
http://www.shoppingintaobao.com
http://www.taobaofocus.com
If you have any question, drop an email to them, they respond very quickly, and they even do the searches for you. Just tell them what you need with details, and they will come back to you with item links and prices. Now I mainly use sites above to import items for my business. Its a good way of buying, and something good to use the buying service is they can tell the quality of the item, if it is good, they will tell you, if it is in **** quality, they will warn you. So you never worry about spend some money and buy something looks good in pictures and feels bad when you have it in hand. So shopping in taobao is fun now to me and I am quite enjoying it.
Okay guys, that are some experiences that I have gained so far, if you have more questions, please reply.
First of all, I am a small business owner, I am not buying huge amount of items from China, but few thousands per month.
We all know items from China are cheap, because China is a world factory nowadays, many things that are made in china, some of them are good, some of them are totally craps, so how to and where to buy good quality items in China with good prices??? Well, there are few ways of doing it.
1. Google it
If you search by keyword like "shopping in china, import from china, china goods etc" , there are tons of links come up to the result pages. Some of them are good, some of them are bad, and then you may spend days and nights visiting each site, writing enquiry emails to find the answer to your question. Quite a lot of people are enjoying the way of doing it. It is a pain to me. In the end, I may end up with empty brains.
2. Worldwide famous China Manufacturer Directory
Here comes some good site which is really good to help.
www.alibaba.com
www.dhgate.com
www.made-in-china.com/
I'm not listing more because sites above are totally enough for you to find what you need. It sells everything on the site. I used to import lots of items from alibaba.com. And on alibaba.com, you will find many manufacturers in China which selling their products. But to get a good price, you need to buy a lot.
3. Shopping Agency Site
One of my friend introduce me a website a while ago which is the biggest C2C and B2C website in China, originally I thought he was saying ebay china, but it is not and actually ebay china is not popular at all. Instead, the website calls taobao.com, and I did a research on taobao.com and notice it is part of alibaba.com as well. Things selling on it mostly are for the people living in China. The point is the price on there is much cheaper than alibaba.com, I guess the alibaba.com is for export business, taobao.com is just for locals.
After I did few researches, I found what I need, and the price is much cheaper than alibaba.com and other export sites. But the problem is I am not resident in China so I could not buy it. The sellers do not do international shipping, well, some of them can do it, but most of them don't. So I started keep searching, and I notice there are some sites are doing taobao buying services, you find what you need on taobao.com, then you forward the link to them, of course, you can ask more questions in the email for more details about the item, because taobao.com is in Chinese language, I do not understand, but the agent can translate the description for you. They charge 10% commission of each item, say for example, an item costs 10GBP, they will charge for 1GBP so the total cost of this item is 11GBP. And they accept PayPal , bank transfer, and western union, when I place order, I pay 50% of the order cost as the first payment , and they started to buy the items from me, after they are arrived in their office, I complete the second payment and they ship the item to me.
There are tips on shipping as well, because with DHL, you will be charge import duties. With EMS or HK Post, there will be no import duties for the shipping. In the beginning, I prefer DHL because it is safe, even the price is bit higher. But soon I realized it is not a good way of buying. And they recommend me use EMS, and yes, EMS is not charge me for anything. Well, that package was even weight about 40KG, lol. When EMS reaches UK, Parcelforce will take over. So when the package arrives, it is not with royal mail, it is with Parcelforce.
Below there are some taobao buying agent sites
http://www.shoppingintaobao.com
http://www.taobaofocus.com
If you have any question, drop an email to them, they respond very quickly, and they even do the searches for you. Just tell them what you need with details, and they will come back to you with item links and prices. Now I mainly use sites above to import items for my business. Its a good way of buying, and something good to use the buying service is they can tell the quality of the item, if it is good, they will tell you, if it is in **** quality, they will warn you. So you never worry about spend some money and buy something looks good in pictures and feels bad when you have it in hand. So shopping in taobao is fun now to me and I am quite enjoying it.
Okay guys, that are some experiences that I have gained so far, if you have more questions, please reply.
