buying from china

NaughtyAngel2007

is it ok to buy from china. with items being so cheap i wondered if it was more of a scam to get your details

soolin

I buy lots from the Far East- but would not touch electricals or branded goods with a bargepole.

Expect to wait around 30 days for your goods and just use all the normal common sense.

MissGivings_2

May I ask in what category(s) you're thinking about purchasing?

NaughtyAngel2007

thinking of buying all sorts really and hope to sell on a bootsale or for xmas online. i had some hello kitty phone holders before and they were nice. i saw these for sale at the sunday market for £1 each. i paid 1p each for mine.

MissGivings_2

melandtony wrote: »

thinking of buying all sorts really and hope to sell on a bootsale or for xmas online. i had some hello kitty phone holders before and they were nice. i saw these for sale at the sunday market for £1 each. i paid 1p each for mine.

I suppose most people thinking of buying from China are put off by the length of time it can take to arrive and if your items are wrong, fakes or not as described, returning for a refund can wipe out your profit.

But the same could be said for buying in most countries abroad, couldn't it? And it's so tempting to buy incredibly cheap stuff to sell at a profit- sorry to mention the obvious.

The thing that puts me off most is the issue of fakes (even for small hello kitty items) and what a few Not as Described cases could do to your selling account on eBay.
(And opening a sacrificial account to flog the stuff won't protect any other account you have as eBay will restrict all accounts, not just your main one.)
I'm very risk averse when protecting my source of income!

I'd sell this kind of thing directly at carboots rather than online with added postage etc

Very interested to know what others think...

NaughtyAngel2007

oh i would not sell it on ebay. i sell at bootsales and there are now lots of facebook for sale sites in my area. im going to take the gamble to rise some money i think.

trukdiver

melandtony wrote: »

is it ok to buy from china. with items being so cheap i wondered if it was more of a scam to get your details

I've bought torches and photo accessories from China. No problems apart from delivery times of about a month. I've generally stuck to sellers who have a good reputation though.

Crowqueen

melandtony wrote: »

oh i would not sell it on ebay. i sell at bootsales and there are now lots of facebook for sale sites in my area. im going to take the gamble to rise some money i think.

Don't forget that if you buy anything to sell on - even from China - you will be acting as a business and need to gear up accordingly with both eBay and the taxman. You will also have extra responsibilities to your buyers - including items having to be fit for purpose and safe - so I wouldn't buy too many items and then find they're cruddy and your customers are complaining. What I would do in this situation is order samples of what you intend to sell so if they are really crap you can go elsewhere and get stuff to actually sell on so your buyers are protected as well.

Trading Standards also patrol boot-sales so they would still expect you to conform to any rules they set there, and some boot-sales have different rules for business traders, or don't allow them.

Raising money is all good, but do it legally and with planning. This isn't a game - it's serious. I have bought some things from China and there are a lot of issues with them - the dispatch time should be OK as you will presumably be sending them out internally within the UK - but there are a lot of knock-off items which are unpoliced in China but don't conform to European safety standards. As much as possible stay away from electronics and protective clothing.

But the same could be said for buying in most countries abroad, couldn't it? And it's so tempting to buy incredibly cheap stuff to sell at a profit- sorry to mention the obvious.

There are countries and countries. Most countries within the EU or developed world have decent safety standards. There was, for instance, an American law about toy safety, particularly as regards the constitution of paint, brought in a number of years ago which upset a lot of eBay sellers who sourced their items directly from China. So buying from one country isn't necessarily the same as buying from another.

~~Diane~~

I've ordered quite a bit from China, only this morning I received 1 item I ordered only 8 days ago and waiting on 2 more separate orders. I only order costume jewelry, some says 925 silver but I'm under no illusion that its is. It's for personal use and cheap enough to buy more as fashion changes.

Postage is also very cheap or free, I ordered a headband for 99p free postage.

The first thing I ever bought from China was a stick mp3 player 128mb, shows how long ago that was, and it is still working although it's only used for moving small files now.

marie-20

I have bought and do buy a lot from China and the US and so far I haven't had any problems apart from delivery time - some things arrive within 10 days others are 4-5 weeks and as such stock management can be a pain however I always have things on order with them so that I don't run out which can be quite cash consuming but luckily they aren't my main suppliers so it doesn't affect me too much.

I 'tried' all of my sellers 1st and only spent a couple of quid to make sure that the quality of the items was good.

Good luck to you!!!

Percy1983

I buy some things from china depending what it is, in many respects I see some things on ebay saying UK seller and I can see it is the exact same item.

A recent purchase was a phone crade for my car, UK seller £5.99, china seller £2.88, yes it took longer but I got the exact same item.

In short with many items you are just buying direct rather than paying somebody else to get a box full and sell to you for a profit.