china the worlds new shopping venue?

RFW

Brooker_Dave wrote: »

But aren't most electrical goods sold in the UK imported from China anyway?

Some, but they are safety tested for the UK market, buy them direct and they won't be.

RFW

Brooker_Dave wrote: »

I think most ebayers are more likely to buy the sort of things already sold on ebay and amazon, but much cheaper, rather than buying dangerous foodstuffs or killer TVs.

A lot of products on aliexpress/alibaba are cheaper on Ebay from the same sellers. Possibly because their fee structure is quite different (quite a hefty upfront fee before being able to list).

ballisticbrian

I think Booker Dave is confusing the emerging high end goods market in China with products typically found on the web sites he quoted, cheap and chearful tat.

paddyrg

Brooker_Dave wrote: »

But aren't most electrical goods sold in the UK imported from China anyway?

Yes indeed, they are tested by the IMPORTER who is legally responsible for CE certification. Avoid a proper, insured, safety-certifying importer and you take your life (and that of your family, or possibly neighbours if it starts a fire) in your hands.

Would you be able to recognise a dodgy breaker? Would you know how to test it to BS standards? If you opened one up, would you know what to look for? This is the problem - I know I wouldn't be able to do this, but I do know some of the things to watch out for, and I have seen them.

Plastics come in two broad categories, thermosetting and thermoplastic. Thermosets are like kettles, good quality plugs, they can get as hot as they like but will never melt. Thermoplastics deform and melt as they heat up, but might save a few fractions of a cent off the cost per unit. A plug/adaptor/transformer that gets hot (typically from using under-spec components) and melts is positively dangerous, if you're lucky you might only get a shock, if unlucky it can catch fire.

A lot of goods manufactured in China look superficially similar or identical to 'branded' goods, but inside is a completely different story. Mains current may be carried down *any old cable they could get cheap*, that includes 'bell wire' and similar. Earth may not be connected at all. Cheap cable is not rated for the current, so it gets hot - at best it'll burn itself out without taking your home with it!

As mentioned above, milk powder is forged. Can you believe EGGS yes EGGS are also forged, made of industrial chemicals with a plaster of paris shell. Have a look on youtube to see the process of how eggs are faked well enough to be sprinkled into the market supply. If it's worth forging eggs, doesn't it rather make sense to also forge pretty much anything and everything else?

This is the problem with seeing photos of an item on the web, you can't tell what you're getting inside. As someone mentioned above, it costs no extra to have a *meaningless/fraudulent* 'CE' mark printed on the goods.

Brooker_Dave

paddyrg wrote: »

Yes indeed, they are tested by the IMPORTER who is legally responsible for CE certification.

"While manufacturers are responsible for ensuring product compliance and affixing the CE marking"

http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/policies/single-market-goods/cemarking/professionals/importers/index_en.htm

HTH

Brooker_Dave

RFW wrote: »

A lot of products on aliexpress/alibaba are cheaper on Ebay from the same sellers. Possibly because their fee structure is quite different (quite a hefty upfront fee before being able to list).

They're cheaper because ebay/amazon sellers buy the stuff from aliexpress to flog on ebay.

What happens when people realise they can cut out the middleman and buy direct of aliexpress?

RFW

Brooker_Dave wrote: »

"While manufacturers are responsible for ensuring product compliance and affixing the CE marking"

http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/policies/single-market-goods/cemarking/professionals/importers/index_en.htm

HTH

I love it when you quote irrelevant information and ignore the relevant comments, it's a fine skill.

Brooker_Dave

RFW wrote: »

Some, but they are safety tested for the UK market, buy them direct and they won't be.

Everything I've brought has been CE marked, and seems to meet the standards needed.

Why would someone making things for export not make them to the standards needed for the export markets?

Brooker_Dave

RFW wrote: »

I love it when you quote irrelevant information and ignore the relevant comments, it's a fine skill.

"they are tested by the IMPORTER who is legally responsible for CE certification"

EU says otherwise, and it's the other way around.

Good thing I'm here to put people straight, innit.

Brooker_Dave

duncan-biscuits wrote: »

The genuine brands yes, but NOT from the warehouses YOU been looking at !

Examples of blatant fakes on web, £1.99 from China "leather " lol (term used loosely) iphone wallet cases on ebay complete with fake apple logos, same (real leather , genuine item) retails in the Apple UK shops at £79.95!

I'm not looking at warehouses, just websites.

I agree that there's a vast amount of cheap tat to be had, but the same can be said about ebay or amazon.

As with the trainers you have to ask why someone in china can sell something for £2 and a similar item also made in china is £80, perhaps access to replica goods might wake people up to how much they are being ripped off by the brands?