News & Guides – Page 4 – Online Shopping Reviews

Tips on Shopping for Cheap Made-in-China Android Cell Phones Online

While Apple and Samsung smartphones are dominating the world with their superior performance as well as great features, made-in-China Android cell phones are also getting popular all across the world. Popular features and super low prices are the key reasons why Chinese smartphones can grab the market share. Earlier this month I published a post “Best Made-in-China Android Tablet PCs 2013 Available at Chinese Online Shopping Sites“. Here are a few tips on how to shop for cheap China Android mobile phones from online Chinese stores:

Check out the prices. Generally, the price ranges can reflect the performance standards to some extent. Android 4.0 China cell phones under $100 are normally not as good as those above $100 in real operation. Anyway, the comparison makes senses only among made-in-China cell phones for sale at the same Chinese online store. You know, different stores may offer different prices for the same model.

Review the features. Chinese smartphones have one thing in common: they are commonly empowered by a range of features that are relevant to the latest trends around the world. Bear in mind that more features usually mean higher prices. If you are purchasing a Chinese cell phone on a limited budget, you may need to sacrifice some features that you don’t necessary want. As for features, you should at least check the cell phone’s processing capacities, responsiveness of touch screen, compatibility with networks, camera pixels, battery capacity and hours of duration, built-in memory capacity and external flash card memory capacity, screen size and operation system. Choose the one with features that fits your needs and your budget. If you are not sure about which features suit you, read the reviews of the latest Chinese Android smartphones as much as you can and you may get inspired. Continue reading Tips on Shopping for Cheap Made-in-China Android Cell Phones Online

How does Aliexpress.com compare to Ebay.com? What are their pros and cons?

Aliexpress.com is just like another eBay, while it differs from the latter mainly in business types. Aliexpress focus on wholesale business and their customers are Chinese suppliers and resellers who shop there for their business. At the same time, some end consumers also choose to purchase things for their personal use as the required MOQ is as low as one piece only for a single order. Anyway, small and medium-sized businesses are the very back bone of Aliexpress.com and retail business is just an add-on there. You know, eBay.com is a retail trading platform and buyers are mostly consumers. Actually, many resellers at eBay.com source products from Aliexpress.com for their inventories. Here is how Aliexpress stacks up against eBay:

As compared to eBay.com, Aliexpress.com has the following advantages:

Much lower wholesale prices. The sellers doing business at Aliexpress.com are mainly manufacturers or wholesalers. Shopping directly with them means you can cut the middle-men as much as possible to enjoy the best prices. Many wholesale distributors there accept retail orders or orders in small wholesale quantities so that you can shop more flexibly. Even as a reseller you don’t have to put a big investment into your business for the stocking up part. You can try different products in small quantities to see which sell well and then source more for the better selling ones. However, most of the sellers at ebay.com serve end consumers and do retail business instead of wholesale business. Their products are sourced from wholesalers and they have to put a higher price tag in order to ensure the profit margin.

Wider selection of products. Aliexpress.com is much more impressive than eBay.com in terms of product range and total quantity of each category. As one of the biggest online wholesale shopping marketplaces, Aliexpress.com carries products for almost all fields related to our life. Each category or sub-category has thousands of even tens of thousands products or styles to choose from. What buyers only need is patience. As long as you spend enough time searching their catalogs, you will exactly what you want there.

Aliexpress product directory

Continue reading How does Aliexpress.com compare to Ebay.com? What are their pros and cons?

Best China Online Curtain Stores Offering Wholesale Prices

Curtains offered by online Chinese stores are popular on the global market simply because they are cheap (usually at wholesale prices) and have countless styles to choose from. By checking out China online curtain stores, you are very likely to find out the style that fits both your preference and your budget given so many choices. Here are the best wholesale/retail curtain online shopping sites based in China:

Aliexpress.com:

I put this site the top when listing the best Chinese online stores that sell curtains simply because it hosts the widest selection of curtains (including glass beads curtains), with a total number of over 20,000 related items. The curtains are offered at different prices by different sellers registered with the site. If you choose to purchase curtains in bulk or just by retail, you are very likely to get the lowest prices of the market. No matter what your budget is, you are going to find the suitable curtains or accessories of your interest. However, the downside is: the sellers and products can vary significantly in quality. For this reason you may need to do a lot of research work before you trade with a seller there. Also, you are encouraged to always use extreme caution to protect yourself when shopping at such trading sites.

Curtains at Aliexpress.com

Lightinthebox.com

Compared to their major fields like wedding apparel or other special occasion dresses, curtains seem quite unnoticeable at Lightinthebox.com. I have been doing research on the website for years and I never see they launch any promotions on their curtains. Anyway, I do find a huge variety of curtains and accessories for sale there, with 950 items included in that category. The quantity is quite impressive. The prices they offer for the curtains are extensively attractive though, with a pricing range from $29.99 to $375.99. For middle-end or high-end curtains made in China, Lightinthebox.com is probably a good choice as the site separate themselves from their competitors by better quality. One good thing about shopping with Lightinthebox.com is: the site is a super big Chinese supplier who has established a good name on the global market and you can be more confident that you won’t get yourself into much trouble when trading with them.

Continue reading Best China Online Curtain Stores Offering Wholesale Prices

Dinodirect Scam 2013 Case Study: Buyers Have to Cover the Return Shipping Fee for A Refund

I noticed that a number of Dinodirect negative reviews posted online claim that when they are unhappy with the item received and want to return it for a refund, they are required to cover the return shipping fee. This problem seems very common among China-based online shops – even the premium Chinese supplier Lightinthebox.com is sometimes complained against due to return shipping fee-related issues.

According to Dinodirect’s Return Policies, if a product is not damaged on purpose, buyers can return the goods with quality problems for a full refund including shipping fees. Also, if you can prove that the product is not as described, they promise they will take full responsibility. However, if a product is defective or not liked due to other reasons than the site’s fault, buyers have to pay the return shipping fees in order to request for a refund.

The most controversial points regarding this return policy item are:

1. The buyers do not read clearly their return polices before placing an order there. After they receive a product they don’t like or don’t want, they hope to return it for a full refund but are informed that they have to pay the high return shipping fee, which makes the buyers feel extremely unhappy as they believe such return policy is asinine or unfriendly. Be fair, every legitimate shopping site has a clear indicated return policy and if you do want to trade with them, you gotta accept the agreements. What’s more importantly, you need to get yourself completely aware of your responsibilities and rights before you purchase anything there. Otherwise you may be disappointed by the service when a problem is occurred.

2. While some buyers try to show that the products they receive have quality issues, they fail to show supportive evidence like photographs or videos to convince the Dinodirect after-sales customer service staff that the problems are site’s fault instead of being out of the buyer’s wrong operation on purpose or due to carelessness. From my personal perspective, both sides have a half-half chance to find favor. Either the buyers or Dinodirect (read the detailed review of the site) are telling the facts. It just depends on how clearly they are able to prove the fairness.

Continue reading Dinodirect Scam 2013 Case Study: Buyers Have to Cover the Return Shipping Fee for A Refund

Tips on Shopping 2013 Chinese New Year Deals

Chinese New Year, traditionally called Spring Festival, is the biggest festival of the year for the Chinese people. Like Christmas Eve, the Chinese New Year Eve means a lot to the country. No matter how far away is from our homes, we will try our best to go back home in order to catch up with the dinner at the eve of the Chinese New Year, which we call “get-together dinner”.

This year, the eve lands on Feb. 9, 2013 and the official holiday for the Chinese Spring Festival will last from Feb. 9 to Feb. 15. People from all walks of a life will enjoy a 7-day national holiday. Anyway, as for people who are working for the foreign trade arena, the holiday can be much longer. My sister is currently working for an international trade company and their holiday will start on Feb. 3 and end on Feb. 17 – two weeks in total! At the same time, I notice that some China-based online shopping sites have already posted a notice informing their customers that they are going on a holiday from Feb. 1 to Feb. 15.

Most sites will run their business as usual with on-duty staff to handle orders. As the number of people work during the period is extremely limited, they tend to be much less responsive in terms of service. Also, as the international shipping will stop taking orders, the delivery can be delayed by one week or longer. If you need to buy something in a hurry, it is probably not a good idea to place an order before the Chinese New Year holiday ends. Some stores even completely close their offices and warehouses during the holiday and won’t provide any service, e.g. Eforchina.com. A few sites have clearly indicated that orders placed during Feb. 1 to Feb. 15 will be handled after the holiday ends.

Anyway, a number of sites with overseas warehouses will be working partially as usual during the period. Orders related to their China-based warehouses may not be handled in time but if you order a product in stock at their overseas warehouse, it can be processed and shipped like before. Tmart.com is a typical example. Their US warehouse will handle orders as usual. They claim that for their international warehouse, if there is an “Available” product (that displays “ships in 24 hours” on the page), they will ship it within 24 hours and for other products, they will ship them in 15~30 days.

Continue reading Tips on Shopping 2013 Chinese New Year Deals

Guide for Re-sellers: How to Get Best-Margin Consumer Electronics from Reliable Chinese Suppliers

When it comes to sourcing consumer electronics from China, Shenzhen is definitely a can’t-missed-out name – the city is the biggest manufacturing hub of various kinds of consumer electronics made for both the Chinese domestic market and the global market.

To purchase consumer electronics in wholesale quantities, the best way is to shop online with trusted suppliers based in Shenzhen. The shopping websites you use are not necessarily based there though. At the same time, just as the way I introduced in the previous post by which you can shop made-in-China jewelry efficiently (read it here), you can also choose to cooperate with a partner locating in the city. That is, to find a dependable partner in China to arrange the sourcing and the logistics for your wholesale or retail business in your own country. With the help of the partner, you can save more cost and the quality of the products you purchase can be better verified.

Actually I have published a post titled “Huaqiangbei: the Biggest Marketplace of Electronics and Digital Products in China” (read the full post here), which introduced Shenzhen’s most famous wholesale electronics marketplace. If you could find a supplier running business in Huaqiangbei, that would be good. However, for online business, it does not matter much where exactly the office is located. As long as the supplier is based in Shenzhen, or any other place nearing the city, it could be a better choice as it means that the cost is reduced without the Chinese domestic shipping fee and that it is much more convenient for the supplier to source the products of your interest from the physical wholesale marketplaces.

As for best sites of wholesale consumer electronics, one of my old articles listed some long ago. I found that the information provided there is somewhat out of date and it is necessary to give it a update here. In addition to the sites mentioned in that post (Aliexpress.com, Chinavasion.com, Lightinthebox.com, Lightake.com and more), there are some other Chinese sites famous for made-in-China consumer electronics. Here is the list:

Continue reading Guide for Re-sellers: How to Get Best-Margin Consumer Electronics from Reliable Chinese Suppliers