Online Shopping Reviews

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

Priceangels Coupon Code for 2013 Valentine’s Day

I noticed that Priceangels.com had launched their 2013 Valentine’s Day sale by offering a 10% off coupon on select Valentine’s Day gifts, including cell phones, tablet PCs, intimate stuff, watches & jewelry, consumer electronics, home living products and gift & lifestyle gadgets. The promotional collection has 32 items in total – not a wide collection, but every item looks attractive for gifting.

To enjoy the discount, you just need to input the coupon code “VAL10OFF” at checkout and then you will get 10% off the original price instantly. The sale will last from Feb. 3 through Feb. 14. Note that the Chinese international shipping cab be delayed as the Chinese Spring Festival is approaching so you may need to confirm on the exact delivery time with their service people if you do need the gift for the Valentine’s. Otherwise your plan for a romantic Valentine’s may be ruined because of the delayed gift.

Continue reading Priceangels Coupon Code for 2013 Valentine’s Day

Compiling Work: 2013 Valentine’s Day Deals Released by Chinese Stores

The 2013 Valentine’s Day is only two weeks ahead. Are you still scratching about for an amazing Valentine’s Day gift for your beloved? If you haven’t got any good idea yet, why not try checking out the shopping sites for inspiration? This is how I usually do. When I am not sure about what to gift people I love for a particular holiday or a special day, I browse the gift collections of popular online shops to get myself inspired and the point is: it always does work!

Image courtesy of Dinodirect.com

Since we are a review website targeting the Chinese international wholesale and retail markets, below I will share the information on 2013 Valentine’s Day deals offered by Chinese stores only. For those looking for decent gifts for the loving holiday at low prices, shopping with a Chinese online store directly may be a smart idea, especially if you take advantage of their promotions for the Valentine’s Day. Here are the deals I’ve found from Chinese sites:

Dinodirect.com: Up to 60% Off plus an Extra 5%-20% Coupon. Check it out here >>
Lightinthebox.com: Deep Discounts on TS® Clothing and Free Expedited Shipping on Orders of Over $85. Check it out here >>
Focalprice.com: Up to 31% Off Jewelry, Electronic Gadgets, Toys, Novelty Gifts and more. Ends Feb. 15. Check it out here >>
Tmart.com: Slashed-down Prices on Electronic Gadgets, Game Tools, Makeup Tools, Jewelry & Watches and more. Check it out here >>
Lightake.com: Great Discounts and Free Shipping on Select Jewelry & Watches. Check it out here >>
Ahappydeal.com: Great Discounts on Jewelry. Check it out here >>
Eforchina.com: 8% Off for Jewelry & Watches category with code “VDAY”. Check it out here >>
Fancyladies.com: Up to 40% Off Lingerie, Sexy Costumes, Corsets, Clubwear and Dancing Boots. Check it out here >>
Milanoo.com: $20 Off Orders of $99 or More; $30 Off Orders of $150 or More. Ends Feb. 17. Check it out here >>

Continue reading Compiling Work: 2013 Valentine’s Day Deals Released by Chinese Stores

Are There Any Reliable Chinese Sites Offering Home and Garden Supplies?

When I was questioned if I am familiar with any reliable Chinese sites that are famous for their home and garden supplies, I suddenly realized that I had not paid much attention to this field then. Although I created this blog with a mission to introduce the best China-based international shopping sites, I am just talking about too much about fashion and accessories and electronics, which are in practice the biggest product lines in the Chinese foreign trade arena.

Thanks for the reader who asked me the question. This reminds me that I really should broaden the topics which are closely related Chinese wholesale and retail business here. This post will focus on sharing my findings about Chinese online stores where you can find made-in-China home and garden supplies, including furniture, oil paintings, bedding, faucets and much more.

After spending days doing the research, I was a little shocked that I could not find any big name in the Chinese international home and garden supply foreign trade arena. Yes, I meant the type of shopping websites which are specialized in offering home and garden products or are particularly famous for the product line. Anyway, I did find some popular sites where you can buy some sorts of home and garden supplies, usually with quite limited subcategories in terms of quantity and variety.

It is interesting to note that while there are rare home and garden professional shopping websites based in China, almost every legitimate Chinese site with an impressive customer base has a Home and Garden category. It can be a comprehensive site like Dinodirect.com or Aliexpress.com, an electronics store like Focalprice.com or Ahappydeal.com, a fashion shop like Lightinthebox.com or Milanoo.com or any other type of cross-border e-commerce sites. In particular, some of them are quite famous for a certain product. For instance, Lightinthebox.com have been well known for their quality faucets, especially LED faucets for kitchen and washroom and for their modern lighting products, especially chandeliers and pendant lights. Also,
Milanoo.com are often mentioned about their fashionable bedding supplies, pet supplies and curtains.

Below list the home and garden subcategories carried by some popular Chinese global shopping websites. If you are interested in, you can click the links which will direct you straight to their Home and Garden pages. Continue reading Are There Any Reliable Chinese Sites Offering Home and Garden Supplies?

Legitimate Chinese International Sites to Shop for High-margin Toys

Regular readers of my blog should have been familiar with how I definite “legitimate Chinese international sites”. Anyway, in case some new visitors of my site is not clear about the concept, I want to re-emphasize that from my own point of view, it is impossible to find a Chinese foreign trade site which is completely free of complaints and as a result some of the better ones are viewed as “legit” just in a relative sense.

When I put a site onto my personal list of “reliable sites” or “good sites”, I simply mean that it is an officially registered business and better in terms of credibility, products and services. Seriously, in order not to mislead people who are looking for helpful guides to sourcing products from China, I hope you are well aware that my ideas are just for your reference only and you are always encouraged to do as much research as possible yourself before you try a Chinese site.

As for legitimate shopping websites based in China that offer toys to global buyers, I use the same criteria to compile the list. Hopefully you may find some stable suppliers from my recommendations after rounds of real transactions between you and the suppliers. In December 2012, I posted a topic talking about my points regarding made-in-China toys as a response to an Indian reader. In addition to discussing about the quality issues related to made-China-toys, there I also introduced some better sites where you can find high resell-margin toys made by Chinese factories or Chinese suppliers of toys. If you are interested in, please read here.

Below I will share my knowledge in more details about which sites are better to use to purchase low priced toys, especially in wholesale quantities.

So far I haven’t found any Chinese global sites that exclusively offer toys – this does not mean that such sites do not exist though. It seems Chinese online wholesalers or retailers prefer to list toys as one of their major categories instead of the only category, usually named “Toys and Hobbies”. Continue reading Legitimate Chinese International Sites to Shop for High-margin Toys

Pros and Cons of Shopping for Toys with Sites like Aliexpress.com or DHgate.com

Below is my personal summary of the upsides and downsides of buying toys in bulk from China-based wholesale trading platforms like Aliexpress.com or DHgate.com. If you are interested in using such sites to source toys for your resell business, the following points may inspire you.

Pros:

As a big and famous trading platform, they have attracted millions of suppliers to do business there and as a result, they carry the widest arrays of toys that fit all ages, personalities or interests. Whether you are looking for toys for adults or kids, or toys for boys or girls, you will get a lot of products to choose from.

The toys for sale there are abundant to select from also in terms of quality levels. Both high-end toys and low-end toys can be easily found there.

Most of the toys listed at the sites are in stock so that you can get them delivered to your doorstep in a much shorter timeframe compared to shopping with suppliers who need to arrange the production after you place the order.

You can order the toys in small quantities while still at low wholesale prices. One big attraction of Aliexpress.com and DHgate.com is that their MOQ (Minimum Order Quantity) is generally very low. Most sellers require a MOQ of less than 10 pieces for a single order and some have no MOQ requirement at all. This has become a very popular trend in the Chinese international wholesale business arena.

Due to intense competition, the price tags for the same or similar toys offered by different sellers can be significantly different. As a buyer you can benefit a lot from the pricing difference.

Continue reading Pros and Cons of Shopping for Toys with Sites like Aliexpress.com or DHgate.com