Online Shopping Reviews

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 I found that the information provided there is somewhat out of date and it is necessary to give it a update here.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

Tmart Limited-time Offer: Coupon Codes for 2nd Anniversary Sale

As a young shopping site of electronic gadgets, Tmart.com is not so widely known as the industry leaders like Dealextreme.com, Focalprice.com or Lightinthebox.com. Besides, we see negative reviews against them show up on the Internet from time to time. It is nothing surprising to us, honestly.

Made-in-China electronics are extremely cheap in terms of pricing while their quality standards vary significantly. Many people are disappointed by the gadgets purchased from Chinese suppliers, which are not as solid as they have expected. While consumer electronics are one of the biggest categories in the Chinese foreign trade arena, complaints against this category also rank the highest in terms of quantity. If you feel it is unbelievable, just try researching by searching the web for reviews of some popular Chinese sites that offer electronics, you will agree with me.

As a business with an official license, Tmart has been selling products to global buyers for two years. To be fair, it is not a top name and is far from perfect, but it is truly a legitimate company. If you are looking for low priced gadgets from China, it is worth checking out along with other Chinese online stores of electronics. I always encourage buyers to compare sites as many as possible in order to find the best deals. Of course, if you never purchase from a particular site before, do remember to start with a small order to test the water first. As for Tmart.com, my attitude is the same.

The site carry an amazing selection of products at extremely low prices. Addition to their major category electronics and accessories, they also have health & beauty, toys & hobbies, sports & outdoors, apparel, holiday supplies & gifts and more. They claim the products are offered at manufacturer prices. After comparing some typical electronic gadgets including tablet PCs, flashlights, Bluetooth headphones, wireless optical mouse and a few more available at the site with those for sale at their competing sites, I found that they are not overstating.

Below is a list of coupon codes on select categories issued for their 2nd anniversary promotion. The offers end January 15. If you are interested in any of the offers, you may need to hurry up. To check out the deals, visit the promotional page here.

10% OFF on All iPhone Accessories
Coupon Code: 2NDIPHONE

10% OFF on All Wii Accessories
Coupon Code: 2NDWII

5% OFF on All Flashlights
Coupon Code: 2NDLIGHT

5% OFF on All Shower Heads
Coupon Code: 2NDSHOWER

$5 OFF $50+ for All iPad Accessories
Coupon Code: 2NDIPAD

15% OFF $15+ for All Mice & Presenters
Coupon Code: 2NDMICE

$5 OFF $30+ for All Memory Cards
Coupon Code: 2NDCARD

$3 OFF $30+ for All Car Lights
Coupon Code: 2NDCAR

$3 OFF $30+ for All Electronics
Coupon Code: 2NDELEC

$5 OFF $35+ for All Jewelry & Accessories
Coupon Code: 2NDJEWEL

15% OFF $100+ for All Tattoos & Body Art
Coupon Code: 2NDTATTOO

20% OFF $55+ for All Musical Instruments
Coupon Code: 2NDMUSIC

Aliexpress Valentine’s Day 2013 Deals: Play Games to Win Coupons

Compared to general online stores, wholesale trading sites such as Aliexpress.com usually launch their promotions for a particular holiday or festival much earlier so that the merchants who shop the sites for their business can stock up on holiday supplies in time to earn money. Now the Valentine’s Day 2013 is just about one month away. I noticed that Aliexpress.com had already released their first round of sales (mainly on jewelry and watches) for this special day.

Play the Fun Game to Win a Seller Coupon

Valid from January 9, 2013 at 00:00:01 AM PST to January 14, 2013 at 11:59:59 PM PST

On their game page for the Valentine’s Day 2013, you can press the Up and Down arrow keys on your keyboard to aim Cupid’s bow at the hearts, which are running up from the bottom and disappearing soon. Then, click the Spacebar to shoot the running heart you’ve aimed at before it is gone. The game is over once you get a seller coupon. I’ve tried the game myself. It is really fun. Keep in mind that to successfully shoot the heart, you should press the Spacebar for 0.5 second before you release it. Otherwise you may let the target slip away. For details about how to play the game, you can view their instructions indicated below the game.

The coupons won from the game are different in terms of face value on different days, from January 9 to January 14. On the first two days, you can win a $3 coupon; on the following two days you can win a $5 coupon, and on the last two days of the promotion you can shoot for a $15 coupon. The coupon you get is only redeemable for the designated product shown at the window (as shown in the image above) which prompts that you have successfully gained the coupon. Also you should be aware that the deal is only available on January 15 and do remember to grab it by using the coupon that day if you are interested in it. In addition to the value reduced by the coupon, the price of the product is also greatly slashed down that day with a 50% or a 60% discount. This means by using the coupon to place the order on the item that day, you can make double savings!

Continue reading Aliexpress Valentine’s Day 2013 Deals: Play Games to Win Coupons

Made-in-China Toys: Are They Worth A Try?

The other day an Indian reader of my site e-mailed me, asking what my opinions are about the toys made in China. He said toys from China are reported as containing toxic material for children in his country. For this reason he is hesitant to get these toys to the Indian market. In case other readers may also be interested in purchasing toys from the Chinese wholesale market, I decided to create this post for your reference.

Before you go ahead, keep in mind that my shadow understanding about the made-in-China toys is based on my own experience and research only. You are encouraged to do more research yourself in order to make a smart investment decision.

Basics about Toys for Sale in the Chinese Markets

First of all, as a Chinese, I can tell you that it is true there are some crappy toys for children which are made of unsafe material or of poor quality in the Chinese domestic market. These cheap toys are available at small stores or offered by moving street peddlers. At the same time, consumers can also buy them from online stores, especially from sellers at Taobao.com (the Chinese eBay). This is pathetic as the Chinese governments do not take strict measurements to ban such poorly made toys, which are definitely a huge threat to the health of the children.

However, toys for sale at bigger stores such as supermarkets or brand stores are generally made of safe material, covered with authoritative quality certifications, e.g. the 3C Certification (China Compulsory Certification or CCC). If you see a toy labeled with a 3C Certification, you can be confident that its material does not have any negative impact on the health or safety of the kids. Although toys meeting national quality standards are usually more expensive than those not, they are not necessarily beyond common people’s consumption capacities. I myself have bought several good quality small toy cars or trucks with 3C Certification for my little boy, each priced at around ￥8 RMB (a little more than $1 USD). Also, I purchased a four wheel electric driving car (see image on the right) with a remote control function for my son at ￥300 RMB only – the high-end ones priced at around ￥1000 RMB. The car is very fun. My son can drive it on the road by stepping on the switch while we adults can control it with the remote controller. It has a 3C certificate, by the way.

Continue reading Made-in-China Toys: Are They Worth A Try?

Another Good Way of Shopping Cheap Jewelry Efficiently from China: Finding A China-based Partner

In the previous post as a response to my reader, I introduced one efficient way to purchase cheap jewelry from reliable Chinese suppliers. That is, to shop with online China-based stores which allow you to order products in small quantities at low wholesale prices (read the full post here). Here I am going to talk about another good way to get made-in-China jewelry at minimum cost.

Whether you are running a big store or a small shop, you can choose to use one or more online Chinese shopping sites to stock up on products for your inventory. Once you have established stable cooperative relationships with such sites, everything will go easy and you don’t have to worry about your store’s stock anymore. Besides, by shopping with stores accepting small wholesale orders (as small as I piece per order), you can minimize your risk as you don’t need to hold too much stock or to invest too much money. However, despite that there might be more hassles, cooperating with a partner based in China can help you save even more in terms of cost.

This sounds a little bit like traditional trading, for which buyers may need to visit the destination country in person to negotiable about the details concerning the cooperation. However, it is actually not the same thing. It is always good if you can arrange a trip to China to talk face to face with the person you are interested in partnering with, but it is not always necessary to do so. Everything can be done through the internet, phone call or mailing.

The most key part is to find out a reliable partner who is honest, dependable, professional and competent. In particular, I personally would encourage you to use transaction platforms like Aliexpress.com to locate a good partner for your business. Here are the reasons and the specific ways for your reference:

Why?

It can help reduce your cost. Although most wholesale transaction sites including Aliexpress.com and DHgate.com do not charge any fees on buyers and they claim that they are free to use for sellers, they are not really free. Anyway, they need to make money to support the running of their services and to ensure their staff a good life.

Take Aliexpress.com for instance, it is true that they do not charge any fees on sellers upon membership registration. They earn money by adding a 5% commission to the product prices sellers submit to their site. That is, the prices shown on the site are “seller price + Aliexpress commission”. To balance between the cost and the profit, sellers have to submit a price that is profitable, of course. As a result, the prices listed on the site are not the bottom. And this is the very reason why I believe shopping online with the sites is not the only good way for your business.

Continue reading Another Good Way of Shopping Cheap Jewelry Efficiently from China: Finding A China-based Partner

Milanoo Handbags V.S. Lightinthebox Handbags

Milanoo.com is one of my favorite Chinese international shopping sites although it does have some negative reviews on the internet. I like it simply because I have been witnessing the progresses it is making all the way since it was founded and quite impressed by the great efforts they have been devoting to grab the market share.

At the beginning I thought it was a small site like many other ones I had known, which either disappear quickly or stay at the same place year after year. Obviously the site is far beyond my expectation. In recent years I see a robust and ambitious Milanoo keep improving their service and enlarging their product line. This is a very good quality for an online store like Milanoo.com (read the full review of the site here). For global buyers, at least they can be confident that this site is not a scam though they are not perfect.

Besides the complaints against Milanoo.om posted on social forums or third-party review websites, I am a little bit disappointed by the fact that the site does not publish any bad reviews on their own site. I believe they must have received some unfavorable reviews otherwise how could the people vent their anger elsewhere? So far I’ve known no Chinese sites doing well in this respect. What a big deal with accepting criticism anyway? If I were an online shopping site owner, I would let go all kinds of reviews of the products or service offered by my site – I believe it is a good way to filter the inventory in order to keep the best products that are really liked by customers. From my point of view, one reason for not publishing the negative reviews is that the sites are not confident in themselves. What do you think?

OK, now let’s come back to the topic: Milanoo handbags for women. I have introduced again and again here at my site that Milanoo.com started their business from selling cosplay costumes and special occasion dresses specially wedding apparel. In these years they are adding more and more categories to their product line, including women’s fashion and accessories, men’s apparel and accessories, kids’ clothing and accessories, beauty, jewelry & watches, home fashion and more. Actually women’s bags have been available on their site for quite a long time. I just didn’t notice that it had grown into such a broad category with so many styles to choose from. Lightinthebox.com (read the full review of the site here) had been the best Chinese site to shop for stylish bags for ladies in my personal list before. Now I should put Milanoo.com into the list as well seeing that the site carry such a huge selection of all kinds of bags fitting various occasions.

See more women’s bags at Milanoo.com >>

Comparatively, the total number of styles in women’s bags is no significant difference between Lightinthebox.com and Milanoo.com. However, a closer look reveals that the sites emphasize differently in the types of bags they carry. Above 90% of bags for sale at Lightinthebox.com is for special occasions. In particular, evening bags, party bags and wedding bags are their biggest subcategories. Milanoo.com seem to focus more on bags that go for daily outfits although they also have some amazing special occasion bags. Continue reading Milanoo Handbags V.S. Lightinthebox Handbags