Online Shopping Reviews

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

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