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Alibaba hits nearly $18B in ‘Singles Day’ orders in 12 hours

nytimes.com

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Re: Alibaba hits nearly $18B in ‘Singles Day’ orders in 12 hours

#71

Post by pwneror »

rorykoehler wrote: post #33
djaychela wrote: post #19

I've only bought a few things from Alibaba over the years, but most of them have turned out to be either faulty or a typical case of 'chinese manufacturer disappointment' which has led me to being reluctant to buy anything larger/more expensive. When I was in Marrakech a couple of years ago, the guy who owned the riad we stayed in referred to many things in the souks as being "China quality", and I guess that's the p…

China quality is fairly meaningless considering iphones etc are also manufactured in China. Overall I've never been disappointed with what I have purchased from China. Always does what it says on the tin.

The stuff you order from sites like aliexpress has no quality control.

Re: Alibaba hits nearly $18B in ‘Singles Day’ orders in 12 hours

#72

Post by yoavm »

My dad just looked at the last three orders he had on AliExpress, all from more than a month ago. They appear now on the website as if they have 30%-50% discount, but the end price is exactly the same, for all of them. I'm not sure how much of a sale it really is...

Re: Alibaba hits nearly $18B in ‘Singles Day’ orders in 12 hours

#74

Post by PakG1 »

djaychela wrote: post #19

I've only bought a few things from Alibaba over the years, but most of them have turned out to be either faulty or a typical case of 'chinese manufacturer disappointment' which has led me to being reluctant to buy anything larger/more expensive. When I was in Marrakech a couple of years ago, the guy who owned the riad we stayed in referred to many things in the souks as being "China quality", and I guess that's the p…

Most of these Singles Day sales are likely brandname products, not no-name products. For example, I've purchased several Singles Day items this week. A breadmaker by Panasonic, a noodlemaker by Philips, a vacuum by Midea (a Chinese brand), and some glass food containers by Lock & Lock. If you buy no-name stuff, you're taking a risk. But even for the no-name stuff, I've done OK when purchasing stuff that has a lot of good reviews. I think just need to be careful when browsing.

Re: Alibaba hits nearly $18B in ‘Singles Day’ orders in 12 hours

#75

Post by PakG1 »

yoavm wrote: post #72

My dad just looked at the last three orders he had on AliExpress, all from more than a month ago. They appear now on the website as if they have 30%-50% discount, but the end price is exactly the same, for all of them. I'm not sure how much of a sale it really is...

Purchasing inside of China, it's different, I think? All the items I bought, I can clearly see what the original price is. I remember last year buying a clotheswasher. Two months after Singles Day, checked the price and confirmed that it did indeed have the higher original price.

Re: Alibaba hits nearly $18B in ‘Singles Day’ orders in 12 hours

#76

Post by PakG1 »

voltagex_ wrote: post #49
kimjongman wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You don't know how to shop from China.

Please enlighten us - it's often a whole different world if you're used to Amazon.

I don't think it's worth shopping from China unless you're in China or reselling stuff made in China and have deals directly with the suppliers. A lot of products are cheaper buying from retailers outside of China if you're also outside of China. The cost isn't worth it to ship to individuals outside of China unless you're willing to pay the shipping fee, and that erases the cost benefit that most people would hope to get?

edit: sp, silly auto-correct :)

Re: Alibaba hits nearly $18B in ‘Singles Day’ orders in 12 hours

#77

Post by [deleted] »

taobility wrote: post #23
nullnilvoid wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is interesting because the US was the record holder less than five years ago. Five years later, China's Single's Day is several times that of the US's Black Friday. Very soon, it will be an order of magnitude bigger than the Black Friday of the US.

More reasonable reason, the online shopping experience in China is much much better than in US. In China, if you are living some metropolis, the logistic is really faster than in US without any prime membership (normally within two days). And also the price is much cheaper compared with physical retail store. So, most people would prefer online shopping if possible.

[deleted]

Re: Alibaba hits nearly $18B in ‘Singles Day’ orders in 12 hours

#78

Post by jaxn »

djaychela wrote: post #19

I've only bought a few things from Alibaba over the years, but most of them have turned out to be either faulty or a typical case of 'chinese manufacturer disappointment' which has led me to being reluctant to buy anything larger/more expensive. When I was in Marrakech a couple of years ago, the guy who owned the riad we stayed in referred to many things in the souks as being "China quality", and I guess that's the p…

We buys tons of stuff off AliExpress. Mostly jewelry and cellphone accessories for retail, but I’ve also bought car parts and electronics.

Watch the shipping prices and times to be sure you know what to expect. But we have never had any issues with quality or reliability.

Re: Alibaba hits nearly $18B in ‘Singles Day’ orders in 12 hours

#79

Post by seanmcdirmid »

lunaru wrote: post #4

Every year around this time we get the singles day news that yet another record has been broken. I'm going to guess it's going to be the same next year and the year after that since the Chinese middle class is growing (and adopting Western debt-driven spending). Not really a surprise. If anyone in the US wants to partake in the frenzy, I believe aliexpress is doing a Singles Day thing (using US timezone, so it hasn't…

Singles day is way too close to Black Friday, I don’t see room for both shopping frenzies in November. Besides, most cultures aren’t into numerology as much as Chinese are (they don’t think 11/11 is that interesting), so the gimmick doesn’t really translate well outside of china.

Re: Alibaba hits nearly $18B in ‘Singles Day’ orders in 12 hours

#80

Post by geomark »

PakG1 wrote: post #76
voltagex_ wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Please enlighten us - it's often a whole different world if you're used to Amazon.

I don't think it's worth shopping from China unless you're in China or reselling stuff made in China and have deals directly with the suppliers. A lot of products are cheaper buying from retailers outside of China if you're also outside of China. The cost isn't worth it to ship to individuals outside of China unless you're willing to pay the shipping fee, and that erases the cost benefit that most people would hope t…

If you are talking about retailers like the merchants on Aliexpress, many of them offer free shipping. So the prices are lower and the shipping is free. It's crazy that I sometimes buy an item that costs less than US$1 that comes with free shipping. I read somewhere that the Chinese postal system subsidizes a lot of it - not sure if true.
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