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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

#91

Post by kimjongman »

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 know how to shop with taobao/tmall with alipay and tao consolidate shipping. It's way cheaper to buy there.

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

#92

Post by duckwheat »

voltagex_ wrote: post #53
geomark wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have not noticed, but I am interested. Where are you seeing better prices?

Banggood mainly - I've had better luck with them than Gearbest. OzBargain.com.au also seems to like Lightinthebox, Rosegal and Zapals. I do wonder if there's a way to go "one level up" - who supplies all these Chinese stores?

Is it just me, or is GearBest carrying fewer items by far than they were a year ago?

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

#93

Post by duckwheat »

pwneror wrote: post #71
rorykoehler wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

It is a ridiculous and overly broad statement to say that of the tens or hundreds of thousands of companies selling on these sites, none have a QC process in place.

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

#94

Post by duckwheat »

geomark wrote: post #57
voltagex_ wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just out of interest, can you check a couple of prices on Dealextreme, Gearbest and Banggood to see if they're comparable?

Among the items I ordered today: HC-06: Dealextreme $5.50, Banggood $5.99, Gearbest $6.57, Aliexpress $2.58 Arduino Nano v3.0: Dealextreme $3.46, Banggood $2.77, Gearbest $4.27, Aliexpress $1.66

Man, can you share some more of your shopping list for those of us with similar interests?

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

#95

Post by mcphage »

praulv wrote: post #66

For someone having never ordered from alibaba or aliexpres - other than briefly fleeting with drone spare parts - what exactly of use and purpose would you buy from there? I can see large scale uses for industrial machinery / commodities but what about the day to day consumer. Pointless gadgets? I briefly looked at lightinthebox for female accessories and they seemed tacky, overly glittery and just plain cheap lookin…

I have ordered Lepin from AliExpress, which is a Lego knockoff—the sets are the same, but the prices are 25%, and the quality is 90%.

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

#96

Post by code_duck »

neves wrote: post #89
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…

Nowadays everything is made in China. A lot of things we buy are just repackaged stuff that sells for 3x the original price. I've bought decent stuff like a manual coffe grinder, or glass bottles, usb cables, or cheap gopro accessories. You are just cutting the middle man.

The quality can still vary a great deal. There are many tiers for merchandise. For many items, there are very low quality versions that have the flaws described in the gp, that you might never see depending on where you shop or live.

For example, butane torches. You can go to Bed Bath and Beyond and buy a chinese made creme brûlée torch for $30 that lights well, smells clean, feels tight, doesn't leak butane and has a lifeime guatantee. Or you can go down the street to 'smoke shop' and pay $30 for a chinese made torch that leaks butane, has problems with the venturi lever, smells like vinegar, and lights on 3 out of 5 attempts.

The difference is that the second one is sold at the manufacturer level for a much lower price and has gone through more distributors and markup. When you order a random product online it's hard to know what tier you are receiving.

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

#97

Post by jordache »

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…

lol the laptop you type on is likely made in laptop as is the phone you reach in your pocket. You keep typing "China Quality" Like it's a novel concept.. china is the world's manufacture. Your anecdote is just that...

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

#98

Post by code_duck »

duckwheat wrote: post #93
pwneror wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

It is a ridiculous and overly broad statement to say that of the tens or hundreds of thousands of companies selling on these sites, none have a QC process in place.

I think the intent is to say that there are no site-wide quality standards.

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

#99

Post by anilakar »

ivm wrote: post #90
PakG1 wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

Shipping via regular post from AliExpress is often free or very cheap while the same items on Amazon cost 3-5 times more and shipping to my country is $10-15. The downside is 1-2 months waiting times vs. a week from Amazon but I can wait.

You're paying your saved shipping fees in taxes. It still costs the postal services the same amount to deliver the package from the import warehouse to your door but they cannot charge you nor the seller according to international agreements.

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

#100

Post by crdoconnor »

maxerickson wrote: post #61
taurath wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I really don't think the US is prepared for what happens when the entire world turns towards Chinese consumers and away from them.

At what percentage of the global economy do you think the US will become uninteresting? (it's currently between ¼ and ⅕ of the global economy)

Once China reverses its mercantilist policy that % will plummet and the US will suffer very high levels of inflation.

That will probably happen once corruption in China becomes manageable, the Chinese stop moving their assets offshore and the US has no industrial technological advantage any more (i.e. once China can make equivalently good airplanes and microprocessors).

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