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No More Cheap Shipping for Chinese Sellers

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Re: No More Cheap Shipping for Chinese Sellers

#341

Post by sabas_ge »

wbl wrote: post #101
LeifCarrotson wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In terms of dollars per unit weight moved, yes. They are not only moving massive amounts of cargo with low drag, they're also relatively lightweight compared to the product being moved. Also, there's no maintenance cost to keeping a flat path across the Pacific like there is in keeping roads free of potholes. In terms of environmental damage, not at all. Container ships burn some of the nastiest, most sulphrous and d…

Sulfur dioxide emissions at sea are not that damaging compared to in land. They did make some zero emission cargo ships but it was pretty expensive due to crew complement for the reactor.

Next year it will enter into force the IMO regulation on a global sulphur cap, vessels can only burn a low sulphur bunker (the fuel for a commercial ship). http://www.imo.org/en/MediaCentre/PressBriefings/Pages/13-su...

Re: No More Cheap Shipping for Chinese Sellers

#342

Post by swamp40 »

Kadin wrote: post #286
hashkb wrote: post #218

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's very common to get (large) items via DHL from mainland China to SF in less than a week. The US simply doesn't manufacture the same set of items. Raising the cost to order items from China for political reasons will just hurt existing business. There's no alternative, I have a choice to pay more or not buy.

The US doesn't manufacture those items because it's cheaper to have them shipped from China. Raise the cost of manufacturing them there and importing them, and the balance changes. The domestic vs. offshore production calculus is actually closer than a lot of people realize, in many instances. Often it's a choice between a highly-automated and capital-intensive production process in the US, vs. a manual process at a…

The lax environmental laws also allow all sorts of products to be manufactured that would be uncompetitive here in the US.

Re: No More Cheap Shipping for Chinese Sellers

#343

Post by inferiorhuman »

hbosch wrote: post #290
magduf wrote: post #5

This actually sounds like a good thing. It costs Chinese shippers almost nothing to send stuff directly from China, while it costs me quite a lot to send stuff within the US, largely because I'm subsidizing all the Chinese shippers. Moreover, for me to send any parcel (even very small ones, like 2 oz.) outside the US costs a small fortune these days, again because I'm subsidizing the Chinese shippers.

I bought a A1 sized picture frame from a french seller for around $50 on Amazon. It was a total pain getting an affordable frame in A1 size, because the best we can get easily in America is a 24x36" which is just far enough off to be unusable. When it arrived, it had some damage to the acrylic and I wanted to return it. Amazon Support said they would reimburse me up to $20 for shipping it back, but when I took it to…

I bought a A1 sized picture frame from a french seller for around $50 on Amazon. It was a total pain getting an affordable frame in A1 size, because the best we can get easily in America is a 24x36" which is just far enough off to be unusable.

I'd talk to some of the mail order frame places. I've used Frame Destination, and while they don't list metric sizes they'll let you spec custom imperial sizes with no premium at 1/16" precision (e.g. 23 5/16" x 33 1/16" is a bit closer). If you call they may be able to properly do metric sizes.

Re: No More Cheap Shipping for Chinese Sellers

#344

Post by swamp40 »

Pigo wrote: post #327
hashkb wrote: post #218

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's very common to get (large) items via DHL from mainland China to SF in less than a week. The US simply doesn't manufacture the same set of items. Raising the cost to order items from China for political reasons will just hurt existing business. There's no alternative, I have a choice to pay more or not buy.

Like I said, I'm just talking about anecdotal experiences. I have no stake in the trade war, I've just been wondering why shipping from there has taken months in some instances. I'm talking about a pair of shoes, not a washer & dryer.

They just don't have their act together in China in the cases where it takes so long. They put up 10,000 items for sale, stock none of them, then buy them as needed when something sells. They get weeded out eventually by bad reviews. The Chinese companies that do have their act together can ship to US in 3 days for DHL, or 1-2 weeks via subsidized USPS.

Re: No More Cheap Shipping for Chinese Sellers

#345

Post by tombrossman »

hbosch wrote: post #290
magduf wrote: post #5

This actually sounds like a good thing. It costs Chinese shippers almost nothing to send stuff directly from China, while it costs me quite a lot to send stuff within the US, largely because I'm subsidizing all the Chinese shippers. Moreover, for me to send any parcel (even very small ones, like 2 oz.) outside the US costs a small fortune these days, again because I'm subsidizing the Chinese shippers.

I bought a A1 sized picture frame from a french seller for around $50 on Amazon. It was a total pain getting an affordable frame in A1 size, because the best we can get easily in America is a 24x36" which is just far enough off to be unusable. When it arrived, it had some damage to the acrylic and I wanted to return it. Amazon Support said they would reimburse me up to $20 for shipping it back, but when I took it to…

Did you contact Amazon or the seller, and what was the outcome? You received a defective item and your out of pocket costs should be nothing. You should dispute the return costs with both Amazon and the seller, and the seller may tell you to dispose of the damaged item and refund you the purchase price.

You are better off finding a local framing shop to custom make something for you. They don't charge too much unless you opt for fancy frame material and matting.

Re: No More Cheap Shipping for Chinese Sellers

#346

Post by ryanackley »

jonathanmoore wrote: post #282
ryanackley wrote: post #247

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes and no. Essentially this is already happening, except they are drop-shipping you the product for next to nothing direct from China. In fact, there is a small industry that revolves around this business model. The barrier of entry has just risen dramatically with this news. https://www.shopify.com/guides/dropshipping There are thousands of small drop-shipping businesses based in North America that depend on cheap…

I see this as a positive for Shopify. We work very closely with the platform, and over the years I have only seen a handful of direct-from-Chinese dropshipping sites that actually produce any revenue. Sure there are a lot of accounts that are opening with the hopes of a get-rich-quick scheme with low cost and risk. I am certain that it is the legitimate businesses that are behind Shopify's success, and this will help…

Check out Shopify's marketplace for selling online businesses [0]. I limited the search to dropshipping. Dozen's of businesses with five figure monthly revenue and a few with more than that. Revenue data comes directly from Shopify and can't be edited by the seller. These are just the businesses for sale. I would call this more than a handful.

Look, Shopify is a great product and long-term I only see it growing. That being said, I would think the loss of Chinese dropshipping would hurt it's short term outlook.

[0]https://exchangemarketplace.com/shops?businessTypes=21&page=...

Re: No More Cheap Shipping for Chinese Sellers

#348

Post by ddebernardy »

decoyworker wrote: post #8

Good. It should not be cheaper to ship across the Pacific ocean than ship domestically.

I'd be curious to see the math, at least for the West coast and more generally to US coastal areas. Insofar as I'm aware, sending cargo by sea is very cheap compared to sending it using airplanes and long distance trucks.

Re: No More Cheap Shipping for Chinese Sellers

#349

Post by noonespecial »

jacob019 wrote: post #273
cr0sh wrote: post #215

I'm wondering how this is going to effect the hobbyist and small business electronics markets here in the United States? Know how cheap and easy it is to get a small number PCBs made in China and shipped to the US? That's over. So is any number of small electronic parts that would've been shipped free or cheaply from China. Cheap ESP8266 boards? Nope. Cheap automotive relays? Nope. Basically any and every kind of pie…

Buy an ESP8266 board from me for $1.85 shipped domestically via First Class mail: https://www.ebay.com/itm/113772095761

Not to pry, but how can you do that?

The cheapest way I can find to send any package to an address even across the street is $2.66.

Do you just stick a stamp on it and mail it like a letter?

Will you still be able to get your ESP's cheap enough after the shipping change?

Re: No More Cheap Shipping for Chinese Sellers

#350

Post by inferiorhuman »

ddeck wrote: post #337
leshow wrote: post #310

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I find that price hard to believe. Has anybody else had an experience like this?

I recently returned a 13 inch laptop to Amazon from Hong Kong after they sent 2 and it was around $120 (reimbursed by Amazon - the original Amazon delivery charge was ~$18). $370 did sound particularly egregious, but I just checked UPS' online quote site[1] and got a quote of $311-394 for a 5 pound, A1 sized package from California to Paris. In my experience in Asia, Fedex, UPS, DHL etc. provide substantial discounts…

I recently returned a 13 inch laptop to Amazon from Hong Kong after they sent 2 and it was around USD120 (reimbursed by Amazon).

HK Post wants about H$350 to get a 3kg parcel from HK to France. That works out to about $45.

$370 did sound particularly egregious, but I just checked UPS' online quote site[1] and got a quote of $311-394 for a 5 pound, A1 sized package from California to Paris.

I'm not quite sure what A1 sized is (ISO A1 paper? Amazon A1?) but at 5 lbs USPS quotes between $60 and $130 to go from San Francisco to Paris. For international shipping from the US, the private companies will almost always be significantly more expensive and potentially leave you on the hook for expensive customs brokerage fees.

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