China's Underground Wholesale Markets • Hacker News Board

Re: China's Underground Wholesale Markets

#11

Post by seanmcdirmid » Wed, Aug 20, 2014, 2:12 AM UTC

newaccountfool wrote: post #7

Funny that, just purchased one of those fake iPhones. Looks and feels the same, runs an android OS that replicates iOS perfectly. Pretty good fake if you ask me. The lower price genuine android phones will dominate the lower priced foreign markets in my opinion.

Xiaomi is the best at that.

Re: China's Underground Wholesale Markets

#12

Post by pmorici » Wed, Aug 20, 2014, 2:24 AM UTC

"Like this guy below who has travelled here to buy two hundred 32” lcd tv’s his boss needs for the hotel bed rooms in his latest development because there is no place where they come from to buy such things. Many times I have shown them the price in the UK on my ipad and they have been close to jumping on a plane to make a call into an Argos store."

This seems like a problem that will be solved by Bitcoin. The reason people like this can't just buy 32" LCD TV's from Amazon or Overstock right now is becausue of the payment fraud risk. Bitcoin removes that.

Re: China's Underground Wholesale Markets

#13

Post by userbinator » Wed, Aug 20, 2014, 2:26 AM UTC

newaccountfool wrote: post #7

Funny that, just purchased one of those fake iPhones. Looks and feels the same, runs an android OS that replicates iOS perfectly. Pretty good fake if you ask me. The lower price genuine android phones will dominate the lower priced foreign markets in my opinion.

A Goophone? I have one and it is rather convincing looking, although the single home button makes Android a bit more awkward to use. If http://systems.cs.columbia.edu/projects/cycada/ was actually available, the experience could be even more authentic feeling.

Re: China's Underground Wholesale Markets

#14

Post by anigbrowl » Wed, Aug 20, 2014, 2:29 AM UTC

pmorici wrote: post #12

"Like this guy below who has travelled here to buy two hundred 32” lcd tv’s his boss needs for the hotel bed rooms in his latest development because there is no place where they come from to buy such things. Many times I have shown them the price in the UK on my ipad and they have been close to jumping on a plane to make a call into an Argos store." This seems like a problem that will be solved by Bitcoin. The reason…

If you need 200 TVs you don't usually just do it with a credit card, you set up an account with a reseller. There are already mechanisms for doing this sort of thing, eg escrow accounts.

Re: China's Underground Wholesale Markets

#15

Post by analog31 » Wed, Aug 20, 2014, 2:31 AM UTC

pmorici wrote: post #12

"Like this guy below who has travelled here to buy two hundred 32” lcd tv’s his boss needs for the hotel bed rooms in his latest development because there is no place where they come from to buy such things. Many times I have shown them the price in the UK on my ipad and they have been close to jumping on a plane to make a call into an Argos store." This seems like a problem that will be solved by Bitcoin. The reason…

Do you mind if I ask how? I ask as one who is still quite bewildered by the whole Bitcoin thing, but would love to better understand how it works.

Re: China's Underground Wholesale Markets

#16

Post by jedanbik » Wed, Aug 20, 2014, 2:51 AM UTC

pmorici wrote: post #12

"Like this guy below who has travelled here to buy two hundred 32” lcd tv’s his boss needs for the hotel bed rooms in his latest development because there is no place where they come from to buy such things. Many times I have shown them the price in the UK on my ipad and they have been close to jumping on a plane to make a call into an Argos store." This seems like a problem that will be solved by Bitcoin. The reason…

Payment fraud risk? Honestly, I figured it was just to save money from the economies of scale.

Re: China's Underground Wholesale Markets

#17

Post by pmorici » Wed, Aug 20, 2014, 2:52 AM UTC

analog31 wrote: post #15

pmorici wrote: post #12

"Like this guy below who has travelled here to buy two hundred 32” lcd tv’s his boss needs for the hotel bed rooms in his latest development because there is no place where they come from to buy such things. Many times I have shown them the price in the UK on my ipad and they have been close to jumping on a plane to make a call into an Argos store." This seems like a problem that will be solved by Bitcoin. The reason…

Do you mind if I ask how? I ask as one who is still quite bewildered by the whole Bitcoin thing, but would love to better understand how it works.

Imagine you live in Nigeria and happen to be the one actual honest to god legit well to do Nigerian prince. You want to go shopping online for a iPhone with your credit card. Problem is no one in their right mind on planet earth will sell you that iPhone because the chances of a fraudulent transaction originating from Nigeria are close to 100%.

With Bitcoin on the other hand when you transfer someone bitcoin that payment is as good as giving them cold hard cash there is no way to reverse that without the seller agreeing to do so so there is no risk of a charge back. The seller can ship the good and the poor guy who just wants to buy an iPhone can buy his phone w/o having to fly to a foreign country.

Bitcoin is like Cash that works over the Internet. The same way email is a letter over the Internet. Same result w/o physical presence.

Re: China's Underground Wholesale Markets

#18

Post by pmorici » Wed, Aug 20, 2014, 3:15 AM UTC

jedanbik wrote: post #16

pmorici wrote: post #12

"Like this guy below who has travelled here to buy two hundred 32” lcd tv’s his boss needs for the hotel bed rooms in his latest development because there is no place where they come from to buy such things. Many times I have shown them the price in the UK on my ipad and they have been close to jumping on a plane to make a call into an Argos store." This seems like a problem that will be solved by Bitcoin. The reason…

Payment fraud risk? Honestly, I figured it was just to save money from the economies of scale.

No, if that was the case they wouldn't have gone to china, notice the article says that the genuine goods were _more_ expensive in China.

http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2014/08/19/overstock-to-allow-in...

Re: China's Underground Wholesale Markets

#19

Post by bx_ » Wed, Aug 20, 2014, 3:24 AM UTC

Very skeptical of any article that begins with "The truth behind..." Also, a little annoyed by the authors misused of "underground" here -- these malls are not underground at all, and are often far more popular than the 'real' shops.

Re: China's Underground Wholesale Markets

#20

Post by GregorStocks » Wed, Aug 20, 2014, 3:35 AM UTC

analog31 wrote: post #15

pmorici wrote: post #12

"Like this guy below who has travelled here to buy two hundred 32” lcd tv’s his boss needs for the hotel bed rooms in his latest development because there is no place where they come from to buy such things. Many times I have shown them the price in the UK on my ipad and they have been close to jumping on a plane to make a call into an Argos store." This seems like a problem that will be solved by Bitcoin. The reason…

Do you mind if I ask how? I ask as one who is still quite bewildered by the whole Bitcoin thing, but would love to better understand how it works.

Bitcoin does not support chargebacks, which moves most of the risks associated with fraud from the merchant to the customer. This means it's no longer insane for merchants to sell to places with a lot of fraud.