good goods from china // ebay

[redbenjoe]

over the past few years we have been ordering ' non-boomer ' random tools and toys and gift items from china via ebay-
most of it has been BIN stuff with free s/h --
the shipments are usually very fast ( less than 2 weeks ) -the quality has been excellent and the prices are so cheap

sad if its true that their laborers work long hours for shameful wages -
but they sure do a good job

anyway --i am now thinking that china could beat us in any 3 out of 5 world war series

 

[Northerner]

I've bought all sorts direct from china using eBay. Takes a little while but not had a problem yet and quality is good

 

[Reli]

Pretty sure that Ebay or USPS has some kind of secret cost-sharing deal with Chinese importers. Otherwise there's no way they'd be able to afford sending me an RCA cable for only $1.99 shipped.

 

[Lasonic TRC-920]

Pretty sure that Ebay or USPS has some kind of secret cost-sharing deal with Chinese importers. Otherwise there's no way they'd be able to afford sending me an RCA cable for only $1.99 shipped.

I have bought RCA cables for $0.78 shipped! And it shows up in a week! How is this possible?

IT'S WITCHERY! :witch:

 

[Fatdog]

I have bought RCA cables for $0.78 shipped! And it shows up in a week! How is this possible?

IT'S WITCHERY! :witch:

And those same cables at Radio Shack would be $6.00 or more.

 

[Northerner]

And they're probably both made in the same Chinese factory

 

[toshik]

They lately use so called e-packet which takes well over a month to get to the States...

 

[Reli]

In the same gray plastic envelopes.

Please wash your hands after handling any of that stuff, because the Chinese are notorious for toxic chemicals. You may think it's just an ordinary RCA cable but it's probably got traces of lead, dioxin, or even mercury all over it.

At work there's one of those cheap hand-trucks from Harbor Freight, and the rubber wheels on it can be smelled from 20 feet away. Typical Chinese using low-grade, ultra-soft rubber that constantly emits petrochemical vapors.

 

[Reli]

I have bought RCA cables for $0.78 shipped! And it shows up in a week! How is this possible?

IT'S WITCHERY! :witch:

Don't question the global economy, it's good for us comrade!

 

[Superduper]

China parts are definitely cheaper. In the past, they were great at using cheap labor to assemble devices commissioned using high cost US R/D. Through years of technology theft, they now have enough knowledge to develop much of their own. They are great counterfeiters which allowed them to basically manufacture stuff without the cost of R/D and with coupled with their cheap labor, well, the whole shebang is cheaper.

Then comes shipping. This is probably the most important thing that makes trade not even fair. (copied from another web-page)

1. The chinese government subsidizes export shipping costs.
2. eBay and USPS brokered a trilateral ePacket agreement with China Post that gives China bulk shipping rates (which apply to individual packages as well) at a rate far below what we have to pay and which INCLUDES tracking to the U.S. destination and which does NOT require China to offer reciprocal tracking.
3. ePacket is quite fast and extremely economical and enables Chinese sellers selling small items to retain their TRS status
4. Domestic shippers sending small items by First Class Letter or Flat do not get similar tracking and thus cannot be TRS without charging USPS shipping rates that are 10 times what Chinese sellers pay. In other words, we can't compete pricewise.

If you buy anything from China, it's basically a 1-way street. There simply is no way to return an item without making it not cost effective. You can buy an item for $10, free shipping cost, and if it's defective, you'll find that return shipping at the lowest rate you can find anywhere to be $35 (with tracking) and maybe $15 without tracking. Under no conditions would it be worthwhile to return an item for $35 to get back the $10 you paid. When shipping costs 10 times in one direction as in the other direction, that makes trade entirely unfair.

Now, this is great for the consumer you might say and it is. After all, I just installed a radiator (brand new from eBay for $30 shipped) on my Honda. That radiator from our local honda dealer might cost $350. I can't ship a small boombox from CA to a midwest or eastern state for less than what I received that radiator for. Then on the same car, I also installed a new Idle Control Valve.. $25 shipped. Honda wants $350. When I installed it, it looked identical to the one I removed and it works! Same deal here.

So yes, it's great for the consumer in the short term. In the longer run, it may be problematic since it's virtually impossible to compete under these conditions, it eliminates high wage U.S. manufacturing jobs since why would any company venture in producing goods that cost 10 or 20 times more than ones you can buy already made? Right? Once these factories are shut down, you now have people struggling since the jobs that are still present (retail, hospitality, restaurant, etc) and aren't going away are basically lower wage stuff. This makes us dependent on cheap stuff since with low wages, you can't afford expensive stuff. Now that China has become a high power industrial producing powerhouse, and we have lost our industrial capacity, the long terms implications of the influx of cheap goods is more obvious. Still, as far as war goes, China is nowhere (at least currently) the powerhouse that the US or Russia is. But in a few more decades, this may change. Of greater concern is that along with China's new found industrial capacity and high population, they are now faced with horrendous environmental pollution issues and this may eventually cause them to look further abroad to expand their natural resource needs. Seeing that they are building up their maritime capacity and the things they are doing in the china sea, the face of Asia could change drastically in decades to come. Well, I won't be here to see it and of course I'm just guessing. After all, what the heck do I know, lol.

 

[ford93]

Our politicians hold a big blame for this.

China has trillions of dollars in U.S. Bonds which makes them somewhat owners of the U.S.

Saudi Arabia has billions in U.S. Bonds also.

China is also buying companies that are in the automation department a few from Germany and other countries. This will also change how the game is played. In the end the unemployed consumers will not be able to sustain this economy and the cards will fall. It will get ugly in the future.

 

[caution]

Hard to beat the level of pay they'll take elsewhere. That and tech advances (or, theft as you accurately put it) let them take top spot a few years back, but even though our middle class has been destroyed through millions of lost factory jobs, I was surprised when I heard that America's still no slouch when it comes to manufacturing, it's our largest economic sector, doubling output since the 80s.

A coworker at a previous job told me about when he flew to Korea to work with some engineers on a product we ere partnering on. At one point he opened the wrong door (or right door?) and saw our product neatly laid out on the floor, completely torn down with tags on each piece. Woops.

 

[floyd]

I knew it was a lost cause the first time I saw American flags that were made in China. Thank God for cheap Chinese Auto Parts and everything I love it. I don't care if the **** comes from Mars. As long as I can afford it.

 

[Superduper]

I knew it was a lost cause the first time I saw American flags that were made in China.

That's a trade issue and entirely valid. But worse in my view is the bankruptcy of heart and brain, where you can't even fly American flags anymore without lawsuits arguing that someone is/will/are offended. A body that lacks, discourages, or outlaws patriotism is a body festering with a cancer that threatens to destroy itself from within. But then now this post is probably politically incorrect.

 

[Reli]

China parts are definitely cheaper. In the past, they were great at using cheap labor to assemble devices commissioned using high cost US R/D. Through years of technology theft, they now have enough knowledge to develop much of their own. They are great counterfeiters which allowed them to basically manufacture stuff without the cost of R/D and with coupled with their cheap labor, well, the whole shebang is cheaper.

Then comes shipping. This is probably the most important thing that makes trade not even fair. (copied from another web-page)

1. The chinese government subsidizes export shipping costs.
2. eBay and USPS brokered a trilateral ePacket agreement with China Post that gives China bulk shipping rates (which apply to individual packages as well) at a rate far below what we have to pay and which INCLUDES tracking to the U.S. destination and which does NOT require China to offer reciprocal tracking.
3. ePacket is quite fast and extremely economical and enables Chinese sellers selling small items to retain their TRS status
4. Domestic shippers sending small items by First Class Letter or Flat do not get similar tracking and thus cannot be TRS without charging USPS shipping rates that are 10 times what Chinese sellers pay. In other words, we can't compete pricewise.

If you buy anything from China, it's basically a 1-way street. There simply is no way to return an item without making it not cost effective. You can buy an item for $10, free shipping cost, and if it's defective, you'll find that return shipping at the lowest rate you can find anywhere to be $35 (with tracking) and maybe $15 without tracking. Under no conditions would it be worthwhile to return an item for $35 to get back the $10 you paid. When shipping costs 10 times in one direction as in the other direction, that makes trade entirely unfair.

Now, this is great for the consumer you might say and it is. After all, I just installed a radiator (brand new from eBay for $30 shipped) on my Honda. That radiator from our local honda dealer might cost $350. I can't ship a small boombox from CA to a midwest or eastern state for less than what I received that radiator for. Then on the same car, I also installed a new Idle Control Valve.. $25 shipped. Honda wants $350. When I installed it, it looked identical to the one I removed and it works! Same deal here.

So yes, it's great for the consumer in the short term. In the longer run, it may be problematic since it's virtually impossible to compete under these conditions, it eliminates high wage U.S. manufacturing jobs since why would any company venture in producing goods that cost 10 or 20 times more than ones you can buy already made? Right? Once these factories are shut down, you now have people struggling since the jobs that are still present (retail, hospitality, restaurant, etc) and aren't going away are basically lower wage stuff. This makes us dependent on cheap stuff since with low wages, you can't afford expensive stuff. Now that China has become a high power industrial producing powerhouse, and we have lost our industrial capacity, the long terms implications of the influx of cheap goods is more obvious. Still, as far as war goes, China is nowhere (at least currently) the powerhouse that the US or Russia is. But in a few more decades, this may change. Of greater concern is that along with China's new found industrial capacity and high population, they are now faced with horrendous environmental pollution issues and this may eventually cause them to look further abroad to expand their natural resource needs. Seeing that they are building up their maritime capacity and the things they are doing in the china sea, the face of Asia could change drastically in decades to come. Well, I won't be here to see it and of course I'm just guessing. After all, what the heck do I know, lol.

Wow, what do we get in return for that agreement? Besides cheap goods that hurt American jobs? I would think that Ebay would want to INCREASE average prices, since they get a cut of every sale.

And a radiator for only $30, wtf??? Is that safe? Have other Honda owners used it without problems?

 

[Superduper]

Wow, what do we get in return for that agreement? Besides cheap goods that hurt American jobs? I would think that Ebay would want to INCREASE average prices, since they get a cut of every sale.

And a radiator for only $30, wtf??? Is that safe? Have other Honda owners used it without problems?

Hey Reli, you know what? The truth is that if you talk to people, they will always say, yeah buy American goods, support American jobs, etc. etc. But the moment they look at the price tags, they buy the cheap stuff. It's not what people say that matters, it's what they do, and given a choice, they will always buy the cheaper item. That was decades ago and I remember the "Buy American" slogan well. However, today, it's not even mentioned anymore and you know what? You can't even hardly find anything that is made in USA anyhow. Don't believe me? Go to any store and just start checking out the "made-in" statement. Virtually all are made in China. Clothes? China. Microwave oven? China. Shoes? China. Electronics? China. Kitchenware... China. Ok, once in awhile, you'll see something made in Mexico, or Pakistan, etc. But made in USA? Nope. Made in Japan (like in the old days)? Nope. Bottom line: Goods made in places which were once considered top tier..... USA, Japan, German, etc are now the exception rather than the rule, which is now China.

Ok about the radiator... I looked at it closely, and it looks virtually identical to the one that was removed from the car. Since China has a lot of Japanese cars, they've learned to clone these parts domestically and now, those same parts are sold here. Not just on eBay, lots of US sellers have them too. In fact, the price difference is so vastly different that there simply is no way that anyone outside of the dealer would use a dealer radiator.

Check this out: [ebay]121557007723[/ebay]
You'll notice that they sold 72 of them already and only have 7 left. Given his feedback of 99.1%, it's safe to say that if the stuff didn't work, he couldn't sell so many and still have such high feedback scores. AND he's shipping from USA so apparently, they get these imported by the container load. However, remember that I can't ship a boombox from CA to here for $26, so since he's including free shipping, how much do you think that part costs in reality? $10? $15? $5? Regardless, this is what I'm saying, china made parts are so friggen cheeep that it's friggen unbelievable, if it weren't for the fact that to my surprise, I found, bought, installed and used them and they work!

It's $26 and change. And it includes FREE SHIPPING! And lifetime warranty. And I'm telling you it looks exactly like the factory one except for a few fitment issues which I believe is due to the fact that they are selling these for a wide range of models rather than a single model like they would at the dealer. The fitment issues I'm talking about are for example, there is a hole in the mounting bracket that fits over a plastic locating peg. It fits a bit loose to my liking, so I just sleeved the peg with heat shrink tubing, and voila, problem solved. Anyhow, I've been running it and it's held up fine, cools just as well as the factory one so my guess is that they basically just "cloned" the factory part. Anyhow, I could go through over 10 of these and still not cost as much as 1 factory radiator. And since the car is already 20 years old, why through expensive parts at it? Now the only thing is that not every car part is cloned. For example, the big American SUV's which are not popular in China won't have cloned parts. But for certain parts that are easy to clone.... that's another story.

 

[Reli]

Yeah, Honda is one of the easiest cars to maintain because of how big the parts market is

But aren't you concerned with the grade of metal used? And that if it's inferior it might fatigue and leak sooner? Granted, I don't know much about radiator metallurgy, but......

There are some parts I would never buy from a no-name seller, including CV joints, balljoints, struts/shocks, and any other high-stress moving part. A lot of those Ebay dipshits use recycled parts without telling the buyer. They just re-grease the bearings, put a new boot over them, put a fresh coat of paint over the axle, and call it "new".

 

[Superduper]

No I'm not concerned. The radiator is made of aluminum and plastic, just like the factory one. It's not a high stress part. As for concerns about buying them from these Chinese manufacturers, actually the same people that made these also make the factory parts. As for your CV axle, unless you go and buy it from a dealer, most aftermarket parts, even previously well known name brand items, are now mostly made in China. Even your factory dealer part might probably be made in China.

Here's the deal.... for decades, manufacturers have been using their R/D to engineer and develop consumer goods, but they don't do their own manufacturing since the cost of labor is cheaper overseas AND the environmental compliance regulations are so much more relaxed (or non-existent). But guess what? Manufacturers spec'd the parts and commission chinese plants to build them based on their design. Once the chinese manufacturers have the specs, they use these specs to build the OEM product, but also secretly use those specs to build a shadow market of the same goods. In fact, GM had a car that the chinese cloned and sold over in China. The parts were completely interchangeable with the USA one, but it was not branded as GM, rather as a chinese product. At the time, did they develop their own technology to build cars? No, they just copied ours, otherwise why else would it be 100% identical to the GM car. Also, you know that Apple products are built in China right? Apple products are about as high quality as you would expect in their field. Yet they are built in China. The bottom line is that if they didn't previously have the technology before to design good quality products, they now certainly do possess the manufacturing technology to build good stuff if they wanted to, otherwise they couldn't build an iPhone. In other words, they have the capability to build good quality goods if they want to. The question is whether they want to put out good quality stuff or inferior stuff since they can do both. Make no mistake however, China is paying a tremendous environmental price for their manufacturing boom. Some areas have such polluted air quality that it looks like london fog and people are wearing these flimsy dust masks under the impression that it will save them. Highly doubt that these poor sealing and sieve like filters will remove those fine particulates (and vapor).