Who Are You Really Buying From When Shopping Online?

I buy from Amazon but i will not buy from anyone that is outside the UK, i try to make sure that there is an UK address in the sell profile, never have i got anything thats is shipped straight from china to my home address, ok, there is a few things i've bought from UK from made in china

 

My current mobile phone case came straight from China through eBay. It was the only place I could get it from, although it wasn't obvious it was being imported when ordered. I did enjoy following the full tracking, with it going through several customs clearance centres in China. It was a geography lesson. After 2 weeks it finally dropped through the letter box. I was quite impressed at the logistics, but what a fuss for my phone case.

Of course one has to look out for import duties - we did import something a few years ago that required some excise duties to be paid before it would be delivered. We had to go online to pay them and next day the item turned up. Again impressed with all the logistics.

 

Wow! What a read! Thank you for that eye opener, shiney.

I’m glad that, apart from my weekly supermarket shop and the Pets at Home cat food, I hardly ever buy things online.

 

I buy a lot from Amazon, but I tend to go for things that are next day delivery since I like to know I'll be home when they're delivered. Bit difficult to get stuff all the way from China in that timeframe.

 

I've bought stuff on e bay and it often says something like location Birmingham but I think when you order it gets sent to Birmingham from China and then sent on to you.
I've not had chance to read the link yet but probably will later.

 

I haven't had a chance to read the link yet either but do know that a lot of foreign sellers just state they are uk based or have a warehouse here to get around the rules.

I saw a documentary based around fake products in cycling, including helmets that buckled under slight pressure and they focused on a chain, buying one from a known supplier and one direct from China. To cut a long story short, even people knowledgeable in the field found it difficult to tell the difference from just a quick look.
There was also a really horrible bit in the documentary where they discussed different industries and in Cambodia and Vietnam they chain kids to desks, making designer handbags, and even broke the legs of some children so they couldn't run away. These are run by cartels because there is so much money in counterfeit goods.

 

I just read most of the link but nothing new really, its always been a case of buyer beware as far as I'm concerned.
If it comes from China or the far east expect to get ripped off, if it works out ok, then its good.
Just dont buy anything too expensive..

I'm not really a person who likes to buy everything on line I do prefer to see what I'm buying but often buy simple stuff online, but usually the P&P prices stop me.

 

If you want to know whether an ebay seller is based in China, click on their name and then click on “about” and that gives you their registered address.

If possible, I look for things made in Germany. Got a new hot water bottle the other day, and a pair of shoes recently. Customs charges kick in if the value is over £130.

Good advice in the article re checking if the seller or company has a website apart from their ebay presence. My hot water bottle seller did.

 

I think the article is more about "don't be stupid when buying things". The platform is of secondary importance (but of course is bringing the availability to masses in a very convenient way), but the focus should be on the buyer. Snake Oil is not a new invention.

I found this quite funny- energy saving box that smoothes household voltage??



Personally I'm starting to be a fan of Shein. Not for the fashion, but for things like metal pegs to pin down garden fleece, clippers and pruners (better than Morrison's and as I regularly lose them the price is comforting), plant ties, sticky stuff to shorten curtains, weed membrane (exactly the same stuff sold in Tesco), bamboo plant saucers, socks, thermal socks (very good and lasted all winter washings so far), hooks and so on.

A bamboo plant saucer or a set of metal pegs is just that, can't go very wrong there. It's a different song with more complicated things such as electricals which I'd never buy from China, or fashion clothing.

 

Very careful where we buy from on line. Never use Amazon or eBay. I mainly buy from John Lewis and Marks and Spencer. If I am tempted by something else, I do look at the website carefully to make sure it is an actual uk business, and often look on the satellite pictures to identify their factory or warehouse. Have been making a very big effort to avoiding stuff made in China. However I read that China is moving factories to Vietnam, so yet another country is going on my ‘avoid’ list. Plus removing any ‘made in China ‘ labelling, to get round tariffs. OH buys some electronic stuff on line, but only from a couple of carefully vetted companies. He does pay more but prefers to do that. Despite that, he has been sent the occasional counterfeit item, which hasn’t worked as it should. Now I had to add US made products to the list too. Sigh.

 

That's cheaper, were they imported