Buying Goods From China

[zzSleepyJohn]

My hobbies and interests often lead me to use web search engines to look for specialised goods that I can't readily find in local Thai shops. These are usually of a technical nature, for example I've recently been looking for solar voltaic cells, a wi-fi internet radio, and a small mechanically operated souce of electricity.

Search engines come up with exactly what I need, but they are only available through outlets in USA or UK. If I limit my search to Thai sites only, I usually get nothing.

A careful check of the advertised product quite often reveals that it's Made in China.

Whilst in theory I suppose I could place an order through one of these US or UK outlets, shipping charges would be exorbitant, not to mention unpredictable Thai customs duties, and risk of loss in transit. It would be ridiculous to buy stuff from China by such a trombone route.

So I've found that with a more careful search, I can sometimes find what I'm looking for shown on a Chinese manufacturer's website. Great! But Chinese websites never seem to show prices or give any confidence that they could deal with an individual purchaser like me. They appear to be wholesale only. Nor can they lead me to any Thai distributors, although it stands to reason that they must be selling some of their goods through distributors in Thailand.

I'm frustrated that the market in China is "so near and yet so far". Maybe some of the goods I'm interested in are available in specialised shops in Thailand, or could be ordered through an agent, but without any information, and especially without a local retail price, I don't know whether I'd be seriously interested, so it's difficult to initiate credible enquiries locally.

Any suggestions or experiences appreciated.

+ SJ

[skippy]

My hobbies and interests often lead me to use web search engines to look for specialised goods that I can't readily find in local Thai shops. These are usually of a technical nature, for example I've recently been looking for solar voltaic cells, a wi-fi internet radio, and a small mechanically operated souce of electricity.

Search engines come up with exactly what I need, but they are only available through outlets in USA or UK. If I limit my search to Thai sites only, I usually get nothing.

A careful check of the advertised product quite often reveals that it's Made in China.

Whilst in theory I suppose I could place an order through one of these US or UK outlets, shipping charges would be exorbitant, not to mention unpredictable Thai customs duties, and risk of loss in transit. It would be ridiculous to buy stuff from China by such a trombone route.

So I've found that with a more careful search, I can sometimes find what I'm looking for shown on a Chinese manufacturer's website. Great! But Chinese websites never seem to show prices or give any confidence that they could deal with an individual purchaser like me. They appear to be wholesale only. Nor can they lead me to any Thai distributors, although it stands to reason that they must be selling some of their goods through distributors in Thailand.

I'm frustrated that the market in China is "so near and yet so far". Maybe some of the goods I'm interested in are available in specialised shops in Thailand, or could be ordered through an agent, but without any information, and especially without a local retail price, I don't know whether I'd be seriously interested, so it's difficult to initiate credible enquiries locally.

Any suggestions or experiences appreciated.

+ SJ

What are you looking for?

[OlRedEyes]

That's a sad fact of life that's frustrated me for years now. E-commerce is still totally undeveloped in both China and Thailand. If you're lucky the best is you'll get a phone number, but at least that's a start.

Alibaba has a lot, but it seems to be a dumping ground of advertising without any detail, and I think it's wholesale.

[BEENTHEREDONETHAT]

Through Alibaba I found a site in India that has some items I was interested in. It is wholesale, minimum order was $500 US. That was OK but they wanted me to do a wire transfer through a NY Bank (American Express Bank) who would then transfer it to a bank in Kolkata. I was not to pleased with that is I was not sure I would get my stuff and if I didn't I did not see what recourse I had. I contacted the supplier and told him of my hesitation in doing it that way. He said do it through his Paypal account. So that is what I am going to try. It will be UPS'd in three weeks. Not sure how long UPS takes from India.

The prices are very low compared to the US. Like between 10 and 50% of the US price. It's stuff for making fishing lures. So if you hunt hard enough you can find some things with prices on them.

[ProThaiExpat]

I found a slow cooker on a China manufacturer's web site and was able to contact them by e-mail. A very helpful lady responded and after many e-mails back and forth, I decided to have it shipped by mail, slow method is by ship.

I payed through Western Union. they had over 20 outlets in the town where the manufacturer was located so I had them tell me which outlet they wanted the money sent to.

All said and done, the cost of the cooker, postage, western union wire transfer fee ended up costing me 400 baht less than I later found a similar product at Siam Plaza.

Cooker arrived well packed, works fine, am pleased with the purchase. Had I been able to locate one in Thailand before I ordered from China, I would have bought here just for convenience.

My guess is that customer service varies widely between manufacturers so if you cannot contact them by e-mail, I would pass as many contacts are necessary to iron out the various issues involved in ordering direct.

[zzSleepyJohn]

I found a slow cooker on a China manufacturer's web site and was able to contact them by e-mail. A very helpful lady responded and after many e-mails back and forth, I decided to have it shipped by mail, slow method is by ship.

I payed through Western Union. they had over 20 outlets in the town where the manufacturer was located so I had them tell me which outlet they wanted the money sent to.

All said and done, the cost of the cooker, postage, western union wire transfer fee ended up costing me 400 baht less than I later found a similar product at Siam Plaza.

Cooker arrived well packed, works fine, am pleased with the purchase. Had I been able to locate one in Thailand before I ordered from China, I would have bought here just for convenience.

My guess is that customer service varies widely between manufacturers so if you cannot contact them by e-mail, I would pass as many contacts are necessary to iron out the various issues involved in ordering direct.

That's an interesting reply, ProThaiExpat. Thanks. Did you have to pay any customs duty? I ask because I've heard plenty of horror stories about unreasonable customs duty being charged on personal parcels like this.

Another approach I'm wondering about trying is to ask some local chinese-run shop who are regularly bringing stuff in from China if they could arrange an import for me. For a markup, they could then take care of the payment in rmb and the shipping and customs along with their own goods. Anyone tried this?

There's a lot of good stuff out there on the Chinese websites, if only there were an easy known-price way to bring it into Thailand.

+ SJ

[ProThaiExpat]

It is my understanding that customs duty is not due only imports of a value of $25 or less. The cost of the cooker from China was $12 and even with the shipping, the total value didn't reach a level that it would incur import duty.