I'm debating buying a few low cost electronics from an online chinese retailer. Perhaps a quad core 4.1 android phone with 3G for around 7K baht, and maybe a backup laptop with 2 GB ram for around 9K baht.

Has anyone done this and what have your experiences been as far as qualtiy, and were you hit with any taxes when the goods arrived?

Generally, I would say stay away. The problem that still clouds electronics made for and by Chinese companies is still build quality.

Another issue is warranty, as it will require you to send it back to China which will cost you.

I bought a cheap 7" tablet for watching movies and the odd email (WiFi only) it was just under 3k.

Its not the fastest in the world but runs ICS and if it breaks or I lose it at that price no tears.

Whether you get hit with customs charge will be a flip of a coin. Assuming you live in Thailand, I would recommend you just buy your phone in Thailand to help avoid warranty problems, possible customs charges, etc.

My experience is of finding good value in China Android phones, tablets, mini-pc, and also laptop batteries.

It seems shipping via non-premium post is best regarding customs charges.

Usual caveats apply.

Cheers

I have purchased fair amount of electronics from the outfit called Chinavasion over the past years. Haven't had a problem with any, all worked as advertised. The 200mW green laser still lights matches, pops balloons and scares the shit of my neighbor 300m away.... Haven't had any issues with build quality, all the internal chips are the same as in brand names. After all, China doesn't design their own microprocessors, GSM or GPS chips, or memory. All comes from external sources. But the LCD screens are substandard and you definitely don't get Gorilla glass in your Android phone. Having said that, the quality is pretty much OK considering the price.

Stopped buying from China more because of personal conviction not willing to support their economy than the build quality.

This phone looks good.2gb ram, 32 gb rom, gorilla glass etc for $250 on preorder.

http://www.pandawill.com/jiayu-g4-advanced-smart-phone-mtk6589-quad-core-2g-32g-47-inch-hd-ips-retina-screen-android-41-13mp-camera-gyroscope-p71208.html

Things Chinese certainly are improving.

Whilst china is very good at making products for western companies like Apple, the unbranded (or Chinese brand) stuff is usually terrible quality.

It's easy to assume that one android phone is very much as good as another, and looking at the spec alone this can appear to be the case, but the reality is somewhat different.

Admitted, some of the tablets are cheap and if the alternative is no tablet at all then they may be appealing, however if you can bring yourself to pay a little extra and buy a product from a trusted brand you will probably save yourself a lot of frustration and headache.

Acer sells in Thailand acheap Android 1ghz for 3000 Thb, so why going to China ?

:-)

I have used everbuying.com<br />I think they sell Chinese products out of Singapore and Hong Kong,I think?<br />Several orders including Android phones, flashlights,rechargeable batteries, chargers.<br />They have free world wide shipping. I live in Canada. I was 100% happy with the quality<br />of all stuff I received. I was/am not worried about warranties. Nothing expensive<br />I was going to cry over.Everything arrived in Canada about 3 weeks after ordering.<br />Seems they know how to play the duty game. Everything was undervalued on the shipping<br />information and I paid no duty.(Three separate orders) I will be ordering again.<br />That was my experience with them.

Bought a couple of Chinese-made external hard drive enclosures a few years ago. They both fell to bits within a short period of time. The only stress put on them was to insert and remove a few hard drives, which is what they were designed for in the first place.