Buying from china... About to be scammed?
Buying from china... About to be scammed?
Author
Discussion

AC123

Original Poster:

1,287 posts

185 months

Tuesday 15th July 2014
quotequote all
Morning all

I'm wanting to buy some small electronic devices from china - went on alibaba to contact some companies and get some samples. Been in email communication with them, and many of them have a list of other products they sell in their email. That's fine, but some of it seems so cheap I'm worried that the companies are fraudulent. An iphone for $200 etc, I don't want the iphone but alarm bells are ringing.

Am I just being paranoid? They could just be cheap knockoffs I guess.

No one takes PayPal either, but I guess that is to be expected.

Thanks

Simpo Two

93,063 posts

296 months

Tuesday 15th July 2014
quotequote all
AC123 said:
They could just be cheap knockoffs I guess.
There lies a spark of genius within... wink


A friend of mine went to China looking for someone to make headphones for him. They noticed the branded ones he had and said they could copy them and have a prototype ready for approval in 10 days...

bazza white

3,776 posts

159 months

Tuesday 15th July 2014
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A lot are trading companies and not the manufacture themselves even though some will tell you they are.


MrSparks

655 posts

151 months

Tuesday 15th July 2014
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General rule of thumb with Alibaba is gold member only who gets checked out by Alibaba. You can filter the results to match the suppliers that meet this criteria.

AC123

Original Poster:

1,287 posts

185 months

Tuesday 15th July 2014
quotequote all
Great, thanks.

I guess part of me is just surprised how big of a business these fakes must be.

AC123

Original Poster:

1,287 posts

185 months

Wednesday 16th July 2014
quotequote all
Great, thanks.

I guess part of me is just surprised how big of a business these fakes must be.

marked1

271 posts

168 months

Friday 18th July 2014
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TheRealFingers99

1,996 posts

159 months

Friday 18th July 2014
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The story was "Ali Baba and the 40 Thieves".

Maybe the last bit got missed out of the Chinese edition?

imagineifyeswill

1,250 posts

197 months

Sunday 20th July 2014
quotequote all
TheRealFingers99 said:
The story was "Ali Baba and the 40 Thieves".

Maybe the last bit got missed out of the Chinese edition?

imagineifyeswill

1,250 posts

197 months

Sunday 20th July 2014
quotequote all
TheRealFingers99 said:
The story was "Ali Baba and the 40 Thieves".

Maybe the last bit got missed out of the Chinese edition?
I was just going to say doesnt the name give you a clue.