Power Sellers Unite

GreyJaguar · Joined: 12 Jul 2008 Posts: 316

I find it amazing that China sellers are beginning to take over Ebay. So many of them pretend to be in the U.S. and are not. I have read here that Ebay is trying to control it and that once a Chinese seller is suspended, they simply start a new account.

What's even more upsetting is that when you perform a general Google search on the Internet for a particular item, you also wind up on the first few pages with Chinese sites. I wonder if Google will try to do something about this since they are having these disagreements with China now.

If I go into Google Products for an item search I do at least wind up with U.S. sites.

There is no doubt the Chinese are quite schooled in coding. And I don't mean to seem negative towards them. However, so many in that country have no problems whatsoever stealing our money when taking a risk to purchase from them. Quite some time ago, I made the decision to only buy from U.S. wholesalers or retailers.

And I have to admit, I do not understand why Google won't code so that when a computer IP Address is searching from the U.S. that U.S. sites don't primarily show up in the search. If I wanted to see China goods I would include it in my search wording.

mojavelyn · Posted: Wed Mar 03, 2010 11:18 pm Post subject:

Tell Google. And tell them that if you wanted to support China, you'd move there.

Digmen1 · Joined: 12 Feb 2010 Posts: 1007

Yes,
And they're heaps of drops shippers from there.
Probably caused by the huge downturn in their exports when the 2009 economic crisis hit them.
I wonder what their US b&m importers would say, if they found out that these companies are selling direct !

Baconsdozen · Joined: 06 May 2008 Posts: 771

Some of the sellers on UK ebay are based in China or Hong Kong.
We should not be suprised they are taking over ebay and the internet,they have killed off manufacturers in lots of countries.
Some time back I decided to sell only tools made in the US and the UK on my site.I was amazed how many household names in both countries actually sourced their goods from China and the far east.
The problem is that many people simply make their choice on price and makers that have to pay decent wages and obide by strict safety standards can't compete with the rubbish flooding in from so many factories abroad.
I can buy sets of spanners from the far east that would sell for the same price as a hamburger,the problem being they would last about as long as one in a professional workshop,and I value my hard earned reputation.So i have to look harder to source decent tools,but just to rely in a "Made in" or a "Supplied by" sticker is no gaurantee of quality.

DaLizardsLair · Joined: 15 Feb 2009 Posts: 4780

Sellers based in China, took over eBay long ago, because eBay offered them FREE listings.

In return, they got flooded with millions of listings for products, that many times didn't exist. Buyers thinking that they were getting a killing, found out they got ripped off.

The funny part, was that the buyers never complained about the bogus listings.....

...until they were the one that got ripped off.

Digmen1 · Joined: 12 Feb 2010 Posts: 1007

Baconsdozen wrote (View Post): › docWrite("quote")
The problem is that many people simply make their choice on price

In a lot of cases it is not the "people" its the retailers and buyers who buy the Chinese stuff and put it on the shelves. Then the buyer has no choice.

Stockmiser · Joined: 03 Jun 2006 Posts: 1169

OP - what kinds of sites are you seeing showing up on Google from China? I search for items all the time and I don't recall seeing any chinese sites in either general search or shopping.

I'm assuming you are railing against the chinese selling direct to the US, and not chinese products, cause just about everything comes from china these days (ipods, wii, ps3, dvds, cds, laptops, cell-phones, printers, pc's, dell, hp, epson, samsumg, panasonic, INTEL, Apple, solar panels, batteries, car parts, tools, housewares, shoes, clothing, textiles, appliances, aluminum sheeting, etc). About 80% of everythings - with the rest coming from singapore, thailand, korea, and taiwan.

About the only thing not from china are cars (though many parts do - including most hybrid batteries, oh and the newest BMW), boats/ships (though most of the electrnonics do), and planes (if you don't count the computerized parts, tires, plastics, seating, wiring, and hydraulic parts).

Lots of cheap stuff from china....lots of really high quality, high tech stuff too. China is turning out nearly 400,000 engineers each year (we produce about 140,000).

mojavelyn · Posted: Thu Mar 04, 2010 2:07 pm Post subject:

OH! Boeing has a plant in China making parts for and building 737s. I know this because I used to work at Vought in Grand Prairie where we made horizontal and veritical stabalizers for 747, 757 and 767 for Boeing. AND my shop superintendent had to go to China to see how they were doing it there.

The grand hotel he stayed in was a farmer's outbuilding with broken down furniture and rats. And he had been warned to take his own towels and toilet paper, by the Boeing rep who was staying there.

DaLizardsLair · Joined: 15 Feb 2009 Posts: 4780

My brother has been sent to China six times so far, by his employer, General Motors. He got to stay in an actual hotel.

They must like GM more than they do Boeing.

GreyJaguar · Joined: 12 Jul 2008 Posts: 316

Stockmiser,
I deal with a lot of electronics and in that category I wind up with many China websites--you know those sites like tradekey and some of the others that carry many sellers. The key word search seems to bring them up first.

I am aware that China manufactures many of these products along with clothing and accessories, etc. Last year I purchased directly certain articles for myself (not to sell) and, yes, the quality is excellent. Better than some of the same things you can buy here in the states yet manufactured overseas. There must be a grade level of some sort when it comes to quality of the merchandise.

But I also like to find wholesalers in the states not just in China. That does not mean I'm so stupid not to realize the wholesalers in the states aren't buying overseas. I just would like to spend money here in the U.S. if possible since our economy is in such bad shape.

I do not begrudge any country wanting to earn money honestly by selling to other countries. I just would prefer if I do a search in the U.S. for a wholesaler, the U.S. wholesalers come up first rather than China.

mojavelyn · Posted: Thu Mar 04, 2010 9:59 pm Post subject:

DaLizardsLair wrote (View Post): › docWrite("quote")My brother has been sent to China six times so far, by his employer, General Motors. He got to stay in an actual hotel.

They must like GM more than they do Boeing.

I think it also depends on where the factory is. How close to a town? how big is the town? And this was also prior to 1994. Alot can happen in 15 years.

Thefactory · Joined: 11 Jan 2010 Posts: 21

Some of the worst products in the world come from China.
Some of the best products in the world come from China.

It pays to have an agent that you can trust to go to factories, check conditions, wages, product quality, etc.

I am presently doing a research project for a PSU member that needs a form of computer memory. I will not give specifics as that is confidential. However, a common problem with memory is being hacked. e.g. you buy a thumb drive that says it's 500 GB, and it's actually 4GB. - I will be testing his orders for him prior to shipping.

I do product sourcing research for about $4.19 per hour, will visit factories, check products, arrange shipping, and even do all of the logistics such as finding out what form of shipping is best. e.g. shipping container options, shipping company options, etc.

Previous research requests have included audio equipment (found that one guy was almost ready to do business with a frauder so he used us in the nick of time to save big), verified that he was getting the best possible price from the supplier even though they outsource production to China.

Thefactory · Joined: 11 Jan 2010 Posts: 21

As far as Chinese sellers moving in on ebay and pretending to be US, that's often because their boss is US.

e.g. I have a girlfriend right now that's going to be learning how to use eBay. She wants to start making a little more cash on the weekends and would love to transition to self employment. Since I'm a business man, it's only natural that I would teach her a little HTML so she can start working on eBay.

She does some of the research projects that come in when a PSU member needs help finding cheaper or higher quality products.

For most, it's not girlfriends, it's employees. It's way cheaper to hire someone in China. Even if they're an American living in China, they're cheaper because the cost of living is so low.

The difficulty is SENDING someone to China when you suddenly have the need to do so. e.g. The brother of Dalizard'slair probably got paid a boatload every time he came here and that hotel they put him up in was probably a four star.

I've visited some of the best and most luxuroius hotel names in the world because it's affordable here. Last week, I met a client at the Hilton for dinner. The incentives for taking care of foreign needs are nice. Most foreigners I see here are driving luxury cars even if they aren't well educated.

mojavelyn · Posted: Fri Mar 05, 2010 12:55 am Post subject:

Someone else came here and tried to convince us that china and chinese made products were better... And that we should just all do business with china.

Digmen1 · Joined: 12 Feb 2010 Posts: 1007

mojavelyn wrote (View Post): › docWrite("quote")
Someone else came here and tried to convince us that china and chinese made products were better... And that we should just all do business with china.

And what are you going to pay for their goods with ?
The money you earn from selling home made jewelry and craft, cos that's all that seems to sell on US auction sites these days.