Hi! It’s time to do a new User Questions Blog for December!

In case you missed the previous Q&A’s… April edition and the May Edition and October edition.

BTW we have many questions from our Nigerian readers.

Shipping Costs from China

Livungthung asked: Are there any Electronic websites, that does not have a free shipping included? Since shipping price differs from country to country, while most website that provides free shipping has a standard price on the product irrespective of any country. While I believe closest country will have a shipping price benefit.

Interesting question. It is true that free shipping is calculated on the average costs a company makes for their shipping costs. For many countries the shipping costs are the same.

There are probably store for electronic products that do not offer free shipping. You can check the 100 Chinese stores here, see the free/paid logos.

For more info whether free shipping is more or less interesting than paid shipping, check this blog about free shipping at SammyDress.

Trusted Stores

Bjorn Asked: Like to hear about these entrepreneurs from Global Sources Magazines, are they to be trusted, and they usually deceive people?

I haven’t dealed with Global Sources ever. It’s a b2b marketplace for what I can recall. This means you are dealing with individual sellers through this site. Like the Alibaba sites. If anyone has experiences with this site, let us know!

Olebeletse asked: Kindly check if www.goexw.com is real?

This is another b2b store. If you need larger quantities, this store might be yours. But also, I have no experience with them.

Duty Costs

Vladimirs asked: How can I get my tax and duties refunded from Lightinthebox? When I ordered from you I bought Insurance.

This is an interesting question with a hidden layer. Vladimirs says: When I ordered from you. Well, I do not sell any products, so you cannot order from me. Maybe you were thinking you were responding to Lightinthebox?

Anyway, I wrote a blog about this a few months ago: Lightinthebox pays the duty costs.

Chinese Language

Brown from Nigeria wrote: I want to ask since you are residing in China what are the quality tablets, smartphone and phones some one can import from China. Or do you advise against importing such from China.

Secondly sir, I have heard that that products are cheaper on such portals as 1688.com and Taobao.com but the write ups are in Chinese. How can somebody who is not a Chinese  negotiate on these sites? How come you’ve never mention these portals in your blogs? 

Well, I’m not a resident in China. I live in the Netherlands and have never been to China (yet).

I wrote many times about importing electronics from China. First, do not go for non-Chinese brands. You cannot find them for low prices in China. If you want to know about ordering phones, please see this blog series. Or check my ebook for the Ultimate Buyers Guide for Chinese Smartphones.

Your second question about 1688 and Taobao. I did write about them. Check this: Taobao the undiscovered country

Amos asked: How are Chinese stores able to communicate with us in English especially smaller stores and stores in Aliexpress? Do all of them learn to speak English? Since about 99% Chinese is spoken in the country.

I think you answered your question yourself. Yes sales people need to learn to speak English. But…. If you communicate with small stores, do not expect that they speak English very well. Sometimes you must guess what they mean.

Cheap Prices

Henri asked: Hi, I am from Nigeria and really interested in buying stuff from China and selling them over here. But I noticed things are not so cheap in AliExpress anymore. When I convert the prices, it’s exactly what is sold or a little less than what is sold in Nigeria. So how do I make profit? I have heard of 1688. Have you used the site before?

Yes, I noticed increased prices too. The more people buy from China, they higher the demand, the higher the prices. But…. AliExpress is a marketplace and many stores compete with each other on AliExpress, so if you search well, you will find the same products for different prices.

To resell products, it is good to buy in larger orders or more directly from sellers. I heard people who contacted the sellers in AliExpress and discussed to close the deal directly. Only do this if you trust the seller!

For 1688, see above. 1688 is a marketplace like Taobao and you need an agent to buy there or you learn Chinese…

Nigerian addresses

Samson asked: Please I’m having this problem of ordering for my goods.. It’s always saying my billing address is not correct with my Nigerian address. Can you help me out please?

Many people have problems with their addresses in Nigeria. I don’t know what the problem is or where you live. Is it possible to use well known post address? Like the local post office or grocery store? Maybe one of our Nigerian readers might help you out?

What is your question?

I hope you liked it!

If you have any question you like to be answered, please leave a comment and I’ll add it to the next update!

Have a nice week,

Bastiaan