Has anyone ordered camera gear from AliExpress/Alibaba?

cayenne

CR Pro
Mar 28, 2012
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Hi all,
I've been eyeballing getting a Shen Hao 6x17 view camera.

They have this thing apparently called "Singles Day" from China...and I've found the best price on this strangely $$$ camera. They have it for like $2360 on Aliexpress which is owned by Alibaba, the Amazon of China as I understand it.

I'm a bit nervous sending that kinda CC bill to something like that...

Has anyone else had experience shopping or buying camera gear on sites like that?

The Shen Hao is a chinese product, so, I'm not terribly concerned about grey market or counterfeit......lol, but am concerned about safety and while they say you can return if problematic, I can't imagine its a good experience trying to return to China.

Small items, not a big deal, but eating over $2K is a bit tough.

Thanks in advance,

Cayenne
 
Mar 25, 2011
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I have a small business and over the years, I've bought a lot from China. I've also lost a lot of $ from crooked sellers. Unless you know the seller or have a guarantee that the transaction will be protected (Alibaba does guarantee sales if you follow their rules), I'd pass. I currently have a supplier that is pretty honest and provides high quality, a rarity.
 
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cayenne

CR Pro
Mar 28, 2012
2,868
796
I have a small business and over the years, I've bought a lot from China. I've also lost a lot of $ from crooked sellers. Unless you know the seller or have a guarantee that the transaction will be protected (Alibaba does guarantee sales if you follow their rules), I'd pass. I currently have a supplier that is pretty honest and provides high quality, a rarity.

Thanks for the reply.

The ad does say 60-Day Buyer Protection, and Money Back Guarantee...which I think is from Aliexpress.
I read that there is something called an escrow service on the site, that will hold the funds till it is delivered, etc....

Anyway, I'm pondering it. I really want this camera....next best price I can find is on ebay and they're from Hong Kong/China too...is about $250+ more there.....but wondering if ebay would be any safer since the seller is from over there too....?

C
 
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cayenne

CR Pro
Mar 28, 2012
2,868
796
As a follow up. I decided to hold up....at least on the singles day special on Aliexpress that ended last night.
I started reading that with the new China tariffs....I might could be charged like 25% on top of that at customs, etc....

I've seen varying stories, but need to research more into that US tariff part.

And I saw that some said on AE, that they were charging state sales tax too and I'm thinking to myself, I'm seriously doubting they're collecting and sending tax to the various states, etc...

So, I may have missed a deal, but figure I should research a bit more to find out what all fees and taxes I might be charged on top of all of this....

If anyone has insight into this area, I'd be very thankful to get some input.


TIA,

cayenne
 
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Cayenne,

The main difference between Alibaba.com and AliExpress is that Alibaba is B2B and AE is B2C. So with AE, they provide a lot of customer protection services, like the 60day buyer protection, money back guarantee.

I'm done 100+ purchases on AE and never encountered a crooked sales. Sure, there have been deliveries that never showed up, but the sellers promptly returned my money. I have even had a seller notice that a shipment went wrong (someone dumped a crate in a port somewhere?) and proceed to cancel the old shipment and create a new one.

$2K+ is a lot of money and I understand your cautiousness, especially in regards of the tariffs getting imposed. I sure would be too. My recommendation would be to shoot off some questions to the seller - usually they are quite happy to answer questions and direct you to the right product for your need.

PS: The "Super Singles" online shopping day (11.11) did sales in excess of $38B. A new record.
 
Upvote 0
Mar 25, 2011
16,848
1,835
As a follow up. I decided to hold up....at least on the singles day special on Aliexpress that ended last night.
I started reading that with the new China tariffs....I might could be charged like 25% on top of that at customs, etc....

I've seen varying stories, but need to research more into that US tariff part.

And I saw that some said on AE, that they were charging state sales tax too and I'm thinking to myself, I'm seriously doubting they're collecting and sending tax to the various states, etc...

So, I may have missed a deal, but figure I should research a bit more to find out what all fees and taxes I might be charged on top of all of this....

If anyone has insight into this area, I'd be very thankful to get some input.


TIA,

cayenne
I have to pay 25% on top of other tarriffs, they rate my products as commercial but for now, many consumer products are not taxed. Many companies are being required to collect sales tax and remit it to the states. There are 3rd party companies set up to do it for small businesses, eBay and Amazon both charge and remit, but Alibaba may not be doing it.

You will need to check on the tarriff of the camera, but I think its still exempt.
 
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cayenne

CR Pro
Mar 28, 2012
2,868
796
I have to pay 25% on top of other tarriffs, they rate my products as commercial but for now, many consumer products are not taxed. Many companies are being required to collect sales tax and remit it to the states. There are 3rd party companies set up to do it for small businesses, eBay and Amazon both charge and remit, but Alibaba may not be doing it.

You will need to check on the tarriff of the camera, but I think its still exempt.

Thank you for all the info!!

Is there a link or resource you could point me to to verify if the tariffs will be added, etc?

I can't find anything on these chinese sites in that respect.....


TIA,

C
 
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