6 Things You Must Know When Buying Gadgets from China

One of the most asked questions we get here at Gizchina is “How do I buy those awesome gadgets you write about?”. Here are 6 simple but often overlooked considerations you must consider when buying gadgets from China!

So if you have ever wanted to know how to get your hands on a knock-off iPhones, Shanzhai Samsung, or a Chinese Android tablet like the popular Wopad, Haipad or ePad keep reading!

As we known, China is the manufacturer center of the world. You can find lots of products made in China around you, and includes most famous brand item, Apple iPhone, Dell computer, Acer laptop, Nike shoes, SONY PSP, and tons of electronics gadgets.

But when you buy from local store, and the price is not cheap as the cost. But now, more and more people would like to buy them from internet, directly from some China’s online store. Is there any risk buy from these store? How to place order? There is lots of questions in buyer’s mind, and I will help you and give this guide.

Which store will I buy from?

On internet, there is millions of stores, but maybe you only know Amazon, Best Buy, ebay, and Wallmart. Which China store is safe place to buy? I collect some stores which has good feedback from more than 10,000 buyers. Here is them: Android-sale, Lightinthebox, Dinodirect, Focalprice, Dealextreme, Milanoo, Chinavasion, Aliexpress, DHgate, IPmart, TomTop, Geartaker, Bigboxstore, Pandawill, Sourcingmap, Jewelora. Digitbuying, Apple-More. It is a few of them, we can not list all of them, but you find them if you search some products on Google.

How to pay my order?

Most of China online store can accept payment by PayPal, it is a safe payment option for buyer. You can get a PayPal account in a few minutes, and can pay it with your credit card by PayPal. The most important, it is safe payment, you can open a dispute if you have not received your order, or it is not as description. PayPal will protect your money for the risk.

How contact us the seller?

If you have any question about the product before buy it, how to contact with the seller? Most of China store support online live support, but because of time difference, maybe they are not working when you buy something at daytime. So email is another better option to communicate with the seller. You can find contact us link on the footer or navigation menu of any store site. They will reply in 24 hours.

How long can I get my order?

Most people have doubt on the shipping, it is a oversea shipping, how long can I get my order? They can ship to any country worldwide.It is a long distance for us with the China store, so the shipping is slower than Amazon. Normally, they ship item by Hongkong post air mail for some low price items, and express by high price items. Most of China store provide free shipping for low price items. It will take about 8-12 days to United states, and 12-16 days to west Europe. They will provide a tracking number, and you can track it at Hongkong post website, or your country post website. A notice for some orders as birthday gift or Christmas gift, please order it early or select express shipping option, because sometimes the air mail will delay because of some unknown problem or busy holiday delivery, but the low price product is worth waiting.

Do I have to pay customs fees?

It is another important question for some buyer. All countries charge some tax for import items which value over $200 or low limit. It is different base on the country policy. But don’t worry about the customs problem, all of these store mark the package as gift and declare your package at low price(about $10 -$100), and the package will arrive smoothly. But at some Europe countries, the customs is stricter than United States.

Can China stores provide warranty for their products?

All China stores provide about one year warranty for their products. If you get a problem on the products, you can contact with the seller for fix or replacement, but returning package will take long time, and must waiting it with a little patience.

Now it’s over to our readers! Do you have any shopping tips for us planning to buy online from China? Did we miss anything? Let us know in the comments below!