Great price, fast shipping on ebay item from Hong Kong

[tepextate]

Can we just pause here and reflect for a second on how crazy it is that we can get stuffed shipped to us from the other side of the world for cheaper than buying it here domestically? What gives? I doubt places like CRC and PBK are paying their employees less than somewhere like Nashbar?

[Wattvagen]

i'm glad the OP posted this, and i would like to expand the conversation if palpable :

often when browsing ebay for reasonably common items, like shimano pedals for example, most domestic sources will have them for let's say around $100, but some sellers in china, taiwan, etc will have them for half of that with weird generic looking pictures. the odd looking doctored photos have always led me to be suspect of the product authenticity.

are counterfeit products not a concern here?

[zzy]

China heavily subsidizes post/freight to the US. It's shockingly expensive in the other direction. It helps bolster production and provide jobs.

[Spoker]

My reading glasses and my headset spacers are 4 months on their way.
I really feel bad for-the guys rowing that boat.

[prototoast]

Originally Posted by Wattvagen

i'm glad the OP posted this, and i would like to expand the conversation if palpable :

often when browsing ebay for reasonably common items, like shimano pedals for example, most domestic sources will have them for let's say around $100, but some sellers in china, taiwan, etc will have them for half of that with weird generic looking pictures. the odd looking doctored photos have always led me to be suspect of the product authenticity.

are counterfeit products not a concern here?

I have never seen or heard of counterfeits of reasonably complex products like shifters or derailleurs. They're just too much work to engineer and manufacture.

Clothing, frames, handlebars, seatposts, etc. Those things are very often counterfeit, but Shimano stuff is pretty sophisticated, so I would find it extremely unlikely, or extremely obvious if it were counterfeit.

[R3awak3n]

I have to say, I just ordered something from HK on ebay (by mistake, I was not paying attention, it wasn't even much cheaper than a US seller). I was bummed because thought was going to be a while. Its already in the US and out for delivery tomorrow. Took maybe a week and half which right now is as good as first class getting to me. I also ordered something from Taiwan, this one on purpose because who would guess that the last athena long cage derailleurs are all in taiwan and for a great price, also got here super fast.

[NHAero]

I think it's important to look at the feedback the seller has. Anjoy has over 2000 feedback data points. Also, I haven't bothered to get any low cost items from Asia, it feels to me that any worry has to be offset by serious savings. Sometimes you can find those deals here.

I'm looking for a pair of SRAM Force cranks that use the spider so i can use the Engin spider. I lost an auction today on ebay - the winner paid $194 with shipping for a take-off pair of SRAM Force 1 cranks. I did another Google search and found a pair of new 53/39 Force 22 cranks at Level Nine Sports for $190, shipped. I'm guessing the SRAM spider and rings, which I don't need, will be worth something to pass on, probably more than the single 42T ring that I would have got from the ebay auction. When I looked a few days ago, that Level Nine deal wasn't there.

Still looking for a deal on a R9100 derailleur

Originally Posted by Wattvagen

i'm glad the OP posted this, and i would like to expand the conversation if palpable :

often when browsing ebay for reasonably common items, like shimano pedals for example, most domestic sources will have them for let's say around $100, but some sellers in china, taiwan, etc will have them for half of that with weird generic looking pictures. the odd looking doctored photos have always led me to be suspect of the product authenticity.

are counterfeit products not a concern here?

[oldpotatoe]

Originally Posted by Tz779

I know, right? Try getting something from Israel, waits in customs or *somewhere* for months!

I think depends on the $, not necessarily 'from Israel'..I ordered a small gun part direct from the manufacturer and I go it in about 5 days..$85 total.

[jm714]

Originally Posted by zzy

China heavily subsidizes post/freight to the US. It's shockingly expensive in the other direction. It helps bolster production and provide jobs.

I ordered fishing reels from a Chinese site. Turns out they were not what was advertised. I used PayPal. The order was eligible for a refund but I had to get them back to China. Two reels that probably would have cost $15 or so to ship across country turned out to be $254 to ship to China. More than the reels cost me. PayPal has a program though for discounted shipping that got me down to $50. Return shipping cost me almost a third of the value of the reels. Then the reels were delivered according to the tracking number and it said that for a day before returning to still in transit due to incorrect shipping label. I cut and pasted the address they gave me via email.

[chicagorider]

Originally Posted by Spaghetti Legs

Ooh, good to know. I wanted to buy a Sugino compact crank direct but second party shipper drove the price up too high. With Japan Post shipping I could have gotten Alpina 50-34 alloy crank with BB for about $220 USD shipped.

So just spoke to parents yestesrday again; apparently Japan Post is no longer doing airmail to the US again...

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