Should I buy famous brands in China?
A growing number of listings at Supplier Blacklist involve scams targeting buyers of famous brand electronics. The China Sourcing Information Center did a great video exposing the scam in detail. Here are some of his key points:
Yes, Apple products and other famous brand electronics are readily available in China. But if your question is “Can you buy genuine Apple products online from China at a price below what you can buy them in the UK or USA?”, then I am sad to inform you that the answer is; “probably not!”
Everybody knows that most of these Apple products are made in China, but what people fail to realize is that due to the tax system in China, the price of the products at wholesale and retail or higher than the pricing you would find back home if you live in North America or in Europe. Also, Apple does an excellent job of controlling their sub-suppliers and carefully controls the amount of made-in-China stock that ends up on the China market.
If you are finding pricing from China that is below what you can find back home, be very careful. Scam artists on the Internet prey on foreign buyers who think they are getting a great deal on genuine products. It is not uncommon for these sellers to disappear with your deposit. And if they do ship goods, it is not genuine product.
Why do the scam artists target small-scale foreign buyers of brand name electronics?
- Most small buyers are working on tight margins and won’t do proper due diligence to verify if the supplier is legit.
- Most small buyers don’t come to China or engage a third party inspection agent to check the goods before the goods ship out and before the final payment is made.
- Small buyers generally will not try to track down the scam artist and pay for a legal battle on a small order.
Visit here to watch the whole video.
Questions:
Do you agree with the points above? Any additional red flags to look out for? Has anybody been able to find a famous western brand in China direct from the factory? If yes, was it a legit product and how was the pricing compared to back home?