Paul Ockenden’s guide to buying from China safe ly
I’ve bought loads of stuff from Chinese vendors over many years, and on the whole my experience has been good. Obviously there are downsides, such as having to wait up to a month for your parcel to arrive, and paying import taxes, VAT, and the annoying handling charge that most couriers add on top. But then sometimes you’ll get lucky and the parcel slips through unchecked. Here are my five tips on how to buy safely.
1Check the EU warehouse
Many of the big Chinese suppliers have optional “EU warehouse” stock available for their better selling lines. It often costs between 5-10% extra, but it’s worth it because the goods usually arrive in less than a week, and there are no duties or handling charges to pay. And sometimes the EU price is exactly the same as having the item shipped from China (at the time of writing, for example, GeekBuying charges £377 for the GPD Pocket 7in laptop whether it ships from China, the USA, Germany, Spain or Italy).
2Limit your spending
I rarely spend more than £300 on Chinese imported goods – most of what I buy is pocket money stuff. I recently bought a slightly unusual USB cable (it needed to be a particular length with angled connectors) for £1.39 including postage, and it arrived within a week. I find that astonishing.
3Check eBay and Amazon
One thing I’ve learned is that sites such as GearBest and Banggood aren’t the only places to go to if you’re looking for cheap Chinese imports – they’re also available from sellers on eBay and Amazon. In fact, you may well have bought something there without realising that it’s going to ship from the Far East. The benefit of buying via these more established online retailers is that they add a degree of consumer protection should things go wrong.
4Beware the fakes
When buying branded items I’ll often do a quick Google including the term “fake” and possibly “forum” (which is always good for finding user feedback). If I find that there is a problem with counterfeits – such as the Nitecore Digicharger D4 I bought recently – I’ll be extra cautious when placing my order.
5Check phone bands
Finally, a note about phones. Even with handsets labelled as “global” or “EU”, look for the term “Band 20” or “B20”. This is LTE running at 800MHz, and if the phone doesn’t support it, you’ll get no 4G at all on the O2 network (or Giffgaff, Lyca and Sky, which all piggyback on O2). You’ll get reduced 4G coverage on other networks too, especially in city locations. Many of the cheaper imported phones still have no Band 20 support.