There is no such thing as cheap branded electronics from China, but there are hundreds of scam sites feeding off this dumb myth.
If you are looking to do business in China (or anywhere else for that matter) you actually need to learn something about international trade, about the market you are entering, and especially how to make sure you get what you pay for. If you intend to start a business importing from China then this is something you really need to learn to do yourself. There are also plenty of companies you can hire to do this for you, which is probably the easiest way, here are a few possibilities. One forums that could be more appropriate for an aspiring internet trader is http://resources.alibaba.com/discuss…_Diligence.htm
Receiving Low Value Products
1) Always pay attention to the price your supplier quotes you. If the price is extremely low compared to the market price, generally 50% lower than the market price, then you should be extremely cautious. Check the company’s background yourself: You can check their website(you can go to http://www.whois.com/ to search for registered information of their website. Be wary if the domain of their website was created less than three months ago) email address, phone, fax number, **** details, Western Union account and company registration certificate, etc. You can also contact your country’s embassy in the supplier’s country. They will provide further information on the supplier.
2) Western Union’s payment service is an instant cash transfer service. It is fast and convenient and a great way to send money to people you know and trust. However, if you need to send money to someone you don’ know well, you may be putting yourself at risk by using Western Union. When making your first order, it is always a good idea to use an escrow payment service, such as www.escrow.com, to protect your payment. If you use an escrow service, check the contents of the parcel when it arrives. Do not let the courier leave until you have checked the parcel. If anything is missing, broken, or the product is poor quality, do not accept the delivery and return it to the courier.
3) Communicate with this supplier to confirm whether they have sent this order by mistake. Keep all evidence and, if necessary, bring a lawsuit against the company. You should also report it to the Alibaba service team so they can help you.
Brand Name Electronics Products Fraud
Pay more attention of famous brand products:
Fraud happens often with products from famous electronics brands such as Apple, Samsung, Canon, Nokia etc. Chinese suppliers may claim that they can provide lower prices because these products are manufactured in China but that is not the case. They all have worldwide price controls so Chinese suppliers cannot possibly offer special prices.
Safety Tips:
1) Check the official website. If you want to know the market level prices of a brand name product, look no further than their official website.
2) Use a secure payment method to pay.AliExpress Escrow, for example, will allow you to withhold payment if your order does not arrive. Recovering money lost to fraud in China is very difficult, just like anywhere else. You would need to report it in person to the police there, or hire a legal representative, which won’t be worth it unless you lost more than at least a few thousand dollars. If you paid by credit card, contact your credit card company to see if you can do a chargeback. You may be able to get refunded through PayPal if you file a dispute with them, or if you paid PayPal with a credit card you may also be able to do a chargeback.
3) Do not pay 100% before shipment.
4) Be cautious of prices that are too good to be true.
As for the common scams you will find in China, the most popular is of course websites selling all kinds of brand name consumer electronics at below market prices. These are always fraudulent, and they operate on most B2B and auction sites. You can find some pointers here on how to recognise them. Some of them like to excuse themselves with that the goods got stuck in customs somewhere, or just send a fake Nike shoe regardless of what you order. Some will send non-working tracking numbers. The city of Putian, and the Fujian district, is somewhat infamous for fraud both in China and internationally. It’s possible to find plenty of scam companies from this area, many of their websites advertise fake Nike shoes in combination with electronics.
Many of these scammers go around spamming eBay traders who are usually the primary targets
All Chinese sites selling all kinds of designer clothing will only deliver counterfeit items. Some of them will freely admit this, others will not. Many of these will also scam you, sometimes only depending on which salesperson you are talking to. These companies are operating outside of the law already so they have little incentive to actually deliver anything, and frankly it’s a lot easier to just scam people. They know you can’t really complain either way, as long as you realized the goods were fake. Trading in counterfeit items is after all not legal. You may get your items seized by customs and face legal action. Seeing the difference between a fake faker and a “real” one is often very difficult as the fakers use similar methods as the scammers to stay anonymous. Either way, I’m not personally interested in the difference, and I have no wish to assist people with this type of business. We have no way of knowing if people will try to pass these items off as authentic or not.
Many other types of counterfeit items can also be found in China, e.g. memory chips, golf clubs, Ipods and mobile phones (often including models that have yet to be released). They will always claim that the quality is “AAA+” which can mean half of them are broken. If they claim that the items are authentic the price will often be thereafter as well, but you will still only receive fake junk. Don’t expect them to honor any guarantees they give you unless you have the resources to hire a couple of Chinese lawyers to go after them. You really need to check them out so you know who you are dealing with, see above.
B2B sites like TradeKey.com, Alibaba.com, EC21.com all have some sort of paid members who are verified in various ways. For your own safety you should not assume that this means anything at all, especially if they joined the site very recently. And especially if they are selling cheap branded electronics, there is always very good reason to be suspicious as it’s not unusual for scammers to be paid members on these sites. If you read the terms & conditions, disclaimers etc… on the sites you will most likely find that they do not make any guarantees that a paid member is legitimate or supplies authentic products. If you intend to start a business it can be a good idea to start reading the fine print. The practice of phishing is also not unheard of, you have to be sure you are dealing with the real company and not some scammer who stole their password.