OT: Chinese Import Tax, why not?

[Adrian Caspersz]

Off topic, but ...

The Chinese massively benefit by describing their space rocket building country as a 'developing nation', so we all subsidise their amazingly cheap postage rates to our countries in the west, by paying though the nose when we want to send packages out ourselves.

We probably can't change that, but if our newly powerful 'Out of EU' government is looking for something to raise funds, and give companies in the west a fair change to compete with at least their delivery costs, shouldn't we think about new trade tariffs for the incoming onslaught of Temu crap etc...

"How the Hell can China Ship for Free to your Door??!?"

[Scott]

What about an environmental supplement to take account of any existence of lower standards and pollution caused by transit?

[Rod Speed]

Not legal to have a tariff specific to just one country.

By including the shipping cost in the price you pay.

[Animal]

you don't think hmg takes enough of our money then

[alan_m]

They may be able to ship small jiffy bag items to your door cheaply but the bigger picture is the other items that come from China shipped in containers to UK retailers and attract 20% VAT and delivery charges in the UK. You are unlikely to get your Chinese manufactured washing machine, TV, etc. sent individually from China any cheaper.

I'm not sure how such a tariff would be imposed on individual UK citizens buying/importing single items directly from China except by having to pay a doorstep surcharge on every jiffy bag delivery.

Are there any UK manufacturers actually making and selling the types of goods that China is sending out in the _post_ at a cheap postage rate?

[Brian Gaff]

Well, because whoever we do that to will also do it, and trade wars never seem to work. I doubt in the end if China will always be cheap. They are already getting the rich and poor classes there, and I'd suspect that even with the rod of iron approach of the government, there will have to be wage rises if enough unrest occurs, unless they can replace everything with automation. If they can so could we of course. I imagine that soon if they could only get their act together Africa could be the next cheap labour force, but with Climate change its debatable that it would last even if they could stop killing each other. Brian

[John J]

Who do you fondly imagine will suffer the increased cost to the end user?

[Rod Speed]

Brian Gaff [e-mail] wrote

But china buys f*ck all UK exports.

Depends on how you define trade wars.

EU protectionism does work for the EU.

What matters is whether they are always cheaper than stuff manufactured in the first world.

There in no real unrest for higher wages for manufacturing workers.

The first world would still need to pay those who keep the automation running much more.

Africa never can manage to get its act together, even in the best of africa like the RSA.

Not just killing each other, also breeding like flys.

That has always been the problem with the Philippines and Egypt etc.

[Jethro_uk]

When there was a rush to outsource coding to India and Pakistan, it was obvious to anyone with half a brain cell that it would lead to a rise in living standards and thus wages that would eventually negate any savings made.

With the added bonus that because you had dumped your UK based experienced staff, you were pretty much held to ransom.

The free market will settle, but it takes years.

A few years ago the Chinese upped the prices of rare earth metals overnight. Instead of collapsing, industry just found other sources that had previously been uneconomic suddenly became economic and there was a glut and no more monopoly.

I read they are doing the same with gallium and germanium. I expect the same outcome.

[Rod Speed]

Jethro_uk <jethro [e-mail] wrote

Fantasy when its much cheaper to live in India and Pakistan.

Another fantasy give so much competition in India and Pakistan.

Another fantasy.

[Theo]

I think the discussion of the UPU loophole is out of date - the rules have been changed in the last few years, although I'm not familiar with the details.

Currently stuff on Aliexpress directly sent from China (which takes weeks) is being delivered by Hermes, so evidently they are not relying on the UPU and have cut a deal with Hermes for those packages. Other items (especially eBay 'UK' items from Chinese sellers, which come in a few days) are in a UK warehouse and often sent Royal Mail Tracked 48 or similar, so they must be paying RM the going rate for them.

I'm not sure if the Chinese government are subsidising air freight, or whether it's actually done by weight (if you look at Aliexpress, heavy/bulky things can have $10-50 postage charges, while for small items it's a dollar or two) and a lot of items are just light. I would expect air freight to cube out (be limited by volume not mass) but maybe there's a lot of volume in a 747F.

Theo

[Rod Speed]

Not for us anymore. Our postal service has a new arrangement whereby whatever is addressed to me sent at the same time from more than one aliexpress seller are all put in a bag with out postal service label on it and arrives MUCH quicker now.

[Scott]

I think CCP takes too much.

[Theo]

I'd never heard of Temu before, so I had a look. Looks like a competitor to Aliexpress. A thinner range (especially in the kind of niche electronic parts I buy, which can't be found from Western sources) but pricing roughly comparable, maybe a little cheaper.

There are some things which are scarily-cheap: I suspect these must be being subsidised to attract people in.

So overall it doesn't look a lot different to any other Chinese sales site. I think it's fine if you set your expectations appropriately. It doesn't look like a scam (unlike other Chinese sales techniques), but if you buy cheap stuff you should expect it to be cheaply made.

Worth keeping an eye on, I think.

Theo

[Rod Speed]

Theo <theom+ [e-mail]> wrote

Very different to aliexpress. Aliexpress has a number of sellers, Temu doesnt.

Temu is a competitor to others like Banggood.

Big difference is a minimum order of $20 in my case and free shipping.

And if you put something in your cart, but dont actually buy it when you notice the minimum order value, that buggers keep sending you multiple notifications a day of price cuts on what you have in your cart and new stuff you might the interested in.

The obvious difference is that there is just one seller, Temu.

Not necessarily. I did buy another copy of some brilliant small nail clippers which I had mislaid the original copy of when it was listed for just 1c, free shipping, on ebay. Didnt expect anything useful, but nothing to lose at that price. When it arrived, it was just as good as the one I had mislaid, but the jaws didn't close parallel. I complained expecting to be ignored but got a very quick response saying the seller was very sorry and that they would send another, which they did, and it was perfect. No need to send the bad one back or anything.

Presumably they were building good feedback numbers.

Yes, it will be interesting to see how it pans out.

[Jethro_uk]

My Facebook feed is littered with sponsored (so no way to block) posts from them. If nothing else they are crowding out any competitors.

[Andy Burns]

Neither had I, but this weekend they've popped-up in a couple of sponsored search results, the stupid thing is they apparently won't let you look at items, or even the homepage of their website without registering, so f*ck that!

[jon]

I have deleted all farcebook data.

[The Natural Philosopher]

What is this farcebook of which thou speakest?

[Tim Lamb]

Ha! I don't believe you can out Luddite me!