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There is a site (in China) the guys who smoke e-cigs use that does this. Even if the item is $1 US they ship free.
Very strange.
Mongo: Mongo only pawn... in game of life.
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I bought a watch from China for something resembling 7 or 8 pounds. Got it, everything in perfect order. The clock itself might not be quite as good a quality as the ones you buy here in Europe, but it was ok. And I figured "Well, what the fluck - At that price, it can hold as long as it holds, and then I can buy a new one." It's just about a year ago, and the clock is still ok.
Bought a necklace pendant for the missus on ebay as well for 25 Canadian dollars. Said it shipped from Canada. In reality, when it arrived, it came from China. It was supposed to be silver. I don't know if it really is, but it looks good...
Anything that is unrelated to elephants is irrelephant
Anonymous
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The problem with quotes on the internet is that you can never tell if they're genuine
Winston Churchill, 1944
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I'd just like a chance to prove that money can't make me happy.
Me, all the time
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Yep - Herself works in an old folks home, so they aren't allowed jewellery or wristwatches. So I buy Chinese "nurse" watches (the ones that hang down from a clasp) for her for about 70p including delivery, and when the battery fails I often chuck it and get another as it's cheaper than buying a battery...sad state of affairs, but it explains why there is so little manufacturing done in Europe these days.
Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...
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OriginalGriff wrote: when the battery fails I often chuck it and get another as it's cheaper than buying a battery
As I read that, I had a "great quote" leap to mind:
It's all garbage, we just wait a bit to throw it away. 
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Johnny J. wrote: I don't know if it really is, but it looks good...
I tend to avoid buying anything coming from China that gets in contact with your skin, and that I do not know what it is made of...
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So you don't buy any Apple products?
I wanna be a eunuchs developer! Pass me a bread knife!
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Not a single one (True!). I see no point in buying technologies that others do better, especially when they are more expensive.
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It appears, nothing.
In 2010 I posted about the same thing: http://www.codeproject.com/Messages/3471232/How-can-we-compete-with-this.aspx[^] (but for some reason the link doens't work)
But: "Just bought (via Flea-Bay) a 2.5mm to 3.5mm headphone jack converter. From Hong Kong. The price? £0.10 Yep. 10 pence. About 1/20th (or 1/30th in London, or 1/50th in a club) of the price of a pint of beer. And that includes free postage. From Hong Kong"
And that was 5 years ago...
Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...
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Has it arrived yet?
You cant outrun the world, but there is no harm in getting a head start
Real stupidity beats artificial intelligence every time.
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Yep. Two days after I ordered it. Which beats the heck out of the UK postal service, most of the time - which is even weirder since it was delivered by the UK postal service...
Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...
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Clearly they've mastered instant matter transportation AND time travel.
Life is like a s**t sandwich; the more bread you have, the less s**t you eat.
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Quote: really cheap options with free delivery from Hong Kong or China
I wouldn't be surprised, as the majority of the non software things are manufactured and distributed world wide from China, Hong Kong, Singapore etc. When it comes to bulk production, the cost per item always come down.
Thanks,
Ranjan.D
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You're missing the tiny production costs in China, and the huge quantities shipped.
I've bought a load of little things - lens cap for the spare camera lens was about a dollar c/w $9 in my local store (on special!)
I bought an entire 'iPhone care kit' with screen covers, cloth, external speaker thingy, etc. etc. for (from memory) $1.50 - exactly the same thing is on sale at my local 'cheapo-doller-store' for $25
I think sometimes they have local distributors, so they ship thousands out of China then post them on locally - but most of mine have come direct from China!
PooperPig - Coming Soon
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I understand that it would cost almost nothing to produce, and when they have a container load to send over very little to get to the UK per item.
But then to get it to my door from wherever it comes ashore would cost more than the cost of the thing.
Some men are born mediocre, some men achieve mediocrity, and some men have mediocrity thrust upon them.
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International postal agencies have agreements whereby they post one another's packages internally for a fraction of the cost it would normally charge per item (it used to be for free, back in the day!)
PooperPig - Coming Soon
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I'm too wondering - I bought a wireless mouse for $1.5 including shipping some two years ago...To replace battery cost me more...
Also bought new batter (9 cells) and new keyboard (she drinks coffee while working) and 8 GB memory for my wife's laptop (HP) for only $70 - the same would cost me at the local dealer some $450! And no shipping...
That's what makes China a world leader...
Skipper: We'll fix it.
Alex: Fix it? How you gonna fix this?
Skipper: Grit, spit and a whole lotta duct tape.
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If you recall[^], you won the right to set it today! 
Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...
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No, I'd forgotten.
I'll see what I can rustle up now.
Some men are born mediocre, some men achieve mediocrity, and some men have mediocrity thrust upon them.
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I always check the "US only" box on eBay. I see from the comments some people have had success but other comments online indicate they have terrible service when buying from China. I have no desire to deal with buying something from China.
There are only 10 types of people in the world, those who understand binary and those who don't.
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That's why I usually check the "EU only" box on eBay  terrible service from China and exoteric prices from US (6000 km from the East Coast are quite a lot...).
Geek code v 3.12
GCS d--- s-/++ a- C++++ U+++ P- L- E-- W++ N++ o+ K- w+++ O? M-- V? PS+ PE- Y+ PGP t++ 5? X R++ tv-- b+ DI+++ D++ G e++>+++ h--- r++>+++ y+++*
Weapons extension: ma- k++ F+2 X
I use 1TBS
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It is not just eBay. Over the past two years I bought from Amazon some cheap (< $3) items with free delivery, on three occasions. (I have a prime account). When the goods arrived, I was surprised to see it was shipped from Hong Kong. I live on the East Coast of the USA. That's free shipping halfway around the world! I don't know how they do it. Maybe exporters from China/Hong Kong have subsidized shipping?
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You got to be willing to wait for it though, I've had it take as long as 5 weeks to arrive.
New version: WinHeist Version 2.1.0
When you are dead you don't know it, it's only difficult for others.
It's the same when you're stupid.
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I sometimes buy parts for my model helicopters from Ebay, like five pairs of rotor blades for the price of one pair (of the same sort) here locally. The whole stuff is manufactured there and then exported anyway. I guess the sellers there buy that stuff for mere cents and still make a few cents despite having to calculate shipment into their price.
The language is JavaScript. that of Mordor, which I will not utter here
This is Javascript. If you put big wheels and a racing stripe on a golf cart, it's still a f***ing golf cart.
"I don't know, extraterrestrial?"
"You mean like from space?"
"No, from Canada."
If software development were a circus, we would all be the clowns.
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I just received a couple of 6' HDMI cables that I bought on EBay from China. The price was great and they work fine. The only down side was it took 2 weeks to receive them. Not that I'm complaining.
/ravi
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Concepts to Consider:
- A shipping broker is sending out out, from mixed vendors, on a continuous basis. Huge amounts of little things can fit in a shipping container or air parcel or whatever.
- Predatory trade practices: selling at a loss to drive competitors out of business. You'd imagine the state has to be in collusion with such a scheme - but that could never happen in China.
- The Original Amazon.com business plan: they lose money on every order but make up for it in volume.
Suggestion: take advantage of the situation by ordering everything in dozens - since you'll need to replace the junk so often.
| "The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits." - Albert Einstein | | "As far as we know, our computer has never had an undetected error." - Weisert | | "If you are searching for perfection in others, then you seek disappointment. If you are seek perfection in yourself, then you will find failure." - Balboos HaGadol Mar 2010 |
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