These guys don't even know how to spell/punctuate English



The problems I've encountered with Chinese merchants suggest that they simply operate from a culture that lays the responsibility for "keeping 'em honest" on the buyer rather than the seller. In other words, if you let 'em, they'll cheat you. In other words, Caveat Emptor.

A word of caution, however. If you buy something "experienced," e.g. via eBay, do not buy it if YOU are required to pay return freight on an item that's DOA, damaged, or otherwise differs from the description. Above all, do not buy if it's to be shipped via DHL (a German-Government-owned international shipper.) as they charge 1/4 as much, just as an example, for goods traveling from China to the U.S. as from the U.S. to China. I once had an experience in which I bought a piece of test equipment, costing well over $1k, which arrived in totally undamaged packaging, yet was, by its own diagnostics, non-functional and, hence, of no value at all, since manufacturer repair was no longer an option. When all was said and done, I got my >$1k back, but DHL had collected about half that amount, most of which was at my expense, since the seller's freight was only 1/4 of my return freight cost, and the freight from China to the U.S. was about 10% of the total. While I was willing to gamble with that 10%, I was quite unwilling to gamble with the 40% I had to lay out.

A lot depends on the province in which the vendor is located. Many such organizations advertise they're in HongKong, yet are really in GuangDong or some other province, and just have an office in HongKong. Cultural priorities vary from province to province. One should consider that.

Most importantly, however, keep in mind that cultural conditioning in China, as regards "honest trading" is quite different from that in the "West."

RE