As a UK based ebaYer I have been through a number of phases of being anti and pro buyer of products from overseas, particularly out of the EU and in principal from anywhere outside of the UK.
SHOPLEMONCELL ebaY SHOP TechnologyFUSION ebaY SHOP
There's no denying that at the moment, together with manual labour as the main driving factor, everthing that goes with manufacturing, or simply operators of ON OFF buttons of sophisticated equipment is relatively much cheaper to hire in the Far East than it is here in the West. It seems that the semiconductor technology and industries have got to the point where it costs more to get a piece of electronics from A to B than it does to design, procure raw materials, manage logistics, run 15micron wafer fabrication plants to manufacture the products, deal with the logistics and market them.
So what of our eBayer counterparts in Hong Kong then. Where we -in the UK- are scrambling for sources of cheap stock to sell on ebay, our Chinese or counterparts are stepping through mountains of high-tech equipment and their own competitiors to reach Western Markets. Not to metion that only a small proportion of us have the presently latest 8Mega-Bit Broadband while out there -Singapore- 100MegaBit is not uncommon..In most cases, normalizing the technology offered to us from the far east with those from our own markets shows that we can but the same technology cheaper from the far east or get more technology for our money.
The UK isn't much of a driving force in mass consumer electronics, but we do make good other things. Well. Things like Earth Observation Optic Systems, Jets and stuff.... anyway...
This is all good. But we must be careful beyond recognising a good Seller on ebaY and consider what it means to buy a piece of electronic equipment from overseas. I was once stung 40GBP for a 140GBP LCD Screen from Hong Kong. A slight oversight on my behalf. But it was a turning point for me. I suddenly became more concious about my relationship with my window to this global platform. Wake up dude! I thought to myself. You imported that screen. Didn't just have it 'delivered' ! The moral of the story is, when we buy from ourside of the UK we may be subject to paying import taxes in addition to shipping fees that are a superset of the more familiar Royal Mail rates.
So far it can be seen that Import tax duties and shipping costs can raise the price of goods from the way they correctly but from your prospective, incompletely appear on ebaY auctions. There is also the fact that standard (already expensive) sipping can take several days and in some cases weeks are quoted -by land-.
The upside is. The Chinese markets are flooded with lots and lots of goodies of the latest kind. When we're offered an unbranded branded piece of equipment that does everything and more than a similar branded and costs about a third of the local branded product, it becomes compelling to trade internationally.
I had traded with a Hong Kong after my import tax experiece and on this occasion I bought a small RF link to hook up my MP3 player to my Radio in my car. I was happy with the deal and added the seller to my favuorites. After 18 months, I recently bought a car stereo from LEMONCELL again. It was this transaction that prompted me to write this Guide. I would highly recommend this Seller to any UK Buyer in as much as that LEMONCELL has the finest of products and a customer service to go with it, right down to delivery. Speaking of delivery, yes 35GBP for a 2Kg 65GBP multi media item seems extortionate, but the technology we get for our money is so good that it makes you feel it's worth it and is overall good value for money.
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