since Love to play computer games After the launch of the reader friendly purchasing service, Xiaoji has also received a lot of demand. In addition to some conventional products, Xiaoji has also encountered requests such as "Panasonic 55 inch plasma TV" that make Xiaoji cry and laugh. Xiaoji feels that it should make a simple commentary post to let readers who have not been exposed to overseas online shopping know what kind of things are suitable for overseas online shopping.
First, understand the advantages and disadvantages of overseas shopping:
Advantage: affordable, you can buy things that can't be bought in China.
Disadvantages: it needs a certain period, needs to have English ability, there are risks in transit, and it may not be able to enjoy the warranty in China
A handsome man conceals a hundred ugly men. Even though overseas shopping has many disadvantages, as long as the price is affordable enough, it is enough for us to consider whether to go overseas shopping or not. So what kind of price is a discount? We generally have such a preliminary evaluation standard:
Price of domestic e-commerce malls (RMB)>price of foreign e-commerce malls (USD) x 10
For example, when we recommended the Lumix DMC-G5KK 14-42mm, Amazon and B&H sold for $299.99, while JD sold for $4898. A little calculation: 4898>299.99 * 10, why should I hesitate to wipe it! Place the order quickly!
wait! Have you taken into account the possible costs of overseas shopping?
The costs of overseas shopping generally include: foreign e-commerce mall price, foreign freight (Amazon's current policy is $35 free of mail, while Woot's policy is $5 no matter how much you buy), transshipment fees, insurance fees, and possible tariffs. Our judgment formula just now is suitable for most cases, but it should be clear when it comes to specific goods:
E-commerce mall price: Make a rough comparison according to the 10 times formula above. Of course, if there are some things that can't be bought in China, and you want something special, you need it anyway!
Foreign freight: It usually takes 3-7 working days from e-commerce delivery to the forwarding company. Of course, you also have the option of faster logistics, but this method is usually not cost-effective. I once saw on a website (probably Woot) that a small item of $29.99 was charged $156 for choosing "Next Day"! So even if it's a little slower, we'd better choose the cheapest way with peace of mind. (At this time, Amazon's Prime service shows its advantages. When prices are similar, we usually choose Amazon because of the Prime service.)
Forwarding fee: There are many companies providing transshipment services. The following is a list of major transshipment companies' fees (ordinary parts, 2012 version) made online. It should be noted that the prices of some companies have been adjusted, but can basically reflect the transshipment fees.
In addition, the transshipment company also has different requirements for the transshipped goods. For example, some transshipment companies limit the package weight to less than 7 pounds (it is said that the probability of being spot checked for tax collection is low), and more than 7 pounds need to unpack or take commercial parts, and there is another set of price standards; Some companies do not accept high-pressure spray products or electronic products containing batteries for transportation safety reasons; Some companies will collect customs duties in advance (for example, Belden released information last year that the customs did not collect customs duties but Belden embezzled them), and some companies will have many additional service fees wait.
Because of many restrictions, things with too large volume and weight will suffer from overseas shopping. By the way, I used two real examples of Xiaoji to explain why these two things are not suitable for overseas shopping:
1. A 55 inch plasma TV. Such things must not be taken as ordinary parts, and even for commercial parts, the transportation company will also have certain provisions on the weight and size, such as the weight does not exceed 50kg, the longest side plus the section perimeter is less than 3.5m, etc. These two conditions are easily exceeded by 55 inch plasma. In addition, considering that TV is a fragile product that needs to be handled with care, even if the buyer says that I am a local tyrant who does not consider after-sales issues, no forwarding company should be willing to go with this product!
2. A new 28 inch suitcase. Some readers told Xiaoji that it was only $200, which was very cheap. He and I calculated that the weight and size are within the range of the transfer company, but according to the practice of airlines, the weight of light cargo should be calculated. Generally, 6000 cubic centimeters is equivalent to one kilogram, or about 160 cubic inches is a pound. The volume of this beautiful new suitcase is more than 10000 cubic inches, which is about 70 pounds in volume and weight. The transfer fee is more expensive than its own price, I wonder if the price has any advantage?
Even if the same transshipment company has different transshipment channels, which are different in terms of price, speed, customs clearance, etc., there is no "best transshipment method", because different goods may have different best transshipment methods. Which transshipment company is better? We can only say that there is no forwarding company that has no problems at all. On the one hand, we are also trying many ways. On the other hand, some companies with the reputation of being nicknamed "Bairitong" will not be touched.
Insurance cost: It is precisely because all transshipment companies have experienced problems such as lost parts and pits. We suggest that some goods with relatively high prices (more than 1000 yuan) should be insured at a rate of about 3% of the value of the goods. What is the rate of lost parts? Some people have made statistics that the probability of loss or damage of the transshipment company is about two to five thousandths, but if it happens to itself, it is 100%. Let's evaluate it by ourselves.
Tariff: Tariff is also an influential factor in deciding whether to go overseas. Especially for electronic products, the tax rate is said to be close to 100%. Xiaoji's opinion is that we should take possible tariffs into account when calculating. If tariffs are still within our own budget after consideration, then buy them!
The following is the customs tax amount, tax rate and tariff of some electronic products (tariff=tax amount x tax rate):
Quartz watch (electronic watch) 200 x 20%=40 yuan (exempted if less than 50 yuan);
Electric shaver 200 x 20%=40 yuan (exempted if less than 50 yuan);
Keyboard type handheld mobile phone (such as Blackberry full keyboard model) 1000 x 10%=100 yuan;
Touch screen hand-held mobile telephone (smart phone) will be determined separately x 10%
Portable game console 1000 x 10%=100 yuan
Integrated digital camera 2000 x 10%=200 yuan
Removable digital camera body 5000 x 10%=500 yuan
Removable digital camera lens 2000 x 10%=200 yuan
Keyboard laptop (excluding Apple) 2000 x 10%=200 yuan
Taking Lumix DMC-G5KK mentioned above as an example, a tax of 200 yuan is required based on the digital camera. If the customs requires that the tax be levied on the detachable digital camera, it can be proposed to the customs that, because the actual price is less than 1/2 of the tax amount, the actual price can be used as the tax amount, which is still about 200 yuan. So it seems that this overseas shopping is very cost-effective.
(Warm tip: It is every citizen's obligation to pay taxes according to law)
Similarly, laptops are also suitable for overseas shopping. The difference between domestic and foreign prices of some laptops can reach 30% - 50%, and the amount of tax to be paid is low. Even if you voluntarily pay 200 yuan of tariff, it is still very cost-effective on the whole. On the contrary, smart phones are not very suitable. First, the tax amount is uncertain, and the specific amount is determined by customs officers; Secondly, due to the existence of professional players such as Huaqiangbei, the price difference at home and abroad is not very large. Take the Nexus 5 as an example. If you buy spot goods at a cooperative e-commerce company like BestBuy instead of making official reservations, the price is about 449 dollars. Now the price of Huaqiang North is also 28xx, which has no price advantage at all. Book in Google Play? Google Play reservation has a threshold, which is not easy to do on a large scale. In the case of limited staff, we would rather spend time and energy on it than introduce some other products to netizens.
In the final analysis, our original intention is to buy some digital products through overseas shopping, and we also hope to provide readers with digital product information as well as a purchase channel for interested readers. But we will stop doing something that is too laborious and easy to be hated by the people who depend on it, Recently, the activity of buying DMC-G5 for 2013 yuan has already had camera sellers tell us on WeChat that they can't afford it Finally, due to the limited staff, there are still many areas that need to be improved in our agency purchase, and I hope you will give more support.
