Where to buy CHEAP stuff online?

[Crazy Dazz]

This is very general question, so feel free to post any good stores you have found for anything.
Not really your common car parts and accessories, they are pretty well covered both online and in stores. More the harder to find stuff, direct imports etc.
eBay used to be the place to look, but for a lot of stuff it is almost dead now.

Thing that gets me is that I know so much stuff now comes in from China and Viet Nam, etc, and it annoys me to see the prices charge in retails stores. $150 for a pair of shoes I could have bought in Viet Nam for a few dollars

I'm currently looking for a lot of stuff for our boat, but it all comes from the USA. Again, I know that some of the stuff is actually made in China, so I’d be paying to double ship it.
And the only places I can find selling silicon or neoprene piping are in the UK.

[Winter XR8]

Aliexpress.com has cheap stuff direct from china. Not sure on the quality of the products though. Most of it is probably rip off stuff like you would buy in Bali.

[2011G6E]

Because of the strength of our dollar and the weakness of the US dollar, you can actually get some great deals on stuff from the USA when it comes to car and motorbike parts.
Shipping is what to watch...most automatically quote premium priority shipping rates, which cost an absolute bomb. For instance, a small front fender trim for my old 1965 Vespa, a piece of chromed alloy about six inches long and very light, cost me about $10 to buy from a place in the USA, but the initial shipping was said to be nearly fifty bucks! I sent an enquiry to the seller, and they said their system defaulted to the "quickest" postage to where ever you were. I asked for normal parcel mail, and instead of fifty bucks and a couple of days, it took nearly two weeks and only cost well under ten bucks.
Just something to keep in mind from any supplier when buying online. You notice this most prevelantly on Ebay where for some overseas sellers it will defalt to the most expensive postage, and you have to actually send a question o ask about cheaper postage.
If buying off Ebay from China/Hong Kong if it's something small and light, postage is usually free.

China is the usual source of cheap stuff...let's face it, most of the true-blue dinki-di you-beaut Aussie-Aussie-Aussie car parts we buy have "Made in China" stamped on the side of the box.
Couple this with the well known policy of "brand name stuff being made under contract out the front door, the exact same stuff in a no-name carton for our own sales out the side door" way a lot of factories do business over there (They're not exactly worried about this thing called a "copyright" or "registered design"...) and you can get a bargain.
When we had a 100 series Landcruiser, a snorkel at the time cost around the five hundred buck mark. Someone put me onto a place in Hong Kong that sold four wheel drive parts online, and they had a snorkel for less than two hundred, mailed to my door, with all fittings and parts...with, oddly, the same part number as a well known brand that sells here for a premium up near six hundred. I sent an email enquiring about them, and got a reply saying they would be happy to deal, whether i be one or a container load at a much cheaper per-unit price! No wonder some blokes do this for a living...
Now snorkels can be had down a bit over two hundred, so someone has cottoned on to the fact that charging six hundred bucks fo a simple moulded plastic pipe and a few fittings is a bit rich...

[Crazy Dazz]

There's certainly some good bargains to be had from the US, and that's great for things like Volvo Penta parts which are mostly made there.
But its annoying when cheap generic stuff, that I know is made in China, I can't find online except from the US. (Some of the stuff I CAN get from china, but minimum order is 100.)
And it's not that I want Cheap rubbish, I am usually happy to pay a reasonable premium for quality, and for Australian made. But if the product is coming from China anyway, I don’t see why I should pay somebody here a massive mark-up. I was looking at some particular tools, going for about $15 on eBay including postage, but I was a bit worried about the “cheap Chinese junk.” So I went to t@@!#@%& and they had the EXACT same Chinese tool for $50.

[DJR-351]

What sort of boat.....?

[davistev]

Originally Posted by Crazy Dazz

And it's not that I want Cheap rubbish, I am usually happy to pay a reasonable premium for quality, and for Australian made. But if the product is coming from China anyway, I don’t see why I should pay somebody here a massive mark-up. I was looking at some particular tools, going for about $15 on eBay including postage, but I was a bit worried about the “cheap Chinese junk.” So I went to t@@!#@%& and they had the EXACT same Chinese tool for $50.

EXACTLY - I was looking for a Compression Tester and it was $130 at a "reputable chain auto parts supplier" here in Adelaide. The exact item can be bought out of HKG for $45 shipped to me.

On a side note, one of local stores closed their business on High Street and put a huge sign in front of the window saying they are still in business and to visit their online store. Obviously they have decided to not continue with the high rents.

[flappist]

Originally Posted by Crazy Dazz

This is very general question, so feel free to post any good stores you have found for anything.
Not really your common car parts and accessories, they are pretty well covered both online and in stores. More the harder to find stuff, direct imports etc.
eBay used to be the place to look, but for a lot of stuff it is almost dead now.

Thing that gets me is that I know so much stuff now comes in from China and Viet Nam, etc, and it annoys me to see the prices charge in retails stores. $150 for a pair of shoes I could have bought in Viet Nam for a few dollars

I'm currently looking for a lot of stuff for our boat, but it all comes from the USA. Again, I know that some of the stuff is actually made in China, so I’d be paying to double ship it.
And the only places I can find selling silicon or neoprene piping are in the UK.

Yeh you can save lots of money by bringing in things from overseas to replace grossly overprices Australian items.

Why don't we start with the entire WA mining industry. We could sack everyone and bring in cheap labour from somewhere else.

It would save a fortune......gotta be a great idea.......

[nuthin' fancy]

Lang Hancock brought in a house cleaner from Manila, look how that turned out!

[ebv8]

I have a chinese mate and he says there are export products and local products in china
i didn't think this made a difference but I get things from Alibaba, some good, some bad its a real gamble.
eg. I bought lots of export quality remote control helicopters for $18 each and they are good, I found local ones of them cheaper $16 each when i looked harder but they are fake and you can tell, same box, same colours, but made very poorly.
I also have bought car parts and they lie, my leather steering wheel cover is vinyl, my incar DVR was supposed to have HDMI and doesn't.
however my brand name $4 headphones are identical to my mates $199 headphones and even sound the same and are recognised by htc phones as being genuine.
when i bought them though they were supposed to be unbranded but clearly have trademarks all over them.
i would not buy any brand name product from china as you are liable for it as an importer and can be sued by the company as the company cannot get the chinese seller so they go after the importer. I got done by Nike for buying 1 pair of shoes online, after i paid them a small amount of cash they said "NEVER" buy Nike online.

[flappist]

Originally Posted by nuthin' fancy

Lang Hancock brought in a house cleaner from Manila, look how that turned out!

My point exactly. That worked out great for him.

He got what he wanted.

Why care about the effects on anyone else.........

[XR6_661]

www.chainreactioncycles.com for dirt cheap push bike parts, UK site, but converts to AUD….Fast postage too and option to express post.

I’ve purchased hundreds of dollars worth of parts off there….parts that would have cost me thousands here.

[Yellow_Festiva]

www.tradetang.com

www.dhgate.com

Cheap stuff, bought from both sites.

[rog xc]

Originally Posted by flappist

Yeh you can save lots of money by bringing in things from overseas to replace grossly overprices Australian items.

Why don't we start with the entire WA mining industry. We could sack everyone and bring in cheap labour from somewhere else.

It would save a fortune......gotta be a great idea.......

I think the op is talking about " if he has to buy imported goods anyway" (ie: not made here at all) Why pay markup on the goods? Ship it direct & it costs less for him.

[Franco Cozzo]

I bought a used Holset HE351VE turbo from the USA for $350.

The problem was shipping was $300.

I asked Tuff Car Parts here on the forum but they couldn't source Holset stuff, everyone else I.spoke to only supplied Borgwarner and Garrett.

I think the problem is they're mainly an OEM supplier, industrial diesel equipment.

[302 XC]

Originally Posted by davistev

EXACTLY - I was looking for a Compression Tester and it was $130 at a "reputable chain auto parts supplier" here in Adelaide. The exact item can be bought out of HKG for $45 shipped to me.

On a side note, one of local stores closed their business on High Street and put a huge sign in front of the window saying they are still in business and to visit their online store. Obviously they have decided to not continue with the high rents.

I priced up brake pads for my GQ
Reputable large front store $65 an end
Small wholesaler selling mainly online,same brand,same part number $65 the lot
Costed up a water pump for the GQ local parts store,$130,same part,same brand again from the small wholesale on line store $35 ....
The wholesale store is about 20 Ks from brissie CBD,its not direct from an O/S store
I went and visited 2 carpet stores for some vinyl wood look flooring
1 store local $50 a metre installed, store 100 Ks away $25 a metre installed
Same style, name from the same sample catalogue
Over priced retailers are a thing of the past,bricks and mortar rents are too high,people wont pay premium anymore, cut costs,sell effectively or get left behind

[ebv8]

i recently bought a couple of gripgo's from china at $4 each delivered
buy from the tv they are $50 for 2.....they are still crap
i should start up my own ebay store.

[302 XC]

Originally Posted by flappist

Yeh you can save lots of money by bringing in things from overseas to replace grossly overprices Australian items.

Why don't we start with the entire WA mining industry. We could sack everyone and bring in cheap labour from somewhere else.

It would save a fortune......gotta be a great idea.......

I know theres a hint of sarcasim there .......
Once the government unloads whats left of aussie assests,the big industries other than mining close, spose we will all get used to living on food stamps .....
Reality,or sarcasim ......

[Iggypoppin']

Originally Posted by ebv8

I have a chinese mate and he says there are export products and local products in china
i didn't think this made a difference but I get things from Alibaba, some good, some bad its a real gamble.
eg. I bought lots of export quality remote control helicopters for $18 each and they are good, I found local ones of them cheaper $16 each when i looked harder but they are fake and you can tell, same box, same colours, but made very poorly.
I also have bought car parts and they lie, my leather steering wheel cover is vinyl, my incar DVR was supposed to have HDMI and doesn't.
however my brand name $4 headphones are identical to my mates $199 headphones and even sound the same and are recognised by htc phones as being genuine.
when i bought them though they were supposed to be unbranded but clearly have trademarks all over them.
i would not buy any brand name product from china as you are liable for it as an importer and can be sued by the company as the company cannot get the chinese seller so they go after the importer. I got done by Nike for buying 1 pair of shoes online, after i paid them a small amount of cash they said "NEVER" buy Nike online.

I've purchased quite a few shoes from a Chinese site, all Nikes and never had this problem. Who did you use?

[302 XC]

Originally Posted by Crazy Dazz

This is very general question, so feel free to post any good stores you have found for anything.
Not really your common car parts and accessories, they are pretty well covered both online and in stores. More the harder to find stuff, direct imports etc.
eBay used to be the place to look, but for a lot of stuff it is almost dead now.

Thing that gets me is that I know so much stuff now comes in from China and Viet Nam, etc, and it annoys me to see the prices charge in retails stores. $150 for a pair of shoes I could have bought in Viet Nam for a few dollars

I'm currently looking for a lot of stuff for our boat, but it all comes from the USA. Again, I know that some of the stuff is actually made in China, so I’d be paying to double ship it.
And the only places I can find selling silicon or neoprene piping are in the UK.

Im thinking you don't run your own business ???
You don't pay rent, pay wages,contribute to workers super,pay for compo claims, that rise after every claim
Its all good to save a buck or two,but when stores close ,and they are closing daily, and theres no jobs for your kids or grand kids,your buck or two saving now wont help an ailing once healthy industrial country like Australia,when there will be no industries left ...
Spend the money local,it helps those locals support other locals,which in turn support other locals

Short term gain ,looooong term pain ...

[Franco Cozzo]

Last time I tried to replace a 13mm socket from my local Mitre10, I asked for it in 1/4" drive, and the guy said he didn't know if they came in anything smaller than 1/2".

Everything on the shelf was 1/2".

I use www.transquip.com.au for tools, they're based in WA and they ship everywhere.

[Crazy Dazz]

Originally Posted by flappist

Yeh you can save lots of money by bringing in things from overseas to replace grossly overprices Australian items.

Why don't we start with the entire WA mining industry. We could sack everyone and bring in cheap labour from somewhere else.

It would save a fortune......gotta be a great idea.......

As I SAID, I'm happy to pay a premium for Australian Made.
I'm talking about things that are made o/s anyway, and where somebody is charging ridiculous mark-ups, either through greed, or to subsidise their inefficient business, or so that they can pay Tiger Woods a squillion bucks to wear their hat.

[Crazy Dazz]

Originally Posted by 302 XC

Im thinking you don't run your own business ???
You don't pay rent, pay wages,contribute to workers super,pay for compo claims, that rise after every claim
Its all good to save a buck or two,but when stores close ,and they are closing daily, and theres no jobs for your kids or grand kids,your buck or two saving now wont help an ailing once healthy industrial

Well you know what they say about making ASSUmptions.
I AM self-employed (but in a professional capacity) and my wife and I have previously run retails stores. My wife worked 80 hours a week, in the end just to pay the rent and pay corrupt suppliers who were stabbing all there small retailers in the back. It’s very hard to turn a profit when Big W is retailing the same product from the same supplier for LESS than the supplier sells to us.
So please forgive me if my heart doesn’t start bleeding at your little violin solo.
I do support small business where I can, but is not always easy especially when they are being gouged by their suppliers and landlords.

[flappist]

Originally Posted by Crazy Dazz

As I SAID, I'm happy to pay a premium for Australian Made.
I'm talking about things that are made o/s anyway, and where somebody is charging ridiculous mark-ups, either through greed, or to subsidise their inefficient business, or so that they can pay Tiger Woods a squillion bucks to wear their hat.

Yep well YOU can be replaced by an overseas person who eats the same food, breathes the same air but just costs a lot less.

As far as inefficient goes, there is NOTHING in this country less efficient than mining. $150k a year for a labourer? No greed there.......

How about you get paid the big bucks for minerals used in Australia but get paid the same wage as a local in the country you are exporting the minerals to?

Only fair that they are not......how did you put it...

"charging ridiculous mark-ups, either through greed, or to subsidise their inefficient business, or so that they can pay 'Tiger Woods' a squillion bucks to wear their hat"

Why don't you google "sportsmen sponsored by mining australia"?

Lots and lots of hats there.......

[ebxr8240]

Originally Posted by Big Damo

I bought a used Holset HE351VE turbo from the USA for $350.

The problem was shipping was $300.

I asked Tuff Car Parts here on the forum but they couldn't source Holset stuff, everyone else I.spoke to only supplied Borgwarner and Garrett.

I think the problem is they're mainly an OEM supplier, industrial diesel equipment.

Borg Warner took over Holset, KKK etc..

[In Focus]

Originally Posted by flappist

Yep well YOU can be replaced by an overseas person who eats the same food, breathes the same air but just costs a lot less.

As far as inefficient goes, there is NOTHING in this country less efficient than mining. $150k a year for a labourer? No greed there.......

How about you get paid the big bucks for minerals used in Australia but get paid the same wage as a local in the country you are exporting the minerals to?

Only fair that they are not......how did you put it...

"charging ridiculous mark-ups, either through greed, or to subsidise their inefficient business, or so that they can pay 'Tiger Woods' a squillion bucks to wear their hat"

Why don't you google "sportsmen sponsored by mining australia"?

Lots and lots of hats there.......

Your point has been made. Move on.

[Franco Cozzo]

Originally Posted by ebxr8240

Borg Warner took over Holset, KKK etc..

Oh ok, that would probably be why lol.

[302 XC]

Originally Posted by Crazy Dazz

Well you know what they say about making ASSUmptions.
I AM self-employed (but in a professional capacity) and my wife and I have previously run retails stores. My wife worked 80 hours a week, in the end just to pay the rent and pay corrupt suppliers who were stabbing all there small retailers in the back. It’s very hard to turn a profit when Big W is retailing the same product from the same supplier for LESS than the supplier sells to us.

Well if the business failed, maybe it wasn't run properly to begin with ......
If the rent was to high,you could have moved ,if you cant compete with the huge buying power of Big W ,maybe you should have stocked different products
Theres always an excuse

[Crazy Dazz]

Originally Posted by 302 XC

Well if the business failed, maybe it wasn't run properly to begin with ......
If the rent was to high,you could have moved ,if you cant compete with the huge buying power of Big W ,maybe you should have stocked different products
Theres always an excuse

But according to your argument above, it’s all YOUR fault for shopping in Big W and not in our store.
The few dollars YOU saved are the reason my kids nolonger have jobs in her shop.

[ILLaViTaR]

Originally Posted by davistev

EXACTLY - I was looking for a Compression Tester and it was $130 at a "reputable chain auto parts supplier" here in Adelaide. The exact item can be bought out of HKG for $45 shipped to me.

On a side note, one of local stores closed their business on High Street and put a huge sign in front of the window saying they are still in business and to visit their online store. Obviously they have decided to not continue with the high rents.

No good that's completely unaustralian mate. I've noticed a lot of you guys are taking an interest to research and educate yourselves on products instead of trusting biased retailers and buying impulsively and that's just no good. What happened to the good ol spirit of Aussie retail?

I remember the days where we were made to feel strongly guilted for even thinking about buying overseas and how it was our responsibility as Australian consumers to support aussie retailers, as it's their entitlement to charge us, the public 200%+ mark ups due to them keeping a tight lid on supply Remember despite being far less fortunate individuals it's our responsibility to "float" these people back into the millions otherwise we're horrible, how dare we not pay them 200%+ markups for doing basically nothing.

You have to buy all your products from Gerry Harvey. Only he is allowed to source products from overseas and sell them to the Australian public at an inflated price as he is god. We're not allowed to buy these products for self use either as Gerry and the like feel entitled to a piece of that pie too despite not competing nor having anything to do with him. As of course, he is entitled to everything of everyones.

[davistev]

Originally Posted by ILLaViTaR

No good that's completely unaustralian mate. I've noticed a lot of you guys are taking an interest to research and educate yourselves on products instead of trusting biased retailers and buying impulsively and that's just no good. What happened to the good ol spirit of Aussie retail?

I understand your sentiments but I feel I need to address your last comment to highlight just how wide this issue is.

I have noticed quite a few retailers have now sourced identical products overseas in order to increase their profits while passing zero savings on to the Australian consumer. For example
1) our local petrol station sells Vietnamese bottled Coca Cola for $3.85 each.
2) Supermarket chain sells Asian frozen vegetables at same price as before when it was Australian vegies
3) Cheap Asian coffee being sold same price as local packaged

Mate - McCains Vegies is owned by a Canadian company. Shell Oil is Dutch and Moccona Coffee is Dutch with a heavy Thai production component.

Essentially, the retailers are shopping overseas to source cheaper goods to increase their profits (cash flows) to transfer back to their mother country. Why is this okay but when a little guy like myself shops online, bypasses the retailer and sources cheaper goods to increase my cash flow - it is un-Australian? Heck, Kmart has a computer thing that lets me check out myself with no human intervention required. At the end of the day, I have more cash in my pocket to enhance my family's quality of life by doing exactly the same thing as the big corporations - sourcing from overseas.

For example, when I bought the compression tester for $45 online instead of buying it locally, I saved $85. That is $85 I spent on taking my family out for dinner. How is that bad for me and my family? I refuse to subsidize anyone who rips me off at the retail level. In my view, the internet has levelled the playing field. Us little guys can now see what the big retailers are getting their goods for and are agast at how we are being ripped off. I am no longer an uneducated consumer who pays $200 for a pair of Indonesian made running shoes, $160 for a bottle of perfume, or $130 for a compression tester from China. No more - stuff the rip off retailers. No More! We are not talking about the local family store selling petrol, coffee and auto parts anymore. Those days are gone - this is all controlled by large corporations (many from overseas).

You see, you can't blame the little guy for the change in global retail. The internet has made prices transparent and the population explosion as made labour dirt cheap. It really is as simple as that. By calling someone un-Australian by refusing to play "the patriotic game" ignores these very basic facts. Unless we turn the internet off and re-instate tarriff barriers, then companies are going to maximise their profits by going overseas - likewise, so will this Australian family. My message to retailers is to pass some of their savings on to consumers when they source from overseas - otherwise - there is no incentive to shop locally.