Bargain Shopping

@hcromer (2710)
United States
January 16, 2007 10:45pm CST
My co-worker's father went to China on a business trip recently. He came back with a lot of technologic gizmos that he claimed to get amazing prices on while in China. Is it true that technological devices are cheaper in China? What else costs a lot less in China than it does in the United States?
2 people like this
9 responses
@melody1011 (1663)
• India
17 Jan 07
China has amazing prices when it comes to a lot of things. Electronic items, clothes, shoes, toileteries, you name it, china makes it cheaper. I dont know how, but they do. Even their movie Dvds, cds etc are soo much cheaper even when compared to india. But you have to be careful about the product you are buying and take a look at the quality. electronic items generally dont have a global warrenty so its a lil risky to buy them. When I went to china, i picked up sooo many knick knacks that I would not ordinarily buy as it was like 1/10 th cost if not cheaper.
1 person likes this
• United States
14 Feb 07
Things are cheaper in China is because some of them are fake.Have to be very careful. not talking fake things, the main reason that things are cheaper because their living standard is low. workers are cheap. Even dentist, their income is only about 1200rmb per month, which is about $150US!!! So how come things wouldnt be cheap!~ if things are not cheap , no local people would afford to buy anything. But some of the big cities, like beijing, shanghai, things are not as cheap, but I think they are still cheaper than US. I am Chinese from hong kong, hong kong is different, but from what I see, US things are way more expensive than things in Hong Kong.
@freak369 (5113)
• United States
8 Feb 07
This is called "the gray market". Look at any camera shop in New York (well, not all them, but most). They are selling cameras for 1/5th the going price. Why? They are imported from China and have no US warranty and often don't come with a battery. So these shops are making a profit on the camera then jacking up the price on the battery, lens cover, case ... everything. People see a Canon digital camera for 79.00 and never stop to ask why they are so cheap. I have friends that live in China and Japan; I get conflicting stories from them about the electronics. The Japanese friends say that their products cost more but are of a higher quality while the Chinese friends say that even though the Chinese stuff is a little inferior, why pay more for something when you can buy a replacement and still be ahead of the game. I order a LOT of Lego items from Japan; stuff you just can't get in the USA. Likewise, my friends in China always want me to send them American chocolate like Hershey bars and Twix, Snickers and Reeces Cups. Why? They say it's because the chocolate made in America is sweeter. Maybe you could strike up a deal with someone in China and send them chocolate for electronics. Don't laugh, the barter system works!!!
@lisado (1227)
• United States
22 Jan 07
I don't know about China, but I know my husband got some excellent deals when he was in Jabal Ali. He picked up a nice stereo and some great blankets real cheap! :) He paid over $20 less for the blankets, including what it cost him to ship them home since he didn't have a lot of space on the ship! :) He also got a nice tattoo in Spain. He had a couple of places in the US tell what they would have charged for the same tattoo and it was 1/2-3/4 of what they wanted here.
@jeb083079 (839)
• Philippines
26 Jan 07
yes it's true that pc stuffs are cheaper in China. they can already imitate an ipod or an mp4 player and it sells half the price of the original ipod. not only pc stuffs, there are also rubber shoes that are imitations of US products. who knows, maybe some items are being manufactured in China, then being sold at the US market at high price. that's how innovative they are plus the costs of labor are cheaper also in China, not only in China, other Asian countries too, like Philippines and India. Philippines and India are the ones competing when it comes to encoding companies and call center companies.
@Chinese (55)
• Canada
7 Feb 07
In china they have the most amazing LOW price ever, I wanna get everything in china =D
• India
17 Jan 07
Hi friend, I know the fact. Chinese electronic goods, are very low cost goods as well as they sell medium cost goods but they specify the low quality goods as per the standards to various countries. In their own market, what quality do they sell i donot know about it.
@gexi1987 (329)
• China
17 Jan 07
it's true that a lot of products are cheaper in china due to under-estimated value of local currency.in china the price of vegetable and food may surprise you since they are really cheap.as you said,technological devices cost less than in US.some of them are of high quality.you need to distinct them from others.good luck.
@b00chay (25)
17 Jan 07
Lots of things cost a hell of a lot less in China. 'Designer' tees cost only british pence [According to my dad 6 tees for approximately $2]. Chinese electronics are very cheap mass-produced and often low quality things but who's gonna complain to that government. Be aware in China piracy is huge money out there and as you can probably tell 'designer' out there normally means fake [This is also true of electronics fake ipods etc]