Buying Direct from Overseas: A Marketplace That’s a Portal to Future Capitalism

I've purchased more than a few items from China (usually Shenzhen) - via Ebay, sometimes Amazon, and more recently AliExpress - and I had always wondered about the whole "ePacket" shipping I was able to get for certain things. It always seemed to be smaller stuff, too. Always had good tracking, and was fast (I think the fastest I saw was about 2 days - obviously flown in).

This article answered some questions I had, but seemed a bit ominous in the tone that there are powers-that-be that are trying to close the "loophole" (?) for consumers in favor of larger retailers; at least, that's what I was getting from a quick read of the article.

Now honestly, I can understand the retailers fears - from a business perspective. But here's the thing: I can't go to one of these other sites and get everything that I can get from, say, AliExpress - I'm not going to typically find low-cost ESP8266 boards by the 5 pack or anything like that. That's the kind of stuff I buy, not the regular "consumer junk" that places try to sell.

I can get some of the via Amazon - but if I can get it cheaper and just as fast (or even if I have to wait a bit) via AliExpress, why shouldn't I be able to take that route? Also - there are some things I can get on AliExpress that I just can't get on Amazon or Ebay; maybe the demand just isn't there for it from the US?

I've recently been toying with the idea of going thru a agent/broker and using TaoBao in that manner - I'm just trying to work up the "courage" to go thru with it (still, it's not going to be an easy way to get stuff - but it will likely be cheaper, and even more "open ended" on the kinds of stuff I can buy).

Honestly, I wish I could just stroll to my downtown and it would be like browsing the electronics disneyland that is Shenzhen, but I know that's never going to happen (Radio Row in NYC was probably the closest example here in the States, and even it pales in comparison to Shenzhen in size and variety).

For those who remember the term "disintermediation", this always seemed like an obvious application of it. Years ago I experimented with shopping online directly from overseas, to cut out the middle people and get better pricing, and had little luck finding any vendors. I still don't know why it hasn't become widespread much sooner.