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Comment by resolutebat | Hacker News Reader

These "incredibly cheap" prices have been available for a long time if you could deal with the interface, language and shipping hassles of AliExpress /Alibaba/Taobao, Temu just wraps it in a pretty UI with some shipping hacks on top.

Story time: I was recently looking for a cover for my car. Local retailers wanted $200+, but a spot of image reverse searching revealed that you could buy exactly the same thing direct from the manufacturer for $2 (two) dollars. However, minimum order on Alibaba was 10 pieces and shipping price & timeline was unclear. I ended up ordering from Temu for ~$30 all in, and it was on my doorstep in under a week.

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> Local retailers wanted $200+, but a spot of image reverse searching revealed that you could buy exactly the same thing direct from the manufacturer for $2

Local shop sells sunglasses for $15, I found them on aliexpress for 50ct, and on etsy for $27

80% of what you see on etsy and amazon is aliexpress dropship, and it's leaking in the real world at a fast rate too.

O no, Amazon is worse.

They run a program directly for Chinese manufacturers to sell in US Amazon and even bulk ship their goods on Amazon chattered freighters.

Ali got really expensive over the years. Especially in the ultralight hiking community there are/were some really good gear choices for a bargain (Aegismax, IceFlame quilts and 3F UL equipment amongst others).

I don't know for the US, but in Europe they got expensive over the year because they had to comply with import taxes, warranty and now are shipping a lot of products directly from europe. Who remember the good old days where anything from aliexpress would pass the customs without taxes, even on expensive products (phone/hightech) ?

I always wondered if they had not an arrangment with the shipper/customs. Because at the time, anything from say a store like hobbyking, even small package worth a few dozens €, was always flagged at the customs.

They certainly used to just lie on the customs forms; "sample", "no commercial value", "gift" etc.

Big retail chains in my country used to have their own agents in Hong Kong that bought Chinese products by the container load. They then put a nice profit on it in their stores. The internet just made people aware how much they were overpaying for this stuff.

I for one am happy for those Chinese who are now able to cut out the white middleman.

Prices on alibaba (and sometimes AliExpress) are a bit misleading as the shipping prices are excessive (and change depending on the model) so you should always look at the total sum

Caveat calculator.

~$30 for ten pieces, or for one?

ten sounds like a pain, for two sounds like a good deal

Just one, but shipping included.

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