it's just insane (aliexpress)

[piligrim]

How much stuff that you already use, day in, day out, is made in China? Get real.

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=1797387543888046

Video unavailable. good job

 

[zeio]

At this point, Europe can't escape from made-in-China. Even the majority of your energy comes from Russia.

It's pretty weird to set out to try to make a thing completely in America and to find out towards the end of the process that you made something in China anyways. That's really hard to swallow. So this is a big, big problem.

It's now clear to almost everyone that China has monopolies on all the key metals and materials that make almost everything go

EU buys record amount of gas from Russia’s flagship plant
Europe purchased almost all the LNG produced by the Yamal facility in the first half of 2026 ahead of import ban
https://www.ft.com/content/de9bbc3a-c317-4e5f-a324-6ec0dde45722

 

[lodro]

Europe is the same.
They don't produce anything that can compete with the products from AliExpress.
They just want to charge extra simply because you are physically in the EU.
That's like the mob would act.

When i do get into shops here, most products on sale are made in china anyway, only 3 times more expensive

 

[lodro]

How much stuff that you already use, day in, day out, is made in China? Get real.

[Be nice to good old LAZER, he is still trying to save the planet. 🤣 🤣 🤣

 

[Larshos]

Amazon and Ebay are the US government basically.
unless you believe these silly stories of the lone entrepreneur who somehow became owner of these huge platforms.
mark zuckerberg, elon musk, peter thiel, jeff bezos.... all these guys and their products are the US government basically.

eBay is different to Amazon. eBay works similar to Aliexpress, but on an international level.

 

[the-don]

eBay is different to Amazon. eBay works similar to Aliexpress, but on an international level.

amazon too.
they have private external sellers who sell through amazon.
even sometimes you can buy used products in amazon.

 

[Lazer]

How much stuff that you already use, day in, day out, is made in China? Get real.

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=1797387543888046

Yes, this is true and disgusting, but it’s the individual packaging and handling of the small stuff that’s the real killer. The bulk shipment is vad enough but the increasing amount of small stuff is worse…

Cheers
L-zr

 

[lodro]

Yes, this is true and disgusting, but it’s the individual packaging and handling of the small stuff that’s the real killer. The bulk shipment is vad enough but the increasing amount of small stuff is worse…

Cheers
L-zr

I do understand your concern but would like to say that the only reason freight from china is either very cheap or free is because it is all shipped by consolidated freight. I just ordered """ 1 rubber""" I can observe how it slowly travels from sorting center to sorting center inside china. Tomorrow it will be at the airport waiting for a flight. After 2 -4 days, when the small container is full, it will travel to NZ with dozens if not hundreds of other small packages.
I live in a quite small township and while there are a couple of sport-shops that do sell ready made rackets - they do not sell just rubbers.Actually I am willing to bet that there is no shop in NZ that stocks a
Loki Rxton 9 provincial team special 2.15/38.........if you get my drift 😆

 

[MaxBeckwith]

It's not even just about the price, it's the sheer variety. No local shop can physically stock hundreds of different Chinese sponge hardness and thickness options. For table tennis, Ali is pretty much the ultimate go-to, whether people like it or not.

 

[Tyce]

Carbon Calculator

Web site created using create-react-app

carboncalculator.dhl.com

Well to Wheel around 6 kg CO2 from Beijing to Cologne for a 1kg parcel going by plane. That's around 25 km to 42 km (16 to 26 miles) by car depending on fuel/electricity mix including battery production and so on (well to wheel). No TT stores in that distance here...

How about comparing it to getting delivery from a (more) local store? The last mile delivery co2 emissions are going to be the same because they're usually delivered by the same courier.


Of course, if we consider goods that are made in China, they don't magically appear in local stores either, the shipping happens when the goods are delivered to the store. The difference here will be whether those goods have to make a big detour through the shop or not.

Conversely, while weight for weight might be the same, shipping larger quantities is more efficient space wise. It will require less truck trips to drive a box of 100 rubbers to the shop than it does driving 100 single rubber deliveries.
I'm going to assume planes are capped by weight, but if that's not the case then the advantage of shipping in bulk (technically not bulk but large quantities) stands there, too.

That is, if those large shipments are even done by plane, or rather through container ships.

Oh logistics... Just thinking about it feels like work.

 

[Lazer]

I do understand your concern but would like to say that the only reason freight from china is either very cheap or free is because it is all shipped by consolidated freight. I just ordered """ 1 rubber""" I can observe how it slowly travels from sorting center to sorting center inside china. Tomorrow it will be at the airport waiting for a flight. After 2 -4 days, when the small container is full, it will travel to NZ with dozens if not hundreds of other small packages.
I live in a quite small township and while there are a couple of sport-shops that do sell ready made rackets - they do not sell just rubbers.Actually I am willing to bet that there is no shop in NZ that stocks a
Loki Rxton 9 provincial team special 2.15/38.........if you get my drift 😆

They would if you’ d by…
Do you get my drift…

Cheers
L-zr

 

[the-don]

How about comparing it to getting delivery from a (more) local store? The last mile delivery co2 emissions are going to be the same because they're usually delivered by the same courier.


Of course, if we consider goods that are made in China, they don't magically appear in local stores either, the shipping happens when the goods are delivered to the store. The difference here will be whether those goods have to make a big detour through the shop or not.

Conversely, while weight for weight might be the same, shipping larger quantities is more efficient space wise. It will require less truck trips to drive a box of 100 rubbers to the shop than it does driving 100 single rubber deliveries.
I'm going to assume planes are capped by weight, but if that's not the case then the advantage of shipping in bulk (technically not bulk but large quantities) stands there, too.

That is, if those large shipments are even done by plane, or rather through container ships.

Oh logistics... Just thinking about it feels like work.

Why should I care about local stores?
Do local stores care about me if I lose my job?
No they don't.
So if all the local stores have to close it's totally fine for me.
remove all the local stores, let's buy everything from china, zero taxes and shrink the government so they don't need so much tax money to survive.

all local stores in the end are a proxy for buying stuff from china.
they buy it real cheap and sell it to you for more.
at least if you buy directly from a chinese seller the money goes to them instead of these local resellers.
amazon and ebay are the same, just virtual resellers of chinese goods for the western world.

and don't even get me started about the government.
did you know the EU officials don't even have to pay taxes?
it's hilarious.
the whole EU is giving tax money to the government except the people who work for the government, they get to keep it all for themselves.

 

[piligrim]

It's not even just about the price, it's the sheer variety. No local shop can physically stock hundreds of different Chinese sponge hardness and thickness options. For table tennis, Ali is pretty much the ultimate go-to, whether people like it or not.

Local store would stock if was enough demand. For few people its not worst it

 

[J-fed]

why would the government charge you extra for a product that is created in a foreign country that the EU has nothing to do with?
seems ridiculous.

"oh because we want to protect you with all the EU regulations and we also want to protect the planet and we want to protect the poor workers from china".

don't protect me.
every time you try to protect something or someone the prices go up.

Maybe. But I get totally screwed the same way when I order shoes from England. Estimated import duties are a total lottery too. Absolute rip off and so unpredictable.
However, I just ordered a Yinhe 955 from Ali. ¥841 (£4) with free shipping and no add ons.
My take is that they do what they want and think of the reason later.

 

[lodro]

Local store would stock if was enough demand. For few people its not worst it

but if they would stock it , it would be at double the price and I still would have to go in the shop or pay postage or courier fees.

 

[J-fed]

Why are you so obsessed with my location?
I'm a traveler.
I don't have a fixed location.

 

[lodro]

My take is that they do what they want and think of the reason later.

there is nothing random about it. Whether they tax you or not depends on the country they post it to AND if they have a deal with this country to collect the taxes on their behalf.
Therefore, as you are a traveler, you can go and stay in a country that has no deal with aliex 😆

 

[J-fed]

there is nothing random about it. Whether they tax you or not depends on the country they post it to AND if they have a deal with this country to collect the taxes on their behalf.
Therefore, as you are a traveler, you can go and stay in a country that has no deal with aliex 😆

Sounds like we're talking at cross purposes but I'm sure you are making a perfectly decent point.