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Originally Posted by adc (Post 959324)

I am in China (though I am American, btw) and source products from here and help others do so as well.

I can tell you that one common concept among Chinese sellers goes something like "Sell a million items...make a million yuan". This is vastly different from the western approach which is, more often, to try to get rich as quickly as possible by selling each item at the highest profit possible.

Many of them are willing to sit there and churn out thousands upon thousands of shipments at tiny profit margins in order to reach that goal. They are more concerned about competition with each other than they are with the western sellers.

Another thing is that many of the Chinese sellers you see on eBay are actually the manufacturers themselves who can sell things at what are normally EXW wholesale prices and still make profits.

Chinese sellers also benefit from very cheap international shipping services through specialized logistics firms here.

Rather than bemoan the situation, what one should do is try to adapt. If a western seller can put himself -- as much as possible -- in a position where he can compete more closely on price with the Chinese sellers, while at the same time providing added value that the Chinese do not provide (think customer service language (and cultural) fluency, truth in advertising, ethical business practices, and domestic stock in the buyer's country) then he may have a fighting chance in this arena.