Where did you buy the 9t from? And how was your shopping experience? - Redmi K20 / Xiaomi Mi 9T Guides, News, & Discussio

I put in an order for thr 9t with MiGlobalStore on Aliexpress.
And 4 days later, its not shipped and seller doesnt even read any of my messages LOL
Like, wow, is this normal? By normal, i meant, is this the standard on Aliexpress?
Should i have bought it from Gearbest?

I have purchased my Mi 9T 128GB, blue from Gearbest for 310€. The device has been already shipped. Have to wait 10-15 days for arrival. Will report then.
Sent from my unknown using XDA-Developers Legacy app

So its been 6 days, there is no reply from Mi Global Store on Aliexpress (and its still not shipped). Evem after i habe requested to cancel the order and asked Aliexpress customer representative to inform the seller, nothing. LOL
I dont know whats going on and how this store can manage to be alive for this long. But so far the shopping exoereience has been the worst.

Patience, it will arrive don't worry. As i recall correctly when they give you the DHL (or whatever else - if you chose the DHL shipment) tracking number it only goes live once the package leaves china and starts either from the UK (EU orders) or what ever else warehouse in north America.
I'm now torn between either MI global store - Goldway or Xiaomi Mi store. Don't know if there is any difference at all, but all I know is that if you using those Grey market resellers, you can forget any kind of warranty - RMA cases whatsoever.

Pejpi said:
Patience, it will arrive don't worry. As i recall correctly when they give you the DHL (or whatever else - if you chose the DHL shipment) tracking number it only goes live once the package leaves china and starts either from the UK (EU orders) or what ever else warehouse in north America.
I'm now torn between either MI global store - Goldway or Xiaomi Mi store. Don't know if there is any difference at all, but all I know is that if you using those Grey market resellers, you can forget any kind of warranty - RMA cases whatsoever.
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Well thats if they give you a DHL tracking number lol They did not give me any info nor respond to my messages lol
I woulf actually try GearBest, if they cancel my order as i requested.

I bought mine on Rakuten site, (Europe, France), from order to arrive in my hands i had wait 6days. 354eur i paid for 128GB, now we can find even for 310eur 128GB

The only thing that's bothering me on rakuten is, that i cannot see anywhere who the seller is. Either it is not writen anywhere or im blind....
Like this for example :
https://fr.shopping.rakuten.com/off...9t-6go-128go-dual-sim-redmi-k20-debloque.html
I see, its a reseller from another site. eglobalcenter

you can see very well that seller is central-FR but it is from china. If you go here https://fr.shopping.rakuten.com/mfp/5849175/xiaomi-mi-9t?pid=3974212410 and scroll down you will find mishopFR 314,38eur
then GTMobe 314,39eur then Kirin 319,99eur,... all this are from europe. all they sell under rakuten site

never_msrp on eBay. Very fast shipping, no problems.
Around $400 for the 128Gb, I didn't realize there was sales tax.

Just for the input and in case anyone in Mexico is reading, I bought it from Doto (a local reseller), they offer warranty over 1 year so that's nice, and it cost me about 45 extra dollars, bit I think it's worth it, they ship it the next 2 days.

Cancel Aliexpress order, because you can get Xiaomi Mi 9T Global version from Gearbest for ~261 euros! Just use this coupon: GBMI9T500
Link to phone: Gearbest

slavke1976 said:
I bought mine on Rakuten site, (Europe, France), from order to arrive in my hands i had wait 6days. 354eur i paid for 128GB, now we can find even for 310eur 128GB
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Sadly rakuten doesnt ship to canada lol im already used to stores doing this lol

-Mindroid- said:
never_msrp on eBay. Very fast shipping, no problems.
Around $400 for the 128Gb, I didn't realize there was sales tax.
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Yea...thats the other thing, 13% sales tax here lol

slavke1976 said:
you can see very well that seller is central-FR but it is from china. If you go here https://fr.shopping.rakuten.com/mfp/5849175/xiaomi-mi-9t?pid=3974212410 and scroll down you will find mishopFR 314,38eur
then GTMobe 314,39eur then Kirin 319,99eur,... all this are from Europe. all they sell under rakuten site
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Yep saw it a bit later (edited post). So I basically can order from allix in that case.
meskafonas said:
Cancel Aliexpress order, because you can get Xiaomi Mi 9T Global version from Gearbest for ~261 euros! Just use this coupon: GBMI9T500
Link to phone: Gearbest
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Thats a damn good offer, too bad there is only the black variant.
But here is a link from an Italian store (proven) with a 2 I repeat 2 year warranty.
https://grossoshop.net/products/xiaomi-mi-9t-global?variant=23270107938874

Bought my Mi 9T on trading shenzhen for 380€ and I got my unit after like 2-3 days.

I got mine from there also, it arrived in 3 days.

Pejpi said:
Yep saw it a bit later (edited post). So I basically can order from allix in that case.
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yes you can order from aliexpress, but if from rakuten, and seller from europe, you will not pay extra money for customs or taxes, and very often you can find cupons on rakuten , for example when i order it was 30eur offer for over 300eur shopping.
and if you buy on rakuten you will get points ( if you register as member ), i got 1700points what is 17eur, and after you can buy some other things in value of 17eur on rakuten ( for free, you pay with that points ).
just writing this , not to push you to buy.

Update on MiGlobalStore purchase:
So apparently many peoplr have commented on the store news pages, and they are complaining about how they purchased phones and the seller never respond to message nor ship thier phones. This started near end of June, till now.
Dont know what happened to this store but I am cancelling the order.
According to Aliexpress customer service, only the seller can accept the cancellation, which means if the seller does not respond, my money will be held by aliexpress for 40 days. That is just great. And thats probably what will end up happening, since the MiGlobalStore doesnt seem to care about no sh*t at all LOL
I didnt want to wait so i put in an order drom gearbest, and they shipped it (DHL shipping number provided, at least) right away. Will see how that goes.
For now, my gut feeling is: stay the hell away from MiGlobalStore, no matter if you get what you bought in the end, the overall experience is not gonna be smooth for ya.

You mind posting a link of the store pages?
I'm actually rather interested in the story. But I guarantee you that whatever you order will arrive at your doorstep, some people were waiting for a month. But something like that can be delayed in some many different ways. There is just no possible way that they gonna sell 1k phones and not ship them, that's something even AliX would not let happen.
I suppose they just have a bunch of workers shipping what ever crap they need to all day and all night. And have a "dedicated" chat team just on paper to please the minimum requirements to open a online shop on Alix.
But yeah, all in all who doesn't like that should definitely look elsewhere.

Pejpi said:
You mind posting a link of the store pages?
I'm actually rather interested in the story. But I guarantee you that whatever you order will arrive at your doorstep, some people were waiting for a month. But something like that can be delayed in some many different ways. There is just no possible way that they gonna sell 1k phones and not ship them, that's something even AliX would not let happen.
I suppose they just have a bunch of workers shipping what ever crap they need to all day and all night. And have a "dedicated" chat team just on paper to please the minimum requirements to open a online shop on Alix.
But yeah, all in all who doesn't like that should definitely look elsewhere.
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Mi Global Store
https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/bQQcRHbi
Go to the "Feed" tab and open the comments under their (many) posts.
I mean, the price i paid on gearbest is 10 dollars less than this store for the same product, so, with this kinda customer service, to me it is very obvious which to choose lol

Related

[Q] Importing experience

Hi there
Has anyone who has imported a galaxy tab 10.1 from the states to Europe/UK comment on their experience please, ie how much was duty, tax, VAT, where from etc.
Its just that Im planning on buying one from ebay US since the tab isnt probably going to arrive here in France till after september and I've already been waiting to buy a tab since the original 7 inch tab came out and cant wait anymore!
cheers
You will pay a hefty premium on eBay, sellers look like they are charging way over retail, plus tax when it arrives with you.
It's a bit early for anyone to have any experiences yet, unless they got one from Best Buy in NY last week, but then they'd have probably brought it back in person and may have avoided taxes.
I ordered mine from Amazon via a mail forwarder, should be with me by the middle of next week. Expecting to pay around ~25% of the value in taxes and duty, so anything less than that is a bonus. Still works out to about the same price as the wifi Xoom over here, so I'm happy.
You will need to do research for your country as to what is charged if you want to have any hope of an exact price.
Great I found this thread !!
Amazon isn't having issues shipping to mail forwarders right? Because best buy is, also amazon selling white or metallic grey?
thanks in advance
Cheers
Sent from my Galaxy Tab 7" using XDA App
There is no import duty on the tablet in the UK, but you will pay VAT at 20%. A guy on these forums posted about www.bundlebox.com which is a forwarder. Apparently they offer warranty cover as well. We are discussing it over here:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1127772
jackie_jagger said:
Amazon isn't having issues shipping to mail forwarders right? Because best buy is, also amazon selling white or metallic grey?
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White are BB exclusive so if it's from anywhere but BB they are metallic grey plasic made to look like metal.
Which mail forwarder do you use?
And which method did Amazon use to ship your item to the mail forwarder?
I have setup mail forwarder (BongoUS.com), but I don't sign the USPS form 1583. So, the mail forwarder cannot accept item shipped via USPS. Anything else, UPS or FedEx are OK.
snoopstah said:
You will pay a hefty premium on eBay, sellers look like they are charging way over retail, plus tax when it arrives with you.
It's a bit early for anyone to have any experiences yet, unless they got one from Best Buy in NY last week, but then they'd have probably brought it back in person and may have avoided taxes.
I ordered mine from Amazon via a mail forwarder, should be with me by the middle of next week. Expecting to pay around ~25% of the value in taxes and duty, so anything less than that is a bonus. Still works out to about the same price as the wifi Xoom over here, so I'm happy.
You will need to do research for your country as to what is charged if you want to have any hope of an exact price.
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gogol said:
Which mail forwarder do you use?
And which method did Amazon use to ship your item to the mail forwarder?
I have setup mail forwarder (BongoUS.com), but I don't sign the USPS form 1583. So, the mail forwarder cannot accept item shipped via USPS. Anything else, UPS or FedEx are OK.
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I'm using Comgateway as the freight forwarder to ship my tab to Australia. I've used them several times and the service was great. They are based in Portland, Oregon..so you don't have to pay any state sales tax. They will ship your item through DHL.
Amazon used ONTRAC when they sent my order and it reached CGW on Friday morning.
Saeko said:
I'm using Comgateway as the freight forwarder to ship my tab to Australia. I've used them several times and the service was great. They are based in Portland, Oregon..so you don't have to pay any state sales tax. They will ship your item through DHL.
Amazon used ONTRAC when they sent my order and it reached CGW on Friday morning.
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Ok, so what will you do if the item is faulty?
You are asking about warranty
Of course this is the risk for people who import because as we all knew, the GT10.1 does not have international warranty.
It is a gamble, but it is not the end of the day.
You can return it, but you must pay the shipment your-self. More or less like this. Fried forwarder will handle return.
So, it is your choice.
It is a big gamble in terms of cost. If it is OK, then good! If it is not OK, it means you must spend more money (return processing).
NOTE: I checked comGateway.com, it seems OK, but I don't find any business address or customer support phone numbers. This makes me think to use their service, although it should be OK (I read some reviews). But, I want to be able to contact them quickly (by phone) if anything bad happens.
hshah said:
Ok, so what will you do if the item is faulty?
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hshah said:
Ok, so what will you do if the item is faulty?
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Electronics are late & overpriced here, so I guess it's a risk I'm willing to take when importing stuffs If, the product is faulty...most probably will try to contact samsung or return it to amazon.
Ive been looking into the forwarder Viaddress. Has anyone else used them or heard anything about them? They advertise themselves as being much better than the others. Also Im not keen on filling out the 1583 form so Im thinking about using Tigerdirect as they use UPS to ship items as opposed to Amazon where you cant choose your carrier.
update: from what Ive read, Viadress doesnt seem to be a very trustworthy service. I think Im going to go with one of the ones thats been mentioned here instead.
I am going to use TigerDirect as well for UPS shipment.
And for the forwarder, I use BongoUS.com. This is my first time experience.
So far they are ok, support responded my questions quickly, also checked their live chat. And they have phone number where you can contact, also the company address is clearly visible in their website.
https://bongous.com/contact.php
However, to use that, you must pay one time fee $5 (no monthly fee) and your credit card will be verified (by sending a small amount $0.1 - $1.0 and you need to tell them that).
kauka187 said:
Ive been looking into the forwarder Viaddress. Has anyone else used them or heard anything about them? They advertise themselves as being much better than the others. Also Im not keen on filling out the 1583 form so Im thinking about using Tigerdirect as they use UPS to ship items as opposed to Amazon where you cant choose your carrier.
update: from what Ive read, Viadress doesnt seem to be a very trustworthy service. I think Im going to go with one of the ones thats been mentioned here instead.
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gogol said:
I am going to use TigerDirect as well for UPS shipment.
And for the forwarder, I use BongoUS.com. This is my first time experience.
So far they are ok, support responded my questions quickly, also checked their live chat. And they have phone number where you can contact, also the company address is clearly visible in their website.
https://bongous.com/contact.php
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Im looking at using Bundlebox now. They seem very good. All tax/duties are included. Its going to cost me 559euros all up for the 32GB model. I think thats pretty good. How much is it costing you? btw I think we're having the same conversation over 2 threads lol
I don't like the included tax with the forwarder.
Because there is chance their calculation is wrong? Or double charged by the tax office in our country?
So, I want the forwarder to not include the tax. The custom will charge the tax anyway.
Seems safer to me.
I have no idea how much in total because I don't know how to calculate the tax in NL.
I could assume VAT 20% though ... shipping cost to NL would be around $50. .... So, ($500 + 20% * $500) = $600 + $50 shipping = $650 USD = 454 euro ... not bad.
But again, I don't know the tax/duty, never done this before.
kauka187 said:
Im looking at using Bundlebox now. They seem very good. All tax/duties are included. Its going to cost me 559euros all up for the 32GB model. I think thats pretty good.
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gogol said:
I don't like the included tax with the forwarder.
Because there is chance their calculation is wrong? Or double charged by the tax office in our country?
So, I want the forwarder to not include the tax. The custom will charge the tax anyway.
Seems safer to me.
I have no idea how much in total because I don't know how to calculate the tax in NL.
I could assume VAT 20% though ... shipping cost to NL would be around $50. .... So, ($500 + 20% * $500) = $600 + $50 shipping = $650 USD = 454 euro ... not bad.
But again, I don't know the tax/duty, never done this before.
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There is no duty in France but there is VAT/tax. Calculated on their site its 95euro, which is around the 18.6% VAT charged on goods+shipping costs etc. So its correct. And even if when it arrives I have to pay more, I can just refuse it (unless its only a couple of euros)
On the bundlebox site they show you the tax/duty by country
From their site for NL:
http://www.dutycalculator.com/help_center/Import-duty-taxes-when-importing-into-the-Netherlands/
Thanks for the calculator, I found there is no duty as well. So, it's good
I will order this evening at TigerDirect.
And you? Made up your mind?
kauka187 said:
There is no duty in France but there is VAT/tax. Calculated on their site its 95euro, which is around the 18.6% VAT charged on goods+shipping costs etc. So its correct. And even if when it arrives I have to pay more, I can just refuse it (unless its only a couple of euros)
On the bundlebox site they show you the tax/duty by country
From their site for NL:
http://www.dutycalculator.com/help_center/Import-duty-taxes-when-importing-into-the-Netherlands/
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gogol said:
Thanks for the calculator, I found there is no duty as well. So, it's good
I will order this evening at TigerDirect.
And you? Made up your mind?
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No problem. Yeah Ive just pulled the trigger on my bundlebox account. So Im all setup. Just need to go to tigerdirect now. I want the dock as well but its not in stock yet. I can wait for that though, cant wait anymore for the tab.
goodluck!
LOL! Forget TigerDirect, it does not accept CC from NL nor FR
Damn ...
kauka187 said:
No problem. Yeah Ive just pulled the trigger on my bundlebox account. So Im all setup. Just need to go to tigerdirect now. I want the dock as well but its not in stock yet. I can wait for that though, cant wait anymore for the tab.
goodluck!
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Isn't Amazon listed on BundleBox as one of the most popular stores used? If so, surely you can use Amazon?
does anyone know the dimensions of the package? also check out this one
www.shopandship.com

Asus Parts

I just got referred to this site by Asus to purchase a replacement uk clip for the charger as they won't replace my broken one.
http://www.asusparts.eu/index.php?cPath=222155_222301
Prices are pretty good until you add the DHL cost to uk.
€6.67 plus vat for the clip and €17.55 for delivery.
May be cheaper if your in mainland Europe though.
May as well go to asus uk and get the full kit for £24.99 plus £6 delivery.
All I gotta say is Europeans are annoying! They keep bidding on my ebay items even though I specifically said US bidders only. For example, I just sold a hard drive to a European bidder. My shipping price was 9.99, but that was for US only! It's been like 4 days and the guy hasn't paid yet, so I had to relist.
Last night, I was able to find the settings to block foreign bidders.
Annoying Europeans... why don't they buy locally? Why bid on hard drives half a world away?
goodintentions said:
All I gotta say is Europeans are annoying! They keep bidding on my ebay items even though I specifically said US bidders only. For example, I just sold a hard drive to a European bidder. My shipping price was 9.99, but that was for US only! It's been like 4 days and the guy hasn't paid yet, so I had to relist.
Last night, I was able to find the settings to block foreign bidders.
Annoying Europeans... why don't they buy locally? Why bid on hard drives half a world away?
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Totally agree with you there.
I wouldn't buy from US or China etc due to the high shipping costs.
I myself sell to UK only yet still get requests from Spain, Germany etc etc even though it's listed as uk only.
There certainly are a lot of empty heads about
Anyway I just ordered the new charger from Asus UK at £30.99 inc delivery and paid by paypal.

Best place to import from?

Probably will be importing the RN2 to the US.. Where are the cheapest and best places to get this device from? I'm worried that either: I'll get a fake, long shipping times or never receiving the product or wont honor any warranty issues.
Im new to MIUI, is there a custom recovery that I'll need? Do i have to worry about unlocking a bootloader? If so, can i relock for warranty issues?
EverBuying.Net has it for $174.99 (http://www.everbuying.net/product1078806.html). I have never used them myself so I can't vouch either way. But at the same time, the RN2 is a known quantity, and whichever dealer you buy it from should get you the same thing (+/- customer service). I do have an order for one myself at GearBest, but it is a complete disaster, and I would not recommend them at the moment. I preordered it on 3 Sep, they charged my credit card on 14 Sep and said it would ship in 3-5 days, and now ~6 weeks later it is still in the processing stage. I have used GearBest in the past for other stuff, and even though orders have taken up to 5-6 days in processing, they have never been like this. For some reason, they are filling orders that arrived much later like end September and early October before filling the preorders.
I bought mine from minideal.net.
Originally placed an order with gearbest they requested a copy of my credit card and driving license and said it was extra security measures.
I didn't feel comfprtable so I cancelled the order.
Placed the order with minideal.net on a Saturday night received the phone Friday mid-day so essentially took 4 and a half working days to get here (i did pay a bit extra for DHL) worth it in my opinion.
Im from germany
I bought it from Spain for 240 € ( Amazon )
It came with a otg cable a back cover
and glass Front cover
Its the prime model
verbage said:
EverBuying.Net has it for $174.99 I have never used them myself so I can't vouch either way. But at the same time, the RN2 is a known quantity, and whichever dealer you buy it from should get you the same thing (+/- customer service). I do have an order for one myself at GearBest, but it is a complete disaster, and I would not recommend them at the moment. I preordered it on 3 Sep, they charged my credit card on 14 Sep and said it would ship in 3-5 days, and now ~6 weeks later it is still in the processing stage. I have used GearBest in the past for other stuff, and even though orders have taken up to 5-6 days in processing, they have never been like this. For some reason, they are filling orders that arrived much later like end September and early October before filling the preorders.
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Everbuying and Gearbest are the same company! Good luck! I too have received excellent service from Gearbest as well as horrible delays, lies from Gearbest. You puts down your money and you takes your chances!
Thanks guys for your input.. minideal for some reason isnt letting me enter a USA address. But looks promising with the screen protector and case.
Now im worried as I was going to buy from gearbest or everbuying
any other options that are similarly priced with a 1yr warranty?
tlxxxsracer said:
Thanks guys for your input.. minideal for some reason isnt letting me enter a USA address. But looks promising with the screen protector and case.
Now im worried as I was going to buy from gearbest or everbuying any other options that are similarly priced with a 1yr warranty?
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GearBest finally sent me a shipping notification this morning with a picture of my package. So, they do have them in stock at the moment unless they have sold out again already. For the record, they charged my credit card on 14 Sep, and said it would ship out in 3-5 days at that point, but the reality is that it has taken up till today to ship. There is obviously a huge demand for this.
kusamba, thanks for confirming that Gearbest and Everbuying are actually the same company. I started considering this possibility recently because their LiveChat services always opened/closed at the same time and had the same status indications, and also because of similarities in the websites, and within their promo e-mail headers. So it is interesting to see this is actually the case.
tlxxxsracer, Gearbest/Everbuying do seem to have the best prices. The Everbuying link shows about $5 cheaper, however. The slight difference is you can get DHL shipping from Everbuying on the product for about $5, too. The same DHL shipping on Gearbest is like $25. At least these were the prices a couple of days ago when I was getting ready to cancel my Gearbest order. My point is that for the same price, in one case you get DHL 3-5 day expedited shipping (Everbuying), but in the other case you get non-expedited version (Gearbest).
verbage said:
GearBest finally sent me a shipping notification this morning with a picture of my package. So, they do have them in stock at the moment unless they have sold out again already. For the record, they charged my credit card on 14 Sep, and said it would ship out in 3-5 days at that point, but the reality is that it has taken up till today to ship. There is obviously a huge demand for this.
kusamba, thanks for confirming that Gearbest and Everbuying are actually the same company. I started considering this possibility recently because their LiveChat services always opened/closed at the same time and had the same status indications, and also because of similarities in the websites, and within their promo e-mail headers. So it is interesting to see this is actually the case.
tlxxxsracer, Gearbest/Everbuying do seem to have the best prices. The Everbuying link shows about $5 cheaper, however. The slight difference is you can get DHL shipping from Everbuying on the product for about $5, too. The same DHL shipping on Gearbest is like $25. At least these were the prices a couple of days ago when I was getting ready to cancel my Gearbest order. My point is that for the same price, in one case you get DHL 3-5 day expedited shipping (Everbuying), but in the other case you get non-expedited version (Gearbest).
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but dont you get charged with import/customs tax if you choose DHL?
im thinking of going with geekbuying
tlxxxsracer said:
but dont you get charged with import/customs tax if you choose DHL?
im thinking of going with geekbuying
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Personally, I have never been charged import/customs tax when ordering stuff from China vendors, but I guess it is always a possibility. Nonetheless, I suspect it is not a very common occurrence simply because in the big picture, these purchases are small potatoes. If you were ordering mass quantities of items for probable resale, I can imagine things would be significantly different.
I have never ordered from GeekBuying myself, but I would not be hesitant to give them a shot if I were you because they are an established vendor that has been around for a while. I think there is some amount of gambling with every Chinese vendor because most are probably running with just-in-time inventories, and they will be loathe to admit they don't actually have an item in stock for fear of missing a sale. Regarding my purchase with GearBest, there is no question that the experience with this purchase was extremely frustrating. But I have used them several times in the past, too, and never had a problem like I've had with the RN2.
verbage said:
GearBest finally sent me a shipping notification this morning with a picture of my package. So, they do have them in stock at the moment unless they have sold out again already. For the record, they charged my credit card on 14 Sep, and said it would ship out in 3-5 days at that point, but the reality is that it has taken up till today to ship. There is obviously a huge demand for this.
kusamba, thanks for confirming that Gearbest and Everbuying are actually the same company. I started considering this possibility recently because their LiveChat services always opened/closed at the same time and had the same status indications, and also because of similarities in the websites, and within their promo e-mail headers. So it is interesting to see this is actually the case.
tlxxxsracer, Gearbest/Everbuying do seem to have the best prices. The Everbuying link shows about $5 cheaper, however. The slight difference is you can get DHL shipping from Everbuying on the product for about $5, too. The same DHL shipping on Gearbest is like $25. At least these were the prices a couple of days ago when I was getting ready to cancel my Gearbest order. My point is that for the same price, in one case you get DHL 3-5 day expedited shipping (Everbuying), but in the other case you get non-expedited version (Gearbest).
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I would still buy from Gearbest or Everbuying because, from what I read, the online dealers are pretty much all alike - some good experiences, some bad. My worst experience was with GeekBuying just last month - I needed a phone and a tablet delivered within 20 days - went to their chat, was confirmed 70 tablets in stock - that both the phone and tablet would be delivered (to the USA) in plenty of time - they had me do 2 separate orders since the 2 items would ship from different warehouses - they told me to chat again after I placed the orders which I did - they made many promises - the phone (Xiaomi Redmi Note 2 Prime) went out in about 5 days - regarding the tablet, I received a fake DHL tracking number but other than a series of lies, nothing - a few days before the deadline, they cancelled the sale, refunding to Paypal the cost of the tablet but not the $10.60 DHL fee. I got one of these Redmi Note 2s from to2c - they shipped quickly but do not respond to my requests for support on this phone - maybe they went out of business.
kusamba said:
Everbuying and Gearbest are the same company! Good luck! I too have received excellent service from Gearbest as well as horrible delays, lies from Gearbest. You puts down your money and you takes your chances!
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Everbuying and Gearbest are the same company??!!! dang! I ordered one and was hoping I won't be getting all the pop-ups like someone who got one from Gearbest
---------- Post added at 11:37 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:29 PM ----------
kusamba said:
I would still buy from Gearbest or Everbuying because, from what I read, the online dealers are pretty much all alike - some good experiences, some bad. My worst experience was with GeekBuying just last month - I needed a phone and a tablet delivered within 20 days - went to their chat, was confirmed 70 tablets in stock - that both the phone and tablet would be delivered (to the USA) in plenty of time - they had me do 2 separate orders since the 2 items would ship from different warehouses - they told me to chat again after I placed the orders which I did - they made many promises - the phone (Xiaomi Redmi Note 2 Prime) went out in about 5 days - regarding the tablet, I received a fake DHL tracking number but other than a series of lies, nothing - a few days before the deadline, they cancelled the sale, refunding to Paypal the cost of the tablet but not the $10.60 DHL fee. I got one of these Redmi Note 2s from to2c - they shipped quickly but do not respond to my requests for support on this phone - maybe they went out of business.
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I supposed the safest bet would be buying from reputable sellers on AliExpress. Should have ordered one from there and paid an extra $20 instead. Now I hope my order from Everbuying would come through.
I wouldn't recommend Gearbest. I bought from them using the preorder but they only shipped after I started a PayPal claim a month after they said they would ship.
I ordered mine from aliexpress seller "Shenzhen Top-One Trading Co., Ltd." via DHL delivery. Arrived 1 week after order in Austria with no additional taxes or fees., like said in the description. It is the 16Gb TD version, but LTE and WDCMA are both working great for me.
I totally paid 155,14€ for phone + shipping.
Robin69 said:
I ordered mine from aliexpress seller "Shenzhen Top-One Trading Co., Ltd." via DHL delivery. Arrived 1 week after order in Austria with no additional taxes or fees., like said in the description. It is the 16Gb TD version, but LTE and WDCMA are both working great for me.
I totally paid 155,14€ for phone + shipping.
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That's a great deal. I paid €173 for the phone shipped + around €30 import tax from Gearbest. Should have just waited to buy from Ali but I was too hyped and pre-ordered. Never again!
here is an update on my purchase from Everbuying if anyone is interested:
*placed order (Xiaomi Redmi Note 2 Prime and temper glass protector) with a credit card, chose expedite shipping
*2 days after placing the order, got an email about order was put on hold, and they needed to verify payment (pic of credit card used showing only name, exp date, and last 4 digit of account number and a pic of ID showing name, pic, address and exp date). They actually needed the verification on the same day that I placed the order, but they didn't send an email about it. I only found out after seeing a message in the inbox of my Everbuying account... could have saved 2 days of time there had I known.
*1 day after payment verification, order "was shipped" with a DHL tracking number (according to DHL, shipping info was received)
*DHL waited 6 days to pick up the package, (or the seller waited 6 days to actually send the package)
*DHL delivered the order 3 days after
**There was hardly any protection. The original box was not wrapped around with plastic bubbles. It was put inside another box with some plastic bubbles placed on top of the original box, and everything was put inside a DHL shipping plastic bag. When I opened the package, the outside box was a little moist because it was running like dogs and cats on the day of delivery. But the temper glass package and the original Xiaomi box seemed to be dry. Lucky there.
All in all, I guess my first purchase experience from Everbuying was considered good.
I supposed the safest bet would be buying from reputable sellers on AliExpress. Should have ordered one from there and paid an extra $20 instead. Now I hope my order from Everbuying would come through
I never dreamed I would hear "reputable sellers" and "AliExpress" in the same sentence - to me, they are a real crap shoot.
kusamba said:
I supposed the safest bet would be buying from reputable sellers on AliExpress. Should have ordered one from there and paid an extra $20 instead. Now I hope my order from Everbuying would come through
I never dreamed I would hear "reputable sellers" and "AliExpress" in the same sentence - to me, they are a real crap shoot.
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They're getting better, the problem is most people go to Aliexpress for impossibly low prices. Therefore, if you want to survive as a seller on Aliexpress, you are forced to compete almost entirely on price. Aliexpress sellers usually work on razor thin margins, so most people just sell part time, and don't really care enough about the business to put real effort into customer satisfaction.
I actually have a sellers account on Aliexpress, so I can say with fair confidence that any products that sell for less than 6 or 7 dollars probably do not ship with real tracking numbers. Technically, the sellers are violating Aliexpress TOS. However, most budget sellers still do this because customers tend to reward sellers who list products with impossible prices. The only way to get ahead is by cutting corners, especially on shipping/tracking and sometimes with the product itself.
Aliexpress takes up to 30% commission and a tracking number adds more than 3 dollars to the shipping cost, so do the math. I can sell a 3 dollar product, but I need to price it at over 7 dollars just to break even and this doesn't even begin to cover the other costs of running a business or make it worth my time. Play by the rules, and you can charge 7 dollars for a 3 dollar product and still lose money on each sale, but if you disregard the rules and cut corners you can sell for 4.50 and make a profit. So, who will you buy from? Someone selling the same product at 7.50, or 4.50?
Aliexpress could crack down on sellers, but this would bring prices up and Aliexpress customers are typically looking for bargain basement deals. That's just how the cookie crumbles.
I should note that Aliexpress is extremely strict about listing branded products now in an effort to cut down on counterfeits. You need to apply for permission if you so much as mention a brand name anywhere in your listing. I suppose there are benefits to this, but some brand names are also fairly common words. A real pain in the ass when writing product descriptions.
For example, "NEW 2015 plush granny smith apple pillow, soft, squishy and nice! Pls Buy OMFG dear GOD I need the monies."
Aliexpress: "*****, I see you mentioned Apple. Change it now before the long noodley appendages of Apple's tentacle beast™ molest us all!
kusamba said:
I supposed the safest bet would be buying from reputable sellers on AliExpress. Should have ordered one from there and paid an extra $20 instead. Now I hope my order from Everbuying would come through
I never dreamed I would hear "reputable sellers" and "AliExpress" in the same sentence - to me, they are a real crap shoot.
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*Knock on wood*
I have placed over 20 orders this year using AliExpress just this year alone. Never an issue. You will just have to pick and choose good vendors from reading the reviews, and understand why you're even buying on AliExpress.
To be fair to some of the vendors on there, a lot of the complaints I read from the consumers was that people were expecting to get a Mercedes for the price of a Daewoo. Not going to happen. And often times I could clearly see that people do not read the entire description of product and service and whine about it later. And then of course there are a lot of sellers who would cheat customers. Good thing about AliExpress is they won't release funds to the sellers until all parties are satisfied with the transactions.
felix168 said:
*Knock on wood*
I have placed over 20 orders this year using AliExpress just this year alone. Never an issue. You will just have to pick and choose good vendors from reading the reviews, and understand why you're even buying on AliExpress.
To be fair to some of the vendors on there, a lot of the complaints I read from the consumers was that people were expecting to get a Mercedes for the price of a Daewoo. Not going to happen. And often times I could clearly see that people do not read the entire description of product and service and whine about it later. And then of course there are a lot of sellers who would cheat customers. Good thing about AliExpress is they won't release funds to the sellers until all parties are satisfied with the transactions.
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That's true, they also take forever to release funds so in theory you shouldn't have a problem getting your money back if there is a problem. Although I've never had a customer dispute a sale or file a complaint, most customers don't confirm receiving orders either. So, usually Ali only releases funds several weeks after product tracking shows delivery. It feels like 2 months sometimes. If you sell any amount of volume, you have to front at least 6-8 weeks cash for everything you sell. Which is probably why Aliexpress offers financing...
Basically, Aliexpress puts on a promotion as an opportunity to give shops visibility by putting their product listing on the front page/promotions page. In order to play, you'll probably need financing to support the promotion, which Aliexpress offers. Featured listings/promotions may sell hundreds/thousands of units, and shops may not see any revenue from the sales for months. Combined with the requirement of slashing prices by x amount and Ali's cut, a lot of shops just bleed money and never get the expected post promotion exposure/sales. I have a friend who used to own a factory, and he noted that you can spend 1000-dollars trying to promote your shop on Ali and only make 200 dollars in sales. Needless to say he doesn't sell on Aliexpress anymore.
As it turns out, it's quite difficult striking a balance between keeping customers and sellers happy on a platform. For sure, I hope Aliexpress cracks down on sellers who use fake tracking numbers and other shenanigans though. Customers also need to realize that an item priced near the cost of shipping is probably not going to change your life. You're ordering from the dollar menu, high margin sales affords better customer support and after sale service, if you're losing money or making 5 cents on a sale it's hard to bend over backwards. Some people only make a few cents on an item that costs 5-6 dollars, so if a customer demands a replacement for example, that's the profit of 100 sales or so you're messing with, and most people on Aliexpress aren't swimming in sales. The only people who make real money on Ali are Jack Ma and China Post. That's just my 5 cents.
I read from the consumers was that people were expecting to get a Mercedes for the price of a Daewoo.
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jun127 said:
That's true, they also take forever to release funds so in theory you shouldn't have a problem getting your money back if there is a problem. Although I've never had a customer dispute a sale or file a complaint, most customers don't confirm receiving orders either. So, usually Ali only releases funds several weeks after product tracking shows delivery. It feels like 2 months sometimes. If you sell any amount of volume, you have to front at least 6-8 weeks cash for everything you sell. Which is probably why Aliexpress offers financing...
Basically, Aliexpress puts on a promotion as an opportunity to give shops visibility by putting their product listing on the front page/promotions page. In order to play, you'll probably need financing to support the promotion, which Aliexpress offers. Featured listings/promotions may sell hundreds/thousands of units, and shops may not see any revenue from the sales for months. Combined with the requirement of slashing prices by x amount and Ali's cut, a lot of shops just bleed money and never get the expected post promotion exposure/sales. I have a friend who used to own a factory, and he noted that you can spend 1000-dollars trying to promote your shop on Ali and only make 200 dollars in sales. Needless to say he doesn't sell on Aliexpress anymore.
As it turns out, it's quite difficult striking a balance between keeping customers and sellers happy on a platform. For sure, I hope Aliexpress cracks down on sellers who use fake tracking numbers and other shenanigans though. Customers also need to realize that an item priced near the cost of shipping is probably not going to change your life. You're ordering from the dollar menu, high margin sales affords better customer support and after sale service, if you're losing money or making 5 cents on a sale it's hard to bend over backwards. Some people only make a few cents on an item that costs 5-6 dollars, so if a customer demands a replacement for example, that's the profit of 100 sales or so you're messing with, and most people on Aliexpress aren't swimming in sales. The only people who make real money on Ali are Jack Ma and China Post. That's just my 5 cents.
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Very insightful indeed. I'm staying up for the 11.11 AliExpress shopping spree. LMAO! :victory:
This is going off topic a tad and I'm sure the mods are not going to like it. But anyway, thanks for the info. Like I said, smart shoppers and reasonable buyers will have no trouble shopping on AliExpress. And I was happy to report that Everbuying wasn't as bad as all the bad reps that I read about online.

Buying in China?

I'm going to the Beijing area later this month. I'm thinking about picking up an Amazfit in a store. It should be easy enough to change it into English firmware or PACEify it.
Has anyone bought it in a store in China? I wonder which stores are selling it - any electronics store or just Xiaomi branded stores and what price to expect?
Don't know what price are at in China but I got mine online for $104 us dollars.
I'm Europe based, and in order to avoid VAT and admin. fees by importing from US or China-based online webshops I have to buy through Europe-based resellers - and then the price is something like >$200 according to my research. So it would just be easier (cheaper), when I am in China to buy one there if possible.
trez77 said:
I'm Europe based, and in order to avoid VAT and admin. fees by importing from US or China-based online webshops I have to buy through Europe-based resellers - and then the price is something like >$200 according to my research. So it would just be easier (cheaper), when I am in China to buy one there if possible.
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I'm based in europe and the price I paid was £82 from gearbest and also geekbuying (I bought 2 amazfits).
You don't pay any VAT or admin tools from either of those retailers if you just choose the standard delivery method,.
trez77 said:
I'm Europe based, and in order to avoid VAT and admin. fees by importing from US or China-based online webshops I have to buy through Europe-based resellers - and then the price is something like >$200 according to my research. So it would just be easier (cheaper), when I am in China to buy one there if possible.
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Where are you in europe?
I bought through gearbest, with "priority shipping to Germany" .
It comes at their price, no additional tax, it's €88,88 atm
https://www.gearbest.com/smart-watches/pp_687047.html
fzelle said:
Where are you in europe?
I bought through gearbest, with "priority shipping to Germany" .
It comes at their price, no additional tax, it's €88,88 atm
https://www.gearbest.com/smart-watches/pp_687047.html
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UK.
I'm in Denmark. So gearbest ship from within the EU? Maybe I'll look it up.
Though still traveling to China so if anyone have information about getting one of these out there let me know.
Check with some aliexpress seller (sort by number of orders) and ask them from what town they are. Maybe you will be near them, so you can make personal deal. Or just order from aliexpress and put the adress for delivery where you will be in that time. Easy as that
You can do same with Gearbest/geekbuyibg, etc.
trez77 said:
I'm in Denmark. So gearbest ship from within the EU? Maybe I'll look it up.
Though still traveling to China so if anyone have information about getting one of these out there let me know.
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Yes gearbest ship to the EU. Though recently I've had a better experience with geekbuying (their shipping was much faster)
I think buying online would actually end up being less hassle than buying in China, and I'm not convinced there would be a huge saving anyway. At least with buying online you have some protection and after sales support.
trez77 said:
I'm in Denmark. So gearbest ship from within the EU? Maybe I'll look it up.
Though still traveling to China so if anyone have information about getting one of these out there let me know.
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No they are not shipping from the EU, but they have found a way to avoid for you to pay taxes.
Probably won't last after brexit, as it is rumored that they ship via UK and then avoid taxes at all.
Just a short update. I ended up buying Amazfit Pace from the Xiaomi store in the shopping mall 'Modern Plaza' (https://goo.gl/maps/ETduKM7SLcw) in Beijing. Easily accessed by the subway.
The unit price was 799 Yuan. No problems by installing English firmware and updating to 1.3.4f.
I did look for it other places but couldn't find it anywhere. I found most resellers only had a few Xiaomi phones and sometimes more simpler fitness trackers.

Buing f1 in uk and warranty

I saw the f1 available very cheaply online (for example in eglobalcentral and techinthebasket) but they'll get delivered from china/Hong Kong. will they get warranty in uk? or does one need to buy from uk based seller for warranty?
Windoors said:
I saw the f1 available very cheaply online (for example in eglobalcentral and techinthebasket) but they'll get delivered from china/Hong Kong. will they get warranty in uk? or does one need to buy from uk based seller for warranty?
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Usually the issue is not where you buy from but are you buying from an authorised seller of Xiaomi?
I wasn't sure about this when I was buying my F1 so I played safe and bought mine from Amazon as they tend to be reliable to deal with if you have issues.
I also got mine through Amazon as I wanted peace of mind. I paid more but it is worth it considering what I'm getting for my money.
Pay with PayPal or Credit card it will give you extra cover.
Amazon is not worth it unless they have a deal on you end up paying way more due to they add vat/tax on it with bit extra which is 20%+ price hike so that is like £50+
Always look for official sellers when it comes to this type of thing. I was lucky in the fact that there's a brick-and-mortar Mi store close to where I am in the UK, and utilised their Valentine's offer when it was available (paid £309 for the 6gb 128gb version).
I bought mine from the official xiaomi store in AliExpress. There's some a little bit more expensive offeers which they say have a global warranty.
Enviado de meu POCOPHONE F1 usando o Tapatalk
mortmaru said:
Pay with PayPal or Credit card it will give you extra cover.
Amazon is not worth it unless they have a deal on you end up paying way more due to they add vat/tax on it with bit extra which is 20%+ price hike so that is like £50+
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Don't know about what country are you talking about, but Amazon in Germany doesn't do such BS. Often you can buy cheaper then in official stores and you get the same warranty, Including a 30 days return especially if you're an Amazon prime user. Never had issues with Amazon and I bought a lot of Tech due to being cheaper than in other online shops.
ekin_strops said:
Don't know about what country are you talking about, but Amazon in Germany doesn't do such BS. Often you can buy cheaper then in official stores and you get the same warranty, Including a 30 days return especially if you're an Amazon prime user. Never had issues with Amazon and I bought a lot of Tech due to being cheaper than in other online shops.
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False
I just looked at amazon germany again they are way more then the likes of eglobal and china prices why is that because of vat/tax they will claim just as i stated.

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