DVD's from China - Copies or simply region 1 versions?

DVD's from Chinese Suppliers - Copies or simply region 1 versions?

I have ordered a few titles from China over the years, some more well known as others, and a lot of them are of such high quality, I cannot tell from the packaging or the actual image on the TV screen, whether or not they are fakes or illegal copies.

Most DVD's or when VHS was about, you could tell it was a copy because the picture was either crap or the sound was like the whole film was made underwater and you couldn't make out what people were saying. I done some research with legitimate manufacturers in the UK by sending them a DVD ordered from China, along with the packaging etc, and they told me its simply a Region 1 NTSC version of the product.

This got me thinking that if a manufacturer of DVD's or CD's in the UK couldn't tell the difference, then I think the terms "Its a fake DVD", "Its not a real copy at that price" "Chinese Rip Off" etc shouldn't really be used. It should be more like "Its an illegal unauthorised copy" as I think DVD's that are made in factories in China have been authorised and paid by large movie companies to make so many copies of a DVD, and then cease production. What the Chinese do I believe is continue running the presses of whatever movie or programme they have been asked to create, however when the deadline comes, they just ignore it and continue making them.

Most of them are either Region 0 (FREE) or are Region 1. The thing about Region protection on DVD's nowadays is that it doesn't really mean anything anymore, as most peoples DVD players are multi-region DVD players, which means they can read any DVD from any country. When the multi region DVD player came out, it pretty much made obsolete all the region encoding for different countries all over the world to help stamp out piracy.

Fair enough some shoddy Chinese copies of DVD's you can spot easily especially if you read the descriptions on the back. Some have some very bad spelling mistakes which a company would never put into print production until it was fixed, as quality control would definitely pickup on it. I bought a box set of True Blood Season 1, brilliant price, amazing picture and sound, great detail on packaging along with all insert art etc...but on the back soon as took it out of box noticed a review snippet on the back says it was "Terrfig.....sexy....witty.....wildly imaginative". Of course it means to say its "Terrific" but they may have been eating a fig roll biscuit at the time and got distracted when typing it in for printing the covers.

Also a lot of the "Unauthrosied Copies" copy the region 1 packaging or NTSC versions because there is usually no classfication of an age range you need to be i norder to watch the DVD. Compare each of the DVD cases with one in the UK and you will see the BBFC rating on them as well as (with newer printed DVD's and reissues) the Irish Classification which is a blue hexagon symbol beside the BBFC ones.

Just thought I would give it a mention incase you thought all the pictures of Chinese DVD's were crap. The ones to watch out for a which are a con when buying online is the Blu-ray DVD's from China. They are not truely blu-ray discs, but are just very high quality DVD discs and so is the file that has been burned onto them containign the film. No reduction in quality will be done for these discs. Not all display so well however on HDTV's as one my freind bought had lots of pixelated black blocks appear now and again at certain points which no one could explain.

Thanks for reading.

Henry

Chinese Iphone 4 Covers - Very well made and amazing designs

Chinese Iphone 4 Covers - Cheap to buy, but can make a killing selling on!

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/150788856040?var=&ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649 for mesh gel style ones with see through holes look awesome. Multiple colours.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/150788866934?var=&ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649 for the crystal clear different coloured covers

About 9 or 10 months ago I ordered A load of Chinese Iphone 4 covers, many different designs like the Coca Cola Iphone cover, Hell Kitty, Gameboy Colour cases, Crystal clear ones, Multi coloured ones you name it. I remember I hadn't sold all of them and so went on a hunt around the garage to see where they went. Of course a pile of junk over the past year has built up and on top of them and I forgot about them.

I must say the Iphone covers the Chinese produce are really quite amazing. They are bought for such a low price and the more unique the design or fancy it is, the more people will pay for it. Its like people are making a fashion statement nowadays with their phones. Its not good enough for the person just to look good, but also the tech they are carrying around seems to be getting a facelift at the same time.

I took some a mixture of covers into work consisting of 16 people and I bought them for instance for one style about 83 pence and was able to sell it at £3.50. I always ask people if you think the price is okay and for the quality and design everyone thought I was selling them too low. This was because when I asked how much they are in the shop they bought their mobile phone, the cheapest ones where like £6.99 and £7.99 from various well known mobile phone retailers. When I checked some online on Amazon.co.uk, some people were charging £8.99 and to my disbelief, in a shopping centre where I live, a guy selling from a cart at the front door Iphone 4 covers in exactly the same packaging and same design for £10.

Now this guy I know of he does 2 shopping centres I have seen him in in Northern Ireland and he's been there for about 3 years from what I can remember. He is definitely making money selling Iphone covers and other phones, because if he wasn't making money, he wouldn't be there.

The Chinese Iphone covers can be sold for half the price or less and you will probably still be making the same profit margin, if not even more, than the ones are selling them for in the retail stores or carboots.

I have included some pics of the ones I bought, and links to some of my Ebay specials are at the top as I am selling the crystal clear coloured Iphone 4 cases for £1 and that includes delivery to your house. If there is a mobile phone retailer out there right now can offer that kind of service, please let me know :).

These covers fit perfectly to the Iphone and most are clip on clip off very easily, or are a full housing to go around the phone and require two pieces to be joined together. The hard plastic full housing covers I sold in work 3 to one girl with crazy patterned designs for £4 each and she thought she was getting a bargain with all the screaming and shouting. Most covers leave room for the buttons on the side as well. Not all leave room for the data or recharge connection at the bottom and some you may have to pop out of the case to recharge, but this isn't a big deal, as its the buttons you will be accessing more than the recharge cable slot. Then again some do leave a space for the lead to go in.

The ones that sell the best seem to be quirky ones or with famous brans as the design. I bought 10 Coca Cola covers and 10 Gameboy Silicone ones and both of these styles was the first to go. I got the Coca Cola for about £1.12 (It was a small order with free shipping, however they have come down dramatically in price, probably cause Iphone 5 will be out very soon and new cases designed) and people in Work and online are paying £3.50 plus I added another £1.20 for delivery if bought online.

I sold the Gameboy ones in retail packaged box with free screen protector for £6.50 each and they only cost me £2.30. So there definitely is a market out there for Iphone covers and the Chinese have amazing designs I have not seen in any mobile phone shop over here, as they stock the basic bog standard ones mainly for phones which are getting kind of boring to tell you the truth. These are usually the ones you see on clearance websites or liquidation stock websites as they all look the same really, even if they are by different manufacturers.

Thanks for reading.

Henry

Tips for buying items from Chinese Suppliers - Alibaba and Aliexpress

Buying Items From Chinese Suppliers - Hazzman's Tips

Aliexpress.com and Alibaba.com

Some people I talk to are kind of dubious when ordering items from China. I was too when I first started ordering items and worrying about such things as:

Will they ever come?
Am I going to get charged a fortune by Customs and Excise for importing them?
Will customs think they are illegal, even if they are not, and destroy or sieze them?
Will the supplier send the right quantity of goods or try and rip me off?

All of these are good questions, however not everyone on the Internet is a crook and neither is everyone in China. Sure there are crooks in China who will try and exploit people buying items online, but doesn't that happen in every country? Why single China out to be the baddest place on earth for purchasing goods online and sending them to other countries?

The safest way I have found to buy online from China is by using Alibaba and Aliexpress. Alibaba is mainly for larger orders or container loads etc which offer very good discounts the more you buy. Aliexpress offers smaller quantities as well as buying single items that you can evaluate first before ordering in larger quantities.

Aliexpress also has the added benefit of escrow which comes included for free in every transaction. On Alibaba you can also do escrow which is arranged and handled by one of the Alibaba staff, whereas the Aliexpress is included automatically as part of the transaction.

On Aliexpress, you place your order with the supplier, the payment is processed, however Aliexpress hold onto the payment in escrow, until you have recieved the items. There is a time slot which you have to confirm that you have recieved the items, this can be extended by the supplier if unforeseen problems occur, however if you don't notify the supplier that you haven't recieved the goods within the alotted time or raised a query, the payment will automatically be released to the supplier.

If you ordered for instance a quantity of 20 items and the supplier only provides 18 in the delivery, you can also query this in the order by raising a dispute. You can select the reason for the dispute and if it is to do with missing items, it will ask how many are missing. A refund request for these 2 items will be sent to the supplier to be approved.

Once you have recieved an item and are happy with the purchase, you click in "My orders" the "Confirm Order Recieved" button beside the order. This will then give you the opportunity to leave feedback in various areas about the supplier and give them a rating out of 5.

On my Aliexpress profile, I have ordered over 36 different orders from different suppliers (Some re-rders) and have not had a single problem to date. I have been ordering from their suppliers since 2008 and have not looked anywhere else since. I hear about DHGate.com etc but with a lot more complaints about people not recieving the right items and sometimes not recieving any at all. Then of course the suppliers do not reply back to any customer complaints, and you have lost your money.

Aliexpress allows you to see, just like Ebay, the suppliers feedback along with an overall rating as a percentage. Some suppliers have an A+ assurance rating which means if they have had any problems or disputes, they have dealt with them or responded to them and do have customer service in place to deal with problems.

Other suppliers with lower percentages etc, just like you would do on Ebay, simply avoid as these can cause some nightmares and headaches. Also each product a person sells has its own rating and feedback from customers at the bottom fo each product page. Be sure to check these out as well as it will let you know the quality of the goods and if they are "fit for purpose" as well.

There are a variety of postage options as well for the suppliers. Lots of popular couriers such as DHL, UPS, FEDEX etc but a lot offer FREE shipping with China Mail Service of the Hong Kong Postal Service. These can take form 15-30 days to be delivered and as long as the value is under about $50-70 you usually won't be charged a customs charge. Using a courier, you are more likely to get charged a customs charge if it is over around £50 in the UK, as items slightly over this I have ordered and under, and once it goes over £50 I get charged.

You may recieve the item all good and well from the courier but a week or two later you will recieve sometimes a letter or invoice stating you need to pay the customs charge. Some like DHL won't release the goods until the bill is paid over the phone or on their website.

Any queries about ordering from China please let me know.

Henry