How does China sell things so cheap?!

[Drathnoxis]

I don't get it. How can you make something, sell it for less than a dollar, ship it across the globe, and still make a profit? I couldn't even ship anything across Canada for less than a dollar and make money. And yet Ebay is full of dirt cheap junk with free shipping.

How can they possibly do it?

 

[Wintermute_v1legacy]

The chinese are really nice like that.

 

[MrCalavera_v1legacy]

Ancient chinese secret.

 

[The Rogue Wolf]

Economies of scale. When you ship enough cheap crap on one boat, the cumulative profit adds up.

 

[Trunkage]

They also depress their money, so most countries can get more bang for their buck

 

[Dreiko_v1legacy]

Slave labor goes a long way like that.

 

[bluegate]

It could partly be because of outdated postal rates decided upon by the UPU, Universal Postal Union, when China was classified as a developing country.

Then there's also the possibility of China's government subsidizing the sending of packages out of China.

And individual deals between Chinese retailers and postal services in countries.

In short, it's China out-capitalizing the world.

 

[Agema]

I don't get it. How can you make something, sell it for less than a dollar, ship it across the globe, and still make a profit? I couldn't even ship anything across Canada for less than a dollar and make money. And yet Ebay is full of dirt cheap junk with free shipping.

How can they possibly do it?

Cheap plastic crap is a few pence to make in materials and labour, and ultimately just a few pence to ship across an ocean and distribute in bulk.

They also depress their money, so most countries can get more bang for their buck

Not so much these days - China's current strategy is to encourage domestic consumption more than export markets. In line with this it has been reckoned that if anything for the last 5 years China was maintaining the Yuan artificially high. On the other hand, the USA decided to pick a trade war with China last couple of years, and China may well be retaliating in part by devaluing its currency.

 

[Silentpony_v1legacy]

Well keep in mind China is a 3rd world country. I visited my uncle in BeeJing once and he took me on some road trips. Go a few hours outside the cities and its farmland. And not like Kansas modern farmlands, its no running water, no electricity rice farms straight out of the dark ages with wooden tools and small huts.

And also keep in mind China's economic clout, its weight it throws around, its mostly faked. Satellite imaging of China shows they have no where near the economic growth/power that they claim. Like you know those nighttime images of South and North Korea, South is filled with light, North is almost completely dark? China in reality is more on the dark side.

And those few poor souls who live in the cities are slaves. Its kinda ironic that China is considered this huge important nation when the majority of its population is more or less enslaved to the economic growth of other nations. If Walmart ever closes shop China is gone.

The best way to view China is as a real like 40k hive world. The Hives are massive sprawling industrial slave factories where the very rich live is absurd wealth and suicide is considered destruction of company property, and outside the Hive its the dark ages.

 

[Seanchaidh]

Well keep in mind China is a 3rd world country. I visited my uncle in BeeJing once and he took me on some road trips. Go a few hours outside the cities and its farmland. And not like Kansas modern farmlands, its no running water, no electricity rice farms straight out of the dark ages with wooden tools and small huts.

And also keep in mind China's economic clout, its weight it throws around, its mostly faked. Satellite imaging of China shows they have no where near the economic growth/power that they claim. Like you know those nighttime images of South and North Korea, South is filled with light, North is almost completely dark? China in reality is more on the dark side.

And those few poor souls who live in the cities are slaves. Its kinda ironic that China is considered this huge important nation when the majority of its population is more or less enslaved to the economic growth of other nations. If Walmart ever closes shop China is gone.

The best way to view China is as a real like 40k hive world. The Hives are massive sprawling industrial slave factories where the very rich live is absurd wealth and suicide is considered destruction of company property, and outside the Hive its the dark ages.

Ludicrously overexaggerated is what you were going for, there, I must assume?

But yes, there are rural areas and deserts in China and not everywhere is Beijing or Shanghai. Kind of like not everywhere in the United States is New York City.

Spoiler: World At Night

Working from the theory that light emitted at night is a reliable approximation of GDP, China seems to have more or less as much light as you would expect a $15 trillion GDP to have compared to the $21 trillion of the United States. Or are you saying that there are Potemkin beacons beaming the illusion of prosperity into space?

 

[Silentpony_v1legacy]

SNIP

Actually according to the Brookings Institute, China has overstated their GDP by nearly 20% for the last ten years, and their economy is simply 12% smaller than they claim.
and yes the National Bureau of Economic Research did look at nighttime photos of China as part of their research into their economic growth and power, and their research suggested China's economy may be a full 1/7th smaller than they claim.

 

[Seanchaidh]

SNIP

Actually according to the Brookings Institute, China has overstated their GDP by nearly 20% for the last ten years, and their economy is simply 12% smaller than they claim.
and yes the National Bureau of Economic Research did look at nighttime photos of China as part of their research into their economic growth and power, and their research suggested China's economy may be a full 1/7th smaller than they claim.

Such rigor.

 

[Silentpony_v1legacy]

SNIP

Actually according to the Brookings Institute, China has overstated their GDP by nearly 20% for the last ten years, and their economy is simply 12% smaller than they claim.
and yes the National Bureau of Economic Research did look at nighttime photos of China as part of their research into their economic growth and power, and their research suggested China's economy may be a full 1/7th smaller than they claim.

Such rigor.

Much facts. Wow!

Unless, of course, you're being sarcastic, and you have a better way to analyze real national economic growth than the National Bureau of Economic Research, in which case I'm sure they'd love to hire you!

 

[Seanchaidh]

SNIP

Actually according to the Brookings Institute, China has overstated their GDP by nearly 20% for the last ten years, and their economy is simply 12% smaller than they claim.
and yes the National Bureau of Economic Research did look at nighttime photos of China as part of their research into their economic growth and power, and their research suggested China's economy may be a full 1/7th smaller than they claim.

Such rigor.

Much facts. Wow!

Unless, of course, you're being sarcastic, and you have a better way to analyze real national economic growth than the National Bureau of Economic Research, in which case I'm sure they'd love to hire you!

I guess this is what you say when you want to believe the conclusions derived from some transparently dubious methodology.

 

[Agema]

SNIP

Actually according to the Brookings Institute, China has overstated their GDP by nearly 20% for the last ten years, and their economy is simply 12% smaller than they claim.
and yes the National Bureau of Economic Research did look at nighttime photos of China as part of their research into their economic growth and power, and their research suggested China's economy may be a full 1/7th smaller than they claim.

Such rigor.

There's plenty more evidence, though: electricity consumption, other production output measures, etc.

China is thought, at minimum, to misreport GDP data. If not overstating, it is believed to smooth data over time by concealing slowdowns by also under-reporting growth periods, as its GDP growth figures are implausibly consistent. Take a look at a graph of its annual GDP growth from about 2010 onwards and compare to just about any other country in the world, or even China pre-2010. Chinese politicians have an unusual amount of control over how GDP is reported compared to Western countries (all the way down to local government), which leaves open the likelihood of political manipulation and few politicians are likely to admit their province is doing badly under their governance.

 

[Satinavian]

It could partly be because of outdated postal rates decided upon by the UPU, Universal Postal Union, when China was classified as a developing country.

Then there's also the possibility of China's government subsidizing the sending of packages out of China.

And individual deals between Chinese retailers and postal services in countries.

In short, it's China out-capitalizing the world.

Mostly it is this.

Didn't really matter for b2b transactions, but after chinese companies started to sell via interned directly to customers, those shipping fees make a difference.


But there is growing resistence to it. The rules might be changed soon.

 

[Saelune]

Slave labor goes a long way like that.

This.

 

[Silentpony_v1legacy]

SNIP

Actually according to the Brookings Institute, China has overstated their GDP by nearly 20% for the last ten years, and their economy is simply 12% smaller than they claim.
and yes the National Bureau of Economic Research did look at nighttime photos of China as part of their research into their economic growth and power, and their research suggested China's economy may be a full 1/7th smaller than they claim.

Such rigor.

Much facts. Wow!

Unless, of course, you're being sarcastic, and you have a better way to analyze real national economic growth than the National Bureau of Economic Research, in which case I'm sure they'd love to hire you!

I guess this is what you say when you want to believe the conclusions derived from some transparently dubious methodology.

Or the counter-argument is what you say when you're secretly working for the Chinese Government to suppress the truth and big-up the Great Chinese way of life