3 ms·
Chinese goods have always been cheap? It's just cutting out the middle man
by ikekkdcjkfke 3y ago
Chinese goods have always been cheap? It's just cutting out the middle man
- jgalt212 3y agoand as mentioned above, all import duties.
- lxgr 3y agoThat's certainly true, but can't account for the entire effect. How high can import duties really be, compared to the markups of various middle men? Even at an extreme rate of 50%, that would only account for a 33% lower price to the consumer – nothing compared to cutting out 2-3 intermediaries adding 20-30% each.
- lxgr 3y agoThat's something that always struck me as odd when moving from Europe to the US: The same chinese-imported goods (i.e. those presumably sold relatively directly from the manufacturer under various autogenerated-sounding "brand names" that often disappear as quickly as they show up) on Amazon in the US are just much more expensive here, while quality control, support etc. seem to be the same. Are Amazon's handling fees just higher in the US or is this a market inefficiency? And if so, who's making the extra profit?