FREE POSTAGE from CHINA Killing my Business

[clearcutcrafts2007]

I have been on EBAY for 8 years running a very successful business of handmade butterflies. In the past few months the business is nearly dead because CHina is now producing a similar butterfly that isnt handmade and handcut. NOW I do not mind competition and I already had some which is how business works. BUT I and my competitors all charged about $12 per 12 butterflies. NOW the asian market has joined in selling 12 to 18 butterflies for $1.40 including postage from overseas. PLEASE someone tell me HOW????

Now even if the product is cheaper how the hell do they post from overseas for 1.70 less than we can and that doesnt even include the product. I sell a lot to overseas and my postage is $2.70 for a flat envelope. They are sending butterflies with a 3D body which means they would have to come in a small package. IN Australia that costs us a minimum of $7.80 empty so please tell me HOW??

Ebay has earned 1000's of dollars from me and now I am dead because I cannot put up 10,000 listings and match that price?? WHO should be protected and please anyone else feeling this issue I would love to hear from you. AND NO I am not racist if this was happening from any country I would be the same even if it was Australian . NO one can produce this and make any money selling them for this price.

[x3n0m]

.. whatsmore Australians actually subsidise the cost of all the Chinese postal goods penetrating our market by paying elevated postage costs!!! .. to return the same package to China will probably cost between $10 -$40 if we were to post it to China from Australia .. depending on thickness of the parcel etc .. It is all being done by design .. make no mistake about it the Australian way of life is under threat in a big way .. when our society implodes the scoundrels who laid waste to our country will scuttle off with pockets jingling .. we are headed towards a fascist dictatorship dark age .. sorry about your business dreams being rendered obsolete .. you are one of many who cannot compete with slave made goods penetrating our markets .. in fact it would work out cheaper to freight your stuff to china in bulk and ship it back to Australia from there and horrifying that idea has become reality via the swindling mechanism known as the "Singapore Sling" as there is no end to the greed and malthusian intent of the shadow government (INTERNATIONAL BANKERS and TAX DODGING MULTI NATIONAL CORPORATIONS) .. once the numerous free trade agreements kick in with numerous slave running countries and the trans pacific partnership becomes reality this country will become a basketcase economy .. divided we fall ..

[joethenuts]

i dont think its the postage as you said they can still sell 12 butterflies for $1.40, also there postage is subsidised from there goverment,when have you realised you cant beat chinas prices , its all over the world prob the last 15 years not just now.

you have 1 good thing going yours are better quality . they have plenty of lines that are packaged not in an envelope for $1 including postage.

[wendshees-rocks]

I sell stuff that is available from China at 1/4 of the price with free postage. I have good sales each month. A lot of people don't want to wait the time it takes from China and are happy to pay extra. It's also much easier to get resolution in the event of an issue.

A lot of people these days prefer to pay extra for quality, rather than cheap junk from China. If your items are hand made and better quality than what comes from China, I know which I'd be buying! Don't try and compete with China, only compete with the local market. 

[saarzi]

How? they are in China, we are in Australia. They dont pay the same price for post as we do. Secondly, for our end of their items postal journey from China, we actually subsidise them.

Yes, it sucks but the only thing you can do is change your business plan.

Your listings, IN SEARCH, look exactly the same as the Chinese ones, just more expensive for no apparent reason.

Inside your listing descriptions, they again look like any China listing, just more expensive.

Theres no real push of quality, branding, or hand made (hand cut means nothing to me, I am not in that end of the crafting business, Im an end-user, as most of your customers). "Hand cut is written on one small line, and buyers have to click on the description and read it well to see it.

China is Kmart. You are Prada. Theres not really any way of seeing this from your listings.

If it was my business, I would focus on really learning about targeting a market, and build my branding. You shouldnt really be competing with China too much.

[phorum_junkie*]

The Chinese government choose to subsidise postage to encourage exports, this is, along with other rapidly expanding business practices, coming home to roost and the recent balooning economy is beginning to deflate, even without the subsidy postage, just like other things, are cheaper because of the low earnings paid for long hours.

Australia is not subsidising Chinese post, they are just delivering the mail that comes from China the same as they do with all other countries because of an international agreement. How do you think it could be any other way? I cannot think of any system that would allow each and every country to add on or subtract from postage costs that were cheaper or more expensive than Aus Post.

Just like B&M stores if you cannot compete then you have to change your business model or go under, you need to make your items more desirable than cheap imports, not easy but many manage to do just that. 

[digital*ghost]

I have to second the advice from saarzi - don't try to compete with them, distinguish yourself from them.

The other way to look at it (and there are ways to convey this on some level to potential customers) is this: the Chinese butterflies have to be $1.40 free post in order to compete with your items. 😉 

I sell handmade items, too, and China has started mass-producing some of the same kind of items I make (without going into too much detail, these are hand-woven and can take a serious b**t load of time). The people who buy the $5 version from China are not my target customer, so it's ok if they don't buy from me. 

I'd also start using a few more keywords, since you have the space in some titles - play up the handcrafted / quality aspect if you can, as well as include common occasions / uses (eg wedding would be a good one, I see 'table scatter' etc often used for similar items). And this is just a personal thought, since I don't know how important a keyword it is for your items, but I would personally steer clear of the word 'artificial', and list the actual material instead, just because the word 'artificial' can have negative connotations, but if you're using a high-quality material to produce the items, you want that to be as evident as possible. (Obviously doesn't apply if it's an essential keyword that 99% of people will use to look for them). 

[retailtherapist_8]

'You can have cheap or you can have good but you cant have both" old saying but certainly applies.

As a buyer I would much rather purchase a quality item with reasonable delivery time & postage costs than mass produced cheap rubbish that takes a month or more to arrive. 

The photos of the items these Chinese Sellers use make their items look great the reality is far far different. Lots of buyers will get sucked in only once then return to a reliable quality supplier. I wish you all the best and hope things bounce back sooner rather than later for you.    

[ourphonecase]

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@retailtherapist_8 wrote:

'You can have cheap or you can have good but you cant have both" old saying but certainly applies.

As a buyer I would much rather purchase a quality item with reasonable delivery time & postage costs than mass produced cheap rubbish that takes a month or more to arrive. 

The photos of the items these Chinese Sellers use make their items look great the reality is far far different. Lots of buyers will get sucked in only once then return to a reliable quality supplier. I wish you all the best and hope things bounce back sooner rather than later for you.    

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What about the ones that are good quality and arrive within 1-2 weeks?

[springyzone]

I think everything DG & some others have said is very true.

-Try to make your photos look different to the Chinese ones

-Use key words that play up the differences eg hand crafted

-In the text, keep it simple but spell out  that your item is high quality.

A couple of years ago I was looking for little decorative, glittery buckles, the sort you thread through ribbon & stick on wedding invitations.

Ebay has a lot of them, most from China.

China 50 for about $15 & that included postage, (from memory)

Local ebay supplier, $39 for 50. (on a mark down special, normally about $45 if I recall)

Local craft shop $2 each.

I ended up buying the local ebay ones because in the ad it specifically said not to be deceived, that these were not like the cheap Chinese imitations with a plastic backing, these were made from quality crystals with metal backing and had a much better sparkle.

They looked much the same in the photos, but the text put that element of doubt in my mind about the Chinese ones maybe being disappointing.

I got excellent, fast service from the Australian seller & was very happy with the product.

I'm going to be honest though & say that after they came, out of curiosity I did order 50 from China, just as spares. They arrived within 3 weeks & to me, they looked identical, including down to the amount of sparkle. If I had to do it all over again, I would probably buy from China for that particular sort of product.

But hey, that ad by the aussie seller achieved its aim, it persuaded me to buy.

Don't underestimate the value of description in an ad.