GearBest

I use www.aliexpress.com/?aff_platform=link-c-tool&cpt=1505250936999&sk=yRJiE62&aff_trace_key=023f0a1fad894f5486189c9d26bf9810-1505250936999-07777-yRJiE62&terminal_id=af9a38be81a645c89608409d15c744c3 and mrs uses www.wish.com/ , i may have bought the odd item from gearbest as i get emails from time to time

Check if they have a  phone app as many chinese outlets have better pricing if using the phone apps, also look out for store vouchers as it helps keep costs down, some site have freebies linked into the phone apps,basically you apply for the free items and if selected you just have to pop up a review, so the more reviews you do the more likely you are to get some good items free, theres another way to keeps costs down but pm for that one

I expect gearbest is like ali in terms of delivery times, pricing etc ,the main reason i prefer aliexpress to others is that as soon as you buy an item and pay for an item the money sits in ali's bank, they only pay the seller when you have received the goods and let them know, if you dont get the goods ali will almost always issue a refund.

Wish is an odd site (to me anyway) mrs uses it a lot and she has never had an item not arrive, the main reason i think it's odd is a lot of stuff is free and you pay postage(double check before buying)

Best thing to do is make a couple of low value purchases from gear best and then decide if it works for you
Not sure if you have bought from china before so here are a few tips.

Quality varies depends again on what you need, a lot of stuff for sale is the same as you'd buy here but without branding ,a lot is from the same factories.

I buy a lot of electronic boards, 3d printer parts and cnc parts, and haven't had many parts that did not work.

Delivery can be anywhere between 5 days and many months(often stuff is held up at heathrow customs for ages) , try to keep purchases under £15 (always look for free delivery) ,the reason is that's the customs threshold for extra charges. and boy can those charges be steep

Been shopping in china for a few years as the type of stuff i buy is peanuts over there so i tend to split what i want between different sellers, I have only been hit by customs twice. so it's pot luck if you get custom charges or not.

Be wary when buying memory cards in the main they are ok but on occasion they will be smaller than stated capacity wise.

Don't put too much hope in goods that have the ce label as a lot of the time it is just a label and hasn't been tested to ce standards.

Be wary when buying mains powered stuff as they will need taking apart and checking (ive had a few things with the earth wiring wrong or loose terminals) but in the main the stuff is good quality.

Another thing to check is if stuff is shipped from the uk or europe as if they are then you don't have to worry about customs ,also look at the customs site for prohibited items as they seem to be clamping down at the moment

It does seem good for the price, however just make sure you know what your getting ie English o/s ,hdd or ssd etc, if you buy and thy have the Chinese app stores on it delete them and install the English one(china app store used to be riddled with viruses).
Not trying to put you off but £500 is a lot of money if it goes tits up, you also need to be wary of the way its shipped, if i'st via ups or other parcel company, then you will end up paying customs charges, you may or may not get stung by customs, it all depends if your parcel get inspected at heathrow, also check on the type of battery fitted as i think if it has an l-ion battery, some airlines refuse to touch it.

As said earlier i've been hit by customs twice ,but have ordered form china hundreds of times.

Might be worth chucking a pm henbury's way and see if he can get near the price



heres a link to uk customs regs and charges (quick n dirty percentage is just below 25% of price) be wary of how they calculated the price as i think it may be on uk price rather than china price
www.gov.uk/goods-sent-from-abroad/tax-and-duty

Yeah I know what I am getting.

Xiaomi is a well known brand ad the laptop is well reviewed so not as if it is a dodgy Chinese.

The main off puts are the battery life, US keyboard. Delivery from China (but if I use normal shipping then less liely to pay customs apparently, plus will get shipping insurance), no finger print reader. Also obviously the warranty is a worry if something goes wrong.

It comes with Chinese Windows but I feel comfortable replacing that with English. There are many tutorials online and it looks fairly simple.

It's difficult as £500 is a lot of money but you wouldn't get a laptop with those specs for £500 here. Lenovo 710S is £599 on Lenovo websites but not as high spec on the whole and the hinges look flimsy.

Did you order this in the end? I saw your thread on HUKD as today I've suddenly got in the market for a thin/light 12-13" laptop. Was going to press the button on a Macbook, but the new gen Xiaomi looks really good.

Yes but it still says that it is processing. Ordered it on Thursday. Expecting it to take a while to arrive tbh.

Did you get stung for the vat?

Good to hear you're liking the laptop. I ended up finding a good deal on a Macbook in the end but would have been equally happy with Xiaomi build quality.

Yup i only buy stuff with free postage as it gets sent slowly and in the main avoids customs interference, however i have had too pay fees several times , if you use a courier then it's the courier who open and check stuff and add customs charges.

The Mrs has found a goodish chinese site  www.wish.com ,some very cheap stuff but as always double check prices on aliexpress or similar