I am thinking about ordering electronics from china for the first time.

I've found a company called Shenzhen BaoHua trade company (www.sell-electronics.com) and have been emailing a woman called sofia for about a month. I will initially buy one apple ipod from her for 205 euros.

I checked their phone number and it is registered under the address they give.

I checked their website registration details and it is listed under the same address but the phone number is invalid.

A week ago they changed their email address to 'fairtradetrustme76' and all their email addresses are free yahoo accounts.

This got me worried so I emailed them saying I would like my friend in guangdong to go and pick up the ipod instead. I didn't actually have a friend willing to do this, I just wanted to see what they would say and surely enough they said this would be fine and they would take my friend to the supplier. I also asked whether I could contact past satisfied customers from the UK but they said they couldn't send out their customers information which I suppose is understandable.

They seemed genuine enough but I was still worried so I contacted my bank and they confirmed that, if the ipod doesn't arrive, or if it isn't exactly how they described (official apple branded with 1 year apple warranty) then they will reverse the payment and get my money back. I told sofia this and she said that would be fine... I could reverse the payment. She also said that if there was fraud their account would be frozen and company investigated so she tried to assure me not to worry.

In a past email they said I could pay by credit card but when I just tried to pay there was no credit card option on their website. I asked them why this was and she said that it will be available shortly and I am welcome to wait until it is up and running.

So everything seems to be genuine enough. I will have to pay a charge to my bank of 40 euros to pay by international bank transfer so I won't actually make a profit from this sample ipod but hopefully it will just ease my anxiety about ordering more from them.

Have I done everything I can and should I trust this company? My bank will get back my money if there are problems so I don't see why they would try and scam me. But still, I am worried because I am a first time buyer.

Any advice woul be greatly appreciated. Thanks

Replying to [chiko930]: Hi if you have to do all this research and still feel uneasy,you shouldn't bother. There doesn't seem to be a lot of re-assurence from your supplier, too many grey areas: quit while you are ahead is my advice. Spend your valuable time finding an honest reliable supplier. Good luck

What is your aim in purchasing this item in China?

My guess is that your plan is to buy product cheap and then on-sell for a higher price back home and make loads of money. That is business right!

There is a serious flaw in your plan though and that is that what you are buying would be illegal to sell. So even if the company in China is honest and actually ships you what they promise to ship, there are still a myriad of ways that you could lose all of your money and you really need to take these into consideration. There are risks involved in business but in my opinion the risks are just far too great in your case.

1. You could get a nice sample but when you bite and place a larger order maybe nothing will be shipped and your money lost. I assume that a big order would not be made via credit card and even if it is I am not so sure that the bank will cover you as they could claim that it is common knowledge that your purchase was for illegal counterfeit goods – often the law does not protect you when you are breaking the law!!

2. You may find that the items that shipped are substandard, but you may only find this once it is too late. What are you going to do when your customers start complaining that the product quality is bad? You will have to refund their money if you don’t want to end up in jail, but you will not be able to get a refund from the factory so you will lose financially.

3. You may find that sample is good and that the quality is also pretty good. You then invest in a larger order only to have it confiscated by China customs or customs in your own country and destroyed for being illegal counterfeit goods. I would think that it would be pretty annoying to see someone burning your hard earned cash, and the factory is not going to care as they have been paid and they don’t see that they have done anything wrong. You ordered a product and they delivered – its not their fault that you don’t get it.

No matter which way you look at this you are set to lose.

If you are seriously looking to make money from importing product from China then my advice is to choose a product that comes from a company that is producing the product legally and that you can import legally and sell legally back home.

Replying to [chiko930]:
it is common to encounter such a thing on business. you need more caution for such things , pls ensure everything is trustful nxte time when you do business with them .

Trust is an important aspect to establish the comercail ralations . first .it based on a clear understanding of the specific facts. then , after the buyer know all the information about the seller company and its all aspect operation. and of caurse, the buyer's own company profit is the most important, if there exsit deception, it should stop the cooperation. But i think, there still has lots of china company worth to be trusted.