Technology Toolkit

China is well known for many things – having 1.3 billion people, eating a lot of rice, Communism, etc. However, they are also the leading supplier of non-brand name, wholesale electronics. If an electronics product is being produced anywhere in the world, you can certainly find an imitation of it in China for a much lower price. While the quality may be a bit lower, the price reflects this, and the gadget will perform largely the same function as the original product. China’s share of the market grows every day as the imitations get better, and the quality continues to improve. This trend may seem confusing, given that Chinese electronics manufacturers make a living by producing cheap knock-offs of electronics designs from foreign companies. However, circumstances in China do give their suppliers significant advantages.

First, their costs are extremely low. The cost of unskilled labor and capital in China are much lower than in any of the countries where the majority of electronics products are exported to. This allows Chinese manufacturers to mass produce goods at a fraction of the cost of their competitors. Second, there are no international copyright laws in China. This gives wholesalers the freedom to reproduce any good they can get their hands on, with no fear of being sued for copyright infringement. These wholesalers spend virtually no money on Research and Development. They simply wait for a company like Apple to develop a new iPhone, and copy the design.

With lower costs and greater freedom to imitate, Chinese wholesale manufacturers can afford to offer a much wider variety of products. Most electronics manufacturers offer a laundry list of products, including mobile phones, video game consoles, cameras, computer accessories, mp3/mp4 players, jewelery, and beauty products. It’s as if 10 different stores from the US got together to make a website for their coordinated “going out of business” sale. Plus they threw in some designs from their experimental department, such as floating iPod speakers and a Photon-Ultrasonic Skin Care Wave Emitter. This is the beauty of Chinese wholesale suppliers. Just about any electronics gadget you can imagine is available online (the shotgun approach at its finest) for a price that makes you feel foolish for spending $500 on an iPhone.

In the fast-paced world of electronics, it should not be underestimated how rapidly Chinese manufacturers are able to adapt to changing technology. If any company develops a new innovation, a copy is available almost immediately from a Chinese company. While other foreign companies are restricted from producing that product, Chinese wholesalers have all the latest developments from every company available from one supplier. In addition, they often make one more addition to the new product (such as making it Mini or adding a spy camera) that makes the product that much more irresistible.

Finally, we all know that nothing is permanent, especially in the fleeting world of electronics. So it doesn’t make a lot of sense to pay top dollar for a really quality product when, in all likelihood, a new upgrade will be released next year. Perhaps your fake iPhone will break down in 6 months. It probably wont, but so what if it does? You didn’t pay much for it, and the technology is likely to be obsolete by then anyway. Rather than being stuck with an outdated product, you can order the most recent innovation from a Chinese manufacturer.

Online vendors have recently found a gold mine located just south of Mongolia. The most populous country in the world, China has certainly made a name for itself manufacturing products in bulk, and selling them to the western world. Wholesale electronics suppliers in China face such fierce competition that they continue to offer more features for lower prices. This is good news for those looking to sell Chinese manufactured products in countries around the world. Suppliers are eager to export, and prices are low. However, this does not mean that any uninformed person can make a killing reselling Chinese manufactured electronics. It is important to know what to look for from suppliers.

First, make sure that the supplier you plan to work with is a legitimate wholesaler. If all you know about a company is that their website looks very professional, learn more. Many very sleek looking websites belong to “companies” that are actually scam artists. Do not be fooled by companies that ask for an initial membership fee to do business with them. Be sure to read user reviews of each company, and employ the help of a GOOD wholesale supplier directory e.g Yahoo directory. Do your research! Many companies that claim to be wholesalers are actually retailers, charging much higher prices than a true wholesaler. Once you feel confident that you will get the lowest price for the goods you wish to sell, there are more things to consider.

Check to see if the supplier you are working with offers a dropship service, as described at http://www.bigboxstore.com/dropship-service. If not, you should probably look elsewhere. Wholesale dropshippers offer to ship products to your customers at no extra cost. You simply submit the information of your buyer to the dropshipper, and the product goes directly to them. You never have to see, let alone store, the product you sell. All you see is the profit. This saves the cost and risk of storing goods that haven’t been sold yet, and is a necessary prerequisite for doing business with a Chinese wholesaler. The next thing to check is shipping speed.

One thing that can make or break your new business is the length of time it takes for your goods to reach buyers. While dropshipping is certainly quicker than buying from a manufacturer and then shipping goods to your customers personally, it can still be a lengthy process. Check to see if the company mentions a guarantee about how quickly they package and ship all orders. Verify that they have followed through with this in the past by reading user reviews. You may also want to try out a couple of companies, ordering a few products for yourself, and seeing which arrives in the most timely manner.

Another final thing to check is the company return policy. Consumers know that electronics manufactured in China are likely to be lower quality than those from brand-name companies. A return policy makes them feel much more secure. They feel confident that even if the product turns out to be a dud, they will get their money back. If your supplier has a 6 month – 1 year return policy on most goods, you wont get stuck holding a broken mobile phone that your customer didn’t want. There are Chinese wholesale dropshipping companies with reasonable return policies. Once again, you can learn a lot by reading the reviews written by previous buyers.

There is certainly money to be made by retailing electronics manufactured in China. Just make sure you pick a good supplier to work with. Your business partner should offer a speedy dropship service for wholesale priced goods, and should not ask for any additional fee to do so. They should also be willing to replace defective merchandise. Once you find a company whose user reviews reflect these elements, you are well on your way to becoming a successful electronics retailer.

The ability to operate 2 SIM cards on a single mobile phone has recently become available to consumers. While in the past it was necessary to carry two phones at all times for business and personal calls, cell phones are now available that can send and receive calls from both numbers simultaneously. Not only useful for those with a line dedicated to business calls, this technology is quite handy for those in frequent travel status. Rather than paying roaming charges or switching phones when crossing international borders, travelers can insert SIM cards from two countries into their mobile phone and switch between them. This saves travelers and businessmen a great deal of time, hassle, and pocket space. It is not hard to see why the popularity of dual SIM phones continues to grow.

However, the pioneers of this revolution are not who you would expect. In fact, very few of the prominent mobile phone manufacturers currently sell phones with this capability. Most of the unlocked, dual SIM mobile phones available today are from Chinese brands, such as CECT, Ming Xing, and JINCEN. These phones are available in numerous designs, from iPhone type models like the CECT i9 3G, to more standard cell phone models like the Ming Xing A008. The latest models are high caliber phones.

Some might ask to why China is a dominant manufacturer of Dual Sim Card mobile phones. Possibly that is due to high volume of electronics being manufactured in China and also due to fast adoption of new mobile technologies in China that local mobile phone manufacturers are more likely to develop new mobile phone features. Another reason could be that the mobile calling rates in China are much lower then other countries so mobile users can afford to have 2 or more mobile numbers.

Many of these Dual Sim Card mobile phones have gained huge popularity in many countries. For example, the Ming Xing A008 comes with MMS, SMS, WAP, and GPRS capabilities. It has an MP3 / MP4 player, web browser, FM radio, 1.3MP camera, and Bluetooth capability. The CECT i9 3G includes all of the same, along with a 3.2″ high-definition touch screen and 2.0MP camera. It also has a built-in gravity inductor which supports auto-horizontal video and picture display. These phones offer all the same features as their single SIM relatives, and include the flexibility of dual SIM operation. In addition, they can be purchased online from wholesale manufacturers for around $100.

So why have many big manufacturers not responded to this increasing demand? The reason is that they are under extreme pressure from mobile carriers around the world. The most popular service providers wield a great deal of power and influence over many big mobile phone manufacturers. As we all know, mobile service providers like to lock their users in for the long haul, attaching 1-2 year contracts to most of the handsets they sell. Similarly, they are not eager to have manufacturers produce phones that are compatible with other carriers. Consumers looking for unlocked dual SIM phones will have to look elsewhere, at least for the time being.