Stuff happens
- Source: Global Times
- [08:46 August 04 2010]
- Comments
Photo: www. dong-xi.com
By Michael Gold
One of the chief complaints that many expats have upon first arriving in China is the lack of reasonably-priced, non-black market consumer products. Looking for the latest Eminem CD? One hundred percent organic powdered milk? Even just sunscreen without whitening agent? Good luck. For many, shopping in China is a cacophony of clamorous bargaining for shoddily-produced knockoffs - and for the most part, you can forget about turning to the Internet as a replacement, as most Western shopping sites won't ship to China.
Enter dong-xi.com - a novel shopping concept which, as the slogan on its main page declares, "connects the East with the West's online shopping." As dong-xi.com (which roughly translates as "stuff" or "things") founder William Heathershaw discovered upon first moving to Beijing, the demand for Western goods - both among expats and native Chinese - was too strong not to take advantage of the opportunity.
"I posted a classified ad on theBeijinger.com to see who wanted me to bring back books, purchased from online retailers but delivered to my address," he said. "The response I got was telling."
Asserting that "of every consumer product in the world, I'd say 90 percent of them are available in the United States," Heathershaw set about to establish a formal "package-forwarding" service between any online retailer that ships to a US address - a number that Heathershaw estimates at a staggering 300,000 - and any address in China. Though the main interface on dong-xi.com may take some getting used to, the concept is simple: Once you establish an account on dong-xi.com, they provide you with a unique US mailing address (all of which are in Oregon, for tax and geographical purposes). Then you can order a product from any online retailer and provide that US address as your shipping address. Inform dong-xi.com of your order, and they will collect your product, package it and deliver it to your address in China.
"Because we have such high volume, we can afford to cut down on the shipping cost," Heathershaw said. Despite the fact that dong-xi. com charges a five dollar processing fee per order, "it's still generally cheaper to go through us than, say, if your mother were to forward your package."
In a concession to buyers who may not possess a form of payment accepted by online retailers - many of which won't take non-US credit cards - dong-xi.com also offers a "Do It All For Me" service, in which you send them the online listing of the product you want, transfer the money to dong-xi.com via PayPal or Alipay, and dong-xi. com will purchase the product using its credit card, collect it in the US and forward it to your address in China. Heathershaw said they also hope to attract more Chinese patrons with the launch of their Chinese-language site in mid-September.
"Even if you found a retailer that can ship to China, if you want to go on an online shopping spree, you can bundle it all into the same package with one international shipping fee instead of many fees from different retailers," Heathershaw said.
There is a slight catch, however, in that a number of products are forbidden, either by the United States Postal Service or Chinese customs, from entering China from the US. Dong-xi.com's terms of service lists a range of goods, from sewing machines to walkie-talkies, and Heathershaw admits that, as a start-up and with a fairly lean staff of about 12 employees, it can be difficult for dong-xi.com to keep up with the constantly shifting raft of restrictions on commerce between the two countries. For example, though the terms of service lists computers under its prohibited items, an image of a computer appears prominently on the "shopping center" section of the website, and dong-xi.com provides a direct link to computer manufacturer apple.com as one of its featured vendors.
