How do these chinese people make a profit off this?

[Foxscotch]

yes but i was attempting to continue a train of jokes which ignore that original joke and act like it was completely referring to economics

f o o l i s h

[Ad Bot]

[King Tøny]

Damn they can afford tracking too on a 3 dollar item.

[devildogelite]

While shipping is cheap per item in bulk, stuff like this isn't shipped like that. 

China Post is subsidized by the UN which subsidizes the stuff out of anything being shipped out of china.  It's certainly less than the actual cost of shipping and most likely free for them to ship small things like this.

china usually has very slow shipping. i think half the country ships like once a month and you can get it fast or super slow depending on when you made your order lol. but that single mass shipment must be cheap because super bulk XD

A lot of the electronic components I buy on Ebay are shipped airmail for free, the longest part is the hold up in customs.  Though anything larger than a few ounces normally takes forever.

[Goth77]

It's just like buying a 1 liter of soda and spending almost 2 dollars vs a 2 liter that only costs a dollar : you pay a bit less the more you buy. If you buy a single mousepad you are going to spend alot, but if you buy a mouse and a pad that comes with it, you get the mousepad for next to nothing or generally very cheap. It's like bargain shopping

[Rally]

Y'all are some serious idiots if you think that you can escape shipping costs by just loading a bunch onto a single ship. That's just not how that works. The reason they don't lose in shipping is because they are not shipping, the goods are getting to America via other means

[Goth77]

To answer Lord Tony's original question: cents on the dollar, that's all it is

They are making a profit (even if very small) or they would not be in business.

Believe me dude I worked in a factory where they make rice cakes and I was trying figure out how the hell they make a profit and pay all their workers $11.30 per hour!

Factories like this usually sell in bulk. They might be selling that mousepad for $3, but it probably costs them less than a dollar to make it (seriously!) so if you think about it they are actually getting one over on the consumer (especially if they have to ship it out)

Hell, I could start selling painted rocks for 10 dollars a rock, all I gotta do is find some nice rocks laying around my yard and buy some acrylic patio paint (cost like 3-5 bucks) and draw some cool design on it

[devildogelite]

These items aren't being sold in bulk, they're selling to consumers. 

China just pays next to nothing to ship internationally, they also subsidize manufacturers so they pay even less. 


https://www.forbes.com/sites/wadeshepard/2017/11/05/how-the-usps-epacket-gives-postal-subsidies-to-chinese-e-commerce-merchants-to-ship-to-the-usa-cheap

[Goth77]

These items aren't being sold in bulk, they're selling to consumers.  

China just pays next to nothing to ship internationally, they also subsidize manufacturers so they pay even less.  


https://www.forbes.com/sites/wadeshepard/2017/11/05/how-the-usps-epacket-gives-postal-subsidies-to-chinese-e-commerce-merchants-to-ship-to-the-usa-cheap

You make a valid point, and to further explain:

China manages to get away with this low cost shipping because of their cheap manufacturing and cheap labor costs. Hence why most products are 'knockoffs' of slightly more expensive US products.

If you think about it though, you are only paying for the "name" brand. It's why you can buy the same t-shirt for less that doesn't have the same tag in it even though both t-shirts have the exact same design on it