Epacket Going Away? Bad Chinese News for Ebay/Taobao Ponies

[WingsOfMasquerade]

I didn't know this, but it's really disappointing:
EPacket shipping is probably going to go away because Trump ruined it. I was reading the business news, and this article came up. It is a good article though because it has both sides and it explains what epacket is. I never really understood it, but I LOVED taking advantage of it on ebay for stuff like cool rhinestones for customs, nail polish for me, and a lot more stuff just generally from China. (Those 'fake' are they?) blindbags too come over on epacket as a MLP example

The article is a quick read at:

https://www.digitalcommerce360.com/2018/10/22/cheap-chinese-goods-will-be-the-first-casualty-of-the-postal-treaty/?utm_source=IRN&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=IRN-2018&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-8N_9rK5A7mdQWk_QzEDaRweAutv5Zhdqvp8ROzblAdoaLscMDtnVKrE6uDNAm7TqhjJBI6AyLu5kfRSrUyO0ecLcP2mQ&_hsmi=66884497

The sides:
1. It's bad because you can't buy cheap stuff from China any more because shipping for everything will be like 11 dollars for anything / or whatever it currently costs you to ship some tiny thing to Europe

2. It's good because it was ruining USA sellers' ability to sell stuff within the USA because with the Epacket crutch the Chinese item is lower than anything else due to shipping epacket style

But....doesn't side 2 get cancelled out when you can't GET the thing in the USA? Like, not everything is made here so "everything" wasn't "Ruined" by epacket.

Like, I want fun 1980s fishnet gloves to dress as Jem or something, but I don't want the only colors Party City has for sale. But if Epacket was gone, the only way to buy the colored gloves from China would cost like triple the price & I wouldn't buy it because that's just like silly money. (I think party city wants 8 dollars, so add like Euro level shipping to that and it's what, minimum 14 dollars just to ship? So potentially 22 dollars for fishnet gloves for just 1 night? No one will pay that.)

The only good news:
It takes about 1 year to get out of the treaty and wreck it. So you still have time to buy things with cheap/free ship. Stock up now I guess?

The ray of hope:
It could be negotiated during the time

Will it affect you positively or negatively?
Is there anything to be done for it?

[banditpony]

I have to read all the ins and outs of this because I believe it also involves other countries, but as far as it comes to Chinese things.. I personally there's some positivity there. It always struck me as strange how the heck China could get away with selling 99c items with free shipping and how that had to of hurt the USPS because they how do they get paid for shipping that item.

I also get itchy about there is no testing about any toxic chemicals in Chinese items when it comes to inks and dyes. Look at what's in fake make up. :/ Or an example-- my company had to redesign a product because the rhinestones they got from China were toxic. Like no one checks that when it comes straight from China.

I don't anyone could convince me the little things they get from China are that important to their livelihood that they can't pay more-- or just go without.

I think the other side to this -- beyond China -- is what's really going to hurt. But that's not something I've read into yet.

[tailrustedtealeaf]

If it does go away, I feel like this is the end of Wish and all those wholesale clothing sites. Or it'll at least negatively affect them.

[Galactica]

Oh god I hope not- I LOVE epacket- I buy so many crafty items and little things from Taobao or from Chinese factories- I was always amazed at how cheap they could ship things.

--  edited to add that I suppose it will help me to stop hoarding craft supplies

and spending way too many hours on Taobao looking for grumpy faced fakie ponies and such.

[lovesbabysquirmy]

*ducks fakies*  I think it's a good thing, for the reasons that Banditpony already stated. 

[Taffeta]

I don't know if it affects the UK or not, but honestly, I am kind of hesitant about buying stuff that way anyway. Mostly for what banditpony says about the stuff used in some of the manufacture that bypasses the safety regs that are required for import into other markets (certainly the current EU rules are quite strict, I don't know the US ones but can't imagine they're much different.)


But my biggest concern would always be the safety aspect. While I am sure that's probably not the basic motive behind this decision, it isn't a bad thing in my view if it means that products that haven't been safety tested re dye etc don't end up in the US.

There is also one other aspect in this, which I also suspect isn't Trump's motive, but there are people producing these items to be sold like this overseas. If they're being sold at such a price you have to wonder about the labour involved and what their conditions are. Not that I think all labour conditions are great for products that do get safety checks and come through the proper channels, but trying to get a grip on this begins somewhere..?

On a more personal note, most of us not in the US spend stupid amounts on shipping stuff (largely from the US, but also other places) because of currency conversion, some also have import duty etc which doesn't necessarily affect people in the US in the same way it affects other places. So it's kind of hard to sympathise with the idea of an $11 shipping cost from China (which is a fair distance away) when I pay that sometimes from Europe (which is technically less than an hour away!) because the £/Euro rate is so bad, and I will pay minimum $14 from the US with no insurance and THEN import duty on top of that because that's how the system works...

So spending $11 on shipping seems a good deal still to me. Esp. with no customs duty.