this post was submitted on 27 Sep 2024

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The U.S. is cracking down on cheap Chinese goods loved by American shoppers (www.nbcnews.com)

submitted 1 day ago by robocall@lemmy.world to c/news@lemmy.world

29 comments fedilink hide all child comments

https://web.archive.org/web/20240927193833/https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/us-cracking-cheap-chinese-goods-temu-shein-rcna171605

top 29 comments

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[–] technocrit@lemmy.dbzer0.com -3 points 8 hours ago* (last edited 8 hours ago)

"Cracking down" is among the worst newpaper propaganda phrases.

It's meaningless and it implicitly justifies the "cracker".

[–] Fiivemacs@lemmy.ca 43 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I don't love em...I just have no damn choice because greed always wins

[–] b3an@lemmy.world 4 points 11 hours ago

Many times I’ve wanted products. Could see it comes from Asia and don’t want to risk the quality. It’s flooded online. Difficult to find a true seller and one that isn’t just reselling that same shit I’m avoiding. It’s so irritating.

[–] chemicalwonka@discuss.tchncs.de 3 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

Protectionism in the "land of free market" (irony)

[–] NOT_RICK@lemmy.world 24 points 1 day ago (2 children)

There’s probably a degree of protectionism going on but these platforms sell unsafe products

[–] TheDemonBuer@lemmy.world 11 points 1 day ago

these platforms sell unsafe products

Which is something that can, and often does happen in unregulated free markets. The invisible hand is not necessarily very good at things like consumer protection, among other things.

[–] ilmagico@lemmy.world 2 points 5 hours ago

If that was the issue, they'd take steps to ensure safety, ask for certifications, etc. rather than more tariffs and lower "de minimis" exemption. Clearly these decisions are made for economic reasons, not to ensure higher quality products and protect consumers.

[+] TheAlbatross@lemmy.blahaj.zone -7 points 1 day ago (2 children)

Great! Now I'll have to buy the same products from Walmart for ten times the cost. At least the Waltons can wet their beaks on it now.

[–] cybervseas@lemmy.world 20 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Why underpay and exploit labor in China when you can also underpay and exploit labor here, too, and pay more for the privilege?

[–] TheAlbatross@lemmy.blahaj.zone 17 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

I mostly use Ali Express (admittedly, not mentioned in any of the articles about this change in tariff applications) for fishing gear. Many of the big names in fishing lures, Blue Fox, Panther Marten, Kastmaster, etc. have all moved their production overseas. When I buy the "knock offs", it shows up in the same packaging I see in Dick's or Walmart with the same product inside. But I can choose to pay $7.99 for one lure or $2.16 for 3. It's coming from the same factory, made by the same people, the only difference is how much it costs and whose pockets get filled from paying that price.

Oh, also, the cheapo Chinese braid line (its being manufactured to be sold in Japan under their brands) is way superior to what we get in the USA, way stronger and thinner. And I get 500m of it for $17.

[–] Temperche@discuss.tchncs.de 19 points 1 day ago (1 children)

From what I remember, the difference is quality control. Western companies are usually much more restrictive, accepting only every 10th or 100th item from the producer. The subpar items are then sold by the producer somewhere else such as Temu or AliExpress. I also know this to be true for microscopes. Motic produces in China for Zeiss, but Zeiss refuses most of their units due to QC issues, which are then sold by Motic under their own name for a fraction of the Zeiss price.

[–] TheAlbatross@lemmy.blahaj.zone 9 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (2 children)

This makes sense to me. I'm not checking the consistency of the line thickness, for example, but I've seen some people report that it isn't consistent throughout the whole spool. I'm buying .016mm thick line, though, so some variance is a-okay for me.

The Rapalla-style lures work well (the brand name ones do have slightly better action, but the off brand ones are $5 for 8 vs $7+ for 1), spinners work great, the Kastmaster style spoons are a phenomenal find.

I got a $10 ultralight rod that showed up with a partially misaligned tip guide I fixed with some pliers and I needed to glue in one of the rings in a guide. That said, it's withstood more abuse than an Okuma rod I got for $40, which snapped on the second outing and Okuma told me would cost $30 to fix.

I'll happily shop American, for what it's worth, if it was actually gonna BE American instead of just made elsewhere and assembled here so it can get some stupid sticker. Also, pay me more so I can afford it... maybe the Amazon's, Walmart, dicks and targets don't need to be YoY huge growth companies and maybe the people who work there should be able to afford to shop there.

Ehhhhh too much soapboxin', sorry, imma get back to fishing.

[–] catloaf@lemm.ee 6 points 1 day ago

For some stuff, like that, it makes sense. For other stuff, like children's toys, the reason it doesn't pass QC is because of contamination with lead, cadmium, and other toxic stuff. And if you have young kids, you know how much stuff ends up in their mouth.

[–] dual_sport_dork@lemmy.world 7 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I turned one of my coworkers on to knockoff shit on Wish, and he is heavily into fishing and pretty much agrees with all of your sentiments listed here. He's been buying knockoff lures like mad ever since.

I will further add that a lot of fishing gear is consumable. Not just line, but also hooks that can just plain break or wear out, and especially lures and so forth in that they are inherently prone to getting lost, irretrievably snagged in a tree, outright eaten by a fish and dragged to the depths never to be seen again, etc.

It is therefore bonkers to pay a premium for most of this stuff which is ultimately disposable.

[–] TheAlbatross@lemmy.blahaj.zone 3 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

Hundred percent. Why pay $8 if I'm just gonna lose it snagged on an unseen underwater log or in a tree?

Also, the fish do not scoff at the off-brand lure. They say, yay, yummy!

I still pay premium for my reels, but only because I haven't found one that compares with the Pflueger President yet. Though that's mostly because I haven't been in the market for a new reel and the ones on Ali Express don't come with the rubber soft touch knob the Pflueger ones do. Small things, though. I'm slowly looking into ordering the knob separate as replacement parts then trying out some $14 12+1 bearing spinning reel just to see if it's good enough.

On another note, I think China might be a way better resource for carp fishing equipment. They specifically fish for carp there way more than in the US and I see more double drag reels or rods with ground spikes built in for just that purpose. But I haven't had the interest to expand beyond trout, bass and pickerel just yet.

Tbqh I'm not shopping for electronics or clothes on Ali Express, but I'll happily buy line, lures, rods, terminal tackle and tackle organizers on there. Even if I bought it in a brick and mortar here, it's probably all shipping from China anyhow.

[–] Bishma@discuss.tchncs.de 3 points 19 hours ago* (last edited 19 hours ago)

Alternatively you could buy from a dollar store where it's 12 times the price but in a smaller package so it seems cheaper.

[–] kn0wmad1c@programming.dev 49 points 23 hours ago (2 children)

I'm pretty sure nobody loves cheap Chinese goods. It's more people love to be able to afford eating, having a roof over their head, and maybe some shitty, but cheap, headphones.

[–] otter@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 16 hours ago

Hello, fellow citizen! Nice to see you. Are you well? How is the wife/husband/partner/thruple/keyboard today? Ha. Ha. 😶

[–] klemptor@startrek.website 1 points 10 hours ago

Yeah and also, sometimes it's really hard to find NMIC products.

[–] dan1101@lemm.ee 42 points 1 day ago (2 children)

Oh no I love my RUXIBTAN earbuds and my HURQIO keyboard.

[–] dual_sport_dork@lemmy.world 27 points 1 day ago

That particular strain of nonsense is actually specifically an Amazon thing, because you cannot sell "non branded" merchandise on Amazon, a policy that's in place allegedly to combat generic whitebox goods from flooding the site. Your product has to be sold under a registered trademark, but the loophole is that said trademark does not actually have to make any sense whatsoever.

Now there are brokers who will assist anyone in registering a trademark that is literally just a random string of letters for this express purpose. All you have to do is concoct a combination that no one has used yet, and register it with the USPTO.

Therefore the entire scheme falls flat on its face, and manifestly fails to make any impact in the problem it purports to solve. But it does probably give Amazon a legal escape hatch to accusations of being a dumping ground for Chinese knockoff products, because they can point to all those trademark registrations and say, "No, see, everything sold here is all totally from a 100% legitimate brand!"

[–] Grass@sh.itjust.works 6 points 1 day ago (1 children)

1000010136 dyisland brakes

or pigeon whistle at all 1000010135

[–] robocall@lemmy.world 2 points 14 hours ago

Love my pigeon whistle

[–] ravhall@discuss.online 29 points 23 hours ago

I wasn’t aware there were alternatives not made in china.

[–] dance_ninja@lemmy.world 17 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Does this mean fewer duplicate white label items?

[–] ShinkanTrain@lemmy.ml 3 points 1 day ago

If anything it means the duplicate white label items will be harder to spot

[–] werefreeatlast@lemmy.world 7 points 18 hours ago (1 children)

Fine, we'll get a bidet! TP is just way too expensive now.

[–] robocall@lemmy.world 4 points 18 hours ago (1 children)

get it on temu while you still can

[–] otter@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 points 16 hours ago

The horror.