Online Shopping Reviews

Hottest Deals on Beach Dresses for Summer 2012

A chic and cool dress is a necessity for a beach trip, isn’t it? Every year when the summer is approaching, beach dresses become crazily hot selling among both fashion store merchants and individual consumers. If you are looking for latest styles in beach dresses, you may be interested in the hottest deals on beach dresses for summer 2012 below, which are all collected from the most popular Chinese international online shops.

See more beach dresses for summer 2012 at Dinodirect.com >>

These beach dresses are now on sale with up to 50% off at Dinodirect.com. The after-discount price is as low as $9.99 plus free shipping to any destination around the world. Their collection of beach girls’ hot picks also includes a variety of trendy jumpsuits, beach shoes and swimsuits. Dinodirect is particularly well known for offering authentic Chinese branded products at reasonable prices. The company is rather huge with over 1,000 employees and they have good reputation on the global market. Read the full review of Dinodirect.com >>

See more beach dresses for summer 2012 at Milanoo.com >>

Look at the beautiful beach dresses! At Milanoo.com, I find more than 300 styles in dresses for the beach. The prices for the dresses range from $7.99 to $24.99. Continue reading Hottest Deals on Beach Dresses for Summer 2012

Review of Aliexpress Wedding Dresses

If you have read my review of Milanoo wedding dresses or review of Lightinthebox wedding dresses, you might also be interested in this review of wedding gowns available on another popular sites based in China. Also, if you want to buy wedding dresses from Aliexpress.com, this post is definitely worth reading.

By “Aliexpress wedding dresses”, I mean the bridal gowns offered by various sellers who have registered with Aliexpress and sell their products there. Note that Aliexpress.com is a trading platform, not a super big supplier like Lightinthebox.com or Milanoo.com. Technically, when you buy something at Aliexpress.com, you trade directly with some specific seller instead of the site while the whole transaction process is under the supervision as well as protection (escrow service) provided by Aliexpress staff.

Alibaba Office Building — Aliexpress Head Offices

Although all sellers have been verified in terms of qualifications when they apply for the membership, they may vary significantly in all aspects. In particular, the prices they offer can be rather different between similar or even the same goods. And most importantly, while most suppliers there are trustworthy and honest, some may be scammers who intend to make use of their Aliexpress account to rip people off. Anyway, you can avoid such risks by sticking to a few useful tips. Read the full review of Aliexpress.com >>

Manufacturers & Quality Control

As I mentioned above, the wedding dresses at Aliexpress.com are listed and offered by different suppliers, who can also be the manufacturers. Overall, the dresses are mostly made by small or medium-sized factories or family-own workshops. The majority comes from the biggest manufacturing hub of wedding apparel in China: Suzhou and Guangzhou. So I would personally suggest you choose sellers from either of the cities. Also, you can chat with the sellers to confirm whether they are manufacturers or simply middle-men. Buying direct from manufacturers can usually save you even more money. Remember to ask them to provide you with some evidence which can prove that they themselves make the dresses.

As a third party, Aliexpess has no way to control the quality of any product listed on the site. This is probably one of the biggest disadvantages of buying wedding dresses there. The quality standards all depend on whether the sellers are honest with their product descriptions or not. To confirm with the quality condition of the dresses you are interested in, you have no choice but to do more research on customer reviews in addition to consulting their sales representatives who may lie to you though.

Continue reading Review of Aliexpress Wedding Dresses

Best Online Stores to Buy Wedding Dresses under $100

Recently I am writing a series of reviews of wedding dresses offered by the most popular online suppliers (already posted: Review of Milanoo Wedding Dresses; Review of Lightinthebox Wedding Dresses). To present the most valuable information for my readers, I do a lot of research before I write a review of the wedding dresses available at a certain store. During the research, I noticed that there are quite a great number of lovely wedding dresses that are priced at $100. I know may brides-to-be are looking for best styles in wedding dresses on a budget and I thought it would be a good idea to share the resources in case somebody need them.

When I said “best online stores to buy wedding dresses under $100”, I meant “reliable stores which carry the widest selection of wedding dresses that are as cheap as no more than $100 USD”. In particular, all sites I am going to introduce below are based in China. If you only want to shop for extremely cheap wedding dresses from a local online store, the following information may be nothing useful for you. Anyway, you are still encouraged to read on as you might change your mind after! For those who are hunting for easily affordable wedding dresses from international online shops especially Chinese online shops, this is exactly the right place to get related knowledge.

Lightinthebox.com

I find 64 results for wedding dresses under $100 on Lightinthebox.com, most of which are between $80 and $100. You can hardly find any dress that is under $50 there though. That makes senses considering that the site is best known for high-end wedding apparel with better designs as well as superior quality. The wedding dresses within this pricing range there are mostly mini wedding dresses or short wedding dresses with less complicated embellishments or adornments, best fitting those who love wedding dresses with simple looks.

Wedding Dresses Under 100 at Lightinthebox — Images courtesy of Lightinthebox.com

See more styles >>

Why do I recommend it?
1. The site has established a big name on the global market in the wholesale as well as retail arena of wedding dresses.
2. The designs are great. The styles are so amazing that you may find it hard to make a decision on purchasing which one.
3. The fabrics used in making the dresses are better quality.
4. With years of successful experience, they are very professional in designing, tailoring and selling wedding dresses.
5. Customer service provided by them is prompt and helpful.
6. Each and every wedding dress is showcased by the models the company hires. On the product page you can find several pictures of how the finished dress looks on the model. Besides, you can also see the detailed sizes of the models which may help you better understand the fit of the dresses and avoid sizing problems.

Dinodirect.com

Unlike Lightinthebox.com, Dinodirect.com is not so extensively known or mentioned by their Chinese competitors. However, the site is very famous among global buyers and their company size is unbeatable. There I find more than 10,000 styles in wedding dresses under $100, with only one maternity wedding dress priced at under $50. Most of them are for sale at between $60 and $100 while a few are between $50 and $60. Continue reading Best Online Stores to Buy Wedding Dresses under $100

Where to Buy Faucet Shaped Stand for New iPad, iPad 2 or iPhone

If you think the regular keyboard case stands are too boring for your new iPad, the novel faucet shaped stand may be a good choice. I saw this lovely device at my friend’s home. It was an embarrassing experience though. When I stepped into the living room of the friend’s, I suddenly saw the flowing water and rushed to turn it off. My friend stopped me gently with a big laugh, “Haha, you are cheated too. It is just a stand for iPhone or iPad!” I then looked closer at the cute stuff and was amazed by the creative design.

In case some of my readers are interested in this faucet-with-flowing-water-shaped stand, I did some research on the shopping sites which are most familiar to me. I noticed that this practical phone or tablet PC stand is offered at slightly different prices by various sellers. Besides prices, the stands also vary in brands, manufacturers or colors. Honestly, I don’t think they have any significant differences in quality although they are produced by different factories. Generally, small gadgets like this one require low technology and won’t differ much from each other in terms of quality standards. So my advice is: choose a reliable online shop and then stick to better prices when you decide to shop for a faucet-shape stand for your iPhone, iPad or any other tablet.

I discovered three legitimate Chinese shopping websites which sell this novelty stand: Aliexpress.com , Focalprice.com , Miniinthebox.com (or Lightinthebox.com). In particular, the wholesale trading website Aliexpress.com carries the widest selection of faucet-shaped iPad or iPhone stands. There the prices for the stands range from $3.93 to $10.70 per piece. Free shipping is offered by some of the suppliers. Although the site mainly serves merchants who purchase in bulk, most products are available with no MOQ while some may require a small MOQ. Even if you are a consumer looking for low priced products for your personal use, Aliexpress is worth taking a look. In addition, you have several colors to choose from there. Take a look >>

Continue reading Where to Buy Faucet Shaped Stand for New iPad, iPad 2 or iPhone

Fangtrade Review: Scam Warnings, Sister Sites, Product Lines and Best Alternatives

Is Fangtrade.com a legitimate shopping site?

When it comes to online shopping, security should always be considered the priority to all. Before I draft this Fangtrade.com review, I have done much research to confirm whether the site is a legitimate company or a scam. Here are my findings:

Fangtrade contact info At the first glance at the homepage of the website, it seems like a small shopping website run by an individual seller or maybe a small couple-owned team with just one or two employees. My reason is very simple: the site looks not at all professional. I can easily find some spelling errors like the one shown below there. Besides, the homepage layout looks uncomfortable with too many wordings occupying the most important areas of the page. The most ridiculous part is, the domain name fangtrade.com does not match the logo showing the brand “AR SPORT”. And finally, the contact information they indicated on the left is too personal as the live chat contact method is MSN and the contact persons all use personal emails (e.g. xxx@hotmail.com) instead of work emails that contain the company domain after the @ mark.

Anyway, I do find three upsides to the site. First, the products are quite neatly categorized and the selection is huge. Second, the site has a shopping system and you can place orders there directly. Third, they seem to quite focus on certain product lines and the products look attractive.

Honestly, from the website alone, it is hard to trust the company as too many suspicious facts exist out there. On the other hand, I do know a few Chinese friends who are completely honest in their foreign trade business at famous transaction websites like Aliexpress.com and build such small sites simply to showcase their products. They don’t speak or write good English and as a result the contents they add or update onto the sites contain many grammar, spelling or translating errors.

So, is Fangtrade a scam site and is it safe to do business with them? Read further analysis below for more details.

Which company does Fangtrade belong to?

Fangtrade.com is owned by a company called “Lanxi Rose-team Sexy Lingerie”. An odd name, isn’t it? I discovered that the site has two sister websites that are run by the same firm and sell the similar products:

www.arinternationaltrade.com: this URL will steer you to the same site Fangtrade directs to. It is weird and I don’t know why. Actually I think this domain name contains the initials of the site logo “AR”. I guess Fangtrade may be the back-up domain name and the shortness of the name is an advantage – one day when their business grows big enough, they may use this one to build a more professional shopping site.

www.urcostumes.com: As lots of other small international online businesses do, this site uses the similar template to Lightinthebox.com. It looks much more professional than Fangtrade.com, although a closer look at the site reveals that it is also a small site. As shown below, when I visited the site, there are only 342 visitors online, indicating that the daily visits of the site are very limited.

At the same time, I noticed that the company has been running stores at three world-renowned China wholesale trading websites, including Alibaba.com, Aliexpress.com and Globalsource.com. Here are their store links:

Continue reading Fangtrade Review: Scam Warnings, Sister Sites, Product Lines and Best Alternatives

Where to Source Made-in-China Keyboard Cases and Stands for New iPad or iPad 2?

By connecting the new iPad or iPad 2 to a keyboard case, users can use the tablet like a notebook. At the same time, the case works as a protective shell that guards the device from scratching or other damages. Plus, as the case features a 360 hinge, it lets users adjust it to the best angle they like and supports iPad as a great stand. Empowered by these amazing functions, this streamlined three-in-one accessory for iPad 2 or iPad 3 is not being widely sought-after throughout the world.

In the United States, there are quite a number of manufacturers and suppliers of iPad keyboard cases, who produce the cases within the country and as a result they are generally expensive. The average price of made-in-America keyboard case-and-stands for iPad is around $100 USD while some exceptionally high-end ones are priced at about $150 USD. If you don’t care so much about pricing levels, I would recommend you to consider buying the keyboard case for your iPad from a US brand as quality is better guaranteed.

Anyway, if you just want to hunt for a cool add-on to your already super cool iPad tablet PC on a small budget, you are encouraged to purchase it from a reliable Chinese supplier directly. Comparatively, the prices for most made-in-China iPad keyboard cases are much lower – around $50 on average. However, in terms of overall quality as well as performance, these cheap cases may be not as good as those designed and produced in the U.S. In general, the protective function and the stand-supporting function are no difference while the typing experience may be slightly exterior – I said maybe.

In fact, the majority of those small branded iPad keyboard case-and-stands available at your local stores come from China. You know, shopping online from China is not very convenient and international shipping is getting really fast. Many re-sellers or merchants of electronic accessories choose to source the cases from Chinese suppliers simply because the re-sell margins are huge. This is particularly true considering that almost all China-based online shops offer lower wholesale prices when you order in bulk. Besides, today accepting orders in small wholesale quantities has become a trend extensively followed by all kinds of international wholesale or retail shopping websites in China. And the good thing is, even end consumers can purchase a single piece of stuff from such stores at an attractive wholesale price.

Below are some of the trusted Chinese sites where you can buy low-priced keyboard case-and-stand for the new iPad, iPad 2 or other Chinese branded tablet PCs that come in various screen sizes:

Priceangels.com
Matching models: iPad 2, New iPad & other 7-10 inch tablet PCs
Price range: $30.00 – $66.10
Free shipping available.
See details >>

Lightinthebox.com
Matching models: iPad & other 7-10 inch tablet PCs
Price range: $12.99 – $39.99
Free shipping not available.
See details >>

Aliexpress.com
Matching models: iPad 2, New iPad & other 7-10 inch tablet PCs
Continue reading Where to Source Made-in-China Keyboard Cases and Stands for New iPad or iPad 2?