Please enlighten us - it's often a whole different world if you're used to Amazon.

I don't think it's worth shopping from China unless you're in China or reselling stuff made in China and have deals directly with the suppliers. A lot of products are cheaper buying from retailers outside of China if you're also outside of China. The cost isn't worth it to ship to individuals outside of China unless you're willing to pay the shipping fee, and that erases the cost benefit that most people would hope to get?

edit: sp, silly auto-correct :)

If you are talking about retailers like the merchants on Aliexpress, many of them offer free shipping. So the prices are lower and the shipping is free. It's crazy that I sometimes buy an item that costs less than US$1 that comes with free shipping. I read somewhere that the Chinese postal system subsidizes a lot of it - not sure if true.

Shipping via regular post from AliExpress is often free or very cheap while the same items on Amazon cost 3-5 times more and shipping to my country is $10-15. The downside is 1-2 months waiting times vs. a week from Amazon but I can wait.

You're paying your saved shipping fees in taxes. It still costs the postal services the same amount to deliver the package from the import warehouse to your door but they cannot charge you nor the seller according to international agreements.

Still significantly cheaper, also I'm paying only for the domestic part.

If you know how to shop with taobao/tmall with alipay and tao consolidate shipping. It's way cheaper to buy there.

Is it possible to do that in English and with a US/EU/Australian credit card?