[alphabetting]

Over half of Amazon's third party sellers are Chinese companies who regularly false report to dodge tariffs on their products in ways that American competitors can't. Amazon claims to police them but they're extremely reliant on them at this point and the Chinese sellers just start up new brands if penalized.

https://x.com/zackkanter/status/1908343624464576666

[ericmay]

The best way to avoid this kind of behavior is to avoid shopping at stores where you can’t trace the origin of their products.

Stop buying “brands”, and looking for “deals” and acting like a consumer. Do research and find high quality products, pay more for those products, buy less disposable junk. This isn’t just a “China” thing it’s in general.

[sorcerer-mar]

This is actually the exact reason for the existence of brands. You absolutely should buy brands, and stop buying random "RANDOMCAPITALLETTERS Product 1"

But yeah, what people think of as good, high-quality brands often are not.

[trollbridge]

I buy cheap things at Harbor Freight now instead of on Amazon because at least then I know I can return it if it breaks.

[CamperBob2]

No, the best way to avoid this kind of behavior is to refrain from incentivizing it with misguided, poorly-thought-out, and anticapitalistic trade policy.

Smuggling is the world's second-oldest profession. Trade finds a way.

[lvl155]

When are we going to realize this is a form of dumping by the Chinese? People love cheap goods but as QoL in China improves, they won’t be able to churn out cheap goods for long. That’s why CCP is hellbent on trying to monopolize global supply chain. In fact, I believe we are first slowly and then drastically headed toward global equilibrium in labor cost. We might be looking at significantly cheaper labor in the US and double or triple labor costs in China and India.

[ZeroTalent]

There is no more "as QoL in China improves."

The majority of parts of "Swiss Made" watches are made in China, utilizing a loophole that requires 60% of the watch's cost to be manufactured and assembled in Switzerland. So they make a rotor made out of gold in Switzerland, which accounts for 60% of the COGS of the watch, pop the rotor on the movement, and the sapphire glass on the watch, and it's "Swiss Made."

Best source, a rabbit hole: https://monochrome-watches.com/h-moser-cie-launches-swiss-ma...

Replicas are also manufactured in the same factories as "authentic" watches, but are fully assembled in China. (my personal insider anecdote)

"Investigators who work for Rolex and others say high-end fakes are “made in the same industrial parks and on cloned CNC machines”": https://www.businessinsider.com/how-counterfeit-rolexes-work...

"2025 “superfake” TAG Heuer Aquaracers used real Swiss Sellita movements inside Chinese-made cases—proof of parts leakage, if not identical factory floors": https://www.heddels.com/2025/03/spotting-a-superfake-4-real-...

[scarface_74]

From your citations

> What kind of idiot US seller hasn’t had their Chinese factory also write in a lower value on the import invoice?

Why do people on X think Americans don’t cheat the system too?