Gearbest or Bangood, advantages and disadvantages of these Chinese stores

Gearbest or Bangood, advantages and disadvantages of these Chinese stores

Gearbest and Bangood are two of the most important Chinese online stores that we can find. These shops offer us a very varied product catalog, with many options that are difficult to find in European stores. In addition, their prices tend to be significantly lower, making their products highly attractive to consumers. Below we analyze the main advantages and disadvantages of buying in these stores.

Advantages of buying at Gearbest or Bangood

There are many benefits that we can have when acquiring technological products in these types of stores. We have summarized the ones that we found most relevant to our readers.

Lower prices

This is surely the most important advantage when shopping in these types of stores. When we buy from Gearbest or Bangood, we are making a purchase directly in the Chinese market , with all the advantages that this implies.

First of all, we get rid of the 21% VAT that we must pay when we buy in Spain. It is a very considerable amount that can greatly lower the cost of a product. Let's take the example that we want to buy a laptop with a pre-tax price of 1,000 euros. In the Spanish market we should add to that amount 21% VAT, which in this case would be 210 euros. With this, the final price of the product would go to 1,210 euros. If we buy the same product in China we save paying those 210 euros, a significant saving.

Tariffs are another very important tax that we must pay in Spain. Most technology products are made in China, so the only way to sell them in Spain is through import. Here other taxes are applied , such as the import duty, port fees and unloading and handling. All these taxes are added to the VAT and make the final price very expensive.

Price advantages of buying at Gearbest or Bangood 4Price advantages of buying at Gearbest or Bangood 6

Products not available in Spain

The other great advantage of buying in stores like Gearbest or Bangood is that they often offer us products that are not for sale in Spain . This is something that happens many times with smartphones, which go on sale in China in the first place and months later arrive in Europe, although in some cases they never arrive. For example, the Xiaomi Redmi Note 7 Pro went on sale in the Chinese market long before reaching Europe, Gearbest and Bangood were among the few options that users had to get hold of this mobile without having to wait for months.

Drones are another example of many unique products on the Chinese market, with a huge variety of models at fairly low prices and very competitive features. Brands like Syma FIMI and Eachine offer us a multitude of models that are very difficult to find for sale in official European stores.

Advantages in variety of buying on Gearbest or Bangood 3

Advantages in variety of buying on Gearbest or Bangood 2

Payment with paypal

This is not exclusive to Chinese stores, but European ones tend to be much more restrictive in this regard. Paypal is considered one of the safest online payment methods out there . Are you afraid that your purchase will never reach your home? If you pay with Paypal you can rest easy. If you do not get the product, you can open a claim in the Paypal support center and they will assist you very quickly.

This payment platform has a great team of professionals who will do everything possible to get your money back with the least possible inconvenience.

Advantages in PayPal of buying in Gearbest or Bangood

Disadvantages of buying on Gearbest or Bangood

So far everything seems to be advantages in stores like Gearbest or Bangood, but in this world in which we live nothing is pink. Buying directly from China also has its risks , which we explain below.

Counterfeit products

It is no secret that the Chinese are considered the masters of counterfeiting . It would not be the first time that a graphics card or processor is on sale for a very reasonable price. Many users have been in this situation, have made the purchase and have received a counterfeit product that is not what the seller promises.

Paying with Paypal is a good way to protect yourself in these cases, it is almost certain that you will get your money back, but you will have to use part of your time to process the claim, attend to the messages that arrive, and it is very likely that you will have to return the product to China with the inconvenience that this entails. The best advice in these cases is that if something seems too beautiful to be true, it surely is not .

Slow shipments

Gearbest and Bangood offer free shipping on many of their products, which sounds great. The downside of this is that they are very slow shipments, with delivery times of almost a month or even longer if there are delays. It is something that can make you despair, because you have bought a new mobile and you have to wait a long time to get it in your hands.

Disadvantages in shipping of buying on Gearbest or Bangood

Another problem is that your product will spend a lot of time circulating around the world, with the possibility of being hit and damaged. You can claim with Paypal, but to the waiting time you must add the time it takes for the claim to complete. You may find that three months have passed and you still have no new mobile.

Customs can for your package

There's a reason these stores ship so slowly. With this type of shipments you have a 99% probability that Customs will not stop your package, although if you are unlucky enough to be among the remaining 1% you may have to pay a good amount of taxes. If you have bad luck, you will see how the supposed savings of buying from China almost disappear.

Disadvantages in customs of buying at Gearbest or Bangood

Very bad guarantees

China does not oblige sellers to give any type of guarantee to their customers, so they have a free hand to do what they want. Gearbest and Bangood usually offer a one-year warranty on their products, but these are usually very limited warranties and in very poor condition. It is very possible that they will make you send the product to China, charging you with the shipment, and then they will tell you that the damage is not under the warranty . It almost certainly pays more money to buy a new product than to go through its warranty conditions.

Disadvantages in guarantee of buying in Gearbest or Bangood

These are the main advantages and disadvantages of buying in Chinese stores such as Gearbest or Bangood. What do you think about this matter?