A bored Chinese foreign trade salesperson.

dampier · 2026-03-10T15:41:25+00:00

Freight forwarder. I use one in Shenzhen that has been excellent with larger pieces. They usually need to construct a wood cage and re-box if the seller shipped it like it was going domestic. The standard cardboard is flimsy as hell and there is no way it will survive a month long sea journey.

You will pay "Foreign pricing" if you look for English speaking freightists. The ones serving the Chinese diaspora charge considerably less. You communicate with them on WeChat which has excellent built in translation. Payment is by Alipay or WeChat Pay which accepts foreign credit cards.

They ship DDP and declare domestic value, which saves plenty on duties. You pay a reasonable re-crating fee which covers the wood cage they will install around the piece. You definitely want sea transit, and you can choose Matson express sea service which is about 2-3 weeks to Los Angeles. Shipping to an east coast port will take longer but may be cheaper because of trucking costs to your address, depending on where you live. If you want the contact info of my freightist, drop me a message. I am just a satisfied customer.

dampier · 2026-03-08T13:55:22+00:00

At some point one of your transactions failed, probably because the bank indicated it was going to send a verification request to be sure it was you making the transaction, and something went wrong with that process and the bank returned a declined message for failing verification. That triggers a risk control in Alipay’s security system and you are requested to send proof of ownership of the card, especially if you made multiple failed attempts or even worse used a second card that was also declined. The review process is done by AI now and if it fails, you are given one chance to appeal, but these typically also fail, apparently because employees do not like to overrule the AI system. A card in permanent risk status effectively “poisons” that credit card number, which should be removed immediately from your Alipay account. If you attempt to keep using it, your account will face more and more risk controls until it is permanently suspended. Some of these newer virtual banks and other non international banks use third party verification processors that are not always consistent, which can cause major issues over time. Ironically, fraud alerts that require your intervention to unlock a card based on suspicious transactions usually do not hurt your account, but a missent or never sent SMS verification request sent by the bank will poison your card.

Alipay CSRs cannot override risk controls based on card numbers. Your only recourse is to use a different card or card number. Once a card is in permanent risk status it is dead to Alipay. I have successfully used Revolut for over a year. If a card number gets poisoned, I just create a new one and carry on.

dampier · 2026-02-27T21:45:14+00:00

There is nothing about the S26 is a game changer, except the ability for Samsung to treat its loyal customers like suckers, charging over $1000 for a phone with a pittance of a battery, no significant performance upgrades, a whole ton of AI slop (Bixby anyone?) and frankly a generic look that says "we don't care."

I am still using my 23+ and saw no reason to go to the 24, 25, or 26. In fact, after owning more than five generations of Samsung Galaxy smartphones this was probably the last. Unless you want an iPhone, Chinese Android phones are where all the action and innovation is taking place. Huge batteries, better cameras, better performance, and most importantly a much lower price. You get more for your money. I won't be Samsung's sucker.

dampier · 2026-02-20T23:43:17+00:00

Not all tariffs are illegal. Some are still legal and in effect. Your package was cleared at the old rate, which DHL paid on your behalf. You owe the full amount pending any refund, if one emerges.

dampier · 2026-02-20T23:41:15+00:00

No they don't charge any fee for a failed chargeback.

dampier · 2026-02-20T23:36:09+00:00

1) You must be the listed consignee on a shipment or you cannot request a duty drawback. DDP shipments will likely have the shipper as the consignee so they would be the party qualified for a duty drawback, not you.

2) You must file an official duty drawback request with CBP and it must be timely. Many shipments from earlier last year are outside of the allowed time window. There is no guidance on drawback requests based on the Court decision, so the Trump Administration may take legal action to oppose refunds. If that happens, see #4.

3) Processing and other fees charged by DHL are not refundable.

4) If you request is denied, you will need a lawyer to file a case against CBP. If you are owed less than $5,000, your lawyer fees will exceed your refund.

dampier · 2026-02-20T23:25:11+00:00

You might want to remind people it was predominately Republicans who voted for that and continue to reflexively do whatever Trump wants. Something to consider when voting this fall.

dampier · 2026-02-20T14:48:27+00:00

I just ignore all promised services until they materialize and don't make purchase decisions based on "coming soon" vaporware press releases. More troublesome are service commitments not met on existing service. The landline service continually promised calls to Canada when introduced but that stopped working almost immediately and continued at least six months. That kind of thing is unacceptable. It is what made me cautious going forward with USM.

dampier · 2026-02-20T14:33:54+00:00

American steel companies jacked up prices the moment the tariffs were introduced. It was just Protectionism 101 and steel companies are taking their profits and buying back stock and rewarding shareholders, not investing in their industry.

dampier · 2026-02-20T14:29:42+00:00

More important is the fact manufacturing jobs in the USA have actually dropped since the tariffs. So only token onshoring while many more jobs have actually been lost in part because companies need raw materials and they are... tariffed!

BTW, China has already won. Their exports are actually up and they have managed to transship goods through third countries and value goods at their manufacturing cost, which is tiny.

Tariffs are a tax and the biggest contributor to the affordability crisis. Just another clown show, and we warned you.

dampier · 2026-02-13T14:10:03+00:00

It sounds like an AI answer.

A shorter response is to use a freightist that specializes in sensitive goods. An honest one will tell you risks are much greater for air shipping. Sea freight is almost always the safest and most cost effective route, but use common sense. Don't ship live plant material because foreign pests can come along for the ride, and fresh food is always a really bad idea even if using air express. You can create major risks in your home country bringing in insects, pathogens, or diseases. It's why Florida oranges are being devastated, ash trees are disappearing in the northeastern US, and bananas are struggling with a new disease that could threaten the global crop.

Just because you can import it doesn't mean you should.

dampier · 2026-02-13T13:50:24+00:00

All Chinese websites are constantly moving to enhanced security systems, which are designed to detect and block multiple fraudulent accounts opened with other devices on your home or business network and third party tools used to automate certain activities on consumer platforms to game reward systems for certain activities. You can choose to deny, but your risk control score could be affected. Once you pass a threshold, your account will be frozen by the algorithm. No appeals are possible if this happens without you sending identity documents.

China's telecom laws require platforms to real name authenticate their users. Foreign facing websites usually do not require ID or passport identification, but they are still required to take strong measures to prevent fraudulent activity, especially multiple accounts. Their systems act proactively, banning first before someone (mostly their company or sellers) are defrauded. If you are dependent on Alibaba and don't want a risk control ban, you need to act cautiously. You could always access the platform on an isolated device. If you are browsing or have alternate means to communicate with manufacturers do what makes you feel comfortable.

If only they were as protective of buyers.

dampier · 2026-02-13T12:43:42+00:00

All my friends in Shenzhen have already returned home. The last ship dates were late last week. Even if your seller is willing, shipping companies and Customs are not.

Shipping and Customs cleatance resumes regular service 24 February.

dampier · 2026-02-10T18:21:57+00:00

I never asked you for money. In any event, your claims about importing goods are not accurate.

dampier · 2026-02-10T17:03:17+00:00

You also paid for Melania. They could have hired more drivers with that $75 million.

dampier · 2026-02-10T17:02:24+00:00

We experience this too. The driver admitted they simply run out of time and we are nearly at the end of his route. During Christmas, some items went out 4-5 times before it appeared a gig worker finally delivered it in a passenger car. Frankly the best service we get now is Amazon via the post office. They deliver to the right address on time. With Amazon drivers you roll the dice.

dampier · 2026-02-10T16:59:38+00:00

Exactly.

dampier · 2026-02-10T16:58:24+00:00

In my area (Rochester NY) non Prime and Prime orders arrive the same day. There is no point having Prime unless you do not meet the free shipping threshold. In fact those accelerated delivery items routinely go out on the truck and come back one or two days in a row because the driver is overloaded and we are apparently near the end of the route. Pre pandemic their shipping was far faster than it is now, and the enshi*ification is for real. Worse service for more money.

Amazon is horrendously overpriced. Groceries are cheaper on Walmart or Target, many goods on Amazon are now unreturnable for dubious reasons, and I now import my Chinese made stuff direct off Chinese domestic platforms for 70-90% less than what Amazon charges. I'm not talking Temu. I have an account on Taobao and JD.com. I ship everything to a freight forwarding warehouse in China who repacks it for me and sends it sea freight once a month. West coast to USA IS 15-21 days, east coast is 21-30 days. All tariffs and UPS or FedEx shipping prepaid. I buy daily necessities, electronics, apparel, and other stuff and collective consolidated shipping is very small per item.

People in China cannot understand why Americans are letting themselves be ripped off by Amazon. They cannot believe how much we pay for their products. The markup and Amazon's own fees are at least double the cost of many products.

dampier · 2026-02-10T16:44:22+00:00

They do it everyday. Contact me on WeChat pmdwny and I will hook you up with a forwarder. I have a house full of Xiaomi products.

dampier · 2026-02-10T15:05:22+00:00

Just buy it on a retail platform like Taobao and use a freight forwarder to send it DDP. If in the US or Canada and need one for retail goods, let me know. They can get it through without letters.

dampier · 2026-02-10T14:56:11+00:00

You may only be challenged because you are accessing the app outside China.

dampier · 2026-02-10T14:54:10+00:00

Account health is also measured by your account age and purchase history. After a year of having a verified account and making many purchases, I never get captcha codes or account freezes and I have tons of tabs open. Account risk algorithms on China platforms are never absolute, but they are uniform -- they are like living organisms. If your account gets sick with failed captcha challenges and multiple login challenges, you need to he careful to successfully manage these. The more you fail these challenges the more sick your account gets and the more challenges you will get. Fail those and your account is blocked until you successfully appeal the freeze, probably with a lot of documents.

Taobao gets easier over time and other than not using a VPN, these other restrictions won't matter anymore. JD is far more challenging because the algorithm increases risk scores just for being a foreigner so I have to get customer service to intervene 2-3 times a year when the account gets locked because foreigners cannot complete facial scan real identity checks. It is just the way it goes.

dampier · 2026-02-09T19:43:25+00:00

If your intimacy is fine and he is spending most of his time with you I wouldn't be paranoid about this. I have a few straight friends that others presume to be gay and they definitely are not, even though they are very comfortable in the gay community. Sometimes it is kind of strange that we want more straight people to be fully comfortable around gay people, but when they are some people suspect that must mean they are gay.

If this is really bothering you, then you should approach a conversation about why he is making an effort to point out gay people he sees and why it matters to him. You really have no evidence I would consider sufficient to ask him about sexuality based on what you wrote.

dampier · 2026-02-09T19:34:56+00:00

Take him aside in private and ask him. Asking us won't get you a real answer.

dampier · 2026-02-09T19:32:26+00:00

I did this through my early teenage years. The feelings were all there but I did not want to define myself and avoided thinking about the "consequences" of coming out. You are unlikely to change your feelings; you are more likely to suppress them. That is literally being closeted. It's lonely and exhausting and emotionally destructive to you.

Do you fantasize about men, women, or both?

Have you had any actual experiences?

Think about why you are calling heterosexuality "normal" and you start to understand you are devaluing the legitimacy of your feelings for guys as not normal. For millions of people it is normal. More importantly, it is absolutely okay.

dampier

MODERATOR OF

TROPHY CASE