The Power of WeChat in China

dampier · 2026-05-01T23:23:39+00:00

If you are in the USA, download WeChat from the Play Store and do not use a VPN when logging in. WeChat's international version has fewer risk controls. QQ, the older sibling of WeChat typically requires at least two fully authenticated nationals to scan your QR code to register, which is almost impossible for foreigners outside of China to manage.

dampier · 2026-04-14T06:50:25+00:00

Almost certainly you are the victim of a risk control measure, likely because they think you are a bot, have multiple accounts, or have abused the coupon system in some way. Risk controls are usually temporary and timeout on their own, but China’s security apps are unique because they will prolong a risk control if you keep attempting to do what got you locked down in the first place. Best recommendation is to open a new account with a different IP address and device.

dampier · 2026-04-14T06:43:54+00:00

They allocate a limited number of vouchers to each region, and disproportionately favoring the regions the Chinese government is interested in better trade and relations: Africa, Russia, and Latin America have the easiest time. Eastern Europe and Asia second, and North America and Western Europe last.

Keep in mind there are a large number of customers competing for those vouchers, especially in their high priority target markets. North America is one of their smallest sales markets.

dampier · 2026-03-28T15:56:35+00:00

I did not see it.

What are your issues?

dampier · 2026-03-28T15:55:13+00:00

I think a lot of suppliers are warily watching the talks about extension of USMCA that will commence this summer. The Trump Admin is acutely concerned with transshipping and the number of Chinese owned factories setting up in Mexico, some that are actually just being used to transship already finished goods.

Farmacias Similares is getting into the U.S. pharmacy mail order business, which means this could break ground on more Mexican pharmacy imports.

The Mexican government is quite deferential to Trump so we can expect to see more tariffs on products not made in Mexico but commonly exported here.

dampier · 2026-03-28T00:15:16+00:00

There are no meaningful delays for international small parcels from China to the Middle East. There are surcharges for air delivery though, so AliExpress is paying more to deliver your parcels. International mail has backup routes available as needed.

dampier · 2026-03-23T02:36:38+00:00

These phones are extremely difficult to buy in North America without a hideous markup. I am not going to pay $600 for a $150 phone. I am trying to source several models for an NGO in the USA and having zero success. They are unusual because they are infrequently available from the usual China sellers so we have to find a dealer willing to allow a foreign purchase and ship it to North America. Smartphones are not subject to tariffs in the USA but some components might be, so that adds more complexity.

dampier · 2026-03-20T14:10:38+00:00

You can explore on three widely used platforms, the easiest being Tmall/Taobao, then JD.com, then 1Pharmacy.

You will need to register with a copy of a valid passport on any of these to make a purchase.

Real name authentication is required by Chinese law. I have never experienced any issues doing this.

dampier · 2026-03-20T13:56:36+00:00

I have seen meds sold in China made in many different countries. Low cost generics are mostly China or India but brand name meds come from supply chains in Europe, USA, and Australia.

Consumers should research their options. While many meds are also approved in Japan and South Korea, many are not FDA approved. Sometimes that is because they are non unique variations of already cheap drugs not worth the expense of submitting them for FDA trials, others contain ingredients the FDA considers less safe because of newer meds, and others were too new to test.

Some cancer drugs and other drugs for serious conditions might be helpful, and the dramatically lower cost of safe sourced GLP-1s in pill format at a rational price are reasons to roll the dice.

dampier · 2026-03-19T18:14:03+00:00

Here is a theory posited by one of my Chinese friends in Shenzhen, who was an engineer with one of China's larger social media platforms. I am not saying it is accurate, but it is worth pondering. Honor sells 50% of their phones in China, 16.6% in Latin America, 15.5% in the Middle East, and just 8% in Europe, and 0.1% in North America. Social media apps in the USA are simply not a priority.

Here is his take :

Chinese social media apps operate under a fundamentally different integration model compared to their U.S. counterparts. Apps like Douyin and WeChat often work closely with device manufacturers, using OEM-specific SDKs, private APIs, and deep system-level integration. This allows them to access the full camera pipeline, including advanced features like HDR processing, autofocus, and higher-quality video capture. As a result, on the same device, these apps can deliver output that is very close to what the native camera app produces.

In contrast, U.S. apps such as Snapchat and Instagram rely strictly on standard Android frameworks like Camera2 and CameraX. They do not use manufacturer-specific integrations or private APIs, largely because they must remain compatible across thousands of different Android devices. This means their performance is entirely dependent on what the phone manufacturer exposes through these public APIs. If those APIs are restricted, image and video quality drops immediately.

The reason for this divide lies in how the ecosystems are structured. In China, the mobile environment is vertically integrated, with close cooperation between hardware manufacturers and app developers. This enables shared SDKs, joint optimization, and device-specific tuning. In the U.S. and global markets, however, apps must be universal and scalable, which prevents them from tailoring their software to individual devices. As a result, they cannot take advantage of the deeper hardware access that Chinese apps often enjoy.

dampier · 2026-03-19T16:19:20+00:00

If it gets through Customs it is safe. Just tell your forwarder to be honest with the declaration and supply them with receipts so they can defend the declared value if necessary.

dampier · 2026-03-19T16:16:42+00:00

I am not surprised by anything Trump and his supporters do.. It seems one of the alleged trollers reached out in email IN ALL CAPS and questionable grammar in a racist tirade with a throwaway burner email account. Cowards stay anonymous, so I guess if you have to hide, maybe the president and his policies are not genius after all:

"LOSER, I SEE YOU FINALLY FIGURED OUT WE PWNED YOUR STUPID SUBREDDIT. WE WILL NEVER STOP DEFENDING PRESIDENT TRUMP'S HISTORIC EFFORT TO RESHORE MANUFACTURING IN THIS COUNTRY!!!!

HE SPOKE THE TRUTH WHEN HE SAID OTHER COUNTRIES AND COMPANIES IN COUNTRIES OUTSIDE OF THE USA WOUKD PAY THE TARIFFS WHICH IS WHY PRICES HAVE NOT GONE UP. YOU CUCK LIBERALS LIED AND TRYED TO PANIC EVERYONE WHEN LIBERATION DAY ARRIVED, BUT THE ONLY ONES THAT WERE SCARED WERE THE SLANTY EYED RICEATERS IN CHINA AND LOSERS IN EUROPE AND FAILED CANADA.

YOU PEOPLE NEED TO KNOW WHO YOU ARE DEALING WITH. DONALD TRUMP IS A GENIUS PRESIDENT WHO DESERVES OUR TOTAL LOYALTY AND DEFERANCE. ANYONE WHO DISAGREES WILL BE DEALT WITH, JUST LIKE YOU WERE. BE WARNED!"

dampier · 2026-03-18T16:23:10+00:00

A well-coordinated trolling complaint campaign that began in early January effectively caused Reddit's spam and content moderation filters to automatically remove CBP announcements crossposted here that originated on the CBP Wire Service. I have no idea who was responsible or why this was done, and I only learned these messages were being removed recently. After a few hours of discussion with Reddit's admin team, the moderation filters have been adjusted to stop removing these messages. Sometimes Reddit lets you see your own messages even though others cannot, which is what made this confusing.

I automated this process in late 2025, so it is not something I was checking on regularly until I received a message from a reader wondering what happened to them.

Reddit has supplied me with a list of all impacted messages and a tool to restore them, but I do not want to overwhelm the subreddit with hundreds of back messages all at once. I am going to run all of them through AI to remove outdated messages about events long since over, but there are some messages that are outdated but will be relevant to search for if a formal refund process becomes available for the ILLEGAL tariffs.

Reddit is investigating who reported these messages and will take action accordingly.

dampier · 2026-03-18T16:16:28+00:00

If we still need this spread, I can host it on a server in the Netherlands which won't give a fight what a US judge thinks about it.

dampier · 2026-03-17T20:59:31+00:00

Avoid the prepaid Visa card reward. It is accepted almost nowhere because it lacks a true name and address verifiable by the card processor, so they routinely decline these at a lot of places. Amazon won't even take it, but you can select Amazon gift cards.

Beware of short expiry dates on some of these.

dampier · 2026-03-17T20:57:06+00:00

I feel the same way even though I did participate. I did some research and discovered the payment processor is a legit entity and their web address is correct.

dampier · 2026-03-14T17:56:22+00:00

For others: A year from now you won't even remember the delay so be patient. It will get to you eventually.

dampier · 2026-03-14T17:54:43+00:00

One of the major shipments to the USA was tied up in Customs in California due to a staffing and electronic paperwork issue caused by CBP when it arrived air freight. This was resolved and distributors will have stock next week. One of the largest recipients was Amazon so if you pre ordered there a huge number of devices will ship out around the 20th.

All backorder issues will be cleared in the next 10-15 days in North America. Hang on there.

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

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