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Post by Embri on Jun 12, 2024 21:04:31 GMT
To add to petscrapper's excellent post, manufacturing in China isn't as cut and dry as Gina K. is presenting either. If you don't have boots on the ground and someone who's fluent in both the language and culture, you're going to get hosed. It's not nearly as simple as rocking up to a factory and ordering 10,000 of product X. If Gina's wholesale cost is higher than what other factories are offering shipped to the end consumer, then it's very likely the "factory" they contracted with isn't the one making the product. This is also *extremely* common - there are multiple middlemen and stuff gets pieced out to other, smaller factories, sub-divisions, etc. The whole system is very different than the north american one. And I don't buy the line that they're using better factories and that justifies the price - that might be what they're being told, but it's very likely a lie.
The only thing I completely agree with is that nobody should be installing the APP for Temu/AliEx/whatever. Just don't. use their website, even though it's less convenient. At least you can sandbox it away from your personal data and run privacy extensions.
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scrapnnana
Drama Llama
Posts: 6,449 
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Post by scrapnnana on Jun 13, 2024 15:25:54 GMT
To add to petscrapper's excellent post, manufacturing in China isn't as cut and dry as Gina K. is presenting either. …The only thing I completely agree with is that nobody should be installing the APP for Temu/AliEx/whatever. Just don't. use their website, even though it's less convenient. At least you can sandbox it away from your personal data and run privacy extensions. I’ve always avoided both Temu and AliExpress for security reasons. However, until this thread, I assumed that at least Amazon was more careful about protecting designer rights. It may have been true once, but I don’t think that is true anymore. I won’t be buying any more Jaded Blossom knock offs from Amazon. Aside from how I feel about this issue in general, I hadn’t thought about the possibility of Chinese dies having lead in them. I don’t know if GinaK was right about that, but I personally would rather not take the risk, and I also prefer to support the designers, even if I am paying more. Having additional information, even if GinaK may have been a little biased, helped settle the issue for me. That is my personal choice. For the record, though, I’m not judging anyone, regardless of what their choice in how/where they spend their money may be. DH and I lived below the poverty level long ago, and it’s a hard situation to be in. |
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Post by Embri on Jun 13, 2024 20:09:34 GMT
Aside from how I feel about this issue in general, I hadn’t thought about the possibility of Chinese dies having lead in them. I don’t know if GinaK was right about that, but I personally would rather not take the risk, and I also prefer to support the designers, even if I am paying more. Lead is most commonly used for two purposes - red or white paint, because it's an excellent and cheap colourant (inconveniently toxic as well), or for its weight as a filler metal, because it's cheap and dense. Neither application is useful for the making of etched dies. Lead is also very soft and would never hold up to a single use as a die. While I'm not saying there's a zero chance Chinese-made wafer dies have come into contact with lead or other contaminants, the odds of lead being used in their manufacture/makeup is extremely unlikely. If you're concerned, lead testing kits are easily obtainable. That said I wash down all my products before they go into my stash, regardless of their point of origin. Warehouses, shipping, stores and factories are all dirty places. |
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Post by Night Owl on Nov 10, 2024 3:20:18 GMT
Funny because I am not into the long fingernails clickety clacking and tapping on products and not into all the bling but I am hooked on watching videos for the Scrap Diva 29 store. She does have some cute dies.
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Ryann
Pearl Clutcher
Love is Inclusive
Posts: 2,639
Location: PNW
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Post by Ryann on Nov 10, 2024 17:03:14 GMT
I purchased my first die from this shop last night (did not watch any of the videos, but I'd seen her YT prior to her opening up a shop). I bought the charcuterie board dies - I want to see if I can turn them into pickleball paddles for cards/ornaments.
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Post by Night Owl on Nov 16, 2024 22:56:23 GMT
I purchased my first die from this shop last night I placed my first order and she mailed it out the same day and they came in a hot pink envelope. Very cute. |
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jensen84
Junior Member
Posts: 50
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Post by jensen84 on Nov 17, 2024 19:25:37 GMT
I love her dies, but didn’t she used to do haul videos from Aliexpress before she opened her own shop?
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FurryP
Drama Llama
To pea or not to pea...
Posts: 7,276
Site Supporter
Jun 26, 2014 19:58:26 GMT
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Post by FurryP on Nov 17, 2024 20:24:30 GMT
I love her dies, but didn’t she used to do haul videos from Aliexpress before she opened her own shop? I don't know but when this thread popped back up I looked around on her channel and I came across at least two videos where she mentioned getting something from AE. It turned me right off because that site was good enough for her then, but now that it affects her they are the big bad wolf. Hard to feel any sympathy. |
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