As title says. There are amazing offers in Chinese e-commerce platforms such as Taobao, sometimes much better than aliexpress or 1688, even with duties. However many of them do not support international shipping. The issue is LocalLLaMA equipments are often of high value. Sometimes they are modded and doesn't come with Serial Number. I've done some research and you'd need formal customs declaration for shipping cargo over RMB 5000 ( ~ $750 ) on paper. Going through formal customs declaration involve a lot of paperwork, hassle, and fees. In practice freight forwarders often utilize under-reporting (低报) and/or third party bill reporting (买单报关), which are compliance grey areas. If your cargo get seized by customs, you could face delay fees, and fines. In case of custom delays, these forwarders are happy to toss liabilities to customs, logistic providers, and you ... all in the while earning them more in the process. I'm sure there are safer workarounds, however Book a round-trip flight to China, walk-in, and bring the cargo back by hand. => Only safe in small quantities like 1~2. Just buy from a global site with money-back-guarantee such as eBay. => You'd pay significantly higher price than direct-buy + duties + fees. I wonder which freight forwarding / courier service do you guys use if you do purchase something expensive directly from Chinese e-commerce platform?   submitted by   /u/kh40tika [link]   [comments]