Texas_Signmaker
Very Active Signmaker
I for one would be curious how the quality is and tested and would appreciate the follow up.
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Importing Vinyl From China
- Thread starter REMISLAD
- Start date
Boudica
I'm here for Educational Purposes
Printable vinyl wholesale cheap directly from China - is it real?
Hello, Printable vinyl wholesale cheap directly from China - is it real? Material prices have doubled since the beginning of the year. Strongly "presses" on the cost price. Perhaps someone had experience buying directly from China? No more than 1 pallet? Interested in "promo" quality vinyl, for...
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CanuckSigns
Active Member
What is your prior experience (if any) with importing items directly from china? It's true that companies like 3M are directly importing from china, however they pay people to perform QC on the products at the factory before they ship them.
China is notorious for the bait and switch, they will send you good samples, then when you place the large order, they send cheap crap, and if you complain they don't care, they get paid in advance of shipping.
I imported a piece of equipment from china last year, and I did a ton of research on it, asked lots of questions etc. The machine is great, but the after sales service is non existent, they went from typing perfect English before I bought the machine, to suddenly not understanding when I was having setup issues.
At the end of the day, if you are confident, go for it, personally I don't think its worth it unless you are printing hundreds of rolls a month and all your stuff is short term.
China is notorious for the bait and switch, they will send you good samples, then when you place the large order, they send cheap crap, and if you complain they don't care, they get paid in advance of shipping.
I imported a piece of equipment from china last year, and I did a ton of research on it, asked lots of questions etc. The machine is great, but the after sales service is non existent, they went from typing perfect English before I bought the machine, to suddenly not understanding when I was having setup issues.
At the end of the day, if you are confident, go for it, personally I don't think its worth it unless you are printing hundreds of rolls a month and all your stuff is short term.
Notarealsignguy
Arial - it's almost helvetica
It's not the quality of the first batch that you have to worry about. Wait til the second one comes.
Hi there.
My business is on like a Standard print shop.
We are an event company we go through lots of vinyl, however, very rarely is the vinyl prints that we create of any use to our clients within hours of the event
We cover dance floors with printed vinyl and then peel them off and throw them in the garbage
We make specific temporary signs for events that when the event is over, they are also useless
I am ported two rolls of vinyl one was very very good. It took the ink nicely. It dried incredibly quick. We just had to be careful with the heat levels of our Roland.
. This was a $48 roll.
I am more than happy to share my findings. What I am not looking for, is from lectures from people who don’t know me and are trying to turn what should be a forum for discussing ideas in the world printing to help each other into a political pissing match
PM me if you would like and I will share whatever I can
Notarealsignguy
Arial - it's almost helvetica
Sounds like you are looking for an echo chamber. Canuck pretty much nailed what happens all of the time, bait and switch and you have no recourse but you don't want to hear it for some reason.
$150 https://substance.com/products/icon-em3?variant=43448991809791
$150 https://substance.com/products/icon-em3?variant=43448991809791
Gino
Premium Subscriber
Again, I see what we're dealing with here. He/it/she says one thing, then goes in and edits things to make themselves not appear so cruel or inhumane. That's par for the course, huh ??
You wanna save your customers money.... ?? That's bullsh!t and you know it. You only wanna save yourself money. You have all these needs and wants and when someone asks you why you lay in bed with the other side..... you call me names. More bullsh!t. You don't wanna talk politics, but it's a complete political subject, especially in the last few months. What happens to your customers when this whole thing goes bust..... you gonna go to korea and see if they can ship cheap to ya ??
So many have explained the ins & outs of going down this path, but yet, you just ignore it, just like the others did. I know a guy who went in with 4 other people to have some real buying power and bought stuff directly from china. Half the stuff was damaged, some of it ruined the printers and their savings grew into heavy severe costs. Needless to say, this guy had a rather huge company and did work all around the country. He had 30 some printers and about a dozen laminators and 3 flatbeds. Guess what, he went outta business owing a lotta money to people, for two reasons. He couldn't recover from his vast savings from china and it hit him healthwise.
You do whatever it is you wanna do, but save the bullsh!t comments for your customers.
The way you're acting, I don't think this is your first rodeo in this arena, either.
Blue state..... and you don't wanna get political. F*ckin' bullsh!tter.
Oh, and if you want information, PM me, don't do it out in the open for anyone to see. What are you REALLY hiding ??
You wanna save your customers money.... ?? That's bullsh!t and you know it. You only wanna save yourself money. You have all these needs and wants and when someone asks you why you lay in bed with the other side..... you call me names. More bullsh!t. You don't wanna talk politics, but it's a complete political subject, especially in the last few months. What happens to your customers when this whole thing goes bust..... you gonna go to korea and see if they can ship cheap to ya ??
So many have explained the ins & outs of going down this path, but yet, you just ignore it, just like the others did. I know a guy who went in with 4 other people to have some real buying power and bought stuff directly from china. Half the stuff was damaged, some of it ruined the printers and their savings grew into heavy severe costs. Needless to say, this guy had a rather huge company and did work all around the country. He had 30 some printers and about a dozen laminators and 3 flatbeds. Guess what, he went outta business owing a lotta money to people, for two reasons. He couldn't recover from his vast savings from china and it hit him healthwise.
You do whatever it is you wanna do, but save the bullsh!t comments for your customers.
The way you're acting, I don't think this is your first rodeo in this arena, either.
Blue state..... and you don't wanna get political. F*ckin' bullsh!tter.
Oh, and if you want information, PM me, don't do it out in the open for anyone to see. What are you REALLY hiding ??
PM SENTAgain, I see what we're dealing with here. He/it/she says one thing, then goes in and edits things to make themselves not appear so cruel or inhumane. That's par for the course, huh ??
You wanna save your customers money.... ?? That's bullsh!t and you know it. You only wanna save yourself money. You have all these needs and wants and when someone asks you why you lay in bed with the other side..... you call me names. More bullsh!t. You don't wanna talk politics, but it's a complete political subject, especially in the last few months. What happens to your customers when this whole thing goes bust..... you gonna go to korea and see if they can ship cheap to ya ??
So many have explained the ins & outs of going down this path, but yet, you just ignore it, just like the others did. I know a guy who went in with 4 other people to have some real buying power and bought stuff directly from china. Half the stuff was damaged, some of it ruined the printers and their savings grew into heavy severe costs. Needless to say, this guy had a rather huge company and did work all around the country. He had 30 some printers and about a dozen laminators and 3 flatbeds. Guess what, he went outta business owing a lotta money to people, for two reasons. He couldn't recover from his vast savings from china and it hit him healthwise.
You do whatever it is you wanna do, but save the bullsh!t comments for your customers.
The way you're acting, I don't think this is your first rodeo in this arena, either.
Blue state..... and you don't wanna get political. F*ckin' bullsh!tter.
Oh, and if you want information, PM me, don't do it out in the open for anyone to see. What are you REALLY hiding ??
DL Signs
Never go against the family
The thing I've learned about their products is while what you get may look the same as everyone else's, but it isn't. When it comes to media, the vinyl and adhesive chemical compositions aren't the same, so results will vary on how well they perform, or in many cases not perform as expected. There are no safety standards on using hazardous materials or chemicals in their vinyls, coatings, or adhesive formulas, which is something that you always have to consider in a business where much of what you do goes into very public settings, and into landfills. You get what you pay for, and so does your customer. Laying down vinyl that may come off, or not come off when it's supposed to are failures come back to haunt your business reputation, not the supplier's, because there are no valid applicable warranties on their products here. Quality control is a joke, what you get in one batch may not be close to the same as the next batch, or even roll, there's no consistency.
There are some good products that come from China, but they're mostly limited to what they manufacture or assemble for outside companies that have full control, strict specifications, checks, balances, and quality control measures, but these aren't the companies you and I can order from. Their own market is a whole different animal, knock-off products that just look right, but don't work right because there are no quality/ safety regulations, or oversight. We're talking about a country that's so unregulated that companies there still use lead based paints on toys. You never know what you're getting.
There are some good products that come from China, but they're mostly limited to what they manufacture or assemble for outside companies that have full control, strict specifications, checks, balances, and quality control measures, but these aren't the companies you and I can order from. Their own market is a whole different animal, knock-off products that just look right, but don't work right because there are no quality/ safety regulations, or oversight. We're talking about a country that's so unregulated that companies there still use lead based paints on toys. You never know what you're getting.
Stacey K
I like making signs
My son's friend bought a tailgate decal off Amazon. The vinyl is from China. I said he could apply it at my shop, with my tools, with me watching. All the standard application and cleaning procedures were followed.
Here's what it looked like 2 weeks later. Corner all lifted and 3/4 of the edges lifted. JUNK!!!
Here's what it looked like 2 weeks later. Corner all lifted and 3/4 of the edges lifted. JUNK!!!
Attachments
Gino
Premium Subscriber
Not to mention the fire codes for most of the places this member's signs are being used, regardless of how temporary. Using the normal products means in most cases, they pass fire codes for being fire proof vs fire retardant, which is a biggie. Did remis ask those questions when talking to the chinese spec people ??
DL Signs
Never go against the family
Oh my god... Using it to cover a floor in a venue could turn into a massacre like that Great White concert in '03
So I did send Gino a PM.
I am new so I went back to
My original post.
I looked at what I wrote to se what I said was so offensive.
I mentioned corporate greed.
If I offended anyone I’m am sorry.
With that being said I stand by the comment based on its accuracy.
Inflation is real
Adjusting prices to work with inflation is expected.
The price increases on many goods and services are significantly out of line with all inflation margins.
Fuel companies are making record profits. Don’t take my word for it.
Look it up for your self.
Ultimately, it comes down to the fact that I felt I had a reasonable question as containers of vinyl are being imported from some of the biggest vinyl distributors in the country or from China
most of the discount finals being sold by the big distributors are imported already from China.
Either way for what it’s worth. If you read the string, I felt like I was getting attacked for asking a reasonable question.
I am sorry that my first post caused anger and dysfunctional behavior. It certainly was not my intention.
I did send a PM to Gino as apparently he’s a big deal around here
I am a five generational small business, trying to compete and doing what I can to turn a profit and raise my family although I don’t have to explain that I’m being portrayed by someone who knows nothing about me in a negative manner
I regret coming back and saying something crappy, which only lowered myself
I have already imported some vinyls and I’ve had good results, but I am looking for a low tack room printable vinyl if anybody would like to know the results, feel free to PM me and I will give you the supplier that I tried
I did have some positive results with what I am ported. The cost of the role was around $50. However the shipping was $170 which was the exact cost.
$220 is around the cost of vinyl that I am paying for so I figured it was worth the risk
I received your rolls one was solid the other was not.
When we buy from the local suppliers, we generally purchase 25 rolls at a clip we will purchase 50 if the price is better. We have also had problems with supply in just getting our products.
Currently a 40 foot container from China is $8500. This is down from over $30,000 a container a year ago.
I Import many other products from China most of which are already being manufactured in China. I just choose to go direct.
Everyone have a nice day. I’m sorry I did not mean to create problems. I was just asking what I thought was a reasonable question. I didn’t feel the responses at least some of them were necessary. I do apologize for replying in the manner which I did.
I like to think I’m better than that.
Please excuse typos, as this was talk to text
I am new so I went back to
My original post.
I looked at what I wrote to se what I said was so offensive.
I mentioned corporate greed.
If I offended anyone I’m am sorry.
With that being said I stand by the comment based on its accuracy.
Inflation is real
Adjusting prices to work with inflation is expected.
The price increases on many goods and services are significantly out of line with all inflation margins.
Fuel companies are making record profits. Don’t take my word for it.
Look it up for your self.
Ultimately, it comes down to the fact that I felt I had a reasonable question as containers of vinyl are being imported from some of the biggest vinyl distributors in the country or from China
most of the discount finals being sold by the big distributors are imported already from China.
Either way for what it’s worth. If you read the string, I felt like I was getting attacked for asking a reasonable question.
I am sorry that my first post caused anger and dysfunctional behavior. It certainly was not my intention.
I did send a PM to Gino as apparently he’s a big deal around here
I am a five generational small business, trying to compete and doing what I can to turn a profit and raise my family although I don’t have to explain that I’m being portrayed by someone who knows nothing about me in a negative manner
I regret coming back and saying something crappy, which only lowered myself
I have already imported some vinyls and I’ve had good results, but I am looking for a low tack room printable vinyl if anybody would like to know the results, feel free to PM me and I will give you the supplier that I tried
I did have some positive results with what I am ported. The cost of the role was around $50. However the shipping was $170 which was the exact cost.
$220 is around the cost of vinyl that I am paying for so I figured it was worth the risk
I received your rolls one was solid the other was not.
When we buy from the local suppliers, we generally purchase 25 rolls at a clip we will purchase 50 if the price is better. We have also had problems with supply in just getting our products.
Currently a 40 foot container from China is $8500. This is down from over $30,000 a container a year ago.
I Import many other products from China most of which are already being manufactured in China. I just choose to go direct.
Everyone have a nice day. I’m sorry I did not mean to create problems. I was just asking what I thought was a reasonable question. I didn’t feel the responses at least some of them were necessary. I do apologize for replying in the manner which I did.
I like to think I’m better than that.
Please excuse typos, as this was talk to text
Oh my god... Using it to cover a floor in a venue could turn into a massacre like that Great White concert in '03
That’s pretty funny
Great reference.
Gino
Premium Subscriber
Boudica
I'm here for Educational Purposes
That's not funny. People died.
Remislad
you could educate yourself.
the problem is wrongheaded decisions by government
YOU SIMPLY CAN'T GET EVERY QUESTION ON THE TEST WRONG, WITHOUT CONSEQUENCES
the day biden was elected he killed the pipeline deals, and swore he would bankrupt the coal companies
the petroleum prices drive up EVERYTHING
a government that prints money and spends it by the TRILLIONS drives every price up
Boudica
I'm here for Educational Purposes
It was pretty bad. I guess tragedies like this get more coverage when some psycho shoots the place up, as opposed to an accident.