Aliexpress teas

[jayinhk]

Where in India are you?

[Psyck]

Bangalore

[jayinhk]

I've actually considered setting up a tea business in Mumbai, but my hands are tied with other things right now. Also I think the pool of people who are really interested in Chinese/Japanese/Taiwanese teas is still relatively small, so it would be a risk, but I would have no rent to worry about at first!

Welcome to TeaChat. My parents are NRIs and I live in Hong Kong.

[Psyck]

True, few people in India drink non-Indian teas at present, the government taxations & regulations are mainly to blame for that I suppose. There are some such tea shops at present, like Infinitea, but setting up such a shop would be catering to a niche market...

[jayinhk]

Wow, 104% duty! Do you get charged when you import tea yourself?

[Psyck]

Yeah the tax on tea is crazy in India, to protect the local market. When I imported say electronics stuff, I just paid 30% duty to the customs, but with tea, there is no guarantee that I will even get it...

That is the reason I started buying from Aliexpress, they just mark the parcels as 'crafts (gift)' or something so that they get through the customs!

[jayinhk]

That's good to know, and I'm glad you can still get tea through! In your shoes I'd be looking at Yunnan Sourcing vs Aliexpress. Many vendors would be willing to work with you to get around that pesky protectionism

[Psyck]

Yunnan Sourcing did not work out, the shipments never got delivered. That is why I tried the Aliexpress vendors. Based on inputs from other forum members, I'm planning to try some ebay stores now. If I succeed in that, I will post my experience so that other shoppers from India know of the options available to them.

[yssah]

I purchased some teas & tea implements from the vendor Breezy Valley at Aliexpress. The implements were of good quality & the teas were all fine. The time taken for international shipping was acceptable; the prices were reasonable with some freebies thrown in. Nothing fancy, I started with simple regular stuff as I had a bad experience at another Chinese site in the past, but my experience with Aliexpress has been satisfactory so far.

I will be purchasing more from Aliexpress in the future, so if anyone can suggest to me other vendors there that I can try out, I would appreciate it.

Grandness Tea is pretty good on there. Just Slooooowwww processing and shipping. Have you thought about anyone from eBay?

um, i googled both stores and they seem to be using Hebrew languages - both of them. how do you get around those?

[mr mopu]

I purchased some teas & tea implements from the vendor Breezy Valley at Aliexpress. The implements were of good quality & the teas were all fine. The time taken for international shipping was acceptable; the prices were reasonable with some freebies thrown in. Nothing fancy, I started with simple regular stuff as I had a bad experience at another Chinese site in the past, but my experience with Aliexpress has been satisfactory so far.

I will be purchasing more from Aliexpress in the future, so if anyone can suggest to me other vendors there that I can try out, I would appreciate it.

Grandness Tea is pretty good on there. Just Slooooowwww processing and shipping. Have you thought about anyone from eBay?

um, i googled both stores and they seem to be using Hebrew languages - both of them. how do you get around those?

If you use google you can run the translation on the sites.
Here is another good store.
http://www.aliexpress.com/store/group/T ... 66305.html
Here is a link for Grandness.
http://www.aliexpress.com/item/GRANDNES ... 41278.html

[Psyck]

From what I could find, Dragon Tea House appears to be one of the most well known & dependable stores on Aliexpress (they are also on ebay, but Aliexpress prices may be lower due to promotions).

Dragon Tea House: http://www.aliexpress.com/store/726685

CHINA GRANDNESS TEA CO.,LTD: http://www.aliexpress.com/store/215539

It may be best to stick to the above stores unless they don't have what you are looking for. The links are to the store home pages (in English).

[Cwyn]

Some small tea companies mail their packages as gifts, not as merchandise. Would this help bypass the tax?

[Bef]

Some small tea companies mail their packages as gifts, not as merchandise. Would this help bypass the tax?

+1. You could also ask some vendors specifically if they can mark as gift. At least a few of them would accept if you explain your situation.

[Psyck]

This is practically a default for Aliexpress (and most Chinese stores for that matter); they will mark it as a gift and enter the value also as just 20% or so of the order value. You should also check with the vendor before purchasing to confirm. I never had customs issues purchasing from Aliexpress, but just in case place smaller orders as they are more likely to escape customs notice.