Yahoo Pulls Out of China 79
judgecorp writes "Yahoo has closed its news and community services in China, having already closed its email services there. A farewell message on Yahoo's Chinese site doesn't say much, but it seems Yahoo is ceding the territory to Chinese firm Alibaba, in whom it has a stake."
Editing 101 (Score:5, Informative)
in which it has a stake
there FTFY
warning about Alibaba and Aliexpress (Score:4, Informative)
Re:warning about Alibaba and Aliexpress (Score:5, Informative)
Ali Baba was the hero of the tale, and the thieves were his enemies. Why do people get this wrong?
Re:warning about Alibaba and Aliexpress (Score:5, Informative)
You have to be cautious about what you buy there. Don't buy anything bulky or heavy; the logistics charges will eat you alive.
However, there are a lot of merchants finding things in China like circuit board assemblies and various small parts and offer them in smaller quantities.
I have been bitten a couple of times, but by and large, most of the smaller guys on AliExpress I have bought electronic parts from ( IC's, LED's, resistors, capacitors, modules, and occasionally small tools ) have been on the level with me. If something sounds too good to be true, it probably is - leave it be. I have bought some stuff that was probably a knockoff, but it was good enough for what I needed.
There is a lot of stuff available in China that I have not seen over in the USA yet. I am particularly interested in circuit modules and high-power LED's ( 100 Watt range ) that I do not see over here. Yes.. 100 Watt LED's... about 36 volts at 3 amps. However I will warn you right now if you do not know how to heat sink these, you will not get light for long.
I have about 100 transactions with AliExpress. I have had four disputes with merchants. Of these, the merchant and I resolved it without involving AliExpress's dispute resolution three times, and once I had to escalate the dispute to have the AliExpress dispute resolution team mediate.
This particular one was over a laptop battery pack that was marketed as using high capacity cells. When I tried to use it in my machine, it first identified it as having a substantially lower capacity than that advertised, then a few hours later, something fried in the battery management board, to the extent that the power block charging my machine heated up and there was a hot smell coming from somewhere, and the battery pack was quite warm. The laptop locked up and would not boot. I disconnected the whole shebang and queried the merchant, who wanted me to ship the battery back to China. There was no way I was going to place a lithium battery pack I had no idea of how much overcharge it took onto an airplane. So I ended up disassembling the pack to discover it was indeed made with lower capacity cells, however they were good quality cells - and the battery pack was quite well made - I guess the battery management board fry was a fluke, as I saw no obvious reason for it frying ( you know, stuff like bad solder joints or sloppy assembly ). AliExpress ruled in my favor .
( Thank goodness the laptop itself survived - scared the crap out of me there for a while - the laptop would not boot with that battery in even if the AC adapter was present. Apparently the BIOS sensed a problem with the BMS and would inhibit the startup.)
Two disputes were packaging errors. Upon contacting the merchant, he checked his end and verified and shipped me the correct part.
One merchant apparently sold me something he did not have, and ended up refunding my money. That was a weird one. I tried and tried and tried to open communication with the merchant over it. Eventually the AliExpress transaction monitors timed out over it and automatically cancelled the transaction. I saw the credit show up on my next Visa statement. ( they also sent me emails to the same effect )
But anyway, that's my experience with AliExpress. I order through them for small samples. I am using them to build a product I hope to go into business one day selling. I am hoping one day I will be able to ask my guy in China if he can get me several thousand of an item.
I will warn you right now that if you are buying "consumer" type stuff ( jewelry, clothes, trinkets ), you better buy in very small quantities, as nothing beats holding one personally and examining it. When China and US are on opposite sides of the planet, the shipping costs often far exceed the cost of the thing you are buying. Go get it from some big retailer that buys them in bulk and uses far more economical ( albeit far slower ) shipping ( as in a ocean vessel ).
Re:warning about Alibaba and Aliexpress (Score:4, Informative)
Alibaba is well named, although it leads a group of far more than just forty thieves. Anyone tempted to deal with Aliexpress (you only learn the Alibaba joke after you make the mistake) should take the time to search for them on Reseller Ratings.
I've placed more than 20 orders in last 4 months, via AliExpress, and have received all of them, in timely manner and all items were correct and working. Not a single problem. Well, there was 1 order that got delayed, but seller contacted me and notified me about it and asked me if I don't mind waiting few days.
What, exactly, is it I am supposed to 'learn'?
Re:warning about Alibaba and Aliexpress (Score:4, Informative)
Someone who steals is a thief. It does not matter if he steals from other thieves, he is still a thief.
In the unwritten rules of criminality, stealing from fellow thieves is the lowest of the low. It's not as bad as stealing from family, but close.
There's the slang word "ponce" in the UK. Forget the dictionary definitions, it basically means a criminal who steals from other criminals. A low class of person in the underworld.