First time dealing with China directly

[HedgerowPete]

as a start I realise alot of people here are not going tooo want to deal with china but in the UK I do want to.

WE hear all the horry stories of money lost and dissapeared and poor quality and so forth, but theres also alot of decent firms out there too.

I am looking at maxi inflatables on Alliepress and banggood and the like, around the £2500 mark.

 

I have looked but they are not for sale via european shops or sellers, ebay or amazon, so that looses my comfort blanket.

Next stop is a credit card payment, so at least i get some form of money  security.

 

That just leaves the last question which firm to use. can anyone suggest a chinese kite maker firm that has a good or better quality production and security?

And any tips for dealing with china directly for a novice buyer

[Breezin]

I've used DHgate , Aliexpress and Alibaba. Had 1 issue. DHgate gave the vendor a week to make right. They didn't. Got a refund and the seller was banned.Read the reviews for sure. Unless buying in bulk it seems pretty hard to get in direct contact with a builder. 2500 pounds is a whew chunk of cash. Contact Emma or Frielien. They may help you connect to a builder for a one off at that price point. I have /had Chinese made Prism, Skydog, ITW and Premier kites. Premier has been the best but none were bad. Weifang is the city where most kite production is located. Like a lot of things 1 factory may produce 4 or 5 different spec kites for different vendors. Quality will depend on  what materials were specified for the most part. In recent ads one of the sell points is the leading edge now extends to the nocks reducing tip wraps. REALLY. Flexifoil Stranger and Psycho were doing that in 1998. My Skydog Black Dog needed some minor mods due to tip wraps. Wasn't the designer or builder. Problem came from who negotiated the build. Apparently 10 cm  less LE fabric increased profits enough to justify my irritation.

[Wayne Dowler]

Are you on FaceBook? If so, I would contact Tony Jetland. He has bought a bunch of stuff from China and might be able to put you either in the correct direction to go, or maybe hook you up with a decent maker. Tony lives in California and has become quite the "big kite" guy.