Reveiw: Stepmores SM-3040 CNC Router/Mill

[DarrenGrant]

Hi I found stepmores via this forum and although I haven't ordered a machine yet I probably will because so far Eric has given good advice via email and skype.

Before anyone says anything, I know I am new here so it might look suspicious that one of my first few posts is to apparently praise a machine manufacturer. So I have to stress I am not linked to them in any way and so far do not have one of their machines to give an opinion on. I just wanted to share with you my good experience so far and hopefully explain a bit more about buying from China. You can see what brought me here by looking in the new member introduction section where I explain what I am trying to do.

jimbo_cnc In China there is great pressure on price with sellers all trying to outdo the others on price. If for example you went to the world’s greatest electronics market Huaqiangbei in Shenzhen you will find that every seller will charge 10c less than his competitor just to get the sale. In this kind of environment it is difficult if you are trying to sell a product that visually is very similar but you have made some effort to improve the design as the buyers will look at the price and move on. Because of this you will see that Chinese suppliers rarely publish their prices as they want to be given the opportunity to explain why their offering is better when you contact them. For us this can seem a little unusual as we are so used to having everything clearly priced to buy in an instant. I know some people may even find this a bit suspicious thinking that the seller has something to hide and may be trying to offer different prices depending on how much they think you can pay.

In my experience it isn't like that at all, first the seller wants to feel comfortable that you are not a competitor fishing for information. Then they will usually give a fair price for a one off sale.

There is something else at play when buying from Chinese people that is difficult for British people to understand unless you have spent time in China or with a Chinese person to experience their culture. We are used to business dealings being rather clinical, we see a price and we choose to pay the asking price or not. In China traditionally personal relationships are created with 关系 (guanxi) there is no direct translation into English but the essence of it is that people feel they connect or not. While the young ambitious eBay sellers who will sell you anything to earn money don't take much notice of this traditional value especially with people from outside China you will find that in many more traditional businesses that guanxi is also part of business relationships. It is not uncommon for a Chinese person to ignore you or not sell you something because they feel your enquiry appeared inconsiderate or rude. Chinese people often find Americans very difficult because their demand that the customer is always right is not part of Chinese culture. You have to think more like the traditional independent shops where you would get to know the staff and you would hopefully trust them to give you advice about what to buy, as opposed to the modern supermarket culture where you virtually go in and out without even knowing the name of the person on the checkout.

Regarding shipping from China

All shipments regardless of the method used will be subject to VAT and possibly duty depending on the product being imported.

Now you have probably bought low value items off eBay etc and they are often labelled as being $2 value even if you paid $40 for something and therefore got it delivered in the post without charge that is not going to work for a huge machine in a crate. Unlike small postal items where only a small sample of packages are inspected for collecting VAT almost all large packages will have their paperwork inspected so that VAT can be charged on the import. This applies to all services such as FedEx, UPS etc as well as sea freight. So you WILL be charged VAT without a doubt, the amount depends on the value declared on the commercial invoice.

For parcels sent via a standard courier like TNT to a domestic address you will typically be charged £15-25 admin fee for collecting the VAT from you and giving it to HMRC. You will also have to pay the VAT before the package is released to you unless you have an account with the courier where they will charge it to your account.

For sea and air freight it is a little more complicated as this is regarded as a commercial service and as a result they tend to charge the going business rates for things so you may be charged as much as £50 for handling the paperwork and collecting VAT from you. You also need to find out if the service is to the door or just the port. If it is to the port you will be responsible for paying to get it from the port to your address, you can go and collect it yourself if you have a suitable vehicle but collect immediately you get the notification it is there, leave it there and you will be charged for storage. If nothing else pay the VAT immediately or you will be charged for it being held in the HMRC controlled area and that is expensive. If it is a to the door service then you are all set as the shipper has paid to deliver it all the way but the same warning applies make sure you are able to accept the delivery immediately or you will have to pay storage charges that are expensive at a busy port.