The Glade 4.0

http://www.aliexpress.com/item/brand-new-10-mini-laptop-drop-shipping-notebook-with-4GB-32GB-Intel-Atom-N455-Windows-8/632995728.html

Some ladies in a private cloth diapering group that I am a member of joined a purchasing cooperative and say they are getting Sony Vaio netbooks brand new for $11 apiece.
They claim that if they order 500 of them in one lot, straight from China, that it will only cost $5500, or $11 each.

I know one woman already paid for 15 of them....I think she's insane and going to get ripped off (or they're doing something illegal) but I don't know enough about it to convince her exactly why it's a bad idea..... :/

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"Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." Jesus of Nazareth

Have you tried Googling: "is aliexpress a scam?"

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Yes, but some of the ladies claim to have ordered items there that they did receive for the prices listed in the co-op. :/
I showed them a list of the components of a netbook with prices if you were to buy each piece individually....even with wholesale prices, there is no way that thing could be $11, especially once you add software and labor costs and profit.....she just upped her order from 15 to 25.

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"Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." Jesus of Nazareth

What did Forrest Gump's momma always tell him?

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Life is like a box of chocolates?

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"Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." Jesus of Nazareth

So many red flags:

The initial blurb says Atom, which is a type of processor. The product description, later, says i3. That's different type of processor.
The initial blurb says Windows 8. They include a screenshot of Windows 7 Ultimate.
The product description describes said unit as "Quality: 100% High Quality". I'd hold out for one that at least advertises itself as "totally *****'".
And it says it has a 32GB SATA drive - not 320GB, but 32, which is, well, many many years ago when it comes to the size of hard drive things ship with.
And it says "Brand Name: no-brand" while showing you a bunch of pictures of a Sony Vaio box.

I'd steer clear of it even if they managed to be consistent about what it is they're acting like they're selling you. They didn't even do that though - steer waaaaaaaaaaaay clear.

Thanks Jeryn. I'm not buying anything, but my friends are and I'm trying to come up with some sort of proof.....that helps, but they will tell me that's just typos or communication barriers or errors or something.
It would help if I could find a legit document that says that even in the best case scenario, buying wholesale would still put a $289 netbook at $100 as the lowest individual price or something else showing that $11 each is unrealistic?

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"Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." Jesus of Nazareth

Yeah, this is going to end badly. There is no possible way this is legit.

The best-case scenario is that they get a bunch of worthless grey-market knockoffs. The worst-case -- and most likely -- scenario is that they'll receive absolutely nothing at all. In either case, they will probably not be able to obtain a refund despite aliexpress's supposed escrow system.

In any case, those VAIOs have US keyboard layouts and US packaging. US Sony VAIOs don't come "straight from China". They come straight from Sony USA's San Diego facility. Not even the parts are made in mainland China. There is no possible scenario wherein bouncing merchandise from San Diego to China and back again makes any kind of sense.

Do keep us updated

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Sail forth! steer for the deep waters only!
Reckless, O soul, exploring, I with thee, and thou with me;
For we are bound where mariner has not yet dared to go,
And we will risk the ship, ourselves and all.

No the other one, stupid is as stupid does.

You tried, they won't listen.

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There's a sucker born every minute.

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Buckle your pants or they might fall down.

Stathol, I can't find any data online to back that up...just stuff showing production in Japan and some in China. If you could provide something I could send her showing that they aren't really assembled or manufactured in China, that would be super helpful.

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"Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." Jesus of Nazareth

If I could have her email Kate then I can pass along the contact info of this Nigerian Prince I know.

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I'm telling ya, these women don't question ANYTHING! I should be a con artist, sheesh, these women sit at home all day spending their husband's money and don't seem to have any critical thinking skills.

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"Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." Jesus of Nazareth

Kate, this guy only made the account on Aliexpress on the 8th September, 2012. http://www.aliexpress.com/store/feedbac ... 14299.html

Considering his name does not come up on any google searches, nor any previous supply of the lap top products... well I wouldn't trust it...

Logic states, if he could sell this product in China for a handsome profit, more than he could to the US. Why would he forgo the higher profit? (and also the logistic nightmare)

If they go the "omg people in China isn't like people in Nigeria" route. Tell them to google the formaldihyde blood jelly, or the human hair soya sauce, or the more famous melamin baby formula. Due to the recent financial thingy, everyone will try to make a buck and seriously chinese people are no different...

If these people are so willing to part with money...

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B008VO29DS

Tell them all proceeds will go towards feeding a hungry family. Mainly mine.

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Raell Kromwell

Dude... Hwha? You wrote a BOOK?

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Ummm yea. It has been in my sig for a little while now.

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Raell Kromwell

Someone tricked me with Sig once, I think it was Arafys and his texting while driving = omg or something. So I don't click em anymore.

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It was my old blog. Once I felt I was done with the story, I yanked it from the web, formatted it for Kindle and put it out. Lord FarSky did a hell of a job on the cover.

Ok, Sorry LK....yes, it is a scam. If they don't listen. Well you can only help someone that wants to be helped.

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Raell Kromwell

Going back to the concept of you can't cheat an honest man. Any honest person is going to look at that and ask what is wrong with it they can sell it at such a loss, if it is an honest offer, which it almost certainly is not.

Since you have to buy the lot, my normal advice doesn't work, which would be to have someone buy one and see if it arrives. This stinks of scam.

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The U. S. Constitution doesn't guarantee happiness, only the pursuit of it. You have to catch up with it yourself. B. Franklin

"A mind needs books like a sword needs a whetstone." -- Tyrion Lannister, A Game of Thrones

Not only is it a scam, it's probably illegal.

Don't you have to have a license to import stuff? pay tariffs and all that?

Like Mike said -- best case, your friends get a knockoff lookalike that has internals that rival a calculator. Worst case, they get nothing. Somewhere in between, they get stolen goods and can talk your way out of being charged with receiving stolen property or whatever by citing their complete and utter ignorance and lack of common sense.

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"Aaaah! Emotions are weird!" - Amdee
"... Mirrorshades prevent the forces of normalcy from realizing that one is crazed and possibly dangerous. They are the symbol of the sun-staring visionary, the biker, the rocker, the policeman, and similar outlaws." - Bruce Sterling, preface to Mirrorshades

Yeah, something about the whole thing smells fishy.

Any coincidence that the link in your original posting now links to a dead page, I wonder?

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This must be Thursday. I could never get the hang of Thursdays.

Just tell them you received a message from Jesus, and that you're not going to participate. Then don't answer any questions.

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Buckle your pants or they might fall down.

I don't think this thread qualifies as a message from Jesus.

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"Hysterical children shrieking about right-wing anything need to go sit in the corner and be quiet while the adults are talking."