A White House plan to narrow a trade loophole could mean painful times ahead for Chinese sellers on platforms such as Temu and Shein — and higher prices for U.S. consumers.
I mostly use Ali Express (admittedly, not mentioned in any of the articles about this change in tariff applications) for fishing gear. Many of the big names in fishing lures, Blue Fox, Panther Marten, Kastmaster, etc. have all moved their production overseas. When I buy the “knock offs”, it shows up in the same packaging I see in Dick’s or Walmart with the same product inside. But I can choose to pay $7.99 for one lure or $2.16 for 3. It’s coming from the same factory, made by the same people, the only difference is how much it costs and whose pockets get filled from paying that price.
Oh, also, the cheapo Chinese braid line (its being manufactured to be sold in Japan under their brands) is way superior to what we get in the USA, way stronger and thinner. And I get 500m of it for $17.
From what I remember, the difference is quality control. Western companies are usually much more restrictive, accepting only every 10th or 100th item from the producer. The subpar items are then sold by the producer somewhere else such as Temu or AliExpress. I also know this to be true for microscopes. Motic produces in China for Zeiss, but Zeiss refuses most of their units due to QC issues, which are then sold by Motic under their own name for a fraction of the Zeiss price.
This makes sense to me. I’m not checking the consistency of the line thickness, for example, but I’ve seen some people report that it isn’t consistent throughout the whole spool. I’m buying .016mm thick line, though, so some variance is a-okay for me.
The Rapalla-style lures work well (the brand name ones do have slightly better action, but the off brand ones are $5 for 8 vs $7+ for 1), spinners work great, the Kastmaster style spoons are a phenomenal find.
I got a $10 ultralight rod that showed up with a partially misaligned tip guide I fixed with some pliers and I needed to glue in one of the rings in a guide. That said, it’s withstood more abuse than an Okuma rod I got for $40, which snapped on the second outing and Okuma told me would cost $30 to fix.
I’ll happily shop American, for what it’s worth, if it was actually gonna BE American instead of just made elsewhere and assembled here so it can get some stupid sticker. Also, pay me more so I can afford it… maybe the Amazon’s, Walmart, dicks and targets don’t need to be YoY huge growth companies and maybe the people who work there should be able to afford to shop there.
Ehhhhh too much soapboxin’, sorry, imma get back to fishing.
I turned one of my coworkers on to knockoff shit on Wish, and he is heavily into fishing and pretty much agrees with all of your sentiments listed here. He’s been buying knockoff lures like mad ever since.
I will further add that a lot of fishing gear is consumable. Not just line, but also hooks that can just plain break or wear out, and especially lures and so forth in that they are inherently prone to getting lost, irretrievably snagged in a tree, outright eaten by a fish and dragged to the depths never to be seen again, etc.
It is therefore bonkers to pay a premium for most of this stuff which is ultimately disposable.
Hundred percent. Why pay $8 if I’m just gonna lose it snagged on an unseen underwater log or in a tree?
Also, the fish do not scoff at the off-brand lure. They say, yay, yummy!
I still pay premium for my reels, but only because I haven’t found one that compares with the Pflueger President yet. Though that’s mostly because I haven’t been in the market for a new reel and the ones on Ali Express don’t come with the rubber soft touch knob the Pflueger ones do. Small things, though. I’m slowly looking into ordering the knob separate as replacement parts then trying out some $14 12+1 bearing spinning reel just to see if it’s good enough.
On another note, I think China might be a way better resource for carp fishing equipment. They specifically fish for carp there way more than in the US and I see more double drag reels or rods with ground spikes built in for just that purpose. But I haven’t had the interest to expand beyond trout, bass and pickerel just yet.
Tbqh I’m not shopping for electronics or clothes on Ali Express, but I’ll happily buy line, lures, rods, terminal tackle and tackle organizers on there. Even if I bought it in a brick and mortar here, it’s probably all shipping from China anyhow.
Great! Now I’ll have to buy the same products from Walmart for ten times the cost. At least the Waltons can wet their beaks on it now.
Why underpay and exploit labor in China when you can also underpay and exploit labor here, too, and pay more for the privilege?
I mostly use Ali Express (admittedly, not mentioned in any of the articles about this change in tariff applications) for fishing gear. Many of the big names in fishing lures, Blue Fox, Panther Marten, Kastmaster, etc. have all moved their production overseas. When I buy the “knock offs”, it shows up in the same packaging I see in Dick’s or Walmart with the same product inside. But I can choose to pay $7.99 for one lure or $2.16 for 3. It’s coming from the same factory, made by the same people, the only difference is how much it costs and whose pockets get filled from paying that price.
Oh, also, the cheapo Chinese braid line (its being manufactured to be sold in Japan under their brands) is way superior to what we get in the USA, way stronger and thinner. And I get 500m of it for $17.
From what I remember, the difference is quality control. Western companies are usually much more restrictive, accepting only every 10th or 100th item from the producer. The subpar items are then sold by the producer somewhere else such as Temu or AliExpress. I also know this to be true for microscopes. Motic produces in China for Zeiss, but Zeiss refuses most of their units due to QC issues, which are then sold by Motic under their own name for a fraction of the Zeiss price.
This makes sense to me. I’m not checking the consistency of the line thickness, for example, but I’ve seen some people report that it isn’t consistent throughout the whole spool. I’m buying .016mm thick line, though, so some variance is a-okay for me.
The Rapalla-style lures work well (the brand name ones do have slightly better action, but the off brand ones are $5 for 8 vs $7+ for 1), spinners work great, the Kastmaster style spoons are a phenomenal find.
I got a $10 ultralight rod that showed up with a partially misaligned tip guide I fixed with some pliers and I needed to glue in one of the rings in a guide. That said, it’s withstood more abuse than an Okuma rod I got for $40, which snapped on the second outing and Okuma told me would cost $30 to fix.
I’ll happily shop American, for what it’s worth, if it was actually gonna BE American instead of just made elsewhere and assembled here so it can get some stupid sticker. Also, pay me more so I can afford it… maybe the Amazon’s, Walmart, dicks and targets don’t need to be YoY huge growth companies and maybe the people who work there should be able to afford to shop there.
Ehhhhh too much soapboxin’, sorry, imma get back to fishing.
I turned one of my coworkers on to knockoff shit on Wish, and he is heavily into fishing and pretty much agrees with all of your sentiments listed here. He’s been buying knockoff lures like mad ever since.
I will further add that a lot of fishing gear is consumable. Not just line, but also hooks that can just plain break or wear out, and especially lures and so forth in that they are inherently prone to getting lost, irretrievably snagged in a tree, outright eaten by a fish and dragged to the depths never to be seen again, etc.
It is therefore bonkers to pay a premium for most of this stuff which is ultimately disposable.
Hundred percent. Why pay $8 if I’m just gonna lose it snagged on an unseen underwater log or in a tree?
Also, the fish do not scoff at the off-brand lure. They say, yay, yummy!
I still pay premium for my reels, but only because I haven’t found one that compares with the Pflueger President yet. Though that’s mostly because I haven’t been in the market for a new reel and the ones on Ali Express don’t come with the rubber soft touch knob the Pflueger ones do. Small things, though. I’m slowly looking into ordering the knob separate as replacement parts then trying out some $14 12+1 bearing spinning reel just to see if it’s good enough.
On another note, I think China might be a way better resource for carp fishing equipment. They specifically fish for carp there way more than in the US and I see more double drag reels or rods with ground spikes built in for just that purpose. But I haven’t had the interest to expand beyond trout, bass and pickerel just yet.
Tbqh I’m not shopping for electronics or clothes on Ali Express, but I’ll happily buy line, lures, rods, terminal tackle and tackle organizers on there. Even if I bought it in a brick and mortar here, it’s probably all shipping from China anyhow.
Alternatively you could buy from a dollar store where it’s 12 times the price but in a smaller package so it seems cheaper.