Affordable jackets are extremely expensive in Taiwan

Taiwan Where Can I Find...?
21

Hmm, it’s still a bit sus to me because different international brands for the same product category have different pricing here. Few are at par with US pricing (Zara, H&M, LuluLemon) whereas some are way higher here (e.g. Levi’s, TNF, Columbia, any luxury beauty brand). Not sure if import tax would explain 2x markup on Levi’s jeans or Columbia jackets

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22

Import tax is like around 7% or so.

When I buy from Taobao I can just prepay tax anyways, it ends up around 2RMB per kg so it’s not significant.

People who import container loads aren’t paying anywhere near the tax that you pay when ordering from Amazon.

They’re charging that much because that’s what the market is willing to pay.

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23

Sorry to pop your bubble, but the best online price here is still significantly higher than buying the same product in most other countries in Asia, EU and the Americas.

24

Makes sense. And I agree with you too. I have recently started doing the same recently, but it is a big inconvenience when you need something quickly.

It’s much cheaper to buy from the brand’s official store on Taobao and then have it sent to Taiwan and pay for customs

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25

Another example: Was looking for an affordable durable backpack as my current one which I used for a decade gave away

Did some research and decided on The North Face Recon. Super popular in the US with $109 USD MRP and usually on sale for $70 USD.

Price here? A whopping $4880 NT and $4392 after discounts on Momo

If you go to Syntrend and Guanghua, would be hard to find a good backpack for less than $3000.

Taiwanese consumers are spendy.
…

Now, I would be totally down to buy a local backpack if any local company made a lightweight one with similar features and a price tag of around $2000. But Alas…

26

Another reason I don’t buy clothing here is because most the time they don’t fit me, because Taiwanese are midgets compared to me I guess.

However I do need some Airism shirts from UnoQlo or similar shirts. I wear them in the summer because traditional T shirts is too suffocating to wear during the summer.

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27

Haha apart from Uniqlo, Muji, Zara and H&M I don’t think I’ve purchased anything here

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28

Buy from other buyers on Facebook or other shopping sites.

29

Would you buy used clothes?

30

There’s a government site for tariffs, it’s 5-30% depending on category

https://portal.sw.nat.gov.tw/APGQ/LoginFree?request_locale=en_US&breadCrumbs=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31

I think many people buy on American website then used some shipping service to ship the item back.

I think these two are the most populat.

https://maybuy.com/#/login

Amazon JP can deliver to Taiwan now so maybe you can try there.

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32

the average nominal tariff rate for industrial products is 4.13 percent and 15.06 percent for agricultural products. The overall average nominal tariff rate for imported goods was 6.34 percent,

Does go up to 30%, couldn’t find the answer for clothing and tech. source

33

Clothing should be around 12.5% if sourced from the USA? And then add on shipping costs.

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34

Not sure where they are being shipped from since a lot of the US brands make their products in Asia. Also not going to include shipping costs as this post is essentially a price comparison and shipping should be similar for Philippines and/or Japan?

35

I buy most my things on Taobao too. A lot cheaper, and I mildly suspect that a lot of shops in Taiwan are buying from Taobao and then obviously marking them up.

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36

Seems… Unsustainable to say the least

37

I’ve seen 300% markup for items that is obviously from Taobao.

I got no idea how that’s even legal.

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38

I just saw 1000% markup on a nice pair of glasses the other day. They were on display at a SOGO. The frames didn’t have any branding but looked really nice. I took a photo and ran reverse image search and found a Taobao link of the exact same collection for 1/10th the price :joy:

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39

To be fair, people shop at SOGO for the experience, not necessarily for the items…

It’s a great place to hang out.

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40

True, as mentioned earlier, literally never bought anything apart from Uniqlo/Muji/GU/Zara/NET here.

I’m always surprised by the long lines at CASETIFY though. Their cases are like $1000-$2000 on average, not cheap. But they’re always yull of young people drooling over the latest “Snoopy” collection or sth. You have to queue sometimes to even check out their cases. I use a reputed brand for my phone cases as well but they’re less than half the price…

Heck you can stick a snoopy sticker on anything and 3x the price. Insane!