It will come as no surprise to Chinavasion customers, as well as many other EBay drop shippers making healthy profits off sales of Chinese electronics, that in many cases little-known Chinese brands of MP4s are outselling branded MP4s like Apple's IPod and Microsoft's Zune. In fact, Chinese-made PMPs make up 30% of the world market. Not only are the Chinese-made and marketed MP4s markedly cheaper than the marquee-branded products but often have a higher number of more unique features, as Chinese manufacturers have been studying and perfecting the MP3 and MP4 player manufacture as OEM companies for several years before releasing their own products.
However, as many people buying MP4's over EBay will attest, not all Chinese branded MP4 players are created equal and there are some things you will need to look out for and ask about before buying a MP4. This is vital when buying for an EBay auction business, as a faulty product will damage your reputation and affect your long-term profitability.
Cheap Isn't Always Good
China may be the cut-price producer of the world but there is such a thing as a cheap MP4 player that is too cheap.
Market analyst Global Sources research set prices for flash disk MP3 and MP4 media players between US$25 and $84 for a MP4 player with a memory of 512MB and 4GB respectively. Prices for HDD PMPs range between US$50 and upwards of US$121 for players which have screens from 3.5 to seven inches.
However, these prices are not set in stone and you should still do a little research of your own before locking yourself to a purchase. There are a myriad of Chinese electronic wholesalers EBay suppliers and internet shops which stock Chinese-branded electronics, so it stands to reason that the same kind of player is will appear in a couple of places more than twice. Do a search on a product and if it appears for markedly less in one place than it does in everywhere else tread with caution. A minor difference might mean you've just found an online electronics seller who has cut out the middle-man, a major difference means the product might be stolen, faulty or broken or might not even arrive at your door.
Check The Memory
Once checking that the item is not under-priced make sure the devices' memory is listed accurately. Some factories and traders will list the capacity of the MP4 media player they are selling in bits instead of bytes to make their product sound better than it actually is. This makes a huge difference to the MP4's value as one byte equals eight bits. So in effect the person purchasing the MP4 player could be left holding a 3GB player which only holds three videos instead of 30.
The Fundamentals Of Format
Not all MP4 players meet the format requirements to fit into the group and often demand that you- or your customer change your media into a strange format before it will play on the device. Interestingly enough the Apple iPod is one such system which uses an unusual format. While format-conversion software is readily accessible online, and in some cases comes with the player, you or your customer might not want to go through the hassle of setting it up on your computer and changing all of your media to the correct format. As a result it is advisable to check which formats are supported on sales listings; or, if they're not listed, ask a representative of the company you are buying the product off.
Your prospective MP4 should mainly play SMV, AVI and MPEG 4 video files, while supporting WMV and MPG formats. It should run MP3, WMA and WAV audio formats as well as supporting JPG, BMP, and GIFF image files.
Features
Features are a big consideration to make, when purchasing a Chinese MP4 player. Questioning the vendor about features, or searching online for reviews of the product (Technorati and You Tube are two good places to do a search) will let you know what features work and how they work and mean you and your customers will avoid disappointment.
Battery Life
Most new MP4 players should have Lithium-ion batteries or cell phone style batteries these battery types are superior to the charges used in older MP4s as each charge is likely to last twice as long. Also ensure you're getting the correct plug for your country as factories can sometimes struggle to put the correct plug for each region with their products.
Warranty
Does the MP4 come with a warranty? As a rule, buying an item with a warranty will give you more protection than one without but it still pays to do some research and ask some questions about the nature of the warranty. Go to B2B sites, see if the site is a member and check its grading anything with a low rating is not likely to be completely honorable. Another avenue is to go to sights like fraudwatchers or hotscams and check the forums.
Before purchasing go through the warranty carefully and see what conditions and promises are given before making any decisions.
Quality Control
When buying from an online store or wholesaler see if you can find what quality control they do. Stores that spend money on an in-house QC department are probably going to be more reliable than one that simply sends people out to the factory to check items and will be a great deal more reliable than a company that trusts factories to send out good quality items.
You may think researching before you buy is a dull pointless exercise, but it could be the difference between a satisfied, repeat customer and a bad reputation that cannot be shaken.
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Interested in buying a Chinese MP4 player but don't know what to look for, here are some tips on some key points to consider when buying a MP4 player.
