Leaving China and selling/donating stuff

[mungouk]

Hey all,

 

I'm now committed to leaving China in February 2022, and I need to get moving on getting rid of all the stuff I've accumulated since arriving.

 

(Experience over the last 10+ years of moving around APAC suggests that shipping costs are likely to exceed cost of replacing things; also that you can never start too soon with getting rid of all your stuff.)

 

So: does anyone have experience of selling second-hand things like household appliances online in PRC? 

 

In the UK I used eBay; Australia there was Gumtree; in Singapore I used Carousell...etc.  I think I heard there's something in China with a fish-related name but can't recall?

 

My other strategy would be to donate to charity shops (aka. thrift shops) but I've only ever seen these in Beijing... anyone know about Hangzhou?

 

Any suggestions?

 

Many thanks!
 

[mackie1402]

闲鱼 is the one you're thinking of. 

 

There's an online charity shop called Buy42. A friend mentioned it and you can just Google that and you should come across their site.

 

Whenever I move between places, I usually give away a lot of my stuff to the 保安 and 物业 where I stayed (as long as they were decent, anyway)

 

How comes you've decided to leave for good?

[mungouk]

On 11/30/2021 at 9:16 PM, mackie1402 said:

How comes you've decided to leave for good?

 

Hi @mackie1402 thanks for the tips!

 

As for reasons... it's 11 years since I first left the UK and I need to be back home and closer to friends and family. I'll never say "never", but for now it's 再见.

 

Plus, the glory-years of international travel look to be dead  — at least for the next few years. I'm so glad I made the most of it while I could.

 

Travelling around SE and East Asia has been one of my greatest experiences in the last few years... but it feels like that's not going to be possible for quite some time now. 

 

PS: do you wanna buy an air purifier or a floor-vacuuming robot? ?

 

 

 

[道艺]

Never bought anything personally, but there's also 'movin' a mini program in wechat for selling off whatever lot of things you got before moving. I've got laowai friends that live by it.

[mungouk]

On 12/1/2021 at 4:59 PM, 道艺 said:

'movin' a mini program in wechat

 

Oh, good call!  Thanks.  

I'm going to miss WeChat...

 

[道艺]

you'd be surprised how many ppl (non chinese) still use it post living in China

[889]

Do we have to remind you to keep your +86 number alive? Only concern is your real-name registration will expire when your passport expires.

[mungouk]

On 12/2/2021 at 3:07 AM, 889 said:

keep your +86 number alive?

 

Yes I will, thanks. Fortunately I have a dual-SIM phone. Passport is good until 2029.

 

[anonymoose]

On 12/1/2021 at 7:07 PM, 889 said:

Do we have to remind you to keep your +86 number alive?

 

Is there a way to do that without paying monthly fees (especially with international roaming fees if you will be using it outside China)? I still use Wechat, Weibo and various other apps without an active chinese phone number. Generally it is not a problem. It's only a problem if settings need updating. Then I just wait until I travel to China, get a temporary SIM card, and make the changes when I'm there.

[mungouk]

On 12/3/2021 at 5:50 PM, anonymoose said:

Then I just wait until I travel to China

 

That could be a bigger problem for some time to come... 

 

I guess to keep it alive you only need to send an SMS every few months? 

 

I can imagine needing the number to persist in case of receiving an OTP for something.

 

[Flickserve]

On 12/3/2021 at 5:50 PM, anonymoose said:

I travel to China, get a temporary SIM card, and make the changes when I'm there.

 

Can one be brought to UK?

[anonymoose]

On 12/3/2021 at 3:54 PM, Flickserve said:

Can one be brought to UK?

 

Yes. Just keeping it active might be an issue, but I've not looked into this in detail.

[Kenny同志]

I agree with Mackie. 閒魚 might be your best option. I sold some items that I no longer needed on the platform. Generally, you will be able to sell something off within several days. 

[889]

Do not close your Chinese bank account. It can be useful for many things, like depositing money to your mobile account.

 

Wechat etc may well suddenly want you to reconfirm your number. Don't take chances.

[PerpetualChange]

I shipped books home and gave away a lot of other stuff. Honestly it was a nice way to say good-bye to people who had been very gracious hosts. I gave my room-mate an acoustic guitar I'd bought (low end, but still name-brand, haha) and he was really happy about it. 

[mungouk]

On 12/30/2021 at 4:47 AM, PerpetualChange said:

I shipped books home

 

Who did you ship them with?  I looked at the China Post website but it doesn't look as if they accept large packages... 

[PerpetualChange]

On 1/1/2022 at 9:50 PM, mungouk said:

 

Who did you ship them with?  I looked at the China Post website but it doesn't look as if they accept large packages

 Just the normal Post Office. In two boxes.  They were not that large. 

 

The books arrived about 3 months after I got home. The boxes had been retaped, when I opened them up half the books were not even mine and the other half were missing. So that was fun. 

[alantin]

Did you get anything interesting in the exchange?

[vellocet]

On 12/1/2021 at 4:59 PM, 道艺 said:

Never bought anything personally, but there's also 'movin' a mini program in wechat for selling off whatever lot of things you got before moving. I've got laowai friends that live by it.

I was briefly excited...but the whole program is dominated by a single seller who's using it as a Taobao shop for his new merchandise.  Looks like they can't be bothered to police their app, or it's not against TOS to sell new goods.  Oh well.  I guess it's better in Beijing.

[PerpetualChange]

On 1/2/2022 at 2:55 PM, alantin said:

Did you get anything interesting in the exchange?

 

Nope. I did lose either the 下，中，or 上 books of several I'd been planning on reading though. Pretty frustrating!