Buying from China as a foreigner

Members outside China who bought CMP 170HX cards, or tried to, straight from Chinese marketplaces, agents and forwarders posted what worked and what did not. This page collects those reports from July to October 2026: which platform, getting an account and paying, agents and middlemen, buying in person, shipping terms, returns, and one member's route through Kazakhstan. General buying advice and scam patterns are on Buying, payment protection and disputes on Alibaba Trade Assurance, cancellations and disputes, dated prices on Price history, July to October 2026. No seller is named here.

Names as posted: Goofish and Xianyu are the same marketplace (Goofish is the English name and web front). RMB, CNY and yuan are the same currency. DAP and DDP are shipping terms: on DAP the buyer pays import duty and tax on arrival, on DDP the seller's price is meant to include them.

Which platform

Alibaba, eBay, Taobao, Xianyu or AliExpress, and buying through a middleman (contested)

Contested

On 2026-08-24 @.philow suggested buying directly on Xianyu rather than from Alibaba sellers. Source: @.philow, 2026-08-24
The same day @djpandaman advised against it: he values Alibaba Trade Assurance and suppliers used to international shipping. @stcord asked whether Xianyu works for Western buyers at all; nobody answered in the thread. Source: @djpandaman, 2026-08-24
Source: @stcord, 2026-08-24
2026-09-12: @cressida1881 ranked the platforms by risk: Taobao safest, AliExpress for English, Alibaba only from a reputable seller, Xianyu probably not worth it. @tony_smartecom, in a thread he titled "Even in china it is sketchy", agreed about Xianyu and would pay a little more on Taobao for peace of mind. Another member in that thread: AliExpress is Taobao in English, with prices marked up to match. Source: @tony_smartecom, 2026-09-12
Source: @cressida1881, 2026-09-12
Source: @roboalchemist., 2026-09-12
2026-09-18 and 09-19: @voidgiraffe thought Alibaba cheaper but riskier. @_____josh_____ said it is not cheaper, since Alibaba adds 3% for Trade Assurance; @artistosu added a 3% PayPal spread, and @_____josh_____ noted that eBay has that too. @jjb01957 considers eBay from a seller with a good history the safest. @artistosu: Taobao serves the Chinese domestic market while Alibaba targets foreigners, and he compared Alibaba sellers to tourist-trap vendors; @wakeupmbrc1 never had a bad order from Taobao or Goofish. @voidgiraffe observed that Chinese sellers were open about prices continuing to rise on genuine demand. Source: @wakeupmbrc1, 2026-09-18
Source: @voidgiraffe, 2026-09-18
Source: @jjb01957, 2026-09-19
Source: @_____josh_____, 2026-09-19
Source: @artistosu, 2026-09-19
2026-09-20: @wakeupmbrc1 said a foreign buyer must check everything, because sellers on Taobao and Goofish behave very differently once they know the buyer is foreign (he never got a wrong item, since sellers did not know he was not Chinese), and that ordering through a middleman or cargo agent is better; he bought his own GPUs locally. @spectakkular has used Superbuy but suspects the agents know the international forwarders, and suggests third-party inspection for expensive items. Source: @wakeupmbrc1, 2026-09-20
Source: @spectakkular, 2026-09-20
2026-09-21: @giaki3003 and @dalzyyy said foreign buyers hit Taobao and Alipay verification and anti-fraud blocks. Source: @giaki3003, 2026-09-21
Source: @dalzyyy, 2026-09-21
2026-10-03: @voidgiraffe had heard Xianyu is a lot cheaper and asked whether non-Chinese buyers manage it, and @busulle wondered about Shenzhen. @wakeupmbrc1 has bought over 50k worth from Taobao and Goofish through a cargo company or middleman with nothing going wrong (one 13.5k order: 3 MS73-HB1 boards, CPUs, DDR5 RDIMMs, waterblocks and radiators). His advice: act through a middleman and do not let sellers know you are a foreigner. Source: @voidgiraffe, 2026-10-03
Source: @busulle, 2026-10-03
Source: @wakeupmbrc1, 2026-10-03
2026-10-03: @tokukarin is skeptical of the middleman route: warehouse fees and double shipping, and "maybe just lucky". Source: @tokukarin, 2026-10-03

Accounts and payment from abroad

Xianyu, Goofish and Taobao from abroad: phone numbers, passport check, Alipay, and sellers without stock

You can browse and search Goofish without an account; buying needs one. Members reported that Xianyu registration wants a Chinese phone number, and on 2026-07-19 @meromgreen could not register a Taobao account because the verification SMS never arrived. @poningru understood that Americans can only buy there through a third-party agent. In August the route for foreigners was a photo of yourself holding your passport plus an Alipay account; @_arcanum_ logs in with a Taobao account, and his Xianyu account was suspended for "suspicious activity". On 2026-09-19 @wakeupmbrc1 said Taobao works with a US, Russian or any foreign number, but Xianyu and bilibili need a Chinese one: a permanent Chinese number means buying a SIM or eSIM in person at China Mobile, China Unicom or China Telecom with a passport and keeping the balance positive (the cheapest roaming plan while abroad). For those who cannot visit China, @endsjeremy linked the eSender service (esenderchina.com). Results vary: @cressida1881's Xianyu sign-up with a foreign account was blocked and @voidgiraffe's Australian number was "flagged for security" on Goofish (2026-09-20), while @dalzyyy has a Xianyu account without a Chinese number, linked to global Alipay, and buys normally. On 2026-08-07 @dalzyyy said Xianyu now accepts international Alipay accounts and foreign cards, and that he has used Taobao's global shipping program since 2021, with prices below AliExpress and faster shipping. @_____josh_____ registered Alipay in China with a foreign phone number in July but could not use that account outside China without full ID registration. @ju5t5omedude: AliExpress prices vary by buyer location and often run higher than Alibaba's.

Many Xianyu sellers say openly that they hold no stock: they take payment, source a card and keep the difference, so a purchase can be an agreement to source at a set price rather than a card in hand, and sellers cancel when their own supplier raises the price. In one week of July @_arcanum_ was cancelled on about a dozen times, including by sellers who claimed stock on hand. Listed prices are not the real price (@justbendev saw about 6k RMB listed while @_arcanum_ put real prices near 8k RMB), and many listings carried "bad credit" badges. Members advised putting the Chinese apps on a separate burner phone, citing a CNN report on Pinduoduo malware. EPYC Rome and Milan CPUs and H12D-8D boards (Huananzhi H12D-8D) are cheap there.

Reported
Source: @meromgreen, 2026-07-19
Source: @_arcanum_, 2026-07-21
Source: @poningru, 2026-07-29
Source: @endsjeremy, 2026-07-29
Source: @rogersmith2026, 2026-07-30
Source: @dalzyyy, 2026-08-07
Source: @_____josh_____, 2026-08-07
Source: @ju5t5omedude, 2026-08-07
Source: @artistosu, 2026-08-22
Source: @xanthefin, 2026-08-22
Source: @irythros, 2026-08-22
Source: @justbendev, 2026-08-23
Source: @wakeupmbrc1, 2026-09-19
Source: @endsjeremy, 2026-09-19
Source: @dalzyyy, 2026-09-19
Source: @cressida1881, 2026-09-19
Source: @voidgiraffe, 2026-09-20

Xianyu fees and tax: 0.6% platform fee, about 2,500 EUR a card before DDP (October 2026)

On 2026-10-06 @lia_oc explained that Xianyu is a used-goods marketplace like eBay: sales between individuals are tax exempt in China, but the buyer owes import duty and VAT at the destination if the parcel is declared truthfully, and a registered business seller incurs Chinese VAT. @spectakkular noted that a seller with 2000 units (over $3M) is surely a business, and that if a quote includes Chinese tax, an export channel could recover about 13%, minus the channel's fee. @ob88594: quoted prices do not include tax, and the platform collected only 0.6%. In August @artistosu put the Xianyu seller fee at 0.6% (at most 60 RMB) and forwarders at $3 to $10 (there are many in Korea). He called GPU server barebones dirt cheap there, but a faulty product cannot be returned, and so-called trusted sellers often scam foreigners because foreigners cannot open a dispute, so he only buys cheap items there. @.philow also found GPU servers cheap on Xianyu, with shipping and finding a trusted agent as the problems; he expected a 4028-class server to cost over $70 to ship to France, still cheaper than eBay with its fees. On 2026-10-25 @kellertreppe123 put legitimate Xianyu listings at about 2,500 EUR per card, not including DDP to Europe. His suggested method (2026-10-14): scan Xianyu and Taobao listings, find a trustworthy seller and have him list the card on Alibaba with DDP. On 2026-10-26 @gnasherrr said he can buy directly from Xianyu and ship without tariffs, cheaper than AliExpress, but would rather not deal with the hassle; he gave no route.

Reported 8 GB and 10 GB
Source: @.philow, 2026-08-16
Source: @artistosu, 2026-08-16
Source: @lia_oc, 2026-10-06
Source: @spectakkular, 2026-10-06
Source: @ob88594, 2026-10-06
Source: @kellertreppe123, 2026-10-14
Source: @kellertreppe123, 2026-10-25
Source: @gnasherrr, 2026-10-26

Agents and middlemen

Taobao buying agents: Superbuy, or a trusted Alibaba supplier at about 10%

Taobao requires login with a phone passkey and may not load in the US without it (2026-08-29). The ways in from abroad: browser translation (Chrome or Google Translate); Taobao's own international shipping, where the seller ships to a Taobao warehouse (this worked for Bykski blocks to Korea); or an agent service such as Superbuy that buys on your behalf for about 10% plus shipping, though warranty and seller follow-up effectively do not work that way. @lia_oc has used Superbuy a lot with good results and @spectakkular found it fine: low commission, plain forwarding also available, slow to place orders. @djpandaman pays the Alibaba supplier he buys cards from 10% to act as his agent, with honest shipping; on 2026-09-23 he received Bykski N-TESLA-A100-40G-SR blocks ordered on Taobao that way. @spectakkular: agents make their margin on the exchange rate and shipping rather than the price, so negotiate the final price with the seller yourself, then tell the agent to use that price so the discount is not lost. Superbuy caches old listing data (it showed a store at 7499 RMB that was listing at 9999 RMB) and adds 5% to the exchange rate in its foreign-currency estimates. That 9999 RMB Taobao listing (1000 cards sold individually at just under USD 1500, gone after a day or two) said in the small print that the cards were "cmppg199hx" origin, Tesla-derived cards rather than 170HX, as @dalzyyy found; @wakeupmbrc1 put the minimum Taobao retail for a real card at around 14k RMB (see Which card do I have). @matej87 rarely finds reliable stores that ship to Europe; his rule is that the agent risk can be worth it when AliExpress charges 2 to 3 times the Taobao price. @wakeupmbrc1 says he has never been scammed on Taobao or Goofish. Neither Superbuy nor Goofish forwarding can test a GPU (next entries).

Reported 8 GB and 10 GB
Source: @ju5t5omedude, 2026-08-29
Source: @matej87, 2026-08-29
Source: @meromgreen, 2026-08-29
Source: @wakeupmbrc1, 2026-08-31
Source: @licensedterrapin, 2026-08-31
Source: @djpandaman, 2026-09-23
Source: @spectakkular, 2026-10-11
Source: @wakeupmbrc1, 2026-10-11
Source: @dalzyyy, 2026-10-11
Source: @spectakkular, 2026-10-12
Source: @djpandaman, 2026-10-12
Source: @lia_oc, 2026-10-12
Source: @endsjeremy, 2026-10-12

Idea: an in-country tech agent to test cards before export (about 10% fee)

On 2026-10-25 @endsjeremy said at least one community member uses a China-side tech agent who checks hardware while it is still in the country, for roughly a 10% fee, but he could not recall who. People running over 100k USD a year of China business told him a local onsite agent is a must. He proposed that the community find such an agent, both to learn real in-country prices and to screen cards before shipping. The need came up earlier: in August @kellertreppe123 asked for a proxy service with a GPU test bench after Superbuy refunded an order it could not test, and on 2026-09-10 @spectakkular suggested paying $100 to $200 for Alibaba's add-on inspection service, which was disputed in the same thread. No agent was named and nothing was tested.

Theory 8 GB and 10 GB
Source: @kellertreppe123, 2026-08-09
Source: @spectakkular, 2026-09-10
Source: @endsjeremy, 2026-10-25

Purchasing agents cannot test GPUs; cards bought that way arrived dead

Agents such as Superbuy, and Goofish or Xianyu forwarding, have no GPU test bench: they power on ordinary hardware and photograph items, so a CMP card cannot be checked before it leaves China. @kellertreppe123's CMP purchases through that route arrived dead ("bricks"); he recovered the money by bank chargeback and advises against Superbuy for these cards (2026-10-25). In August Superbuy had refunded his 380 EUR order in full within 3 days because it could not test the cards and the seller, who offered a suspiciously low price, looked like a scammer; he still called Xianyu fairly legit with the right proxy. On 2026-07-30 @artistosu warned against buying expensive cards on Xianyu from outside China: sellers may deliberately send DOA cards, returns are impossible, and forwarders usually guarantee returns only within China. @giaki3003 noted that another member had received DOAs from miners there. @_arcanum_ buys there only where he can inspect the package and refuse it on the spot; he and @artistosu said listings at about 2850 RMB were middlemen using the same stock photo, who take the money and then say they cannot get cards, and @dalzyyy saw one such seller's auto-message asking buyers to contact them off-platform. In August @dalzyyy put the domestic price at about 6k RMB, with many miners selling directly on Xianyu, and one member tried 3 different Xianyu sellers without success. On 2026-10-07 @lia_oc said Xianyu sellers will not run any tests and cancel orders or never ship, and @djpandaman noted that even flying to Hong Kong still means finding a supplier on Xianyu or Taobao. Buy where a test and a return are possible, or inspect in person; see Acceptance checklist and Testing and burn-in.

Warning 8 GB and 10 GB
Source: @artistosu, 2026-07-30
Source: @_arcanum_, 2026-07-30
Source: @giaki3003, 2026-07-30
Source: @cute_sc2, 2026-07-30
Source: @rogersmith2026, 2026-07-30
Source: @dalzyyy, 2026-08-01
Source: @kellertreppe123, 2026-08-09
Source: @roboalchemist., 2026-08-10
Source: @djpandaman, 2026-10-04
Source: @lia_oc, 2026-10-07
Source: @kellertreppe123, 2026-10-25

In person

Buying in person: pay when the courier collects, pick up at the Shenzhen border

On 2026-07-21 @newman_08462 advised requiring the seller to ship within a very short time: SF Express can collect a parcel within 1 hour and it is immediately trackable on the SF Express site, which stops sellers reneging. On 2026-07-24 @skyy2333 said that if you know Chinese or have Chinese friends, you can arrange to pay only when the courier is physically there to collect the card and has provided tracking. @_arcanum_ bought 5 cards from a seller in the server's sales channel (Asia, direct bank transfer) who sent testing and packaging videos during the order, and picked them up at the Shenzhen border on 2026-07-25 at a bit over 7k RMB each (about $1k US). He later said the cards were very dusty and looked pulled straight out of a mine.

Reported
Source: @newman_08462, 2026-07-21
Source: @skyy2333, 2026-07-24
Source: @_arcanum_, 2026-07-24
Source: @diabeetee, 2026-07-24

Shipping, DDP and DAP

Check the incoterm: DAP or DDP (contested)

Contested 8 GB and 10 GB

2026-07-20: @eksitus noted that quotes default to DAP and DDP must be requested, at about $85 per card to the US; @quark2world paid about $50 per card to Germany, and @paulng0324 said DDP does not cover the import tax Alibaba charges unless you have a company number. @skirtchaser warned that DDP shipments of valuable GPUs declared at a token value can be held when inspected; he once had to go to a customs office in person because the seller had declared the wrong amount. @giaki3003 avoids DDP since the new EU import taxes, and @robbbbbb7973 faced 15% tax on arrival. Source: @eksitus, 2026-07-20
Source: @skirtchaser, 2026-07-20
Source: @quark2world, 2026-07-20
Source: @paulng0324, 2026-07-20
Source: @giaki3003, 2026-07-20
Source: @robbbbbb7973, 2026-07-20
2026-08-13: @skirtchaser advised asking Chinese sellers for DAP instead of their DDP offer. He once paid full DDP; the seller under-declared the value, kept the money, and he still had to pay after customs held the parcel for inspection. With DDP you rely on an under-declaration getting through; with DAP you pay the import charges yourself. @zingy90210 had bought his card from the same seller with DDP. Source: @zingy90210, 2026-08-13
Source: @skirtchaser, 2026-08-13
2026-08-28: after @zanooda paid 3345 USD for two cards DDP to Germany, @skirtchaser said sellers fill in the DDP paperwork incorrectly, so an Alibaba ticket will not help: if customs inspects the parcel, the buyer either pays the import charges again or has it returned and must fight for a refund as "item not received". @artistosu said the sellers' DDP just under-declares the value and never pays the tax. Source: @artistosu, 2026-08-28
Source: @zanooda, 2026-08-28
2026-09-02: @lenxtroz put tariffs and customs on Alibaba imports to the US at about 50% of declared value. Source: @lenxtroz, 2026-09-02
2026-09-08 to 09-10: @reala7096 (EU) advised buying from trusted Alibaba sellers with DDP and paid no VAT on delivery for a recently ordered RTX 3080 20GB. @cibernox's orders from an Alibaba seller were quoted DDP, his second pair coming to 2095 EUR each including duties and shipping. Source: @reala7096, 2026-09-08
Source: @cibernox, 2026-09-08
2026-10-04: @lenxtroz warned that a DAP quote means the buyer pays customs and about 50% tariffs on US import, though it is usually the fastest shipping. @busulle's EU order was DDP: the seller uses its own shipping company into Germany and forwards within the EU, and did not seem to care what was on the invoice. Source: @lenxtroz, 2026-10-04
Source: @busulle, 2026-10-04
2026-10-14: @feralzi reported AliExpress sellers messaging buyers after the sale to demand an extra $500 for shipment. Source: @feralzi, 2026-10-14

Check the incoterm on every quote.

Freight forwarders in China consolidate and relabel; they do not test cards

On 2026-08-16 @cmurrayis recommended having orders sent to a local freight forwarder in China, declaring the shipment value yourself and consolidating several orders into one shipment; he shared the contact card of a forwarder he uses for small packages (not reproduced here). @artistosu said none of the hundreds of Korean forwarders test electronics before shipping, and @cmurrayis agreed that forwarders only relabel or rebox. @.philow offered to help others with local freight via WeChat. On 2026-07-23 @skyy2333 said he regularly ships goods from China to the US and that it is tax free, with a minimum starting weight of 12 kg; the tax claim is his own and unverified.

Reported
Source: @skyy2333, 2026-07-23
Source: @cmurrayis, 2026-08-16
Source: @artistosu, 2026-08-16
Source: @endsjeremy, 2026-08-16
Source: @schakaqt, 2026-08-16
Source: @.philow, 2026-08-16

Line shipping: no tracking for weeks, repacked boxes

@fallengod9962, in Canada, bought 1 and then 2 more cards on Alibaba (prices on Price history, July to October 2026). Two arrived, but the third, sent by "line shipping", had no tracking update for 2 weeks after it was checked into the warehouse (2026-08-20). Line shipping consolidates goods and typically shows no updates until the parcel reaches the destination country, where a local carrier does the last mile. @_studebaker_ said the same happens in the US, and @cmdrwaka324 described boxes repacked with orange tape.

Reported
Source: @fallengod9962, 2026-08-20
Source: @danske1, 2026-08-20
Source: @_studebaker_, 2026-08-20
Source: @cmdrwaka324, 2026-08-20

Shipping costs, reshippers and carrying cards across a border

Shipping figures from late August to early October 2026: $75 per card DDU from one member's supplier, $70 for 14-day delivery from another, and a $250 quote to ship V100 cards that @kellertreppe123 received from his Chinese supplier contact on 2026-09-16 and considered very high. On 2026-10-03 @stcord noted that some GPU listings appear only on ebay.com, not on European eBay; @waypoint3642 said eBay will not let EU buyers buy GPUs from the US, and the workaround is a reshipper. @deejay9983 had proposed flying out to collect cards in person to avoid tariffs. On 2026-08-27 @1a2b3c0967 flew across a border with two cards in his luggage and declared them because their value exceeded the customs threshold, which led to a 30-minute conversation with three border officers.

Reported
Source: @deejay9983, 2026-08-26
Source: @1a2b3c0967, 2026-08-27
Source: @kellertreppe123, 2026-09-16
Source: @stcord, 2026-10-03
Source: @waypoint3642, 2026-10-03

Returns

Returning a card to China is hard

On 2026-08-16 @artistosu warned that returns to China are very hard: Chinese customs require the recipient's national ID number, sellers rarely cooperate, and China imposes tariffs on all incoming electronics. If the seller does not cooperate, customs destroys the item or sends it back; DDP shipments do not need the ID. He had returned goods via ZTO Express. @dalzyyy returned a motherboard via SF International without issue after the PDD platform made the seller pay about $100 shipping. Test a card on arrival while a return or a dispute is still possible (Acceptance checklist); payment protection and disputes are on Alibaba Trade Assurance, cancellations and disputes.

Warning
Source: @artistosu, 2026-08-16
Source: @dalzyyy, 2026-08-16

The Kazakhstan route

Order on Taobao or Goofish, collect at Horgos: x16-soldered 8 GB cards at $2,390 (October 2026)

From Kazakhstan, @wakeupmbrc1 orders via Taobao or Goofish for delivery to Horgos (4 hours by bus) and collects the goods in person; Russian citizens need no visa for China, he noted. On 2026-10-16 he bought two more cards this way for $2,390 each, already x16 soldered (see PCIe x16 capacitor mod) and in like-new condition, while China direct-message prices were 17,500 RMB (about $2,650) each for 10 pcs. He is building toward 4 cards for GLM-class models. By 2026-10-22 he reported that a CIS purchase at 2,380 had risen to 3,600 and more within 5 days (later prices on Price history and market). Earlier, on 2026-08-21, @djpandaman said large inventories sit in Kazakhstan and Russia, poorly connected to Western supply chains (unverified), and on 2026-09-27 @wakeupmbrc1 offered two 8 GB cards from Kazakhstan at $2.5k each, then $2.7k each with shipping paid. Only one member has used this route.

Reported 8 GB
Source: @djpandaman, 2026-08-21
Source: @wakeupmbrc1, 2026-09-27
Source: @wakeupmbrc1, 2026-10-16
Source: @voidgiraffe, 2026-10-16
Source: @zingy90210, 2026-10-17