A few years ago, as a joke, I bought the absolute cheapest phone case off of Aliexpress for a friend for $0.46 with free shipping. 1.5 months later, I did actually get it in the mail. It went from China, through several of the central Asian countries (the ones whose names end with "stan"), and was delivered to my mailbox. All for less than the cost of a first class postage stamp at the time ($0.47).
It blows my mind that Aliexpress was willing to take my money and act as an intermediary between me and the retailer/factory as I cannot imagine they made a profit on this transaction given the fixed cost of accepting credit card payments (i.e. the "$0.30" part of 2.9% + "$0.30"). It further blows my mind that a retailer/factory can profitably send me the case at all, even if they were to receive the entire $0.46.
It blows my mind that Aliexpress was willing to take my money and act as an intermediary between me and the retailer/factory as I cannot imagine they made a profit on this transaction given the fixed cost of accepting credit card payments (i.e. the "$0.30" part of 2.9% + "$0.30"). It further blows my mind that a retailer/factory can profitably send me the case at all, even if they were to receive the entire $0.46.