They farm out manufacturing to China, but if they designed the products, this isn’t very different from having Foxconn assemble iPhones. But of course, now the Chinese manufacturer could sell their design directly and undercut them, since they aren’t Apple.
If they are using a design from the manufacturer, I have no sympathy for them. They are just trying to make money by adding some marketing and connecting dots together.
I'm not sure most of these sellers are actually designing their products.
There's an increasing trend of foreign manufacturers copying (or even simply producing unlabelled variants) popular products then white labelling them. You see this all over Amazon where there are dozens of brands selling the exact same product with their name stamped on it. Those products are always some slight variation of a bit name.
* Solo Stove - dozens of identical knock-offs
* Power screwdrivers - Nearly limitless variations of the popular brands
* Theragun/Hypervolt - Literally dozens of knock-offs with slight variations in packaging.
a quick google search turns up this store. whether they designed these firepits themselves or it's a catalog design from a chinese seller, i don't think it's really fair to compare it to an iPhone. and given the sheer number of designs in his store, i think it's a fairly safe bet that they're reselling catalog products from chinese sellers.
Not really a straight comparison. That one on alibaba has a 100 unit minimum. But yeah, for some extra money, the dudes on alibaba will slap your logo and print your packaging.
If they are using a design from the manufacturer, I have no sympathy for them. They are just trying to make money by adding some marketing and connecting dots together.