As we know China is the marketplace of the world, and the marketplace of the marketplace is Guangzhou. And if you want second hand electronics, you go to Shengxian Dashatou Electronics market.
And what do they sell at Shengxian Dashatou Second-Hand Market? Well from an electronics point of view pretty much everything you could ever imagine, with a few other random pieces thrown in for good measure. And this is not the only market in Guangzhou, or beyond like this. It is though the one where International traders come.
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What the Shengxian Dashatou Second-Hand Electronics Market
Located in what can be described as semi-downtown this is not just a second hand electronics market, but the centre of the retail sector of a whole electronics district. Name a phone, computer, or any other kind of digital brand and they will have an out let here.
This of course includes international ones, but also newer more obscure Chinese brands that are trying to take on the market, such as the very cool looking Honor set of phones, watches and tablets.
Shengxian Dashatou Address
2 Lv Yin Lu,
Yue Xiu Qu,
Guang Zhou Shi,
Guang Dong Sheng,
China,
510100
You easily reach here by taxi, DiDi and by subway and bus. This is an important place so everyone knows where it is. Again this is bang in the middle of a whole electronics district, rather than being s mall thruway store.
Shengxian Dashatou Electronics market Ground Floor/1st floor
The first or ground fllo9r of Dashatou market is all about mobile phones, with what is available being very much linked to the fashions of the day, therefore iPhone’s here are a huge deal. And boy are they damned cheap, with me working out that most everything was 20-30% cheaper than what would pay in other parts of South-East Asia, such as Vietnam, Cambodia and the Philippines.
For some context here an iPhone 13 128G cost $350 at one store. Crazier still was being able to get an iPhone 6, which are just not available anywhere else for just $25. This was similar with other apple products too, with a good watch being just $100. It is very easy to lose your shit here…..
Other phones of course included Samsung, particularly the flip versions, but also a fair amount if decent Chinese brands, such as Oppo. As said other “good” Chinese brands, such as Honour remain in their own stores, but these are quite simply opposite Shengxian Dashataou Electronics market.
I very much indulged on this floor, before it was time to head to the next…..
What’s on the second floor of the Shengxian Dashatou Electronics market?
Although the second floor is actually pretty eclectic by far the main reason to come here and what dominates is everything to do with Apple and MacBooks. Here you can find pretty much every MacBook every made buy the company, with an old one setting you back just $100.
As you move into newer territory obviously prices go up, but you are still always looking at 20-30% less than anyone else can even get close to.
There are off course other laptops too, with me almost buying a small ThinkPad which I planned to fire up with Linux, but thankfully or not my card stopped working.
I did thigh manage to get my old MacBook Air fixed, something that had been impossible elsewhere. This was not only done in just 2 hours, but came with a charger for just $50 cannot do is just not on the lexicon here.
Other highlights of this floor were cameras and the like, as well as randomly some watches. Most interestingly though and another place I dropped some money was at guy specializing in the Gimble, GoPro and orther similar brands. Again not only did he have all the new and indeed very cool shit, but the ability to quickly and cheaply fix a very old GoPro of mine.
What’s on the third floor of the Shengxian Dashatou Electronics market?
Another truly eclectic floor that also had a few empty booths leading to potential future growth. There were two main takeouts I took form this floor and they were the amazing and huge TV’s, as well as everything computer system, DVD, games, Blue Ray and even antique records. The later of which I think Justin Martell of Pioneer Media might well have approved of.
There were also random little stores, with one lady that I found selling memory cards, small speakers, sim card modems, as well as small child friendly iPads and the like.
Another point if interest were the camera stalls which I have briefly mentioned and were present on 3 floors. These weren’t from every single kind of lens that you could ever imagine, making this ground zero for real photographers, but also proper TV style big cameras. I am no expert of this stuff, but the sheer range showed that at Shengxian Dashataou Electronics market you can quite literally get everything.
Why is Shengxian Dashatou Second-Hand Electronics market so cheap?
A fabulous and interesting question, but also one with simple answers./ Firstly these goods come from all over the world, with the Chinese buying them pretty much by weight even on some occasions. Much of the world here also means the western world, where people do not buy second hand hardly. These means that they can buy in bulk and sell here the actual market is.
This is something I did for many years in China, rarely ever buying anything new from Apple. Another more pertinent point maybe is that whether true or not historically stolen goods have also long made their way to China. How true this is with modern security measures if hard to say.
Lastly though is that the Chinese are just so good at wholesale capitalism, with the people of Guangzhou being themselves particularly adept at it.
And what is the crowd like at Shengxian Dashatou Electronics?
While the foreigners have largely beeb booted out of China it appears the Africans in Guangzhou have been more adept at hanging around, or are more tolerated by the Chinese.
This makes this one of the few places where you will see a mix of almost 50-50 foreign to Chinese. But it is not just Africans here with others, such as from Latin America also very visible, The salient point though is that they are not only here to do business, but wholesale. Weirdly everyone thought I was Russian and when I asked a price was asked “how many units”. I once dreamed about being a trader, but also I feel there are not enough hours in the day.
Street Food Shengxian Dashatou Second-Hand Electronics Market
And spending 7+ hours looking at and buying electronics is mighty hard work, so I was super pleased that the dining options around here were frankly fabulous. This included street food, but also Chinese fast food restaurants serving big old pieces of duck, as as Guangdong Dumplings, another great local treat.
But being Guangzhou even their little mini-mart corner stores were like fine dining affairs, with me grabbing some great sausages and actual real milk. I feel some of this might be angled at the African clientele, but heck if it works, why not eh?
Not to put too fine a point on it, but you will not go hungry at Shezngzian Dashatau Second-Hand Electronics Market!
Was it worth visiting Shengxian Dashatou Electronics?
Quite simply it was one of the most amazing days of my life! And that is no exaggeration. This was everything I wanted and more, with me just being pleased my card stopped working. I mean really – how many laptops and phones does one actually need?
And it is not just the prices at Shengxian Dashataou Electronics, but the sheer range that makes you buy things you did not even feel that you might need.
Personally my evening was then spent chasing the street food at Guangzhou Airport as well as having my last KFC Wagyu Bacon Beef Burger, officially now there second best thing I had discovered in my 2024 trip to China.