Specifically NINGBO SUMMER AUTO PARTS aka def4x4?
the parts look identical to the oem pieces (in the photos at least) and the prices are unbelievable. I don’t know what shipping costs are. They even reply to email within a few minutes!
my thought is that there is no way they could be manufacturing these parts as it would cost a fortune. I wonder if it is oem stuff that is being resold unbranded?
does anyone have any experience with these guys?

 

My only advice comes from my mother. If it seems too good to be true then it probably is.

 

My mother said that as well! That is why I am looking for any references ;-). Attached are the photos and pricing they sent me

 

There are quite a few items there you could not go wrong with them ( what I would call "stickers" and non essentials) but I would not buy wheels and "life supporting" stuff. Yes, prices are out of this world.

 

I just took a chance and ordered a couple of plastic accessories from Ali Express - if and when they arrive I'll let you all know. Figured if $50 disappears it's not the end of the world.

Biggest challenge was getting a credit card to work on the site as it kept getting flagged for fraud - I used a one-time virtual card number from my Apple Card to minimize risk

Agree that I would not order anything bigger or structural

 

I have many years of experience in China manufacturing. It has been quite an exciting ride over the past few decades.

I suggest no one spend more than they are comfortable to lose, accept the fit and finish and raw material specs may or may not be equivalent to JLR's, and be comfortable that the buyer has no effective legal recourse for any dissatisfaction or failure. As well, I suggest you have a China-only charge card, as noted by DoctorofRocks.

Otherwise ... Enjoy !

 

I've been keeping an eye on Summer for a while, and it seems pretty legit, though I haven't personally ordered from her yet. I follow her YouTube channel and you can get a sense for the fit and finish of the parts (as well as you can from video anyway) and it seems to be pretty decent.

https://www.youtube.com/c/SummerAutoParts

 

I'm in! For $50, I'll try it out. I just ordered the trunk storage "thing". When it comes in, I'll take pics and let you know my thoughts. FWIW - I would NEVER buy anything needed to get the Defender to "stop" or to "go". This kind of "do dads" to make it more useful, sign me up. I'm pretty optimistic that I'll be screwed, though. The PDF shows it as one item and the website shows a video of something else, but all the individual photos appear correct. We'll see how bad this journey treats me.

Call it my "sacrifice for the greater good"!

 

Agreed. One if my businesses imports from China and Russia.

"Is buying from China okay?" is a wildly broad question. I have a few incredibly consistent suppliers but it wasn't easy getting there. The best is when you put a small order in to try a supplier out and they send the top-notch stuff to hook you. Then the big order comes and it's nothing like the samples. All of the sudden they don't speak English anymore.

 

FWIW: I can’t be sure of the origin of these emails, but I’m just passing on this info to see if anyone has had similar experiences. My personal devices, and accounts associated with them have been relatively free of hacking/phishing attempts and maybe this is just mere coincidence, but shortly after perusing some of these China connected websites such as Summer Auto Parts, Aliexpress, Alibaba and the like and ordering a cheap item from one of the aforementioned, which of course had me create an account in order to purchase, I suddenly starting receiving bogus emails under the guise of national companies such as Fidelity Life Insurance, Bank of America, Samsung, and Capital Life. It was very evident, as the fonts were different, misspellings, grammatical errors, etc. They all were claiming I had a ‘prize’ waiting to be claimed. Clicking on the senders email to investigate the origin showed the email to be a long string of gibberish characters, which would definitely not be used by a major US company. At the bottom was a message claiming I could contact them in writing at the address provided. The address was ALWAYS THE SAME. It came back to a mailing/shipping center in Sacramento California where people could procure a secured drop box. I called the number and spoke to an employee there, which was useless because he claimed anyone could use an address online but doesn’t mean it actually has ties to them. A call to Sacramento PD resulted in the same, no crime no foul. First of all, never click on any link in these phishing attempts, and secondly, block the sender from any future attempts. Maybe it’s just coincidence, but these started soon after initiating contact with some of these China-based suppliers. Never had these bogus emails before. Be wary, be careful.