My Experience and My Two Cents
I have been a user of DHgate for the last couple of months with varied success/failures (and some cases where I wanted to throw my brand new opened package at a wall).
I do, completely agree with Rima112 about being careful with buying brand name products such as ipods, or certain cell phones.
I must admit, I have made a bit of profit from this website and selling on eBay; however, that is because I found a few suppliers that I trust.
My experience with brand-name products: be careful and read the descriptions twice to make sure everything is understood. When you have read it, contact the seller and question him/her specifically.
DHGate is not a 'scam' site. It is a network which links overseas traders from china with the world. (and of course, a gateway that is much more secure than sending away your money through moneybrokers and never see it again). That said, DHGate gets new sellers every single day with the intent to scam that very population (a population which is rapidly growing, mind you - they have been experience server overloads lately).
It is important to check their feedback and look for feedback that seems real and not spit out by a bot or copy pasted. SO basically, the bottom line, is to be careful with the deals you go into. If a seller JUST signed up to the site with the name nikeshoesdeals1224 and put up 20 ads related to LCD TV's with Stock Pictures that have prices that are unbelievable... chances are... they are fake and you should stay away.
Ipods - Be warned, they are most likely replicas. With that in mind, you cannot sell replicas as the real ones, they are not even close to the same quality. They will not work in iTunes and chances are they are poorly made. (seen a few pretty bad ones myself).
Cell Phones - These vary. I have seen BAD cases where sellers try to sell complete and utter knock offs; check feedback. If one of the entries are negative and go into the idea that their products are fake, be careful. On the other hand, eBay sellers often use phones like these in their sales (these cell phones can be hit or miss, really). I often see phones on eBay that definitely come from this site. This is probably where 80% of the people get the iphone clones to sell on eBay. I thought about it too, but I decided to stay away. The iphones (CECT P168) may look promising but are utterly cheap. No Java = No Games. Poor network for 1900mhz. Most of the options on this phone for Canada/USA are "nerfed", with no support. No English manual, etc etc. (if you can live with that, I guess thats YOUR cup of tea, but not mine). Its how a few of dropshippers start out on eBay. (if they know what their doing and can figure out what is real or what is fake/bootlegged/counterfeit).
DVD box sets - You know, I at one point was gullible to get these from DHgate. I would avoid them. I thought it was a great idea because the prices were so great. There is a reason why they are so cheap: They are either bootlegged, counterfeit, or not licensed (and therefore illegal anyway). They may be great quality and can pass off as the real thing with 'collector edition' or 'ultimate edition', however they are not legal. If you post on eBay you can only be lucky if you get off with being banned and not charged, in my opinion. Cases keep popping up all the time.
Shipping is rather shady too. Not only do they charge a bit more for shipping (though express, which is a nice touch), 90% of the products I have bought I did not need to pay customs. How? Because these 'suppliers' mark them down as gifts in order to get around the system? (I believe this is illegal? no matter what you think or however you try to put a spin on it.)
So overall? My opinion? Yes, it has some great products and possible profit margins which can make you happy; However, because of their shady suppliers and lack of support if something goes wrong, I do not trust them as much as I used to.
Conclusion:
* Not all feedbacks are fake. I see my feedbacks up all the time for the products im happy with. I see my negative ones too.
* Shipping is shady, unless someone else can prove my previous comment wrong.
* Be careful with brand-name products, check feedback, and even THEN be careful. People want a quick fix and quick money. They could sell you cheap stuff and never be seen again. Its happened countless times and has been posted on countless forums, which in the end gives these types of websites a bad name.
* If you are VERY careful and do not mind shelling out a bit of money to test these products yourself, it could be profitable.
* CECT P168 (iphone clone) is a waste. Even if its tri-band or quad-band, you will have limited functions, no java games , and NO support if it breaks down. Its a 'crushed dream', at best.
* For future reference, I go into depth and ramble on in all my posts, in every forum I am on.
Overall Rating: 5.5/10
Reason: The site is good with nice ideals, but the suppliers are stingy. China is, nonetheless, one of the counterfeit capitals of the world. So be wary.