parts from Hong Kong

I've recently been doing some repair work on guitars, and in the process of buying parts I've often found that I'm buying parts on ebay directly from Hong Kong. This surprises me because I'd think it shouldn't make economic sense.

- 6 insulated lead clips (alligator) for multimeter (2.50 +free shipping)
- guitar tremelo springs (10 springs for 5.46 + 3.00 shipping)
- a couple string trees (to help hold guitar strings firmly down on the fretboard (1.63 + 2.00 shipping)

Now on one level this isn't totally surprising since so much stuff gets made in Asia already, but on another level it is quite surprising because to me how should someone in Hong Kong be able to sell me such small quantities and ship them clean across the ocean and still make money on them? Why should these types of micro-orders exist so that I can order something for a couple bucks in china and in 7-10 have it arrive at my front door for only a couple bucks shipping? Granted these are small items, but still - it doesn't make sense.