At my last show in Rio Rancho I had a parent tell me that she found a large number of minifigures online for dirt cheap. It was something like 46 minifigures for $28 or something. The parent said I should check it out and that she had placed an order. They hadn't arrived yet, but were due in from China. My first thought was that these minifigures cannot be true LEGO minifigures.
So I did a Google search... I won't post the link, but I'm sure you can find them... I found a site selling 55 Marvel Super Hero minifigures for $61.36 with free shipping from Chenghai, China. The cost goes down with the more sets that you purchase. The figures are labeled as "LEGO Compatible," but clearly are not LEGO brand as if you look closely you can see the LEGO studs do not have the LEGO logo on them.
From looking at the pictures, the representations look pretty darn accurate and very close to LEGO figures. They clearly did some major copying of what LEGO did. I'm sure this company has paid LEGO royalty fees for using its designs and I'll bet they've paid for the use of the various Super Hero logos and designs too. (yes, I'm kidding there) Not having purchased these myself, I can't say whether the quality matches LEGO or anything else related to the physical products.
Should you buy knockoff minifigures? That's completely up to you. My personal opinion is that you shouldn't. Besides the fact that I sell LEGO minfigures and this is direct competition to my business, you don't know what you're going to get. If there are issues, do you trust a seller in China to provide you with good customer service or to help fix issues? If you're not concerned about that, then give it a shot. If you or your kids don't care that the minifigures are not from LEGO, then you can probably save some money. If you've purchased some knockoff minifigures, please let me know. Send an email (store@bricksforbricks.com) or post in the comments. I'd like to know what you think of them.
With all that being said, please know that the minifigures sold by Bricks for Bricks are all genuine LEGO branded minifigures. There are no knock off parts for China or anywhere else.