Marketplace
Hi Bargainers,
Just saw many want to buy items from Taobao and Tmall but confused about the shipping fees. From my experience, most items in Taobao/Tmall are cheaper than Aliexpress/Joybuy/Banggood, even with the shipping costs, especially when you buying something big (more than 1kg). There are three ways to choose for delivery: Ocean, Air, Direct. Costs from low to high: Ocean-Air-Direct, Speed from low to High: Ocean-Air-Direct. However, due to the virus thing, there might not be a significant difference between Ocean and Air. I usually choose Ocean and it takes 1.5-2 months to ship to Aus. There is a 20-day free storage service, they can hold your orders in their warehouse so you can wait for all your orders to arrive at the warehouse, they will then package all your Taobao/Tmall orders into one package so that you can save money, especially for the operational fee and the first 500g fee for Ocean.
Air:
Collect & Collect (might available within metropolitan areas only): Maximum 20 kg, 63CNY (12.8AUD) for every 0.5 kg. No more than 90cm for each length, width or height and no more than 160 cm for the sum of the length, width and height.
Deliver to door: 66CNY (13.4AUD) for every 0.5 kg, same size and weight limits with C&C
Ocean:
Small items (fees based on weight): Total weight of all items together no more than 20kg, the total volume after packing all items to one package no more than 0.1m3, no more than 160 cm for the sum of the length, width and height after packing all items to one package, no more than 90cm for each length, width or height for each item in the package
Big items (fees based on volume): All other items that not belong to the small item. 260 CNY (53AUD) for each 0.1cm3 volume if the total volume is less than 0.5cm3, 240CNY (48.8AUD) for each 0.1cm3 volume if the total volume is greater than 0.5cm3. Additional 100CNY (20AUD) operational fee applies for each order.
Direct:
Currently not available and can't find the price on the website, based on my previous experience, the costs are slightly more than Air, and last time took 10 days to arrive
You don't need to pay GST if the total value of one shipping package is less than $1000 AUD.
Do you recommend using google chrome (easiest for translation) and using Tmall or taobao over aliexpress?
I've heard of friends getting parts for electric scooters from taobao, and they have found things that are difficult to find on aliexpress.
What tips do you have for using these online shopping sites, without having the required language skills?