Was there anything wrong with the first agent I used? Nope, nothing! But I wanted to try out another agent just because. Not to mention Taobao Ring charges 8% fee versus the 10% fee that Taobao Spree does.
I initially wasn't going to switch to a new agent till my friend told me about this agent and I was poking through their website and was intrigued by how their system works and I was sold right away!
The downside to Taobao Ring is that they only accept USD currency and not Euro, but it looks like in the future they will start to accept it. And to break down how the payment method works - and this is straight from their website
The first payment includes the total items cost + their domestic shipping fee + our service fee, the second payment is for international shipping. The insurance fee is optional. Clients will pay 5% of all the cost (items cost + domestic shipping fee + our service fee + international shipping fee) if they want their items insured.Honestly, who doesn't like 40% off EMS shipping? Taobao Spree also offered me a good discount on my EMS shipping :3
For the first payment, the items cost is fixed while the domestic shipping fee ranges from 10 CNY to 15 CNY for the first 1kg, which depends on items' weight and the distance between sellers' location and our warehouse.
For the second payment, we provide many international shipping methods, such as EMS, DHL, airmail etc. EMS is highly recommended for its safe, quick, reliable advantages, and you can enjoy a huge discount up to 40% off.
Honestly, it beats having to type everything out in an excel sheet lol and sending it to your agent. This is an automated form that grabs all the information for you. All you need to do is enter the LINK in the box below and add additional information at the box below it as well. It even converts it from Yuan to US Dollars for you!
This is just an example screen cap for you |
Its also great that it shows you the status on of your item, if its still in pending status (checking if its instock), if its been ordered or if its in transit from the seller to your agents warehouse.
And like most agents, you don't need to pay for your items until they confirmed everything is in instock. And if its not in stock, they will refund you the price of the item.
After you confirmed all the items you want on your order. At the bottom right hand of the page theres a button that says 'confirm order' and it will take you to the page above which gives you the option to select shipping methods. And again it will show you the total of your order. Once your order is confirmed, it will go into 'waiting confirmation' status. You're not required to pay for the order yet. This is where the Taobao Agent will look through your order and then you wait till they send you an email confirming that everything looks good.
Here is my current timeline in terms of the ordering process, as anyone can tell you, using an agent or going through someone else is a lot of back and forth and communication.
Monday [1.14.13] - I put my order into confirmation status. I'm waiting for the agent to email me back or update my queue screen to confirm that everything is available from the sellers.
The agent will go through each of the items you selected, confirm with the sellers the items are available and will then update your status page.
Normally most agents will email you within 24hrs to confirm they got your order and will be processing it. But with Taobao Ring and their handy system it eliminates the need to email back and forth to check on the status of your order. But being the impatient little bugger that I was(seeing as I didn't get an email confirming they even got the order or if I did everything right)I went ahead and emailed them Tuesday [1.15.13] and within minutes of sending my inquiry in, I got a reply saying that they are just backed up on orders and will be processing my order soon. 10 mins later I get another email from them confirming their ready to take my money.
Being the excited little sucker that I am went ahead and paid for my order right away and got another email confirming my payment has been sent and everything is being set up for purchasing. But keep in mind though, when paying with Paypal, there is another service fee you incur when paying for your item.Where they do charge you about 3% fee (roughly another $2-3 more)
Give it a few days for your items to be purchased, received and process. Its about a 2-5 business days ordeal and when your items are receive, just check your "order manage" page and it will update itself. They will even include a photo of your items so you can see how they look like / proof its there. (I blocked out some of the items here and the photos but its there.) And from this point, it will prompt you to pay for the 2nd payment - shipping to you. And once again, when paying with paypal you are paying an additional fee. And since I chose EMS, it is a little hefty price for shipping considering they have to weight the items.
Once your items are paid for, your order will go into "shipping" status and give it another 24 hrs for them to process and ship your package and a tracking number will be given to you. Allow about 7-10 business days for the package to arrive (for the most part, usually EMS for me arrives within 5-7 but you just never know)
So far I've had a pretty good experience with Taobao Ring. After having to simply probe them in the beginning to begin my order but once it all got started it was smooth sailing.
Hopefully this has helped you, happy shopping!
I would also vouch for Chinabuy www.chinabuy.com.au. They are legit and they don't charge a service fee.
ReplyDeleteAfter a bad experience with Taobao Ring I would NOT recommend them to ANYONE! They lost items of mine from a parcel and blamed Customs Australia for their loss. After an investigation it was discovered that Customs Australia were not at fault at all as, although my parcel was opened by them, nothing was removed. Taobao Ring still deny responsibility. Also, if you use xe.com to verify curent exchange rates from Chinese Yuan to US $ the cost of exchange that Taobao Ring usually gives is vastly different in their favor before they even add their fees on top so that should be enough to draw skepticism. My advice, STAY CLEAR OF TAOBAORING
ReplyDeleteHey Jen, Who else do you use or could you recommend? Their communication is appalling and I never get a response.
DeleteThe shipping prices are very HIGH!!!! It seems 8% commision is only a small part of what they earn. The shipping is the main income. For 0,9 kg package you will have to pay at least 20 dollars! 🙂 Think twice before you order something.
ReplyDeleteInternational shipping isn't cheap, unfortunately. If you check with your country, you should find similar, if not higher tracked shipping fees.
DeleteI am not part of Taobao Spree, by the way. But I also sell online and am familiar with shipping costs.
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