I used to buy stationery from taobao through livejournal sprees. But as wise up, I realized I could shop more freely and whenever I want on my own. I don’t have to wait for sprees to start and I can have the items delivered directly to my place.
There are basically three ways you can shop on taobao:
- by participating in a spree
- buying directly from the seller
- through an online buy-for-me service
- have a friend that stays in China who can help you bring stuff that you shipped to his/her place over
I don’t like the first method as there is usually a limit to what you can buy and you have to wait for someone to start a spree. Plus the shipping is not always cheap and you have to self collect the items.
The second method has recently been made more convenient as they now accept DBS/POSB credit cards but you would be at the mercy of bank exchange rates. You must also have a good command of Chinese and know how to use the 阿里旺旺 chat. The seller must also be willing to ship to Singapore and you have to bear the shipping charges which should be pretty high.
I don’t have a close friend living in China; if not the fourth is actually the cheapest method.
Therefore I usually go with number 3. The service that I frequent is Peeka. I tried this one and also 65daigou before. This two are the more established and popular ones amongst Singaporeans. There are many many more of such services available. You just need to google.
I wanted to ship some bulky items that will be stored in a box measuring 50 by 50 by 70 cm. This item costs 858 RMB and costs 80 RMB to ship to 深圳 (Peeka) and 30 RMB to ship to 上海 (65daigou).
- With sea shipping Peeka costs 210.11 + 70.50 = 280.61 SGD
- With sea shipping 65daigou costs 204.06 + 104.30 = 308.36 SGD + 8 SGD (if I want it to be shipped to my doorstep)
- Direct shipping to Singapore is a crazy 2500 RMB (estimated 680 SGD)
I actually tried both services before and I preferred Peeka because I feel that it is cheaper and faster. I also prefer the Peeka interface as I have a clear idea of what I ordered, how much I paid, how much I have to pay, how long the order is taking and so on. 65daigou was a little confusing and they even calculated the amount that I had to pay wrongly.
There was once that Peeka forgot to ship one of my items from the China Shipping Centre to Singapore and they waived the shipping fee for that item. It was a 65 litre Esky cooler and would have cost quite a bit to ship. They also helped me expedit some book orders from 当当 and they are always prompt in replying queries. PLUS, they always have this 1-for-1 luggage promotion that I love. Thumbs up for customer service!
absolute honesty 
Hi,
Happen to chance upon your blog post on online shopping at taobao. Would like to have your opinion on whether it is more economical to use 4PX forwarding or Peeka? I have always been using Peeka and have never tried other ways of forwarding taobao stuff here. Currently i feel that Peeka has an easy to use interface and they pack items securely with no wastage of space in the box. So i’m thinking if 4PX i would be able to save more, i might change over.
Take note that 4PX is not like Peeka at all. They don’t help you repack. They act like Vpost, Comgateway and Borderlinx when shipping from US; they have an address for you to ship your stuff to China and they help you consolidate everything before sending it to Singapore. They don’t help you repack to save space and stuff like that.