My default Taobao parcel forwarder is ZTO-DPEX. I used to know how to change the default forwarder but I cannot locate the place to change it currently. If you know how to do so please enlighten me by leaving a comment! By the way, the shipping fee for ZTO is the same as for Dex-i (the lowest rates): 26 Yuan for the first kg and 9 Yuan for each subsequent 0.5kg. Somehow Taobao doesn’t bother to update their website to reflect the new pricing. Another observation is that the shipping weight may be rounded down, which is advantageous to consumers. My parcels weigh a total of 3.78kg, but i was only charged the shipping fee for 3.5kg (89 Yuan or S$18.30). I wouldn’t say it is cheap, but it is fair enough. Continue reading Taobao parcel forwarder review – DPEX
Tag: Parcel Forwarding
Taobao parcel forwarder review – Road Bull
My latest Taobao consolidate and shipping delivery via ZTO was just completed, and this time the local delivery was handled by Road Bull.
The interesting thing is, the delivery was done while I was overseas. A photo was provided as proof of delivery (featured image above). Continue reading Taobao parcel forwarder review – Road Bull
Taobao parcel forwarder review – Ninja Van
It’s been more than a year since i last used Taobao consolidated shipping. The singles day promotion looked tempting, and i gave it a try again. There was a 13 Yuan discount, which halved the first kg cost. At just 13 Yuan (S$2.70) for a 1kg shipment, i felt it would be a waste not to take advantage of it. The singles day promotion for the items i was eyeing were quite attractive too. Continue reading Taobao parcel forwarder review – Ninja Van
86OF Lost Parcel
And so it happened to me, as predicted by myself. My very first parcel that is nowhere to be found in 86OF’s warehouse.
You may have ended up reading this post because you had the same fate. What I have to say to you is, don’t panic! Most likely, the parcel will be found. Also, don’t get angry nor too worried. It doesn’t help at all. Just take the logical steps toward finding your parcel and hope for the best. That’s all you can do anyway. Yelling at the customer service does nothing to help your cause. Continue reading 86OF Lost Parcel
Review of 86OF Air Shipping
Timeliness is sometimes the deciding factor for making a purchase. With the possibility of receiving your goods roughly one week from the time you order from Taobao, there’s no reason to shop from elsewhere. This is made possible with air shipping.
There are many options available when it comes to choosing the air shipping forwarder, and for the Singapore market, there are practically 3 options available – Taobao Consolidate and Shipping (to be referred to as simply Taobao henceforth), ezbuy and 86OF.
I have used Taobao and ezbuy air shipping regularly, and this time round, I had a go with 86OF. They have just revamped their offering and it is quite competitive. However, they are not the winner, not yet. Here is how the three compare: Continue reading Review of 86OF Air Shipping
86OF bulky goods sea freight shipping
It’s been some time since I found time to blog. Meanwhile, I’ve been busy shipping Taobao stuff. Lots of stuff. For home renovation. All in all I shipped more than 2 CBM of goods, with more to come.
This would be my third time shipping via 86OF, but only the first time I shipped more than 0.5 CBM to qualify for free home delivery. With free home delivery, it is a good deal. There’s no way I can self-collect a full CBM worth of goods (see above), and some items won’t even fit into my car.
I received a call to confirm the delivery timing (apparently it was a logistics company that is a separate entity from 86OF). The delivery went well, and all goods were accounted for. There was just one item that was slightly damaged, but it has more to do with the seller not packing the item more securely. Continue reading 86OF bulky goods sea freight shipping
86OF revamps website, sort of
86OF has launched a revamped website. What they’ve done is basically putting up a company website proper. The current website at www.86of.com showcases the company business and is not aimed at end consumers who want to do parcel forwarding. I wonder what’s the point.
The original website with the “Member Centre” for managing parcels is still around and is now moved to the website address amk.86of.com. Not surprisingly, this annoucement is only made in the Chinese version of their website. I’m sure some customers would have panicked when they were not able to find the “Member Centre”.
The new website reveals that they have opened up 5 other branches around the island – Woodlands, Clementi, Hougang (in the Chinese version of website it is said to be Kovan), Tampinee and Boonlay (*facepalm* they are still not bothered about using proper English for their website and don’t even care if the names are spelt wrongly).
This is probably good news to those customers who stay far away from Ang Mo Kio. What i found puzzling is the way they have organized their operation. Every of these branches operate independently of each other with a different company name and website address. Also, with the exception of the Tramlines branch (called TPparcel), neither the company name nor the website address give you any clue that it serves a specific region. For example, the Clementi website address is www.taobao2SG.com (or cm.86of.com – is cm a good abbreviation of Clementi?) while the Woodlands website address is www.888ocean.com (or wl.86of.com – i’ve never seen Woodlands abbreviated as wl). They are operating in a franchising model, but i seriously think the execution is not briliant at all. All the franchising businesses I have seen operate as if they are the same and one entity.
Anyway, what’s most important for us consumers is that we can ship our Taobao goods at rock bottom prices, and i will continue using 86OF until they fail me. If you’re new to 86OF (do read my reviews on them), here are the sign up links for the various self-collection points – Ang Mo Kio, Clementi, Woodlands, Hougang and Tampines.
86OF second review
I have just collected my second round of shipment through 86OF parcel forwarding, and generally speaking, you could say it turned out just fine.
Here are some details of note during the course of engagement with 86OF for the shipment. Continue reading 86OF second review
Deciphering 86OF’s website
Owing to Ming’s comments about having to decipher 86OF’s website, I felt I could help some readers out there who may be confused 86OF’s workflow and website. As of now, 86OF’s website is still a mix of English and Chinese, and the terminology they have adopted can be incomprehensible to even novice users of ezbuy.
Review of 86OF – Ocean freight to Singapore for Taobao and China goods
I don’t know what is it is with the Chinese, that they love to use numbers in their branding. Ezbuy was 65daigou previously, and they had to undertake a labourious re-branding exercize. Now we have 86OF, also a parcel forwarding company. In case you’re interested, here are some articles that explain why the Chinese love to use numbers in their URLs and branding. By the way, 65 is the phone number country code for Singapore, and 86 is for China. Sorry for the sarcasm, but how creative is that!
Moving on to 86OF, i’ve been wanting to give them a go, and i finally did. The main attraction is the price. Typically, ocean freight shipment requires that you take up at least 1 cubic metre (CBM) of volume each time, which is hard to achieve for retail consumers, unless a few people pool together to do the shipping. Enter 86OF. They let you ship a minimum of 0.1 CBM, which is a lot easier to attain for retail customers. 0.1 CBM of volume is roughly equivalent to 5 rice cookers. The price for shipping 0.1 CBM is S$11.50, which is a lot cheaper than what it will cost if you used ezbuy (it will cost you S$120 and ezbuy no longer does sea freight). Update: price for 0.1 CBM is now increased to S$13, still cheap.
Continue reading Review of 86OF – Ocean freight to Singapore for Taobao and China goods