Taobao – Yen Kai's Idea Cast

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

Taobao product recommendation – Self inflating sleeping mats

In preparation for my one month Europe trip, i got these sleeping mats. I would attempt to book twin or double hotel rooms without adding on extra bed for my kids, who are at age 4 and 5 respectively. As you can imagine, doing so saves me a lot of money and pays for the sleeping mats after just 2 hotel bookings. Continue reading Taobao product recommendation – Self inflating sleeping mats

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.

My bounty this time, amounting to 0.24 CBM

Here are some details of note during the course of engagement with 86OF for the shipment. Continue reading 86OF second review

Taobao is back on Shopback

For two months probably, Taobao went missing on Shopback. Apparently, they were revamping the mechanism for tracking Taobao purchases through Shopback.

Previously, you had to search for the item you wanted to purchase through the search bar in Shopback’s Taobao page. The obvious disadvantages of this approach were you would not be able to filter nor sort the search results like you could on Taobao website. For example, you wouldn’t be able to find the seller with the highest sales volume, and you normally want to do that. Continue reading Taobao is back on Shopback

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.

Customer service and business development contact numbers listed on the website in Chinese

Continue reading Deciphering 86OF’s website

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

Taobao under S$5 Christmas gifts for adults

I hope you will not be receiving another mug for Christmas this year. Don’t be the one giving one either. Here are some gift ideas that will probably count as being at least marginally useful and having enough novelty to avoid ending up in the trash can. They’re pretty cheap too.

Newton’s cradle

I used to dream of owning one of these as a kid. A good way to de-stress, and usually look nice on any office desk. Costs only 9.90 Yuan (S$2.05) for the smallest one. Continue reading Taobao under S$5 Christmas gifts for adults

Taobao product recommendation – chopper knife and chopping board

Heavy duty bamboo chopping board and chopper knife

I had to buy a new set of chopper knife and chopping board recently. I didn’t bother to shop for these in any of the local stores, as i’m pretty sure the prices on Taobao is overwhelmingly cheaper.

There are basically three types of chopping board – wood, bamboo and plastic. There are many articles on the pros and cons of each, and i think this one is quite balanced. It is however, as usual, written with a slant towards protecting the knife, which i guess is a big deal for professional chefs. I’m not bothered about how a bamboo board might dull my knife easily, as i will just buy a new one as and when necessary. Knives, as with many stainless steel products, are even cheaper from Taobao. Continue reading Taobao product recommendation – chopper knife and chopping board

Taobao product recommendation – replacement air filter

Woke up this morning to slightly hazy weather, and i was just thinking we might be spared the haze this year. Most people would remember that the haze experienced last year was particularly bad.

Air purifiers fly off the shelves every time the haze comes, as people panic that their health would be affected by PM2.5 particles. Though i was tempted, i have resisted the urge to buy an air purifier, until now. And no, it is not in response to the haze. It is because we (my family) have been hit by flu which lasted an extended period, and i felt using an air purifier in our air-conditioned bedroom would help. Continue reading Taobao product recommendation – replacement air filter

Taobao product recommendation – vacumm food sealer

As with the Airfryer, this was a product that took a bit of deliberation before a decision was made to buy. Not that it is expensive, but I wouldn’t buy something I don’t need just because it’s cheap. And it is actually quite cheap for what it is, setting me back by 118 Yuan (S$24). This was the cheapest price i found on Taobao, from this seller. I also bought pouches for vacuum sealing from the same seller. Continue reading Taobao product recommendation – vacumm food sealer

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