Author: admin

Status: Temporary Hiatus for Taiwan Shopping Service

As of 20 September 2022, I will stop accepting new orders via my Taiwan Shopping Service until further notice. I apologise for the abrupt notice. However, I’m facing challenges coping with a recent influx of orders. I will continue to process orders that are in progress. Resumption of service will be announced here after I’m done clearing out existing orders and I thank you for your patience.

It’s business as usual for my China, Japan and Singapore shopping services.

Hey everyone, thought I’d make a pinned post here to inform everyone about my activity status, which some people came to associate with the recency of my blog posts. I don’t update the blog anymore since I realise I actually haven’t got time to blog regularly. This is still a side-hustle and I have another day job. But rest assured that I am checking my emails almost every day. If I’m on a break, it will be reflected on this page and I will set up an auto-reply as well. Thank you for reaching out and I always look forward to helping you with your orders.

Cheers,
Angie

Free storage period lengthened for China / Japan shopping service

Hi friends,

Shipping restrictions and lockdowns have resulted in shipping delays, or even made it temporarily impossible to ship out parcels by air to certain countries. Fortunately, many warehouses have extended their free storage period, so you don’t have to worry about paying for storage if you happen to be one of those countries affected by border restrictions.

For my Taobao / China and Japan shopping service, non-perishable items can be stored for free for up to 6 months (180 days) from the time your purchase arrives at the warehouse. After 6 months, your purchases may be disposed of if shipping arrangements are not made.

For Taiwan shopping service, storage policies remain unchanged. There’s no charge for storage, and there isn’t a specific deadline for storage period, but the consolidation location is a residential house, not a warehouse. The faster you can have your items shipped, the better.

My New Email Address

Hello friends, because Google is charging for workspace gmails (domain emails) from June, I’ve started to shift away from using it, and my new email address is cdshoppingservice@gmail.com . I have not gotten around to personally informing everyone yet, but for those with open orders with me, I did not forget your order and you do not have to do anything except wait for my update. Of course, if you wish to contact me, you may use the new email address, and I will still be checking my old email until the day it shuts down.

Thank you!

Announcement: Back from Hiatus

Hello friends! I’m back from my hiatus! Actually, it feels like I never really went on hiatus, because despite my warning about an uptick in shipping issues, I continue to get requests from my regulars, who were very understanding and agreeable to switch to more reliable albeit more expensive methods like DHL, Fedex and the likes. Thank you so much for your support and understanding! I really am grateful. So I decided I might as well remove the hiatus notice from my website.

Generally, there are no changes to my service, but with fluctuating shipping prices and availability, it is no longer possible for me to give an accurate shipping fee estimation before you place your order, so I seek your understanding of this. I will still try to do so if you insist, but please also be prepared for when the actual shipping fee turns out to be more than that, or if your preferred shipping method is not available when your order is ready to ship.

In recent months, shipping problems have been exacerbated by fuel shortages and cargo crunch in China. I strongly advise everyone to use private couriers like Fedex, DHL, and UPS, which have more reliable and predictable schedules due to them having their own freights. This advice applies to customers in EU nations too. Since the new VAT laws were implemented in July, I’ve had some parcels rejected and sent back for unknown reasons when I use EMS or e-packet/registered airmail. These problems do not come with private couriers which tend to be much more capable at clearing customs. With that said, the more economical shipping methods like ems and e-packet are still available, but you use it them your own risk. If parcels take longer than usual to arrive, the post offices won’t investigate it. If the parcel gets rejected because of your insistence on airmail / ems, please understand that you don’t get any shipping fee refunds and you’d also have to pay a retrieval fee.

The pandemic has been hard on some of our finances, so I wanted to make sure that my customers are aware of the shipping challenges and costs before placing your order. In the meantime, I promise to keep up with the search for more reliable and economical shipping methods. I am certainly open to supporting your efforts to keep shipping costs low e.g. if you run a group order.

Thank you and stay safe!

Announcement: Temporary Hiatus, Limited Activity

I apologise for the sudden notice, but I am taking a temporary hiatus / break from 14 June 2021 and suspending my shopping services.

The main reason is that in the past months, I’ve observed an uptick in shipping and logistical errors, which I believe may be attributed to the manpower and cargo space crunch as a result of the pandemic. With the lack of clear insurance and compensation policies by shipping and forwarding companies, it has been stressful dealing with situations like missing and late parcels. Shipping prices, too, have been fluctuating, with some countries suddenly tacking on additional fees and changing their border measures. It has been challenging trying to give customers a fair and reliable shipping fee quote.

As a small business that only earns from service fees, it is unsustainable for me to compensate for losses and inaccurate shipping fee quotes out of my own pocket, which the shipping and forwarding companies deny accountability for. Hence, I’ve decided to take a break and source for more reliable logistics and shipping agents with fair and transparent insurance and compensation policies, so that we may all have peace of mind when shopping online.

I am also taking the opportunity to engage in some self-care as the past months have been particularly hectic for me.

For those who have active preorders and orders with me, rest assured that I will see them through until they are shipped to you. I am still contactable by email which I will check at least once every 3 days.

I will also accept add-on orders from people who currently have open orders / preorders with me.

I will not be accepting new orders from new customers. For old customers, it’ll be on a case-by-case basis.

Thank you everyone who has been very understanding and supportive, and for trusting me with your orders. We will talk again soon. In the meantime, stay healthy and safe!

Best,
Angie

Service disruption during Chinese New Year

Hi everyone, Chinese New Year is coming and it is a massive holiday season for Chinese people so there will be some disruptions particularly for services based in China and Taiwan.

International shipping will not be available from 7 to 18 February.

During this same period, I will process orders, shipments and respond to questions as usual. Many sellers will continue to be online as well, but things will be a little slower than usual as we would all be busy with the festivities.

Thanks for your kind understanding and Happy Chinese New Year to everyone who celebrates it!

[Resolved] Email address unable to receive or send emails

Hi everyone, it has recently come to my attention that my email is not working reliably since I switched my webhost. The emails that are affected are likely those sent or to be received after 15 January 2021.

Edited: The problem has been resolved and my usual email address is working reliably. If you expected a response from me but did not receive any, please email me again. Sorry for the inconvenience caused!