The payable amount consists of 3 parts:
1) Cost of item + shopping service fees
2) Shipping to You
3) Insurance (optional)
Service fees:
- 10% for Taobao and most mainstream shopping platforms
- 15% for Xianyu, more complex orders e.g. pre-orders where payments are paid over different periods of time, made-to-order cosplay and clothing where I have to communicate your desired design / measurements to the seller
- For more complex orders like niche group orders requiring me to join a messenger group, the fee will depend on how complex the overall order and payment process is.
The following explanation is meant to help you to understand what are the costs involved and to estimate how much you will be spending. The actual payment amount may differ slightly due to various factors and I will issue you a payment breakdown and the payment link for the confirmed amount upon receiving your order by email.
1) Cost of item + Fees
- Consists of Item price + Domestic shipping fee within China.
- Listed prices are in RMB / yuan.
- Buying multiple items from the same store usually entitles you to combined domestic shipping discount.
- There may be additional costs for certain products there are not visible from the listing (e.g. custom-sizing fees for cosplay costumes).
- If the price looks unreasonably cheap or expensive, it is most likely not the actual price.
- I will calculate for you exactly how much you have to pay before confirming your order so don’t worry
Let’s use this listing from Taobao as an example.
299rmb is the product price and 8rmb is the domestic shipping. The domestic postage would depend on the location of the warehouse. I have a few different locations which I switch around in light of Covid-19 restrictions, but I wouldn’t worry about it too much as most sellers these days absorb the cost of domestic postage. Moreover, the difference in value is usually almost negligible.
(a) Open this Mastercard Currency Conversion Calculator
Input the values in the following format.
(b) Open this Paypal fee calculator
Continuing with the example above, input the following values:
- Users who can use Singaporean platforms like local bank transfer and Paynow need not pay Paypal fees. When using the Mastercard Currency Conversion Calculator, choose SGD instead of USD to find out how much to pay in SGD.
2) Shipping to you
This payment will only be required when your purchases are ready for shipping. This portion includes shipping fees, packaging costs and associated administrative costs (e.g. some couriers charge customs clearance fees). I do not charge additional service fees on top of these, but Paypal fees are billable expenses.
I no longer publish the shipping fees rates list due to fluctuating currency rates, shipping rates and a wide variety of couriers to choose from. At the time of shipping, I will recommend the most economical and reliable shipping method to you. If you have any preferred shipping methods, please let me know in advance.
You may ask me for a shipping fee estimate when you place your order, and I will try my best to provide it. That said, please understand that most shipping methods charge by volumetric weight instead of physical weight, so it is difficult to estimate the shipping fees since I would not know the volumetric weight of your package until the items are actually packed for shipping.
3) Insurance (optional)
You can purchase in-house insurance for your package at an additional fee. You will be compensated for missing packages or damaged contents. Please note that fragile, breakable items are not covered by insurance. Please do not buy breakables if you are unable to accept the risk of them breaking during transit.
Personally, I do not think you have to worry about damages as all packages are professionally packed with safety in mind. See this page for more details). However, if you are purchasing high-value products, it may be a good idea to insure them for loss, especially if the option of a more reliable and reputable private courier like DHL is not available to you.