Taobao - The Complete 4PX, NinjaVan, DPex, Prouter Guide (Updated)

I wrote a post about "The Complete 4PX Guide" when Taobao first became popular in Singapore back in 2014.

It has since been 2 years and after several changes to the interfaces and links, i would like to give an 'update' to this guide to help you with your shopping. This update will be applicable to any of the Taobao Official Freight Forwarders - 4PX, Prouter, NinjaVan and DPex.

I am assuming that you have already read the Taobao Account Creation guide and have an account ready. So i will go straight to the main highlights of using a Taobao appointed official freight forwarder.

So let's proceed.

Setup Your Singapore Address

This step is pretty important for home deliveries. 4PX has a tie-up with Singpost for POPStation deliveries. But nevertheless, it is important to input the right address to ensure your goodies will reach you!

• Select "账号管理" (Account Management)

• Select "收货地址" (Delivery Address)

• Add your home (Singapore) address.

Let's Add Something to Our Cart

I am going to buy some caps for my son, so let's add them to our Shopping Cart.

Check Out

Select the items and click the "结算" button at the bottom. You will see the following screen.

As you can see, the rates are clearly displayed for each of the Taobao Official Freight Forwarders. For our example, we will use 4PX to deliver our purchases.

(Rates Accurate As of 23-Nov-16)

• DPEX
• ¥30 for first KG ( ¥10 per subsequent 0.5kg)
• 4PX
• ¥33 for first KG ( ¥10 per subsequent 0.5kg)
• NINJA VAN
• ¥26 for first KG ( ¥9 per subsequent  0.5kg)
• PRouter
• ¥27 for first KG ( ¥10 per subsequent 0.5kg)

Click on "确认" (Accept).

Pay via Alipay

Pay for your purchases via Alipay. As you can see from the screenshot, there is a credit card fee that you will have to bear (approximately 3% of your entire order). 

Once the payment is made, the seller(s) will proceed to ship the items to the 4PX (Or your designated freight forwarder) warehouse for consolidation.

Check The Flow of Goods

You can proceed to check the statuses of your purchase from the menu "淘宝集运". 

You will be able to track your purchases, as well as view the corresponding costs of shipping it to Singapore. When all the items have arrived at the freight forwarder's warehouse, you can proceed to consolidate and pay. 

Consolidate and Pay for Shipping

You will be notified by SMS when you packages arrive at the 4PX warehouse.

(Example:)

Login to Taobao to select the purchases to be grouped. (Check the "订单" checkbox on each item).

Click "运费结算", which means "pay for shipping".

Note: This step is where you select "Home Delivery" or "Self-Collection" (POPStation).

Once you have completed this final payment step, the freight forwarder will proceed to pack and ship your items to your home in Singapore (or POPStation, if you have selected the Self-Collection method)! 

Sit back, enjoy a cup of tea and wait for your package(s) to arrive! 

Update: Very impressed with the speed of their service - Received the SMS from Singpost about delivery of the package after 3 working days. All in 4PX consolidate and pay to delivery took about 5 days (2 days over the weekend).

Here's a picture of what arrived - nicely packed and sealed, delivered by SingPost.

Happy shopping!!!

4PX vs 65Daigou vs Peeka Comparison

Having been actively purchasing from Taobao for the last two to three years, we have used and experienced a variety of freight forwarders. Enough for us to share our personal experiences with each of the more popular ones. Hopefully you will find this infographic useful! 

*As of APR-2016, 65Daigou is now known as ezbuy.

Our Summary (Based on our experiences)

Value - In terms of value, 65Daigou and 4PX are pretty much tied. Both generally offer slightly better shipping rates than Peeka. Perhaps due to the auto-inclusion of 7% GST by Peeka for all sea shipments. This often makes the shipment overly expensive - especially if the total value is less than $400 (Minimum sum for customs GST declaration). 

Edit: In general, for small air packages (1.5-2kg), 65Daigou would be about 19RMB cheaper. However, if you do choose home delivery, there will be an additional charge - $5 or $8 (>= 8KG)

Promotions - 65Daigou and Peeka often run promotional rates on their shipments. Sometimes giving up to 20% off shipping during certain periods of the year. We have never seen any promotions for 4PX shipping.

Speed - 4PX in general has one of the fastest door-to-door turnover. Mainly because it is integrated with Taobao, has a partnership with Singpost (POPStation) and also a sizable logistics team in China. We experienced quite a fair bit of delays (about a week) with 65Daigou Ship-For-Me service. Peeka delivers as advertised.

Packaging - We had several poor experiences with 65Daigou, with regards to packaging. Several of our purchases were poorly packed and some where crushed during shipping. Peeka on the other hand handles this superbly. Our purchases were packaged nicely in carton boxes and arrived in great condition. We had no issues with the packaging by 4PX as well. Most of the packages arrive in well wrapped packages.

Misc - 65Daigou and Peeka provides various Buy-For-You services for users who are not proficient in Chinese. The service includes an agency fee, which covers checking of purchases and the concierge services rendered.

Our Recommendation

4PX - Fast economy air shipment, for purchases which are not bulky or heavy. We use this freight forwarder for most of our regular Taobao purchases. For those at work during office hours, the POPStation delivery method is simply perfect for you! 

65Daigou - For sea economy or bulky items, purchases below $400SGD and those who are willing to wait 3-4 weeks for a shipment.

Peeka - For sea economy or fragile items and purchases above $400SGD.

TaoBao - A Complete 4PX Guide

Many people *Myself Included* have so much trouble navigating the treacherous pages of Taobao in Mandarin. Now we all know that TaoBao is a huge treasure trove... However, as with all online merchants, there will always be hits and misses.

I thought i could put together a guide to share some of my experience with the Taobao assigned freight forwarder, mainly 4PX.

To begin, i would assume that you have already created a Taobao account and that 'google translate' is your best friend.

Lets start with the shopping...

Note: Read my Updated 4PX Guide (2016) here.

1) Search for an item you would like to purchase e.g: "LED 灯"

- You would likely encounter many merchants/sellers with the same products. It is important to look search for sellers with decent ratings and sales. 

Use the following rule: Heart < Diamond < Crowns

Personally, i would buy from sellers with 2-3 Diamonds and above!

Search For It !

2) Add the item(s) to cart and check out!

Select the check boxes of the items you would like to purchase and 'total' (结算).

Checking Out

3) Here comes the important part!

Confirm all your address details ! Make sure you CHECK the box "国际转运服务". 

This means to use a freight forwarder. If you don't, the freight costs will be relatively higher because the seller will need to send directly to your Singapore address.

Remember to select a freight forwarding service!

For the purpose of the guide, lets use 4PX. Personally, i have never tried Lequgo and PRouter. But i have had pleasant experience with 4PX, in terms of delivery speed. 

Choosing your freight forwarder

Submit the order using "提交订单"

Based on my experience, there are several modes of payment.

1. Payment via Credit Cards  [Visa/Mastercard charges a 3% cross-border fee (Payment is in RMB)]
2. Payment via Alipay Wallet
3. Payment via eNETs [eNETs charges a 1$ admin fee (Payment is automatically converted to SGD)]

Option1: Seems to be the better option if your total value is small (Example: 50RMB)
Option2: I have no experience using Alipay (Seems like a chinese version of PayPal)
Option3: Seems to be the better option if your total value is substantial

4) Orders will be shipped from the individual merchants

Wait patiently for the orders to reach the 4PX warehouse. Do note that you would receive an SMS notification once the orders have arrived.

SMS!

5) Check if your goods have reached 4PX warehouse

Aside from the SMS notifications, you can also access the menu -> "我的淘宝" -> "已买到的宝贝”. (Items You Have Purchased). To monitor and track the delivery process. 

Mouse over the line: "查看物流" (Check the delivery flow). 

6) Consolidate your order on the 4PX screen and submit the payment for 4PX forwarding.

Once you have confirmed that all your purchases have reached the  4PX warehouse, proceed to consolidate them!. 

Consolidate Your Order

Pay for the Shipping

Select "合拼订单" (Consolidate orders).

Here, 4PX will combine all the orders you have selected. Essentially, you will be charged based on the Volumetric or Gross Weight, whichever is higher.

As a reference, my latest shipment weighed in around 1.5-2.0 KG and i paid approximately 103RMB (23SGD).

Here, you would be asked to decide if you want your parcels delivered to your doorstep (aka by Singpost delivery) or to Pick your own Parcel (aka by POPStation).

Selecting a POPstation (Updated on 29-OCT-15): 

Choose the most convenient location

Usually, i would choose the POPStation (Pick-Own-Parcel) method and collect the packages from the nearest Singpost branch. Mainly because I do not like the inconvenience of waiting all day for the postman to arrive (Some how they tend to come at really ODD hours.

Once you are satisfied with the total shipment costs. Proceed to pay for the shipping (last payment for your orders).

7) Patiently wait for your packages... Depending on your choice of option to self-collect (via POPStation) or home delivery.

Since i choose the POPStation delivery option - the typical SMS notification from Singpost to indicate that your parcel is ready for collection looks like this:

SMS No.2!

Once your receive the SMS, make your way down to the POPStation. Find the touch screen computer. Make a mental note of the location of the locker, in my case, it is locker number "H7". 

This is important because once you complete the PIN entry, the locker will be unlocked and you can proceed to retrieve your parcel! 

In total, it took about 3-5 working days from first payment, for my stuff to arrive !. 

Enjoy your purchases!!

Feel free to rate the sellers once you have received the goods as this provides a transparent feedback platform for other buyers. Hope this guide will help you ! Enjoy 淘宝-ing !  :))

Read more Taobao related stuff here!.