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.

OCBC360 - It Just Got Better

Did the OCBC360 Account "Just Got Better" or are there really better savings account alternatives out there to maximise your interest returns. Lets take a look at whats new, come 1st May.

The current OCBC360 terms:

Lets take a look at the new criterias come 01-MAY-2015:

Lets discuss the criterias from the left-to-right. To prevent confusion, we will number them 1 to 5.

New Terms

1) 1.2% Per Year 

Credit your salary of at least S$2,000 through GIRO

How to earn the bonus interest:

- Credit your salary of at least S$2,000 per month.

- You will receive this bonus interest by the 7th business day (exclude Saturday, Sunday and Public Holiday) of the following month.

- Only salary credit with the transaction description "GIRO-SALARY" will qualify for this bonus.

Our take:

Previously: 1.0% Per Year

There was an upward revision of the interest by 0.2% per year. This is great news for everyone, as this criteria is probably the easiest to meet.

2) 0.5% Per Year

Pay any 3 bills online or through GIRO

How to earn the bonus interest:

- Make 3 unique bill payments from this account with OCBC Online Banking using Pay Any Bill and Pay Any Card services or through GIRO.

- Multiple payments to the same bill within the calendar month will be considered as a single payment.

- You will receive this bonus interest by the 7th business day (excluding Saturday, Sunday and Public Holiday) of the following month.

Our take:

Previously: 1.0% Per Year

This criteria has seen its interest amount reduced from 1% to 0.5%. 

An additional option of Giro payments, has been added to make it easier to qualify for this bonus interest. However, the huge reduction will significantly affect the final bonus interest amount.

3) 0.5% Per Year

Spend at least S$500 on OCBC Credit Cards

How to earn the bonus interest:

- Spend at least S$500 in total across your personal OCBC Credit Cards such as 365, Titanium, Platinum, FRANK, Robinsons, Plus! and Best Denki.

- You will receive this bonus interest by the 7th business day (exclude Saturday, Sunday and Public Holiday) of the following month.

Our take:

Previously: 1.0% Per Year

Similar to criteria 2, the bonus interest amount is reduced from 1% to 0.5%. 

Also, it is worthwhile to note that the minimum spend criteria has been increased from SGD$400 to SGD$500, making it slightly more difficult to reach this criteria - especially for account holders who rarely use OCBC credit cards.

4) 1% per year

Insure or invest and get this bonus for 12 months

How to earn the bonus interest: 

- Purchase any eligible financial product of at least the minimum amount, such as Endowment of at least S$8,000 in annual premium, or investment products such as Unit Trust or Structured Deposits of at least S$40,000.

- If you make multiple purchases of eligible financial products within the same month, we will only combine purchases of the same product type which have passed 14 days after the product’s effective date. Effective date refers to the inception date of the insurance plan, trade date of unit trust, deposit start date of structured deposit and transaction date for other investment products.

- This bonus interest is paid for 12 months after the free cancellation period or 14 days, whichever is longer.

Our take:

This is a new component of the OCBC360.

We feel that this additional 1% would not be easy to achieve unless the account holder is interested to purchase a financial product from OCBC. Moreover, do note the minimum amount of the investment required to qualify for this bonus interest.

5) 1% per year

Increase your account balance from the previous month’s balance

How to earn the bonus interest:

- Incremental account balance is the difference between current and previous month’s account balance.

- This bonus interest will be paid on incremental account balance of up to S$1,000,000.

- You will receive this bonus interest by the 7th business day (excluding Saturday, Sunday and Public Holiday) of the following month.

Our take:

This is a brand new component of the OCBC360. Allowing account holders to earn an additional 1% on incremental balances. This means that the additional 1% will be credited on your incremental balance. (Eg: $5000 x 1/100 x 31/365)

Illustration below:

Month	Balance	Incremental Balance	Bonus Interest earned on eligible Incremental Balance
Nov-14	S$60,000		S$0.00
Dec-14	S$65,000	S$5000	S$4.25

This works similar in effect to the OCBC Bonus+ Savings Account. 

We feel that the additional 1% is great only if one has a consistent stream of additional income or savings. Otherwise, the 1% bonus on the month-on-month incremental balances would not give substantial return.

We do see an opportunity of moving funds on alternate months to leverage on this additional 1% - similar to our Supercharge your savings article. But it remains to be seen if it will work with the OCBC360.

Unchanged Terms

Lastly, on top of the bonus interest, you will still continue to earn a base interest of 0.05% per year on your entire account balance.

Summary

The new OCBC 360 conditions sure gives us a lot to consider. Besides revising some bonus interest downwards, they have introduced two new components. and revised certain criterias.

All else equal, if you had managed to meet the previous criteria and achieved 3.05%, you will now only qualify for an effective interest of 2.25%. If you manage to meet criteria 4 (Insure or Invest) and criteria 5 (Incremental Balance). 

You will probably enjoy more interest returns from the latest changes to the OCBC360 Savings Account - to the tune of > 3.25% in EIR. This is pretty good considering that the CPF (Supposedly Risk Free) returns is at 2.5% for your ordinary account.

However, if you are like me, unable to meet some of these criterias, why not take a look at the latest UOB One Account - which provides an EIR of 2.43%. Not too shabby for a savings account.

UOB One Account - A Worthy Replacement of OCBC360

If you are looking to maximize your savings and worried about the impending changes to your OCBC 360 account (Which may effectively reduce its return to about 2.05%), perhaps you can consider the newly launched "UOB One Account". Lets take a look at the requirements to enjoy the interest rates as advertised by UOB.

Image Credit: Shutterstock

The Deal

To qualify for the high savings interest for the UOB One Account, you would be required to meet the basic criterias listed below:

1. Usage of Credit Cards
- A minimum charge of $500 to the UOB One Card or UOB Direct Visa Debit Card.
2. Salary or Giro
- To credit your salary (min. of $2000) per month
OR
- Perform 3 GIRO debit transactions

The Savings Interest Rates on meeting the above criterias are as follows:

Account Balance in your UOB One Account	Meet Card Spend of S$500	Meet Card Spend of S$500 and Credit Salary / make 3 GIRO debit transactions
First S$10,000	1.00%	1.50%
Next S$20,000	1.50%	2.00%
Next S$20,000	2.00%	3.33%
Above S$50,000	0.05%	0.05%

^ Maximum effective interest rate (EIR) on the One Account is 2.43% p.a. at S$50,000 deposit, provided customers meet both criterias of S$500 Card Spend and S$2,000 Salary credit or 3 GIRO debits per month.

Summary

Whilst the criteria set by UOB is simple enough to achieve, especially for existing holders of the One Card, the actual Effective Interest Rate (EIR) actually falls short of the headlined 3.33%. In fact, the total EIR comes up to 2.43% on your $50,000. Although it is not be as attractive as the 3.05% that OCBC 360 used to promise, it certainly will be; come 1st May, when OCBC revises that figure.

You can read more about the impending changes to OCBC360 here: Other Alternatives to the OCBC 360

Chir Chir - Novel Korean Chicken

Chir Chir (Pronounced as Chi-Reh Chi-Reh) is the latest restaurant to follow the Fried Chicken craze from korea to Singapore. Having already tried various Korean Fried Chicken joints in Singapore, namely 4Fingers, Bonchon and NeNe Chicken, we were eager to see how Chir Chir fairs among its more established peers.

Snow Nest ($32.90)

We decided to order a portion of the Snow Nest after being recommended by the service staff. The Snow Nest consist of seven to eight pieces of Cajun chicken tenders, atop a generous scoop of sweet potato puree.

The chicken is surrounded by a moat of cream sauce which consisted of bell peppers, broccoli, olives, grated parmesan and cheddar cheese. The novelty of this dish is the topping of whipped cream - which in our opinion, did not add much to the taste.

Without having much expectation, we were pleasantly surprised by the juiciness and texture of the cajun tenders. These tenders were lightly spiced and goes perfectly with the cheesy cream sauce. We enjoyed the Snow Nest and would recommend it for sharing between 2 people.

Garlicky Wings ($28.90)

The signature korean fried chicken wings, coated with a thin batter and deep fried to perfection. These juicy wings are served with bite sized chunks of roasted sweet potatoes and fried tteokbokki (Korean rice cakes).

As a basis for comparison, despite the relatively plump chicken wings, we preferred the 4Fingers rendition of the korean fried chicken wings for their amazing soy sauce coating and better tasting marination.

Macaroni and Cheese ($9.90)

Although Chir Chir is a korean fried chicken restaurant, we still had to order a Macaroni and Cheese dish simply because every one loves cheese! We loved the taste of the Mac & Cheese, but the portion is a tad too little for a dish that costs 10$.

Innovative looking tools to keep your hands clean whilst you enjoy your friend chicken !

Appetizers ($0.50 Each) 

As far as we know, Chir Chir batters and fries their chicken on the spot, right after the order is put through. This might mean a 10-15 minute wait before you would be served your food.

Thankfully, we were served some appetizers to whet our appetites. The pickled radish in particular was refreshingly sweet and crunchy. 

The novelty that Chir Chir brings to the Korean Fried Chicken scene is refreshing. We particularly enjoyed the freshness, tenderness and quality of the chicken used. However, we felt that perhaps the marination and taste, especially for its fried chicken, could still be improved. 

Chir Chir - Fusion Chicken Factory 
313@somerset #B3-04/05/06
Singapore 238895

Also opened at
Bedok Point #02-05/06 

A Singles Guide to Buying a BTO

Several of my single (some unavailable) peers are nearing their 35th birthday and many of them are contemplating diving straight into their bachelor pads when they are of eligible age. Knowing that there will be a handful of users who would have some burning questions regarding the eligibility and qualifying criteria for the Build-To-Order (BTO) application under the Singles Citizen Scheme, i decided to write a short guide, to compile some of the important facts you would need to know before making your purchase!

Image Credit: Space Sense Studio Pte Ltd

Eligibility

There are two main caveats for eligibility to apply for a Singles BTO. Firstly, your average gross monthly salary must not exceed $5,000.00. Secondly, you cannot be a joint owner/owner of another HDB or Private Property. For the case of the latter, you would be given a time frame to dispose of your existing private property after successfully applying for the BTO.

For those who do not even qualify due to the salary ceiling, congratulations to you! As you would be classified in the group of medium - high income earners. Unfortunately, a brand new BTO is out of bounds and your only options are the HDB resale or the private property markets.

Location

Bad news for the singles who are looking to buy a bachelor pad that is located in a convenient and matured district. Aside from the size restriction, which we will discuss in the next section, HDB only allows singles to buy BTOs from non-matured estates.

Based on the definition given by HDB, a matured estate refers to an estate that is in existence for more than 20 years. Examples of non-matured estates are listed as follows (Bukit Batok, Bukit Panjang, Chua Chu Kang, Hougang, Jurong (East/West), Punggol, Sengkang, Sembawang, Woodlands, Yishun). 

Size

There is a size restriction on Singles buying BTOs. HDB currently only allows Singles (at 35) to purchase 2 Room BTO developments. At a measly 45 square meters, you would be pretty much restricted to basically a 1 bedroom, 1 kitchen bachelor pad. 

Take a look at how a typical 2 room BTO flat would look like.

Time

Typically, the time taken from application, to receiving the keys is usually a good three to four years. At 35, most singles would be eager to move out and start living lives on own. Yet, having to wait for the BTO construction to complete for another 3-5 years would not be too enticing. 

If time is of the essence, one could consider going straight into the resale market.

Grants

Singles under SSC, NCS and FT/ST couples
Singapore Citizen (First-timer) Income	AHG (Singles)	SHG (Singles)	Total
Up to $750	$20,000	$10,000	$30,000
$751-1,000	$17,500		$27,500
$1,001-1,250	$15,000		$25,000
$1,251-1,500	$12,500		$22,500
$1,501-1,750	$10,000		$20,000
$1,751-2,000	$7,500		$17,500
$2,001-2,250	$5,000		$15,000
$2,251-2,500	$2,500		$12,500
$2,501-2,750	-	$7,500	$7,500
$2,751-3,000	-	$5,000	$5,000
$3,001-3,250	-	$2,500	$2,500

Selective grants are given by HDB for applicants whose monthly salary does not exceed $3250. The lower your salary, the higher the grants you will be eligible for.  

* You can read more about the HDB housing grants for Singles.

The Application Process

Once you are eligible to qualify for a singles BTO, look out for some of the BTO launches from HDB. When a desired development shows up (Example: SengKang, Sun Breeze, register for the electronic ballot by applying online.

Upon completion of the computerised balloting, you will be informed of the results of your application. If there is a realistic chance of getting a unit, you will be invited to HDB Hub at Toa Payoh for an appointment. 

During your appointment, you will face a nervous wait to select your desired unit and floor. There will be several flat screen monitors displaying the available units, as well as those that have been selected by applicants with a lower ballot number (i.e, those ahead of you). 

After selecting a unit, you will be required to pay the Option-To-Purchase (OTP). This is a non-refundable deposit that will be forfeited in the event you so decide to back out on your decision. For a 2 room flat, the OTP costs 500$ and has to be paid in CASH or NETs. 

Subsequently, you will be asked to pay the down payment of the house (Depending on the type of loan: Bank Vs HDB). Fast forward 3-4 years later, when the construction is completed and just before you receive your keys. You will be required to deplete your CPF ordinary account, which goes to the payment of your BTO flat. This is also when you begin your monthly loan repayments.

Finally, when you have moved in, you will be required to stay for a minimum of 5 years before you can sell or rent out your flat. 

Happy house hunting!

Related Articles: 
5 Things to note when buying your first BTO.