What’s the best way to ship from Taobao? We ordered some furniture and shipped them through Taobao, ezbuy, and ezShip for a shipping cost comparison! Read on for the ultimate Taobao shipping comparison.

Ever shopped on Taobao and found yourself in the furniture section? They have soooo many styles, including these Muji-styled ones from Zomo that don’t cost a bomb. With a catalogue that could put IKEA to shame, it’s only expected that you’ll stumble across multiple things that you’ll want to “add to cart”.

But wait — how are we gonna ship this to Singapore?

To help you out, we ordered some wooden stools from Zomo furniture using three different shipping methods when shopping on Taobao:

1. Using Taobao’s direct shipping service
2. Using ezShip’s freight forwarding service
3. Using ezbuy as a “buy-for-me” shipping service

Check out the table below for a Taobao shipping comparison of how much each stool was, and how long it took to arrive.

	Stool	Shipping	Total	Shipping
Taobao	S$55.73	S$33.92	S$89.65	18 days
ezShip	S$55.73	S$29.13	S$84.86	24 days
ezbuy	S$63.70	S$25.30	S$89	23 days

Note that ezShip and ezbuy were running a 15% and 20% shipping promotion respectively during the time of purchase, hence the lowered shipping costs. We’ll explain more in detail in the shipping section below!

Updates About Storage Fees (入库费)

But first — it’s been brought to our attention that there have been cases of unexpected warehouse fees for bulky items. Why does this happen? Well, sellers are preempting situations (i.e. rejections) that commonly happen when an item is large, especially when you use Cainiao as a shipping option. Thus, these sellers charge a warehouse fee to cover the cost of delivery in case the items get rejected. However, there are moments when they charge just to earn extra cash from consumers who don’t know about this fee. While most sellers won’t charge, we advise shoppers to switch sellers whenever this happens.

How Much is The Stool From Taobao?

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The stool is about ¥293.02 (~S$55.73) on Taobao, with a ¥20 discount applied during a Taobao sale. The same product was also listed at the same price of ¥293.02 (~S$55.73) when using ezbuy. However, when checking out on ezbuy, the price suddenly became S$63.70 instead.

“Wait… why is ezbuy more expensive?” is exactly the same question we had. Upon digging, we found the fine print that says that ezbuy tacks on an 8% fee every time you use them to buy something.

I did a little more digging and did my own calculations. If we follow the above mentioned price of ¥293.02 (~S$55.73) on the screenshot, and tacked on the 8% fee that ezbuy charges, the price should be ~S$60.20 and not S$63.70. What am I missing here?

One plausible explanation for the price increase could be DCC, or Dynamic Currency Conversion, which is a service that merchants use to convert the local currency amount to SGD on your behalf. We’ve actually written a whole guide on what DCC is, how it works and most importantly, how much extra you’ll end up paying because of DCC.

	Stool Price
Taobao	S$55.73
ezShip	S$55.73
ezBuy	S$63.70

How Much is The Taobao Shipping Fee For The Stools?

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Furniture is usually shipped by sea because of its size and cost. In the odd, rare occasion that it’s small enough to fit on a plane, it will be exorbitantly expensive because it takes up so much space, relative to other freight in the plane.

This is a phenomenon that we’ve explained in our volumetric versus actual weight shipping guide, including a very easy to understand analogy of how volumetric shipping works using a bag of potato chips!

	Shipping	Remarks
Taobao	S$33.92	–
ezShip	S$29.13	After 15% off sea shipping promo, S$34.72 before discount
ezbuy	S$25.30	After 20% off sea shipping promo, S$31.63 before discount

Note: During the time of our purchase, ezShip was running a limited 15% off sea shipping promo, while ezbuy was running a limited 20% off sea shipping promo. Hence, the shipping prices for both ezbuy and ezShip became cheaper than Taobao.

During usual times without the promotions, ezShip would have been more expensive than Taobao, and ezbuy would have been only S$2.29 cheaper than Taobao.

How Long Did The Stools Take to Arrive With Taobao Shipping?

If one could use zoomorphism to find likeness in the quality of shipping time to that of an animal, you would liken it to that of a cat — fickle, with each delivery dancing to the beat of its own drum. You’ll never really know when to expect it. Therefore, to ensure a fair playing field, we placed the orders on the same day and time.

Note: Our other ezbuy purchases got merged together into one shipping order and we couldn’t separate the stool to ship alone. We had to contact their customer service for assistance, which took a few days to resolve. This actually added to the long shipping duration.

	Shipping
Taobao	18 days
ezbuy	23 days
ezShip	24 days

Ok, So Which Taobao Shipping Method I Should Use to Ship Furniture From Taobao?

That’s the big question. Each Taobao shipping service has its pros and cons, and it depends on what type of service and speed you’re looking for!

If You Want Your Items ASAP… Use Taobao’s Direct Shipping

By using Taobao’s direct shipping, you get:

1. A faster shipping time (a week faster than the rest)
2. A seamless and direct Taobao shipping process

If you need more help with Taobao shipping or shopping, check out our Ultimate Taobao Shopping Compilation Guide that will transform you into a Taobao pro in no time.

If You Want Cheaper Taobao Shipping, Use ezShip’s Freight Forwarding Service

By using ezShip’s freight forwarding shipping, you get:

1. A slightly cheaper shipping cost
2. More opportunities for shipping discounts with their monthly shipping promotions

If you’re not too familiar with ezShip, you can also rely on our ezShip Shipping Guide to guide you along!

Buying Furniture From Taobao is Very Addictive!

I know see why they say Taobao is a rabbit hole. Once you start, you can never stop. The furniture selection is amazing, not to mention the great quality.

Master the Taobao guides to open up a whole new world of unbeatable bargains!

The Complete Consolidated Taobao to Singapore Guide:

Step-by-Step Shopping Guides
• How to Buy From Taobao: 2021 Step-by-Step Shopping Guide
• How to Refund on Taobao: 2021 Step-by-Step Refund Guide
• How to Navigate Taobao: 2021 Keywords Search Guide
• How to Image Search on Taobao and Find Products
• 4 Key Taobao Shopping Festivals To Look Out For
• #YouTripHauls: Taobao Product Recommendations (Taobao Singapore)
• My Experience Buying From Muji’s Official Store On Taobao
• ShopBack Taobao: How to Earn Taobao Cashback on Purchases

  Step-by-Step Shipping Guides:
• How to Use Taobao Free Shipping Zone
• How to Ship From Taobao: 2021 Step-by-Step Shipping Guide (Updated!)
• How to Ship Bulky Items From Taobao: China CBM Shipping Guide 2021 (Updated!)
• Taobao Shipping: Taobao Direct vs ezbuy vs ezShip
• Best China Freight Forwarders Singapore 2021 (Agent Comparison)

Join YouTrip Taobao Alley on Telegram for more tips and guides like this.

Even though Zomo has lots of rave reviews and has been on Taobao for more than 12 years, I was still very pleasantly surprised that the beautiful stools were nothing short of fantastic. Extremely sturdy, smooth, and a very subtle wood fragrance that’s actually not in the slightest pungent. (I’m looking at you, IKEA!)

Anyway, don’t forget to checkout in Chinese Yuan (CNY) with your YouTrip card for Wholesale Exchange Rates on your Taobao purchases!

If you still haven’t gotten your free YouTrip card yet, use promo code <TAOBAO5> to sign up and receive a free S$5 in your account. 

For more great tips and guides like this, join our Telegram Channel (@YouTripSG) and subscribe to our free weekly newsletter here or down below!

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