Learn how to ship your online shopping from Taobao directly as an international buyer without agents in this Taobao Shipping English guide!
Table of Contents:
1. Available Shipping Methods From Taobao To Singapore
2. How To Track & Consolidate Your Taobao Shipping
3. Best Credit Card For Taobao Shipping & Shopping
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.
1. Available Shipping Methods From Taobao To Singapore
| Taobao to Singapore Shipping Methods | |
| 官方集运 – 空运 (Consolidated Shipping – Air Freight) | All your items will be sent to Taobao’s warehouse in China to be registered, consolidated and repacked for optimal shipping, and then sent to you via air freight. You’ll only know the shipping fee after the items arrive at the Taobao warehouse. Price first 0.5kg: From ¥18 (S$3.70) Price next 0.5kg: From ¥15 (S$3.10) |
| 官方集运 – 海运 (Consolidated Shipping – Sea Freight) | All your items will be sent to Taobao’s warehouse in China to be registered, consolidated and repacked for optimal shipping, and then sent to you via sea freight. You’ll only know the shipping fee after the items arrive at the Taobao warehouse. Price first 1kg: From ¥21 (S$4.30) Price next 1kg: From ¥7.4 (S$1.50) |
| 官方直送 (Direct Shipping) | All your items will be sent to Taobao’s warehouse in China to be registered, and then immediately sent to you directly as individual packages. You’ll pay for the shipping fee together with the item. Price first 0.5kg: From ¥22 (S$4.50) Price next 0.5kg: From ¥15 (S$3.10) |
| 自行联系卖家寄送 (Seller’s Shipping) | You have to negotiate with the seller directly for them to ship directly to Singapore. This option is troublesome and you need to converse fluently in Mandarin. Plus, there are some sellers who will refuse to personally ship overseas. Price per kg: Depends on seller |
| Third-party Freight Forwarders/Agents | Retrieve your bulky items through Cubic Metre (CBM) shipping with third party forwarders. In general, regular shipping charges you for whichever weight is higher (actual weight vs volumetric weight). CBM shipping, on the other hand, uses sea freight and charges you based on the dimensions of your parcel. Prices start from S$45. |
Which Is the Best Shipping Method For Me?
Both “官方集运 – 空运” (Consolidated Shipping – Air Freight) and “官方集运 – 海运” (Consolidated Shipping – Sea Freight) are the best methods, because it’s always better to consolidate everything into one package for optimal shipping. Consolidated shipping is also slightly cheaper than direct shipping.
However, you’ll have an extra step to do, as you need to manually consolidate your items and pay for shipping separately. Read on to understand how to consolidate and pay for your shipping.
| Taobao Shipping Method | One-time Payment | Two-time Payment | Cost-Effective |
| Direct | ✔️ | ||
| Consolidated | ✔️ | ✔️ |
2. How To Track & Consolidate Your Taobao Shipping
Step #1: Access and review your Taobao account orders
After you’ve made your Taobao purchase, tap on the profile logo “我的淘宝” (Account) and select “查看全部订单” (My Orders). You’ll be able to see all your orders and track their shipping progress. When you track your order, you may see that the final shipping address is in China. Don’t fret, that’s just Taobao’s warehouse, and your items will be shipped to Singapore upon arrival and consolidation.
Whenever an item arrives in Taobao’s warehouse in China, you’ll also receive a SMS notification from Taobao. If you’ve ordered five items, you’ll receive five SMSes notifying you that your items have arrived in Taobao’s consolidation warehouse and you’re required to make a consolidated shipping payment.
So once you’ve received all the SMSes, it’s time to login to Taobao to consolidate your items and make payment. Just like logging into Taobao Desktop to pay for your purchases in CNY, you can also do the same to pay in CNY for consolidation and shipping.
Go to www.taobao.com and tap on “登录” (Login) to generate a QR code for login.
Open your Taobao mobile app and tap on the Camera function at the top most left corner. Once your camera opens up, point it to the QR code on your Taobao desktop. Tap on the orange bar “确认登录” (Confirm Login) on your Taobao mobile to login. Once logged in, click on “我的淘宝” (Account) to access all your orders.
Click on “待收货” (Items Not Received) to see all your items that’s already sitting in Taobao’s consolidation warehouse. Then, click on any one of the orange buttons that say “合并转运” (Consolidate).
Click on “全选” (Select All) to select all your items in Taobao’s consolidation warehouse, and then “一键合包结算” (Confirm Consolidate) at the bottom of the list.
Step #2: Decide how you’ll like to receive your Taobao to Singapore shipping order
On the shipping delivery page, you’ll see four options:
- Doorstep Delivery
- Self Pick-Up
- Locker Collection
- Self-Driving Collection
The simplest option is Doorstep Delivery, where the consolidated package will be delivered to your address directly. If no one’s home, you can also choose Locker Collection, where your package will be delivered to a POPStation of your choice.
Frankly, I’m not sure how Self Pick-Up and Self-Driving Collection works – but they sound really complicated. If you’ve tried it before, lemme know!
Your address should already be saved when you purchased your Taobao items previously, but in any case there’s no saved address or you need to change the delivery address, just click on “添加新地址” (Add New Address). Remember to click on “切换” (Change Country) and select “新加坡” (Singapore), otherwise the default would always be China.
The shipping delivery address form is fairly straightforward, just fill it up accordingly and click on the blue “保存” (Save). You can also scroll down to take a look at the price and weight breakdown of each single item.
Step #3: Pay for your Taobao to Singapore shipping
If everything looks great, click on “提交并支付” (Submit & Pay) and you’ll be directed to Alipay’s english website to process the payment.
Again, your YouTrip card details should be saved here if you’ve used it to purchase your Taobao items previously. Input your card details accordingly and click on Confirm to complete the transaction. You’ll then be redirected back to Taobao’s Payment Successful page. Now sit back and wait for your parcel to arrive!
3. Best Credit Card For Taobao Shipping & Shopping
The cheapest way to pay for your Taobao haul would be to check out in Chinese Yuan (CNY) on desktop — payments made via Taobao mobile apps will be automatically charged according to your mobile number i.e. your home currency. In addition, use your YouTrip card to score further discounts thanks to our sweet Wholesale Exchange Rates!
Are You Ready To Master The Art Of Taobao Shipping?
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)
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