I used to be able to see the overseas tracking number easily just by clicking "View Logistics" from the "All Orders" section of my orders page. However several months ago it stopped showing for me. I would have to contact the forwarding warehouse via online chat or Aliwang to get the tracking number. I'm pretty certain I'm not the only one. So now I figured out where to find it using the extra steps.





You can also see your shipping weight and charge here under the "Freight" column.

You can also click "order details" right above "View Logistics" (marked for step 3).




In addition, the online chat customer service rep for your forwarding warehouse can also tell you what your overseas tracking number is. They are available online from about 9:30PM-5AM Eastern Standard USA/New York time.

Taobao Global Consolidation and Shipping

 

TB help pages say that their official forwarders use the following criteria to determine if volumetric shipping is applied:
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Their volumetric weight is calculated as:
Length (cm) x Breadth (cm) x Height (cm) / 6000 = Volumetric Weight (kg)

Volumetric weight will be used for shipping if it is more than 3x more than actual weight.

I haven't been hit with it so far since the above criteria is quite lenient compared to other shipping companies, but I suspect some of the WeiJiang toys might qualify due to their big hollow boxes.

4px's tracking seems to lag. I just had a package sent out from the warehouse on Sunday. It was radio silence until Tuesday evening when it updated all at once saying that the package cleared customs on Monday and has already reached SG customs by Tuesday morning.

 

Here in the US we can avoid getting hit with expensive volumetric weight charges (which can easily happen as almost everything worth buying to TF fans will have volumetric weight larger/heavier than actual weight).
We can avoid volumetric weight fees by shipping via EMS which calculates shipping charge based on actual weight and not volumetric weight.. The irony is that the fastest shipping method, EMS, is now the cheapest.

 

Thanks for that. PLugged the tracking number I found on that page into the onlne tracking and it's sayingpending. Oh well. at least I know where to look now!!

 

My set of 6 Pocket Toys KO DX9 WIP seekers arrived today. I can tell the EMS warehouse opened up the box to inspect. However everything is in place and intact.

 

Yeah, the GST is definitely coming, but there's a lot of unclear things about it as well at the moment. They really should just delay it another year to sort everything out properly, but ol' Gerry Harvey would just chuck a hissy fit.

I've heard that GST will also apply to shipping as well, so we're going to get hit on all fronts!

 

That sucks big time. The maketoys seekers would be a whole $15 more each, and then GST for shipping on top, almost cancelling out the savings. I was gonna wait but seeing Robo Toys has it and one other Taobao seller as well, I paid deposits with a store that still only has preorders, wanna save all the $ I can, and hope they come before July 1.

I'm glad I've got most of the pricier characters already, I'm going for Season 1 mainly. The Giga bots will be expensive and I'm seriously thinking of switching to a local guy who runs Savier toys. He imports but already pays GST as he's above the threshold and his prices are only marginally dearer than Taobao now. A sad day for Australian Taobao users.

 

I might try Oh My Primus in Singapore, his prices are very competitive, and he's small enough not to be a target. Plus he's a good bloke according to a few people I know, so i'm quite sure he'd be happy to mark down values.

 

I did consider Primus before I got into Taobao, the international shipping was the deciding factor to not order from him.

Wouldn't the marking down value thing only work if a third party is collecting the GST? The way I understand it is that the seller has to charge and collect the GST from the buyer. It's all pretty confusing and I guess we went know till July. There's not much detail in the media as to how it'll work, hopefully it never gets off the ground and just dies

 

Given the lack of information, i'm just covering all bases in case they do end up trying to collect GST via a third party -- I wouldn't rule out the bastards trying to do that.

Yeah, I hope it just fizzles out and dies. But if it goes on, I hope there is going to be a big backlash from it all.

 

Once you've paid the individual sellers they should each ship them to the consolidation warehouse. Keep an eye on the logistics for each item .Usually the logistics will indicate they've been placed in storage. At that point you should be able to select to ship one of the items, and then be given the option to select any or all items currently in storage to consolidate shipping. The shipping will be calculated on their combined weight and/or volume .
Just be sure to wait till all items are in storage at the warehouse. When you go the shipping section, you'll only be able to select stuff in storage to ship.

 

No worries. I wouldn't worry too much about patience. Shipping within China is superfast and stuff usually arrives in warehouse within 2 or 3 days. They also ship and handle stuff over the weekend so don't be surprised if it arrives and is processed on Sun or Mon.

 

I see you're in Japan, that must be an interesting place to live. I don't know that anyone in this thread gets Taobao sent to Japan but I'd take your time sorting out your shipping warehouse options. Those of us in the Pacific region have 4PX and you might do also. 4PX ships using weight and only moves to volumetric over 20kgs or so. Weight is generally much cheaper than volumetric.

You may have committed to a specific shipping warehouse already as you select it when you pay for the item. Good luck and keep us updated

 

Australia has a pick up option and delivery to door option. Pick up shipping is about 20% cheaper. Keep a look out to see if you have that option

 

We're in the 2nd week of June and I've already emptied my TaoBao budget for the month. Admittedly it's only a small sum of $150. I have to have a budget though, there's an endless amount of things to buy on TB and it goes out of control really fast...

 

I'm in a bind. I pre-ordered SXS Hot Flame on Taobao with the help of a friend who used her Chinese payment account to complete the transaction. Now that the item is at a Chinese warehouse, they want about $13 to ship to the US. The problem is that my friend went back to China and I don't have any way of contacting her. I tried making the payment with a couple of different Visa credit cards, but the transactions won't complete. Any suggestions are welcome.