It can take half a day or more for the item to be processed (ie with weight) after it reaches the warehouse.

I often get a notification, then go in to find out I can't select the item. Now I usually wait half a day before checking.

 

This is too complicated.  

It is far easier if you find a seller who is willing to put up listings without the banned keywords. Some will do it on ad-hoc basis -- you tell them what you want, they will create the listing, then you buy it normally.

 

Yeah they're backed up. Right now in tracking a lot of items that have arrived in the warehouse city zhongshan huangpu but have been sitting around. there's some sort of message asking someone from the warehouse to pick up the package.

Usually once the item arrives in the city, the next day or so the warehouse will have signed for it, weighed it, and put it in your storage bin.

Yeah there have been a few that said they would do that for me but sometimes those dudes don't have what I want or the prices.

 

The seller messaged me to say I need to select the China Domestic address. Any ideas what this is or where I find it? Thanks for all the help by the way guys.

 

Thanks to you guys...I took the plunge. hopefully I did it right.

 

@connseanery

 

I believe this may be what they are talking about. Before you add to cart. Select cargo. Then in a few screens you pick the warehouse you want it sent to

 

@connseanery @Bots and Bits
Are there significant cost savings when buying official Takara MPs from Taobao? Are they better priced than Amazon Japan, AE, HLJ etc?
Are there significant savings when it comes to KO Takara MPs and KO 3P MPs as well?

 

Most shops are selling mp-33ko for 30-35 bucks. Tie in max 20 for shipping you're at 55. I paid 70 something for mine. I think it's worth it. And we save more when we combine.

Once my first order arrives without issue, which tells me I did it right I'm gonna make a decent order.

 

I think the problem is that the consolidated shipping program doesn't support the UK yet. Here's a list of countries. Taobao Global Consolidation and Shipping
They added Japan recently as well.

For the UK, you probably have to go with a 3rd party forwarder like superbuy.com or taobaoage.com.

 

For sure KOs are much cheaper. You'll probably get some savings with officials as well but they won't be as significant. For example you can find mp-35 for a little less than $90 on taobao but pretty hard pressed to get something like that elsewhere.

 

Hmm so about $55 shipped for MP33 KO Inferno. That's about the same price as tf-direct or Ebay sellers. A savings of only $3 bucks max from Taobao. The transaction is aless involved with Ebay/tf-direct but Taobao will have the item at my door much faster. Decisions.

MP-35 Grapple for a little less than $90? Is that before or after all shipping/card fees?

 

Before shipping. I figure it's 1.5kg or so. So $10-15 for shipping.

The cheapest on eBay is 130 or so. Knock off $15 if there is a flash sale and taobao would still be cheaper.

 

I think the savings will get bigger when combining shipping.

ive never ordered from TF direct. Didn't know their prices were that close.

 

Buying KO to me seems to be like up to a 10% ish saving once you add shipping. I bought a MP wheeljack and it worked out the same as Aliexpress and eBay. The issue with eBay obviously is scammers and speed is a TB advantage over both. Obviously the higher the total purchase cost the greater the saving. Plus combining shipping mitigates costs a bit.

I'm ordering MP10 KO, MP10U, NBK Bonecrusher and Giga Grassor. All this is helping with the KO savings. I'll get MP inferno and RH soundwave def from TB.

 

I just ordered Fanstoys Grinder X (MP08X) and the v2 toon dino head for the original Grinder X. Domestic shipping to the international forwarding/shipping warehouse is free so after the credit card fee the total before international shipping came to the equivalent of $141 USD. The grand total will probably be around $150-$160.

 

Thanks for the response. Do you know if this can be done retrospectively? I already bought the item and I can't see a way to edit the shipping.

 

Hey CM,

Can you share the link for ft-08x? Still new to this and would rather use a trusted seller.

 

I think you have to request a refund unless the seller is willing to ship directly to the UK. There is a request refund link.

Buying Transformers on Taobao

 

Grinder X
第三方可变形机器人FT08X金属色钢锁预定补款

Grinder v2 head (from the same seller. Same link connseanery and botfan shared)
第三方可变形机器人FansToys FT-08 钢锁 G1风格龙头替换件

Looks like the EMS forwarding warehouse finally shipped out my KFC Kingzilla (or at least printed the shipping label). Just waiting for the tracking number to become active on USPS.com