Buying Transformers on Taobao

Discussion in 'Transformers 3rd Party Discussion' started by botfan, Feb 25, 2017.

  1. nhyone

    nhyone Well-Known Member

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    IIRC, this happened to me only thrice.

    Well, fourth time now. By the same seller. For the same item.

    chinese_chess_set_replacement.jpg

    I bought a Chinese chess set. I asked to replace seven pieces as they were sub-par. (Middle two columns.)

    It is free to change, except I need to send my pieces back. Instead, I chose to buy them (again) at a lower price.

    The replacements the seller sent were good, but they were one size smaller! I wanted 42mm, he sent 40mm. (Rightmost two columns.)

    It was then I realized my 帥 was a bit small, so maybe it was 40mm too.

    Nevermind, I'll buy from him one more time. Please make sure they are 42mm! And what did I receive? Another 40mm set. (Leftmost two columns.) :cry  And they aren't as good as the first replacement.

    At this point, I don't think I want to 'exchange' any more. I have spent enough on it.


    Previous mishaps:

    1. I ordered 6 items, but the seller shipped only 5. And he didn't inform me! Luckily, I realized it before confirming payment -- I didn't count properly at first. He said yes, he left one out as it was OOS. So I refunded that item.

    2. I ordered 2 items in a set of 3 and 1 from another set of 3 (same functionality but more ex). The seller sent me 3 from the first set, since he probably didn't expect buyers to mix-n-match. He refunded me the difference (but in a way so as not to mess up his inventory).

    3. I ordered the DX9/MFT dinobots, but got a 2nd hand MP-10 instead. :lol  Seller offered to sell it to me cheap (well, not that cheap), but I didn't want. (Might be interested if it were other figures.) So I sent it back.

    I bought the DX9/MFT dinobots from him again and the seller subtracted the shipping fees from there. It has to be done this way as the seller can't transfer money to my AliPay account. (Maybe he can, but I can't use it.)

    Seller lost 90 yuan (shipping), but I also lost some since I didn't charge him what it costed to ship in the first place -- around 30 yuan.

    Edited: changed 师 to 帥. :p 
     
    Last edited: Apr 25, 2020
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  2. lake88

    lake88 Well-Known Member

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    It's a good thing you know Chinese.
     
  3. Hougangkid

    Hougangkid Constructicon Worker

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    Unless he is your regular seller, I personally wouldn't buy from him a third time if he already screwed up twice in the same item. As the saying goes "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me".

    At least the sellers are honest, unlike your chess seller.

    Honest sellers get my business, as long their prices are reasonable. Even though some of their stuff may not be the cheapest, they deserve it. And I know I am covered in after-sale as well.

    Big Head Rabbit is one of them. He bothers to message me to let me know my replacement parts are shipped, even after 2 months since I made the request just before CNY & Covid started. Didn't even need to constantly bug him. I only asked him once or twice during that 2 month period. I was also prepared to buy those parts as I had broken them a few weeks after I received them, but he managed to replace them free of charge.

    Only thing is now, a lot of his items are restricted to sea, by the looks of it.

    FYI, MFT Dino's are being sold in Mr DIY for RM 30 in Malaysia. That's like half price from Taobao, and that's not even taking shipping into account. In SG, MR DIY is selling them for S$17. Still cheaper than Taobao.

    I've also bought MFT Megotroun from MR DIY in Malaysia for RM30 before. Also half price from Taobao.


    Has anyone from SG manage to check if the above link is restricted to sea shipping for you as well? Curious to see if my theory is right or wrong.
     
  4. nhyone

    nhyone Well-Known Member

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    I just found a "random" seller that sells this set. Not many such sellers. He offers a wide selection in two colors (white is the most expensive; there are three colors in all) and sizes (40mm to 48 mm in 2mm increment). His prices are reasonable. :p  He should be reputable. Don't know why there is this mix-up.

    Not just him. Happens to LBP and other sellers too. As noted before, the items are restricted to sea after we buy them. I wonder if the warehouse feedbacks (electronically) that they won't be accepting such items in the future.

    I bought only two MFT dinobots. 65 yuan apiece.

    Only by sea for me. I believe the restriction applies to everyone.
     
    Last edited: Apr 25, 2020
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  5. lake88

    lake88 Well-Known Member

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    It's sea shipping only for me too.

    These listings have all shipping methods available
    变形玩具金刚 黑曼巴天元恐龙修罗王 原色放大合金版6002-7B合体-淘宝网
    变形玩具金刚黑曼巴机器恐龙五合体修罗王原色天元之力钢索放大版-淘宝网
    变形玩具金刚 黑曼巴机器恐龙六合体修罗王原色天元系列放大版-淘宝网

    This one is restricted to sea shipping too
    变形玩具金刚黑曼巴恐龙战队霸王龙翼龙剑龙三角龙机器人拼装模型-淘宝网
    变形玩具金刚黑曼巴机器恐龙五合体修罗王原色天元系列放大版模型-淘宝网 (your link)

    Maybe if you play spot-the-difference enough you can identify what's triggering the restriction.
     
    Last edited: Apr 25, 2020
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  6. Hougangkid

    Hougangkid Constructicon Worker

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    My bad. SG is not cheaper. Was confusing the TaoBao prices between MFT Dino's and Megotroun, which is RMB 80+ and up.

    But Msia is cheaper for sure. Planning to go back there once the lockdown is over, to see what else they have.

    I bought from the last link in early March (Big Head Rabbit). Can't remember if it got restricted to sea after that. Hmmm...

    Ha, don't think I can solve it. As usual, my guess is popular items, so that they can reduce traffic due to limited flights.

    UPDATE: I just checked some items that I bought before, that had their air shipping options disabled soon after. Seems now their air shipping is back on! So could be a temporary thing.
     
  7. ChromeMagnus

    ChromeMagnus Well-Known Member

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    @solskjaer
    FT-41 Sheridan preorders should be coming into stock within the next 7 days (first weekend in May at the latest). FT has said that FT-30B Iceman is also coming in May.
    I wonder if I should keep Sheridan in the warehouse and combine ship it with Iceman to cut the shipping costs down a little?
     
  8. solskjaer

    solskjaer Well-Known Member

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    After payment, I ask my seller to hold it until I have more things to ship. May be you can also your seller to hold the shipment until you notice him? Or else warehouse can hold free up to 20 days.
     
  9. ChromeMagnus

    ChromeMagnus Well-Known Member

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    Gotcha. Speaking of Iceman, someone posted this today.
    [​IMG]
     
  10. solskjaer

    solskjaer Well-Known Member

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    So based on experience, should get around end of May, then Hulk in July........hopefully by the time the shipping price will get back to normal.
     
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  11. ChromeMagnus

    ChromeMagnus Well-Known Member

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    Let's hope so.
    Really? A second run of FT-41 Sheridan so soon? This just came out.

    Welp, now my Taobao seller is saying they'll have FT-41 Sheridan on May 10 instead of May 1 like they previously mentioned. They weren't aware of the knee issue at all till I mentioned it to them. Hopefully this means mine will be part of the 2nd batch with the corrected knee screw already installed at the factory.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Apr 29, 2020
  12. BuddaMonk

    BuddaMonk Well-Known Member

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    Ebay:
    Does any of the usual, reliable TB sellers still have Sheridan for pre-order? I see LBP is out of stock.
     
  13. ChromeMagnus

    ChromeMagnus Well-Known Member

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  14. nhyone

    nhyone Well-Known Member

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    There are many ready stock with prices ranging from 500 to 550 yuan. It's too late to pre-order. (Anything lower is probably balance payment, but not always.)

    Note that shipping to USA is extremely expensive now.

    Mine was weighed at 660g, so you can throw in a Legends figure as well.

    The increase to Singapore is also almost 100%, but it is still okay in absolute numbers. Shipping time is almost normal, except SingPost still holds the package at the airport for two days before they dare to touch it.
     
  15. BuddaMonk

    BuddaMonk Well-Known Member

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    Ebay:
    My bad, I meant to say in-stock pricing.

    Ya, with the increased cost in shipping, it may not be cheaper going through TB. Still weighing my options. That faulty rivet in the left leg is allowing me to take my time.
     
  16. nhyone

    nhyone Well-Known Member

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    It seems like the first batch of FT-41 was shipped overseas before the rates increased (much).

    But if any seller is shipping now, they will likely raise the price, so it is still cheaper on TaoBao. :D 

    If you had pre-ordered on TaoBao, it was only 410 - 420 yuan.

    My copy seems fine. QC34.

    Updated: the lowest in-stock price I can find is 485 yuan.
     
    Last edited: Apr 29, 2020
  17. Marcelo Antunes

    Marcelo Antunes FansToys Historian/Scholar

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    From what I got from one of my sellers, some are asking for the full price for the preorder for the second FT-41 batch (and I'm not sure there's really so much in stock as I asked some and most did not have it in stock).

    It seemed to me that the first batch was really small and could not even fulfill all the preorders.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Apr 29, 2020
  18. ChromeMagnus

    ChromeMagnus Well-Known Member

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    Can someone assist @Trans4mers with this question?
     
  19. Marcelo Antunes

    Marcelo Antunes FansToys Historian/Scholar

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    I think you can’t search without logging in (same as in Weibo).
     
  20. lake88

    lake88 Well-Known Member

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    Sounds like the mobile version of the site. Use the desktop version instead.