Oh great. Thanks. I usually visit based on email notifications as that's how I watch threads.

I checked back in my watched threads profile uesterday and there were like 1/2 dozen which I hadn't read since the end of Feb. But then I'm still getting email updates for a handful of other threads I'm watching.

I understand if there's X number of threads you have to proactively visit to keep email notifications active but just don't know what it is

 

Has anyone preordered the Bandai SOC GX-71 Voltron set reissue from Taobao? If so which seller do you recommend that can guarantee the order?
淘宝网 - 淘！我喜欢

 

The following applies to AU buyers:

It is normal to have to wait around 60 days for sea shipping which is done by Sai Cheng Logistics, especially if you order around 11/11 and 12/12. The tracking number which you have CPBYKYZ*********** will be trackable via Couriers Please once it clears and is ready for delivery.

The time spent in customs is very long for sea shipping compared to air shipping. Furthermore, my friend had to wait 3 weeks just for them to issue a courier as Couriers Please is one of the budget couriers owned by Singapore Post and is usually very busy.

There is no longer a time guarantee for air or sea shipping to Australia, with a few exceptions during the promotional periods. There used to be a 10/15 working day guarantee for the air shipping but that has since been dropped from their documentation. Examples of promotions include, a 30/40 working day guarantee if you shipped during the spring festival via sea and a 10/15 working day guarantee for air shipping. Where the 10 day period is for 30 yuan compensation and 15 day period is for full refund of products and shipment fee for air shipment.

Now, how do you claim this after 40 working days??? That's another question as the dispute button will have disappeared by this time...

The phone number you have been provided at Regents Park, Sydney is for 4PX air shipping. Sai Cheng Logistics which is the sea shipping subcontractor (Cainiao delegating), is a joint venture with China/Aust Post has different phone numbers, but none of them are contactable last I tried. I tried to find one of their workers on linkedin, but I gave up soon after as my parcel arrived; you might have better luck. Their website allows you to track your parcel, but I think that will be the same information unless there is a delay or bug. You can try finding out if it has already been sent to Couriers Please by putting that CPBYKYZ*********** into their website, but I suspect it won't come up with anything.

What happens is that they ship in bulk from China to Australia, upon arriving in Australia it clears customs and then it finally gets split up locally and goes through the domestic courier/postage system. I think only Sai Cheng Logistics will know more if they are able to track the item or not, but it won't be any of the numbers listed online. It could be that they use the same CPBYKYZ waybill number. The waybill you gave to the chat; I'm not sure what is the waybill number, but looks more like the order number. There is also an LP number which is an invoice number or something.

Since your parcel was sent a few weeks after 11/11; there would still be a giant backlog. I remember there was something around 5000 parcels and growing at the time I looked on reddit. That backlog is still being cleared at the moment. I strongly discourage people from buying near 11/11 and 12/12, just because the discounts aren't worth the amount of effort of waiting longer. Your parcel may also go missing inside China due to how many parcels are moving around during this period as well. You can expect a 30 day turnaround during the more quiet periods.

Cheers.

 

There are some other USA guys who are knowledgeable as well.
@connseanery (I learned mostly from him)
@botfan
@crossphyr
@lake88
@solskjaer

How to Buy Directly from Taobao – Updated for 2017

Just remember, not every brand offers such savings. It's mainly larger than carbot sized items from FT and XTB/KFC.
The bigger and heavier the item, the greater the savings it seems.

 

taobao flash sale: 15 Yuan off for every 200 Yuan spent , no capping, from 18-20 Mar.

 

Ok thanks. Mine would have been around 12.12 i guess. But it reached customs on the 25th dec. Then nothing so far for 2.5 months.. that's a bit much don't u think....

 

I'll give you some hints, you know that tracking number, you can try change the numbers -/+ 5 within your range. They are all sequentially numbered and in order. From this you can check if yours is in a batch that hasn't been sent.

You can track it on the Sai Cheng Logistics website or Couriers Please. I'm thinking along the lines that parcels from the same shipping container will most likely go through customs clearance together and be moved to the same warehouse. So, if the others near your tracking number have been sent to their destination already; then you should try find their updated contact number and phone them. I think someone at Australia Post's head office might be able to help since their website mentions working together with them.

The warehouse mine came out of is in Miranda, but I suspect it is because it is outsourced to a number of different warehouses since their website doesn't mention anything about being part of the China Post venture.

I'm not sure if these details for Sai Cheng Logistics are up to date or not:
Address：74-94 Newton Road Wetherill Park NSW 2164 Australia
Tel：+61 1300 883 856
Fax：+61 1300 798 110
There is also an email address on there but I don't think I can post links yet.

I believe it has updated. Before it stated:
Australia：
Address：368 Sussex St Sydney NSW 2000 Australia
Tel：+61 0410 935 977 <<< This number was not contactable early Feb.
E-mail: ec.csv.szx and so on.

 

I can't seem to edit the previous post.

I needed to add that you can go visit their warehouse personally if you live in Sydney. I was seriously considering visiting Sussex St, which I believe is an office, when it took more than 2 weeks after customs clearance for the courier to come.

Luckily I didn't have to do that.

The Wetherill Park area looks like it's a warehouse from Google Street View.

 

Wait, I've missed a lot of this conversation but is this some specific TaoBao shipping option for Aus or was it a purchase through an agent or what?
The only shipping option I've ever seen on TaoBao is 4PX. Never seen a sea shipping option/
I've never had a delivery to Aus take longer than 2 weeks. It's almost always a week.
Is the 30 day turnaround you mention with a TaoBao agent or something? No idea why anyone would use a TaoBao agent. Just buy direct

 

Almost all figures are cheaper, at least in my experience.
I think I would struggle to find any figure that cost's more on TaoBao than at other stores. The only exception I've found is official MP stuff. That always costs full price or more - no 30% pre-order discount here. But then it's only the Japanese stores that can provide that savings. All other stores are about on par with TaoBao.
Other, small recent examples:
XTB Boost cost me US$47 vs BBTS$70, BC Grump and Slick cost me US$82 for the pair while BBTS is selling them for $65 to $70 each. The Dr Wu Onluy Human set cost me US$40 vs BBTS $65. Other mini-bots like XTB Ollie, BC Huff - US$45 each.

My favourite example of TB savings? THF's KO of MP-36 Megatron.
TF Direct charges $60 and Show.Z wants $73. I paid $32. Thirty-two dollars for a damn near perfect replica of MP-36!! And MagTen's KO of MP-36 only cost me $38.
I bought three different KO's of MP-36 (IT, Magten and THF) for a combined total of substantially less than a single official copy. And none of them had paint issues.

At the other end of the size scale, the 3 foot Lewin resources prime costs me a grand total of $US250 INCLUDING SHIPPING. The figure alone is US$350 from the Chosen Prime. I'm not sure they would even ship that to Australia, let alone what it would cost.

 

Aus has official sea shipping for some time now. 4PX has been renamed "official air shipping" since late last year, they did something similar for MY and SG. The above posts are discussing @Mark Fuller 11/11 package shipped via sea and stuck at Aus customs

 

I got 60 cny off Maketoys Buster Skywing.

 

Huh. Hadn't even noticed that. Fair enough. Not gonna bother with that unless they screw up the pricing on 4PX
Thanks

 

I got 45 Yuan off for GP gaudenter  

 

and maybe or maybe not on the gst eh.....

i thought about picking up a magten since its pretty cheap. but idk.. i dont plan on picking up anything else until sphinx drops..

 

Hey mate, yeah i buy direct. 4px is no longer available for me i think. All my old orders changed from 4px to air shipping.

 

im not from sydney unfortunately.
Anyway cheecked on the sai cheng site and the numbers above and below have all been delivered in january. What does this mean do u think? lost???

 

My pre order balance must be coming up soon. Is there a link or is this automatically applied, the cash back?

 

Oh shit. TaoBao has really been putting you through the ringer. Sorry to hear that. I hope you are able to get some kind of satisfactory solution.
I’ve got a couple of drawing tablet components in my queue i need to send off on thursday so I’ll take a closer look at the process on my account then.
Post CNY I’ve ordered 2x UT Bruticus figures as well as Zetas Onslaught which were sent in one order and a second order 2 weeks later with 3x Zeta Superion figures, 2x Badcube (Grump and Slick) and 1x XTB (Boost) and both orders arrived in roughly a week without a hitch.
The process seemed identical to previously but I didn’t look closely at the text on the page and just clicked through.
I’ll take a closer look at the copy on the page next time and see how it looks.
But the process operated the same, timing was the same, the packages arrived in the same dodgy giant hessian sack covered in Chinese characters (pretty sure the receptionist at work thinks I’m smuggling rhino horns and tigers penises or something) I certainly haven’t seen any change in the end result.
Hopefully this doesn’t mean a TaoBao screwing with the shipping process. I like that shipping is quick and charged solely off weight. Volumetric shipping is murder for our US cousins.
Fingers are crossed it eventually works out for you.

 

Not true. Some of them were delivered in Feb and some are stuck at 12-25, like yours. (I don't know which one is yours.)

Since you now know who the courier is, call them.