I've been thinking of picking up a kg scale to weigh shipped items I receive for this very reason.
Can you provide a pic of the scale you use or the suggest the brand, name, store or link where to buy one? Thanks.
Once you notify the shipping warehouse of your proof, what is the turnaround time for receiving your refunded difference?

 

thank you ChromeMagnus.

 

I've never preordered, but is it too difficult to find new ones after launch? There seems to be a lot of recent ones i Taobao.

 

I can still find them after launch. They'll sell out fast from the most popular sellers. The prices go up a bit at launch though. It's best to preorder.

 

TaoBao shipping rates have increased by quite a bit, if the help pages are correct.

First 0.5 kg: 24 yuan for Singapore, 66 yuan for Australia, 72 yuan for USA.

You read that right, first 0.5 kg. The shipping page still lists it as first 1 kg.

Subsequent per-500g: 15 yuan for Singapore, 66 yuan for Australia, 29 yuan for USA.

I wonder if the price for Australia is entered wrongly.


In a separate news, I found that many items from 大头兔玩具店 (Big-head rabbit toy shop) and LBP can only be shipped by sea to Singapore. I didn't check other sellers. There are still some that can be shipped by air -- for now. This does not look good. It would be bad if their entire inventory can only be shipped by sea.

Looks like TaoBao changed something recently.

 

Ouch, hope they extend warehouse holding times. I don't really have anything to ship but worth knowing if any of my pre orders come out.

Thanks for sharing

 

That's what I mentioned a few weeks back, cos I have been buying from Big Head Rabbit.

This thing has been going on for a month. And not just those 2 sellers, other sellers too. And not just Transformers, other products too.

It seems to be affecting popular products from popular sellers, mostly. My guess is that Taobao is lightening the load for air shipments due to lesser flights.

 

When you mentioned it, I tried a few items and they all allowed air shipping. This time, I randomly chose a few items and maybe only 20% allow.

I don't think it is related to lack of flights, because it has happened way before that -- I have personal experience with it.

I still think it is related to keywords. And I believe once an item is marked, it remains marked even if the keyword is later removed.

So that's why it affects some sellers and not others, and some items and not others, even though they are almost identical.

 

for sg buyers maybe try sea option......I received fastest sea shipping ever... 9days.... private shipper told me ports r rejecting ships from china...so they travelled faster to sg...lol

 

Shipping by sea needs to pay GST...

But it is probably faster than air now.

 

for big bulky items is air cheaper or the gst? I trust my shipper so I input way much lesser item cost amt.. haha

 

When I calculated before the virus situation, sea shipping is cheaper at 4kg and above, assuming actual not volumetric weight.

 

but sea is always vol met weight

 

Did you try Big Head Rabbit at that time? It was happening with him then, when I tried. I had to use to use the substitution method just to get air shipping, still took 2 weeks to Air ship, instead of 1 week.

Also affected are these sellers (that I know of):

【北京商盟】三省玩具- Beijing Business League (Shopkeeper: Zhang Shiliang 10053)

ZW 变形模玩 ZW deformation modes to play (Shopkeeper: nnllnnlz)

铄铄的玩具城堡 - Sly/Badger's Toy Castle (Shopkeeper: cmtow00001)

伊家玩具 - Yijia Toys

喵喵动漫星球 - Meow Meow Cartoon Planet

Here are some non-Transformers that I've bought in the past via Air Shipping, that now is now restricted to only Sea Shipping:

Gundam Markers - 郡士马克笔高达模型上色笔 郡仕勾线笔 高达马克笔君士GM马克笔-淘宝网

Kid's Soccer Toy - 儿童桌上足球台桌面桌游足球玩具亲子益智互动双人对战游戏机男孩-淘宝网

Kid's Puzzle Game - https://item.taobao.com/item.htm?spm=a1z09.2.0.0.5ab62e8dKhSL5s&id=551784100560&_u=a207199dld36db

What is Taobao's Volumetric Weight calculation? Divide by 6000, then multiply by 1.1?

 

Shipping by sea is strictly the higher of actual/volumetric weight.

Shipping by sea to Singapore is 22 yuan for first kg and 7.4 yuan for subsequent kg for small items. Pretty cheap.  

 

this is tb official? been a long long time I used tb official....

 

Yes, according to TaoBao help page.

Is third-party shipper really that much better? Cheaper? Faster?

I find the official shipper pretty okay. So far they have not lost any of my items, but they have crushed a few.  

 

my shipper in case I hv any questions he will answer for u n do his best to ship for u

plus if 1 day u wanna ship furniture he also can do it.... haha

plus its that personal feel.... not like tb official

he is not big company 3rd party shipper... but I trust him well

 

I mostly use this one for my own shipping

Ozeri ZK14-S Pronto Digital Multifunction Kitchen and Food Scale, Black https://www.amazon.com/dp/B004164SRA/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_8EiKEb2P9EV08

Honestly over the years, if my memory doesn’t fail me, I seldom see actual weight heavier than volumetric weight for my consolidated packages. So actual weight doesn’t really matter.

It takes a few weeks to see the money back to credit card.