I think @botfan gave a breakdown of the costs for FT Omega on Taobao.

 

@Bots and Bits do you use an agent like Taobao ring? How much did YM03 from TaoBao cost you?

 

I've never used an agent. A handful or larger stores sometimes have staff working who speak basic english. You just have to ask.
I downloaded the chat app straight away, for other sellers I type broken english into google translate & Baidu translate. Then translate that back to english to see if it makes sense before sending.
This takes a long time, but is reasonably accurate. Later a couple of friends taught me some basics, so I can fumble through their messages kind of ok.

It helps to have some chinese phrases saved in notepad or something. So you can copy/paste common questions .
Your comments/questions will sound rude to sellers, add emoticons at the end of messages and remember to always thank them for their time, and for being patient with your translations. If they dont
understand what you mean, apologize for bad translation software.

Always check the chat app while waiting for your item to ship. Sellers will usually msg you if there's a problem. If you don't respond, they just leave the sale pending.

 

How does the Taobao warehouse consolidate orders? Do they calculate the weight after combining or before? Do they take out the items out from the sellers' packages and combine them into a new box and calculate according to the new package or just the addition of the individual seller packages?

 

Its not Taobao as such, it's the freight companies own warehouse. In my case, 4PX. Everything you order goes to them, and they put your parcel in a plastic container for up to 9 days.
Anything else that arrives, goes into the container with your ID number.

When they arrive at the freight company, the icon in your recently purchased list changes to "Pay freight forwarding" When you click this, it takes you to a list which has tick boxes for everything that's arrived.
You can select one, some, or all of has arrived. The total is calculated from this menu in real time at the bottom of the page as you select the tick boxes.

 

What chat app did you download? Did you download it to your phone or your primary desktop that you use to make purchases? Also, how much did YM03 from TaoBao cost you?

Do you have a listed of trusted sellers?

 

The chat app is the one taobao offers, aliwangwang. It's the little blue face next to each seller's name.

 

I tried the mobile app, but it would mess up my desktop use by making me authenticate my login each and every time. So I've just always used my DT.

 

All 3 FansToys bugs Insecticons on Taobao:

 

^1 in stock, no sales. I'd bet that seller has none, and potentially never had any.
However, most sellers who have them are between 420-500RMB each + CC fee's.
When FT stock starts running out though, you'll notice a 100-300RMB increase.

 

Not sure what you're seeing, but it does have 1 sale.

Generally, it is a good idea to message a seller for older stuff to see if they have it in-stock, but YMMV. I kept checking for severX and one day he popped up at a seller and I ordered the figure right away. If I would have waited, it could have gotten snatched up by someone else. So it can depend. I do generally check with the sellers when I see stompX listed and so far no one has him in-stock.

 

No automatic feedback is what made me think that sale didn't go through.

 

Sorry, what is "automatic feedback"? I was prompted to give feedback for my transactions.

 

If you dont give feedback, your account automatically gives positive sale and it will say something like "Party failed to make evaluation" in the comments.

 

When should we click confirm receipt of goods?

Should we click it once it arrives at the warehouse or our place?

I know that the seller will get the funds in 10-30 days from the purchase date regardless of our confirmation. I am not sure whether overseas shipping delays this process and therefore they will be more reluctant to sell to foreigners.

 

The auto confirm timer starts ticking as soon as the Forwarder receives it.
It will likely expire before the Forwarder gets it to you.
I usually just let it expire automatically, unless the seller msg's and specifically asks confirmation.

 

Superbuy-Shopping Agent so if I'm interpreting taobao correctly this whole thing is £392ish before shipping? Any rough estimates on what shipping would cost?

 

Hey guys, is going thru an agent worh it in the end? If so what are the best agents that you recommend?

 

Sorry I took so long to share this! I was too busy playing with my new stuff. Lol. Bigbite, Cyberjaw, and Ironshell all arrived yesterday in GREAT condition. I've attached pics of the big box and the three smaller boxes. NO parts were missing, there were your typical expected paint flaws here and there, a few joints were loose, and I did have one noticeable scratch, but other than that, they're perfect. Bigbite doesn't have the neck flap stress issue that so many people seem to have so PHEW!

All in all, the three guys cost me roughly $235 considering EVERYTHING. All shipping, fees, prices, etc. I think it was an absolute steal and I cannot be happier. Here is the seller I bought from in case you want a trustworthy Taobao shop:

万和123 购买心得评价 - 淘！我喜欢

They have a wechat which I used to communicate with them ; they always replied to me on time. Once I made it clear Chinese wasn't my primary language, they were understanding of that too and even joked with me a bit. They promised fast immediate shipping and gave me just that.


Below is the breakdown of the tracking:



I am now a firm believer of Taobao and will be using this same seller once TFC's Trinity Force is completely available. I recommend Taobao ONLY if you are buying in bulk. At least 3 figures, otherwise the shipping costs will negate any savings you get and make eBay a better choice. Either that or do what Botfan said and get really high-end figures like Fanstoys. Happy-hunting y'all and I hope my experience helps someone!  

 

Congrats brother. Did you place your order on 4/16/17? Is WeChat the in-house desktop pc messenging service that Taobao uses?