Taobao Tube feedback wanted

[betta]

Their shipping, on the other hand was incredibly good. It took just five days to get to me, probably a record. I would not hesitate to order from Taobao Focus again, just not something as large and fragile as the tea canisters. I got lucky.

The Taobao Tube package has not yet arrived but they are smaller teapots, less likely to break.

Glad that you received the intem intact.
To me, it's clear that taobao focus saw already my earlier post and handled your package in a different way.

Hope your other parcel arrives safe, too.

[AllanK]

Their shipping, on the other hand was incredibly good. It took just five days to get to me, probably a record. I would not hesitate to order from Taobao Focus again, just not something as large and fragile as the tea canisters. I got lucky.

The Taobao Tube package has not yet arrived but they are smaller teapots, less likely to break.

Glad that you received the intem intact.
To me, it's clear that taobao focus saw already my earlier post and handled your package in a different way.

Hope your other parcel arrives safe, too.

The Taobao Tube package of four teapots arrived, all in one piece. They were adequately packaged, but could have been packaged a little better. They also would not have survived much mishandling. The Taobao Tube teapots were packaged just as the Taobao Sellers had sent them to Taobao Tube. Taobao Focus, on the other hand, had clearly repackaged the tea canisters for the international journey. All in all both services were about equal. In both cases I got exactly what I ordered and intact. The Taobao Focus tea also came in and was as in the picture. I simply got the feeling that because they were not taking the risk on the breakables, they didn't feel the need to go to packaging extremes. There is a seller on Ebay called Liwz88. I have bought about five Yixing items from him. His is in my opinion an example of incredible packaging. I once got a package from him that had been horribly mishandled along the way by the post office. Both teapots were completely intact despite the package looking like it had been kicked. Neither Taobao Tube or the Taobao Focus package would have stood up to that kind of mishandling. The Taobao Tube package was packed well enough that it survived a little mishandling, by the signs on the package. Both services had very fast shipping, an important factor in a fragile package surviving.

[MarshalN]

I've shipped stuff before where the box looks like it's been stomped by an elephant and the contents survived. I've also shipped stuff before where the box looks just fine and the contents were somehow smashed.

So.....

[Exempt]

I've also shipped stuff before where the box looks just fine and the contents were somehow smashed.

Customs

[wyardley]

One of the now-defunct proxy services used to do a really great job with re-packing everything for shipping - they had one of those foam machines or something.

I was a little disappointed with shipping prices with Taobao Tube - their other air option ended up being barely less than EMS, and doing surface wasn't really an option in this case.

[AllanK]

One of the now-defunct proxy services used to do a really great job with re-packing everything for shipping - they had one of those foam machines or something.

I was a little disappointed with shipping prices with Taobao Tube - their other air option ended up being barely less than EMS, and doing surface wasn't really an option in this case.

Taobao Focus and Taobao Tube both had equivalent prices, very high with one noted bonus. To the US they ship with a faster version of EMS than their EBay equivalents. It lists on usps.com as Priority Mail Express International. The US Postal service gives these packages Priority over other EMS packages and you get them in 4-7 days instead of 10-15 days which is the EBay average to New York from China. I suspect that the Chinese Postal Service gives them priority as well. I attribute the tea canisters getting to me in one piece to this fast shipping. I also did not combine my two Taobao Focus orders so they were smaller, as smaller packages usually travel faster.

[wyardley]

I have had really bad customer service experiences with Taobao Focus, so I won't use them anymore. I have also had a ton of broken teaware via them. Taobao Tube seems more responsive.

[AllanK]

I have had really bad customer service experiences with Taobao Focus, so I won't use them anymore. I have also had a ton of broken teaware via them. Taobao Tube seems more responsive.

I have pretty much decided I was lucky on the tea canisters and probably won't order more. I am nervous to order even small teapots as they don't repackage the items to survive an international journey, leaving them wrapped as the original Taobao seller packaged them.

I want to order a large 25cm Yixing container for storing some 8 or 10 teacakes but am not sure if I want to take the risk, unless I get specific packaging plans from them before I make first payment.

On the other hand, I want to find really good Puerh Tea on Taobao but don't have the real info on what brands to buy beyond the standard Dayi and the like.

[betta]

One of the now-defunct proxy services used to do a really great job with re-packing everything for shipping - they had one of those foam machines or something.

I was a little disappointed with shipping prices with Taobao Tube - their other air option ended up being barely less than EMS, and doing surface wasn't really an option in this case.

I am also curious about the marginal difference between china post air mail and ems, so I asked an acquaintance who frequently buy items from china. According to his info, basically air mail and ems shipping are carried out by various EMS subcontractors and they are shipped (as usual) based on priority and space in cargo.
So if the ems cargo of a contractor has certain left space, with a bit of luck, you can get the item sent using airmail as fast as with that of ems.

Also important for us is the receiving contractor in the destination country, which sends the item to your address.
Some of these contractors were found to practice some malicious procedures, including asking for storage cost in their warehouse by mentioning that it is necessary for custom inspection. The amount of this cost is not to be underestimated.
When checked with custom office, they apologized for "the misunderstanding".

[wyardley]

Chaozhou stove showed up, and unlike the last time I ordered one via a proxy service, the stove was intact. The packaging did look pretty rough, but can't really complain.