Hi everyone
I shared in my previous post that I had used 65Daigou as shipping agent for my Carter's purchase. I've done some research and 65Daigou is the cheapest, you can view their shipping charges here.
Recently I had ordered a Hello Kitty Kitchen Cafe play set from Walmart for my niece's birthday present and again, I had used 65Daigou service. The play set is not available locally, Taobao nor Qoo10. To my horror, the shipping charges came up to be about SGD$265.50 instead of SGD$81 as they charge by volume weight of 29.46kg instead of actual weight of 8.78kg (whichever is higher). There is no way I am going to pay $265.50 for shipping to Singapore.
I contacted 65Daigou customer service. The officer was helpful and friendly. Luckily, they are able to stop the shipping to Singapore and they are able to help me return item to retailer for a handling fees of US$5 (I paid SGD$6.50). I had used the enquiry function to request for return. 65Daigou was very prompt in their reply has asked me to provide them with a prepaid return shipping label.
I spent sometime googling how to get this prepaid return shipping label and I found out that some merchants will buy the prepaid return shipping labels and you can obtain it via their website when you return item to them. If the return label are not prepaid ones, 65daigou will have to charge
the relevant domestic shipping fee. Luckily, Walmart's return process is quite easy and I managed to get the prepaid return shipping label and sent it to 65Daigou.
65Daigou processed the return fairly quickly and I have paid the handling fees. I'm still waiting for Walmart to credit the refund to my credit card, I shall update once I received the refund.
Lesson learnt: do
not buy bulky product from overseas even though the product listed on
Walmart website states dimension is 24.5 x 24.5 x 28.0 inch and weight is
10 pounds (about 4.53kg).
Meanwhile, I will recommend 65Daigou's ship for me services for USA purchases but only for small items eg clothes etc. Hope you will find this post useful if you are a noob online shopper like me for USA sites.
Updates: I have received the credit card refund from Walmart. I don't even have to follow up on the refund status. Thumbs up!
Love,
Sherlyn
Hi everyone
I shall share my recent online purchase for our #bumptham. Online shopping for #bumptham is so addictive, I can spend many hours browsing the webpages and you can really go out of control coz everything seem so cute and cheap.
From Taobao
1) Growth Chart Wall Decal, RMB8.80
http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?spm=a1z09.2.9.9.ku55p7&id=25648660019&_u=pumksi5ed9c
Review: received the Taobao items on 26 Mar. Print quality is very good and the decal is really huge. Definitely worth the buy.
I read that flash cards stimulate infant right brain. Flash cards is very limited and quite expensive in Singapore.
2) Black & White Flash Cards, RMB19.90
http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?spm=a1z09.2.9.24.ku55p7&id=40984836192&_u=pumksi583d1
3) Flash Cards, RMB16 for 10 books
http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?spm=a1z09.2.9.93.ku55p7&id=39245239712&_u=pumksi5408d
Review: Items 2-3 were from same supplier, it came bubble-wrapped. The paper were rather on the thin side. 2 of the books had defects, 1 had the protective layer of the cover peeled off and another ring bind was broken. Considering the books are so cheap, definitely worth the buy!
4) Hanging Flash Cards, RMB37.50
http://detail.tmall.com/item.htm?id=40134583699&spm=a1z09.2.9.61.ku55p7&_u=pumksi52ccb
Review: Item was wrapped with cupboard, however the corners were slightly dented. I find this a bit pricey, hope baby will enjoy looking at it.
From Carters
I got the items during their flash sale where they had additional 30% off their clearance items with US$6 flat shipping. As Carters do not ship to Singapore, I had use 65daigou as shipping agent. Their shipping charges is $4.50 for every 500g, you can visit https://www.65daigou.com/China/ShipForMe for more info.
1) 3-Piece Bodysuit & Short Se, US$11.99
http://www.carters.com/carters-baby-girl-sets/V_121D238.html?dwvar_V__121D238_size=12M&dwvar_V__121D238_color=Color#cgid=carters-baby-girl-clearance&startRow=0&sz=all&navID=header&start=18
2) 2-Piece Dress & Cardigan Se, US$8.99
http://www.carters.com/carters-baby-girl-dresses/VC_121D212.html?dwvar_VC__121D212_size=12M&dwvar_VC__121D212_color=Pink#cgid=carters-baby-girl-clearance&startRow=0&sz=all&navID=header&start=57
3) 2-Piece Dress & Romper Set, US$13.99
http://www.carters.com/carters-baby-girl-dresses/V_118A096.html?dwvar_V__118A096_size=12M&dwvar_V__118A096_color=Color#cgid=carters-baby-girl-clearance&startRow=0&sz=all&navID=header&start=3
4) Appliqué Snap-Up Romper, US$5.99
http://www.carters.com/carters-baby-girl-one-pieces/VC_118A034.html?dwvar_VC__118A034_size=12M&dwvar_VC__118A034_color=Pink#cgid=carters-baby-girl-clearance&startRow=0&sz=all&navID=header&start=11
5) 4-Piece Take-Me-Home Se, US$12.99
http://www.carters.com/carters-baby-girl-sets/V_121C618.html?dwvar_V__121C618_color=Color&dwvar_V__121C618_size=6M#cgid=carters-baby-girl-clearance&startRow=0&sz=all&navID=header&start=131
Review: Have collected my items from 65daigou at neighbourhood pickup. I'm very pleased with the shipping service. As the Carters package is 0.76kg, my shipping charges is only SGD$9.
65Daigou is also very prompt in their email reply eg when I checked the domestic shipment from Carters to 65Daigou warehouse, the items were undelivered as the office was closed and the package was transferred to the local post office. I emailed 65Daigou to check if they will arrange someone to collect from local post office. In USA, unlike Singapore, the local post office will make 3 more attempts to deliver the package before returning to sender.
All the items are very lovely, good quality and workmanship. Looks like I will be ordering many more stuff from Carters.
I shall review the items once I received them. Thanks for reading!
Love,
Sherlyn
pic credit to http://www.expatliving.sg/body_style/fashion/Cheap-online-shopping-in-Singapore-Top-10-websites-for-awesome-deals-across-fashion-beauty-homes-kids-and-more-26259.ece
Is shopping online really cheaper? One of the reasons is that retailers do not have overheads and hence can transfer the savings to the consumers.
Online shopping is also very addictive, you can spend hours surfing through the net, reading reviews. Consider me old-fashioned, I might be the minority who dislike online shopping except for hotel bookings, air tickets, insurance, gadget accessories- items which can't go wrong. I am the typical "auntie" mode who likes to be at a brick and mortar shop to touch, feel, try and check condition of product. I always ensure I request for a new piece. Here are the reasons why I dislike online shopping:
1) I hate camping by the computer for blogshop launches, fastest fingers first, waiting patiently for my shopping loots to be delivered to me.
2) I hardly wore my online buys from local blogshops and Taobao cos the clothes is a far cry from what we seen online even though it looks real nice on the models.
3) The clothes do not fit me perfectly. I usually need to send to the tailor for alteration, which makes my buys more expensive.
4) I have some unfortunate experience where the seller sends a defective product. The effort of writing to and sending the product to seller is frustrating and waste of time. Some sellers customer service sucks, you have to follow up with a few round of emails and you might only get your replacement products months later (or never).
5) The clothes don't fit at all. For sizes which are too small, I have to give to my friends' teenage daughters. For sizes which are too big, I might send to tailor if I like it very much. Else, I might give away too.
6) Sometimes the flash sale is within a short time window. You deliberately have to make yourself available during that time to buy online.
7) The shipping charges might even cost more than the product. You won't know the estimated shipping charge your freight forwarder will charge until your products have arrived at the warehouse. You might be in for a rude shock!
8) Blogshops items are not necessary cheaper than brick and mortar stores.
9) Some stores exchange/ refund policy sucks, you get what I mean!
10) I hate backorders cos this means you are expected to wait 3-4 weeks for your products. Although the blogshops might say order at your discretion, however, sometimes shipment gets delayed eg due to high volume during festive periods, stuck at custom. By the time you receive the products, you might have lost interest or it is no longer the lastest.
11) I don't know about you but I have a tendency to overbuy online especially handphone cases that I won't be able to use all of them. They are either stowed in my cupboard or I end up having to give away.
What do you like/ dislike about online shopping? Please feel free to leave a comment.
Love,
Sherlyn
