NingNing

Finally, today the HDB has called me to arrange the schedule to do the cement screeding. I applied on the 14th of Feb.. so its really 4 weeks wait! Passed his contact to Johnny to ask him to arrange. I'm just glad that I have an id that updates me and makes sure that i dont stress out because my job is already super stressful. Very glad that everything is moving along great!! now waiting for tomorrow's of the installation of the air con.. Tonight, hubby and I going to open all the loots from taobao. will document each one and review the condition of the item. ^.^V

what is the rate? Anyway, thumbs-up for delivery uncle. hehe.. he was very nice about it and still tell me its okie. Before reaching still ask me to come home now.. when i said i need 20 mins, he told me to be careful and dont rush, they will wait for me. When i reached home, uncle was waiting for me at my door and still advise me about my items. It seems that there is one item with a clank clank sound, and concerned that an item was broken, he opened it while waiting for me, to see if there is anything broken. even told me if item is broken, how to tell seller to refund. HAHA.. end up, the item tt had the clank clank sound is actually a metal cage. then he told me got another one with sound inside the box, but coz i arrived, he didnt have time to open. So he asked me to check. I didnt have enough money to pay him, so he say nvm, go to office then pay also okie when i pick up last item. I bought uncle kali-pok and cold drinks as i saw them very sweaty. he stack my things nicely and told me which one is fragile also. even help me to pack properly in my storeroom. Thumbs up for Amcon uncles! =D this weekend we will open and check all our things to see how are the items..

have to reupload my pics onto imageshack.. all my photos have exceed the bandwidth allocation.. oh well.. never should have trusted photobucket

Yes YEs! i will.. thanks for the good luck.. going to need every little bit of it..

Okie, putting the whole fisaco of the taobao delivery behind me before i start freaking out again, yesterday me and my ID went to see tiles. We dropped by Hafray tiles selection at Eunos where they have a massive massive collection of tiles to choose from. I spent 30 mins flickled mindedly choosing then rechoosing tiles. Finally I saw one I liked.. but damned... it was out of stock and my tiling needed to start on 8th of March.. So my ID went to talk to the girl who was in charge of my account to see if there are really no more tiles... At first the girl keep saying no, other ppl reserve already. but after some negotiation from my ID and his hard-assness, he pushed through for my tiles!! if not i really have to waait until god -knows when.. even the staff are unsure if the tiles will be discontinued anot. *I did realize something about my ID after hearing him talk to the aircon man and even the tiles sales girl.. To me, i find he is like a push-over, everything also relenting to me.. but when it comes to the suppliers and workers, he can be quite strict. if he wants something, he will make sure he will get it. At first also the air con say EARLIEST can only come on 10th, he immediately call the aircon man and end up the air con man squeeze me in to the 8th. i think im too soft.. -.-" So anyway! Here are my beautiful wavy grey white tiles!!

Oh yes, that is definately my own fault for no forward planning. i never expected the goods to arrive and them calling me without the last item being collected.. anyway, have called amcon and they have asked me to pick it up on Saturday and they will try to arrange the delivery for the rest of the items. *crossing my fingers and everything will be okie!* pm-ed

no la... i was doing my email stuff and happen to see ur reply. then i reply lor.. hahaha.. ambush.. make me sound like a soldier.. at bush there ambush u. HAHA.. tml will call uncle and hope he will deliver. kali pok, kopi, maggie mee give him also can. as long as everything come in one piece, i will be very happy de.

trouble is... i think the delivery uncle going to kill me le.. today called him 3 times and kept changing my mind. at first he say deliver today. i said tml 3pm. then later 1 hour later called him back say 4pm - 5pm. then after tt told him to wait for the last item. if i call him tml morning and deliver, i scared he anyhow throw my things. my hubby also delivery driver.. he say if him, he will dulan one. borbi ah.. tml morning, i will act cute and call him, apologise a million times and ask him please delivery if he is free and i will bring him coffee also. haha!! hope i making right decision.. oh god.. i feel like snatching the basin and bringing back to my home and safe keep.

today was a super super super busy day for me.. First day of shifting office.. shift halfway, the forwarder called me! say my items have arrived! oh so exciting! then after that went to choose my floor tiles. i shall keep the pattern a secret first! wait until i do then i show u all!! hahaha!! i got the last few stocks.. its going to be out of stock already. hehehehe.. my goods are here already.. but, not able to let them send to me.. coz i am still short one item, still on the way here.. oh sian.. its going to take so long for it to reach.. dunno if the items that are already here, will break anot.. i scared they leave at their warehouse and start stacking things on top of it, my basin might really break sia. Can anyone advise, should i ask them to deliver first? =( and then go and collect the remaining item from the warehouse myself when it arrive.. it is a metal cabinet that is left behind in china, HOW?! anyone got experience and advise for me?!??1

Ya songz.. try simple items first.. dining lights maybe buy later.. coz those are fragile items. but definately give it a shot.. you can save alot of money! Ya I not only tried to buy solid stuff, i also tried to get those with very good review on their logistics. BTW, i realized today, tt my agent is using amcon for delivery! hopefully, their packing and stacking is good.. I think the most fragile item i bought was a wash basin tt came with the cabinet. if the item break,,. i also dunno how sia.. haha worse is fitted to the cabinet. im not sure how to replace... now praying hard!! Which is the other way to buy from Tb? Ya super easy for noobies. And its super cheap.. some of the items are about 10% the price of that in Singapore. But some.. after shipping abit bo hua.. Wah u are smart. If chinese is not ur first language and u can order, i think u are quite good! which is the forwarder u use? Welcome!! What do you mean what to order? I just look at my house and see what i want to buy, then i search for it. also, bear in mind that some things can ship some cant.. even mirror can be shipped. u might want to try sea.taobao. or try to google taobao singapore. there is a tab on the top tt u can translate the entire website into chinese. another alternative is to use aliexpress. its similiar to taobao.. but its using alibaba vendors. sime items u can find on taobao, ull be able to find on aliexpress.

WOW! thats alot alot of stuff you ordered!! ya, that was my roadblock too, the payment portion and I was super unwilling to incur the 3% charge by cc if i were to pay myself. And the tracking i think will not be easy especially if you are me. I can only read probably 1/4 (if im lucky) of the words in any document. Amcon was popularized by frankman i think.. i think its across the board? all forwarders or agents wont check for you with the exception of peeka. Maybe tts why they are more ex. Thats the reason why i ordered fragile items from them. If really reach warehouse okie, but reach sing broken, then really is LAＮLAN. LOL. And the risk factor is what made me hesitate for so long. too many horror stories of items damaged on the way here.. but me being stingy, and poor, i rather take the chance then to pay premium for the same item in singapore. Nothing ventured, nothing gained. My next treasure will be the dining table tt i was eyeing at smootree and spaceman. taking spaceman's price of S$2500, even if 1 breaks on the way here and i order another and it turns out fine, i will be saving 50% of the original cost. i think its pretty worth it! Songz.. u shld try!! taobao is not very hard to use if you have a good agent. if u have one like mine, you will pull out all ur hair. changing agent soon. hahaha.. no prob! hope to see some of your purchases soon too!

Thanks for the review! I actually read up about them but end up didnt consider them coz they were charging S$10 per item ordered if u order through them.. i need someone to order for me. haha.. im a noobie in chinese. Also for some reason, May Ho never replied my email enquiry.. =( but i heard they are pretty ok as forwarders.. what sort of items did u order for them to ship? ur items come all okie?

so werid.. ur sofa came within 1 week when the sales guy and the invoice that i have, clearly stated that they need 1-2 month to make the sofa.. u bought the display set? You no need to choose colour? Even my fren who bought their sofa had to wait at least a month before they could deliver the sofa.. why u so special? so unfair hor.. feel bad for u.

AHHH! so helpful!! i was actually looking for the kitchen height thing. who knew u would have posted it!! u save my time to find it.

Welcome. =) i tot it might be helpful. I had to go through a few (alot) of hard knocks before I finally learn how to taobao. so hope to help others avoid it too. HAHAHA! i know exactly how it feels! i kept procastinating and procastinating, until i couldnt drag anymore than took the plunge. Actually i will advise using peeka for ur virgin taobao purchase. Coz peeka system is very forgiving and easy to use. If you dunno anything, just call and ask, they can help u. and they are registered company in singapore, so not so scary. bt they are abit ex lor..

Choices of taobao agents If you are poor like me.. or just want to save costs.. you would shop on taobao. So to help everyone and share my limited knowledge, here are the agents that I have found out of.. If you are experienced or can read chinese, you can use forwarders. Some of these agents I have used... some I havent but have researched on. I am going to touch only on SEA shipment and those tt require agent to help them buy. 1) China Agent (YF) YF is a shortform of his name. Was intro-ed by a friend who has used his services. Language spoken: Chinese only Communication mean: QQ Based in: China Shipping rates: 550rmb/cbm or 480/cbm depending on which the frequency of his ships GST: he will assist on GST. ( dont understand pm me) Commission: 4% or capped at S$40 Rates: 4.67 is to 10rmb Transporter: Forwarder's own (can make appt to deliver) Review: YF is someone who you cannot order too many items one shot. I ordered 60 items one shot, and he got a few items wrong and has given me some white hair in the process. Abit careless and calculated wrongly on the total cost. To be fair, its not all that bad also. YF is transparent in a way whereby, he took snapshots of everything he bought so that I can see the costs black and white instead of charging me one lump sum. He tried his best to rectify the mistake he made (not without some blaming of others tho) Pros: cheap, transparent. Cons: can be careless. ordering through email, no specific format. Does not work for the forwarder. Does not have a warehouse. not able to personally check goods for you Use: Use only when ordering a few big big expensive items, when ordering, choose items that does not require customization for a pleasant shopping experience. 2) Oops.sg I knew about him from Hardwarezone. Language spoken: English Based in: China/ Singapore. Shipping rates: 550rmb/cbm GST: you have to key in the value yourself Commission: S$50/cbm Rates: 4.79 Transporter: dragonlink (deliver own time own target) Review: nearly 24 hours online. Speaks in english, and always online (skype and chat in their website), so never need to be afraid that you cant find him. Very popular in HWZ. his order format is very clear and computerized. Never had the chance to use him as his past charges were S$250 flat/cbm. Now his rates change le, most likely will use him for next shipment. Pro: Speaks English, always available, owns the warehouse (i think or at least works there), have more control on ordering process and transparent on shipping process. Cons: his nonchalent attitude about checking of the item condition. They will only check the exterior. Use : For big expensive items or items that require customization 3) Trading one Language spoken: enlgish Based in: i dunno Shipping rates: about S$ 200-250/cbm (last check) GST: will not assist Commission: 5% or 4% (depending on value. higher the value, the cheaper the rates) Rates: not sure. Transporter: dragonlink (deliver own time own target) Review: used them once. nearly drove myself crazy. Only able to communicate with them through email although they are prompt in replying. Honest. Some items on the page was cheaper than shown, they were honest enough to let me know instead of charging me what was shown. Pros: speaks english, honest Cons: expensive. 4) Alvan Language spoken: English Based in: Singapore Shipping rates: S$150/cbm GST: may not assist Commission: nil Rates: 4.7 (if i rem correctly) Transporter: nil Review: I like alvan. They are a singapore based company that assist ppl to buy items. You can show him items you like, and he wil assist you in finding them. That means you no need to have the link. Their ordering system is also either by excel or web. Up to you. Because they are in singapore, any problems, just call them. He is responsive. If you are ordering an item that has bad reviews, he'll find an alternate seller for you. or inform you that the item has bad reviews. Pro: responsive. Mostly online. Fast reply. speaks english. will advise you on things. nearly same price as Opps.sg. Cons: no delivery. Use: for big and light items that easy to carry and transport from their office. 5) Peeka Language spoken: English / Chinese Based in: Singapore Shipping rates: depends on volume. the more volume the cheaper it is. GST: does not assist Commission: 5% Rates: 4.71 Transporter: depend on item Review: I ordered from them 2 weeks ago for my fragile and lighting items. They have a warehouse in China and singapore. Ordering is simple and very straightforward. Shipping process also very straight forward. There are phone lines to call if you need help. Staff will help you translate messages from China side if required. Everything is very transparent. Pros: expensive if you order alot of items Cons: they will open up the cartons to check for damages to the items Use: best used for lighting goods or fragile glass items. 6) Amcon (thankfully contributed by OceanEleven) Language spoken: English / Chinese Based in: Singapore with few warehouses in China (Guangzhou,Shanghai etc) Shipping rates: RMB550 per cubic meter plus documentation plus GST GST: does not assist Commission: Think is 10% per item or free if you order and pay yourself but deliver to their warehouse Rates: unknown Transporter: depend on item Review: I had ordered and paid myself but items still lying in their Guangzhou warehouse. Pros: Pretty ok freight if you are ordering bulky items. Cons: They DO NOT open up the cartons to check for damages to the items Use: Best use for bulky items or consolidating numerous items before shipping So there you go. review of the agents that I have researched on and at certain points used or wanted to use. Hope this helps!!

HANNOR! its worse for use tt have a short and fat living room... (why living room shape must look like me... ) pm-ed pm-ed

I think it solves many ppl's problem of space ba.. Hopefully it will be a good one.. coz when i tried the space man one, it was damned hard to pull.. so hopefully when i get it, it wont be like tt.. will definately review it!

Hi Kenny, pm-ed!

HAHA dont let it get to u. enjoy the rush of things.. coz after this, everything will be...BORING compared to what u did. hahaha..

I second this!! Either that, or put ur lights further from the fan. Actually ur id will advise you about this ma.. my ID advised me about this also.