Just sharing my experience with TGDS. Previously bought something on 5 March, item was delivered on 13 March, ie 8 days, which was acceptable.

I bought another product on 16 May, the seller was supposed to ship using Sheng Tong Express to the warehouse, but he suddenly changed Shung Feng Express. The information was not updated on Taobao.

I was googling everywhere, trying to solve it. Contacted the seller via AliWangWang, and he tried to call the warehouse. But he said that the phone was engaged all the time.

Tried to contact Taobao customer service many time, but was answered by robot with unhelpful answers. Finally I found out that ZTO is the forwarder to Malaysia. So I contacted ZTO via Aliwangwang, and gave them the new tracking number from Shung Feng Express.

Luckily, ZTO said that they have updated the info in Taobao. Right now, waiting for the item to arrive.

I don't think I will be using TGDS anymore, I think better use consolidate option.

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Btw, just to share that I think it's better for us to use Maybank2u/CIMBClicks or other banks to pay direct to Taobao, as the 3% charges for CC is quite a lot compared to only 1.5% for bank transfer. I also trying to expore how to direct top-up alipay account, does anybody know if it's cheaper if we pay direct from alipay?

I have bought three items so far.

Item 1
Price: ¥680
Insurance: ¥1.60
Delivery: ¥28
Total: ¥709.6
Amount charged on CC: ¥740.63
Alipay fee: ¥21.29 (3.13% of purchase price)
CC fee: ¥9.74 (1.43% of purchase price)
Total additional fees: 4.52% of purchase price

Item 2
Price: ¥850
Insurance: ¥1.60
Delivery: ¥28
Total: ¥879.6
Amount charged on CC: ¥918.06
Alipay fee: ¥26.39 (3.10% of purchase price)
CC fee: ¥12.07 (1.42% of purchase price)
Total additional fees: 4.52% of purchase price

Item 3
Price: ¥248
Insurance: ¥1.70
Delivery: ¥32
Total: ¥281.7
Amount charged on CC: ¥290.15
Alipay fee: ¥8.45 (3.41% of purchase price)
CC fee: ¥4.46 (1.8% of purchase price)
Total additional fees: 5.21% of purchase price

I've asked for refund for item 1, as it was an accidental purchase. Made the refund request like a few hours after purchase, so the seller had not sent the item yet. However, I was only refunded ¥680+¥1.60, ie just for the item price and insurance. Another ¥59.03 (delivery + alipay + CC fees) are not refunded at all. ¥59 is around RM36, which is quite significant. As such, I think, whenever you click buy, please be careful and bear in mind that should you request for refund, you'll burn the extra fees that you have paid.

This post has been edited by Mr Gray: May 23 2017, 12:18 AM

I'm referring to the international delivery charges by Taobao itself, as delivery from seller to china warehouse is free.

I can't find that option, but regardless taobao has refunded my delivery cost. So every single sen is recouped. Yeay.

Just send an email to english@service.alibaba.com. And somebody will reply to you in english. Basically, we need to request the refund manually. If not, taobao would not refund. Don't worry, somebody will reply to your email. In English.

Haha just try la, who knows your luck. The option to request refund manually is inside the taobao control panel, but i think many people don't realise that.

I used Lazada (air) shipping option at Taobao. Anybody knows which shipping agent are they using? I have tried the tracking number at Skynet & Pos Laju. But it doesn't work

Alibaba which owns Taobao also owns Lazada. Jack Ma had spent USD 2 billion to buy a majority stake in Lazada. Lazada would be their main channel for Asean consumers. So it makes sense for taobao to help lazada in ways that they can.

Does your tracking number begin with 82? Mine begins with 82. And it's not 4px. Hmmm

My package has arrived today. And it is indeed 4PX. But I can't seem to track using the tracking number at 4px website. So weird.

I ordered the package last saturday. So that's basically 5 days in total.

Send an email to English@service.alibaba.com

The alibaba staff would be able to help you

I have tried all four forwarders: DEX, 4PX, COE and ZTO. And TGDS, and Lazada Express

The best choice is to use DEX. Typically my shipment arrives in 8 days. Only once in a while it takes 9 to 10 days. Every single shipment is successful. They use GDEX and I've never had a bad experience with them.

Taobao Global Direct use a variety of couriers. TGDS is longer than consolidation, typically 10-12 days. Some of my shipment use Skynet, which is okay, but takes longer than GDEX. But one shipment was delivered using ABX. Holy cow, this company is the worst shit, I tell you. One week, everyday out of delivery, but the item never arrives. I called ABX everyday from Monday to Friday, and each time they say they will deliver tomorrow. In the end I had to pick up myself at the Subang Warehouse. It's a really run-down warehouse with no security whatsoever. Everybody can enter, and just your order number. They don't even verify your ID, for God sake. And all sorting are done manually. For God sake, I've been to GDEX warehouse. It's 100 times better than this.

COE, Lazada Express and ZTO uses Skynet & ABX. My purchases in the past were delivered with Skynet. Don't know why, the recent purchases are being delivered using ABX. One item arrived (SURPRISINGLY). And another item is missing. In taobao, the status is shown as being delivered by I can't even track the package in ABX website. My goodness, I may have to pick up the item at ABX Subang Warehouse again.

4PX is very good as well. They use Airpak as their local partner. 4PX sends you SMS notifications. So whenever the item arrives at their warehouse, they'll send you an SMS. So you'll know that you need to pay for the forwarding fee. And when the item is out for delivery, they'll send you another SMS.

In short, go for DEX or 4PX. Avoid all others (TGDS included), as they may use ABX which sucks to the max.


For guide: The first two digits of tracking number for the following couriers that I know of

GDEX: 86
Airpak: 81
Skynet: 60
ABX: 62

This post has been edited by Mr Gray: Oct 13 2017, 10:47 PM

This is not true. We are automatically registered to Alipay when we want to make payment at Alibaba/Taobao/Tmall. Just install the Alipay app in you android/iPhone. And then there'll be QR code that you can send to the seller for him/her to refund. Our Alipay account can only be used to receive money. You cannot top-up the money inside Alipay as that function requires a Chinese bank account.

I've made one refund request to LEX, because they lost one of my packages. And they refunded the full amoutn successfully to my account. Just to share that, you will not get back 3% credit card charge or the 1.5% banking transfer charge for refunds. All of these are considered gone.

That's odd. Because my alipay account is unverified as well.

I've tried all couriers available on taobao. And I am most impressed with 4px. If you notice 4px's rate is the most expensive, but I got my shipments in like 6 or 7 days. That's heavenly, just like shopping from Malaysia. I don't know why people say 4px partner is abx as all my 4px parcels use airpak. Which is good. What I like the most about 4px is it sends me SMS notification whenever my item arrives at the warehouse in China and when my item is our for delivery.

DEX is good too. Its local partner is GDEX, which is very efficient. But the lack of SMS notification and it typically takes 9 to 10 days.

All in all, sometimes I think it depends on your luck as well. My tips is to never buy so many things at once. Customs won't have the time to check everything, but when your package is big or heavy, it stands out, and more likely to be inspected, hence detained.

I meant 6 days from the day I buy from merchant. From the day I paid 4px. It would be about 3 to 4 days as well. Which is good.

Yup. It uses skynet/abx. Skynet is not too bad but abx is just the worst courier ever. I had to pick up my item at their warehouse in subang, because it has not been delivered after two weeks.

They're fine. The forwarder in Malaysia is the one that is bad. If they happen to use skynet, fine. But there's a chance that they will use abx, and I have a few bad experience with abx that I will never use them again.

That's why I prefer DEX which uses GDEX or 4px which uses Airpak.

If your appointed courier is ABX, just go to their warehouse in subang and pick your own items. If you were to wait, it would be weeks. Not days.

If you're out of KL. Tough luck. Bersabarlah. T_T

And if the seller rejects your request of refunding, you will find Chinese characters [退款被拒绝]（being rejected）at the same place of [退款/退货]. Click [退款被拒绝]（refund being rejected）and then you can click [申请客服介入]（request Taobao to intervene and help) and choose [淘宝小二介入] to ask for taobao intervention to deal with this case.The phone required can be filled as "13811111111".