What Does a Taobao Agent Actually Cost? Full Fee Breakdown

Most agents advertise a single headline number — "0% commission!" — and leave everything else vague. Here is the full structure, so you can compare quotes properly instead of comparing slogans.

The four fees

Every agent invoice decomposes into the same four parts. Anything else is either a variant of one of these, or a hidden charge.

1. Item price

What the seller charges, in RMB. The agent should show you the seller's listing price and convert it at a rate they publish.

What to watch: a markup disguised as an "exchange rate". If the market rate is 7.2 CNY per USD and the agent charges you at 6.9, that 4% gap is a fee, whether or not it is labelled one. Ask for the rate they used.

2. Domestic shipping (国内运费)

Getting the goods from the seller to the warehouse. Typically ¥8–15 per order inside China, sometimes free.

What to watch: per-order versus per-item. A ¥12 charge per order on a five-item haul is ¥12. The same charge applied per item is ¥60. Ours is calculated per item so that the total is predictable, and it is shown before you submit.

3. Service fee

The commission. The industry has moved to zero: several large agents now advertise 0%, and the ones still charging sit around 3–6.5%.

We charge 0%. Our margin comes from the freight we negotiate, not from your item cost. This is also why we have an incentive to pack your parcel efficiently — a smaller, lighter parcel is cheaper for both of us.

4. International freight

This is the big one, and the least transparent. It is charged on the greater of actual weight and volumetric weight (see our explanation), so a bulky down jacket can cost more to ship than a dense book that weighs the same.

Two things to insist on:

• A number before you commit, not after the parcel is packed.
• The measured weight in a photograph. You are being billed by weight; you should see the scale.

The freight you pay also depends on the speed tier you choose. We quote four tiers:

Choosing one tier down is often the single biggest saving available on a haul — usually far larger than any discount code.

The charges nobody mentions up front

Value-added services

Repacking, protective packaging, extra photos, power-on testing, storage extension, insurance. These are optional and priced individually. Competitor pricing for reference is roughly:

These are profit lines for the agent. That is not dishonest — someone has to pay for the labour — but they should be listed openly. Ours are on the checkout page, itemised, before you submit.

One of them pays for itself: removing shoeboxes and vacuum-compressing soft goods reduces chargeable weight, which reduces freight. On bulky clothing the saving frequently exceeds the service fee.

Storage

Free storage is standard: 30 to 120 days depending on the agent, with 90 days typical. Beyond the free window you pay per item per month, and items left for a very long time are eventually disposed of.

We give 90 days free. If you are consolidating a haul over several weeks, free storage is worth real money and should be part of your comparison.

Insurance

Typically 3% of declared value with a minimum, often ¥15. Worth it for anything fragile, electronic, or worth more than the carrier will pay out. Without insurance, a lost parcel settles at whatever the carrier allows — usually by weight, not by value.

A worked example

A ¥200 jacket, 1.2 kg, shipped to the United States on the 8–14 day tier:

The freight number is deliberately absent: it depends on the measured weight and the line we can actually book that week. We quote it after the goods are in hand, and you confirm before paying anything.

How to spot a padded quote

• Freight quoted as a round number with no tier or weight attached. Ask which tier and which chargeable weight.
• "Free shipping" that is really a higher item price. Compare the item price to the seller's listing.
• A service fee of 0% plus a "handling fee" of 5%. Same thing, different label.
• No refund when the actual weight comes in lower than estimated. Ours refunds the difference.

Try it

Paste a link into the homepage, pick a tier, and submit your order confirmation. You will see the goods-side costs immediately and the freight quote after we review the parcel — with no payment required at any point before you confirm.