The cost usually consist of only two part.
- Sea shipment cost from the warehouse in China to Serangoon area.
- GST tax that we need to pay to the authority in Singapore.
Sea shipping rate is roughly about RMB ¥460 per cbm (as of 24th Jul 2022). The rate do change from time to time depending on the shipping vendor’s charges. Can range from ¥400/cbm to ¥600/cbm. We usually are not bothered by the rate because it is already pretty low cost through us consolidating our goods and ship together.
Sea shipment cost is base mainly on the space/volume instead of weight.
1 CBM is cubic per meter, which is the size of 1 x 1 x 1 meter in volume. This cbm size is however roughly determined by the China warehouse operator before the shipment is shipped out.
If your parcels adds up to about 0.5 x 0.5 x 0.5m in size, it means that your package is 0.125cbm (in volume). Assuming the shipping rate is ¥500/cbm, this will means that the cost of shipment for your parcel will be equal to ¥500/cbm x 0.125cbm, which is ¥62.50 (or about SGD $13).
Click here for access to CBM Calculator.
The minimum size under each individual name is 0.01cbm. This means that is your goods is only 0.005cbm, the shipper will roughly compute your pack as 0.01cbm. 0.01cbm is about (size: 0.1 x 0.1 x 1m) or (size: 10 x 10 x 100cm) or (size: 20 x 20 x 25cm). This means that minimum shipment fee is about ¥5 (or about SGD $1).
Beside the shipment fee, there is also GST tax which the operators will collect in advance from us. This tax amount will depends on the price of the items that we have in our shipment. Each of us has to declare the item price on the Google Sheets. This sheet will be submitted to the operator before the shipment to Singapore.
Small note: If your shipment quantity is too high, the custom from China may deem your intention as business and may impose a tax on your shipment. If we are buying for own use or in small qty, usually we do not face this additional tax from China.
!!! Attention for those who buy bulky items !!!
If your items are big and bulky, or if they add up to about 1 cbm, please let us know about it. We will recommend you to ship your goods directly to your own address instead. We can guide you on how to do this. Please contact us.
My recommendation is if your shipment exceeds 0.6cbm (unlikely can be transported by a car), I will seriously consider direct shipment to my own address. Although I have to pay for 1 cbm worth of shipment, the extra fee is likely cheaper than the effort and cost to collect the bulky goods from our address.
Buying furniture for new home or renovation will easily hit above 0.6cbm.
Please take note.
Shipment Cost Illustration
This section provides some photos to give you an idea of the shipment cost in Singapore dollar. GST cost is not included in this example.
| Package Photo (Click to enlarge) | Package Size | Shipment Cost |
|---|---|---|
 | 小婷 0.1×0.1x1m 📦0.01cbm | RMB ¥4.6 SGD $0.96 |
| tracy_wong 📦0.01cbm | RMB ¥4.6 SGD $0.96 | |
| 蓓蕾吖 📦0.04cbm | RMB ¥18.40 SGD $3.84 | |
| 米妈 📦0.02cbm | RMB ¥9.20 SGD $1.92 | |
| Crystal 📦0.02cbm | RMB ¥9.20 SGD $1.92 | |
| 小美女 📦0.03cbm | RMB ¥13.80 SGD $2.88 | |
| 小薇 📦0.03cbm | RMB ¥13.80 SGD $2.88 | |
| Linya 📦0.01cbm | RMB ¥4.6 SGD $0.96 | |
 | YangDan 📦0.29cbm | RMB ¥133.40 SGD $27.87 |
Shipment Time and Scheduling
We have set a schedule to ship out the shipment from the China warehouse by the end of every Thursday. You can plan and choose the week that you want your items to be shipped out. You can also consolidate for the next week’s shipment if your order wasn’t able to reach the warehouse in time.
Usually, most parcel takes about 2-5 days lead time from your seller’s place to the China warehouse for consolidation. However, it can take longer depending on the seller’s speed. So as a general guideline, I would recommend you to place your online order from Wednesday to Friday. The very last order if needed should be on a Monday. By the time it reaches the warehouse, it will be around Wednesday/Thursday which is just nice for your items to consolidate and ship out. In case your parcel comes into the warehouse late, you can always consolidate it for next week’s shipment.
The cut-off time to update your items’ consolidation on the Google Sheets is 9pm on a Tuesday. This list will be submitted to the operator base on everyone’s update on the Google sheet. The operator can then start packing and shipping out to Singapore. It usually takes about 2 weeks for the shipment to arrive. So in total from the time you place your order to the day you receive it, is about 3 weeks.
The sea shipment from the China warehouse to Singapore usually takes about 2 weeks. This excludes the delivery from your seller’s place to the China warehouse. However, it can drag to 4 weeks or more depending on customs and shipping traffic. Be sure that the item that you are buying is not urgently needed. If you need it urgently, I will recommend you to ship via air-freight with Ezship or other courier services. Cost is mainly based on the weight and/or volume, and is more expensive. Click here to ezShip website.
Fee Collection for the shipment
The amount to pay for our shipment will be made known on the day of delivery to Serangoon. The shipper will give us the list which contains the cbm space of the shipment from every individual, the shipping fee, and the GST tax to be paid.
Note: these fees are in RMB ¥ currency.
The admin will collect the fee from everyone. Fee collection can be through PayNow, Wechat, or Alipay, etc…
The admin will consolidate the amount and pay the shipper. The shipper will then release the goods to us.
The announcement will be through the chat groups. So please do keep a lookout for these.
via PayNow
You can PayNow to mobile number 8917 6258 (Yang JieYun)
For fee collection via PayNow. It will be in SGD currency. Based on the day we receive this bill from the shipper, we will use the exchange rate from WeChat’s 汇率. To understand where we get this rate from, simply go to WeChat, click on the search icon, and key in “汇率”. The following is an example of what you will see on your mobile phone screen. This will also be a screenshot to the chat group together with the fee collection list.
We are following this same practise from Ponggol Group Leader. They are mostly Chinese WeChat user. The following is a screen shot of what you will see after keying in “汇率”. You will get to see the date/time of the rate. Remember to change the currency to “人民币 CNY” and “新加坡元”.
via WeChat or Alipay
These payment options are seldom used by local Singaporeans. It is mainly for the Chinese living in Singapore. If you prefer, you can simply transfer the fee amount to Yang JieYun (杨洁芸) via WeChat or Alipay system.
🔙 Click here to go back to the main Taobao group shipping page.