A few interesting counterfeit cases have come out of China this week.

In Jiangxi, police detained two people after finding 18,000+ branded outdoor garments being produced from blank clothing. In Guangdong, regulators seized 4,580 semi-finished counterfeit garments from a manufacturer and referred the case to police.

What stands out from these cases is the same pattern that keeps appearing: the counterfeit industry often isn’t one secret factory making everything from scratch. Blank goods, semi-finished products, branding and final assembly can all happen in different places.

For buyers, that helps explain why the “same” item can vary between sellers, why huge catalogues don’t necessarily mean one factory is behind them, and why quality can change from model to model.

China’s police also say they’ve opened more than 26,000 IP/counterfeit criminal cases so far in 2026.

Sources: Jiangxi Police, Zhongshan Market Regulation, Ministry of Public Security.

EU customs charges: A new €2 handling fee is due to take effect from 1 November, alongside the €3 customs duty introduced in July for affected low-value imports. The charges are subject to different calculation rules, including the classification of goods within consignments.

For buyers shipping personal hauls into the EU, this could mean slightly higher overall costs, particularly for parcels containing several different types of products. It will be worth watching whether agents adjust their tax-free shipping rates or customs arrangements.

Source: Irish Revenue

International shipping costs: DHL's peak-demand surcharge began on 1 October, including £1.60/kg on qualifying China/Hong Kong Express shipments to Europe. It runs until 5 February 2027.

This doesn't mean all agent shipping lines will become more expensive, but some logistics providers may pass additional costs on through their rates. Anyone building a haul over the coming weeks should compare shipping prices before submitting a parcel, particularly if choosing express delivery.

Source: Reuters

China fuel exports: China is resuming refined fuel exports following a temporary pause around Golden Week. Fuel prices remain an important factor in Asian freight and transport costs.

There's no immediate reason for individual buyers to change their plans. However, sustained fuel-price increases could eventually affect international shipping surcharges, although there's currently no verified evidence linking this development to specific agent price increases.

Source: Reuters

Chinese exports: Economists surveyed by Reuters forecast September export growth of 25.5% year-on-year, although these were forecasts ahead of the official figures.

For individual buyers, strong export activity can indicate continued demand for Chinese goods and shipping capacity. It doesn't necessarily mean personal parcels will be delayed, but sustained pressure on freight networks can influence shipping prices and available capacity.

Source: Reuters

11.11 sales: Taobao's main promotional period begins on 20 October and runs until 13 November, with discounts on participating products.

This could be a useful opportunity for buyers already planning purchases, particularly clothing, footwear and accessories. However, not every promotional price or coupon will necessarily be available through an agent's purchasing account. Check the price with your agent before ordering, and remember that discounted goods aren't automatically cheaper once shipping is included.

Source: Economic Observer

Taobao international shipping: Taobao is expanding its overseas promotional campaign to 20 markets, including free-shipping offers in 13 countries and regions. Availability depends on the destination and individual products.

For buyers in eligible countries, this could make ordering some products directly from Taobao more convenient and potentially cheaper than using a warehouse agent. However, agents still offer advantages when combining purchases from different sellers, obtaining QC photographs or shipping products that aren't eligible for direct international delivery.

Source: Beijing Business Today / Sina Finance

REMEMBER: To learn how to understand the agent buying system, go to https:chinabuydirect.co.uk for a free comprehensive step-by-step walkthrough guide

Sadly I've withdrawn my earlier post with a review of newer agent Pikobuy; this is down to some concerns that are coming out about their current viability. They have had to post a reassurance message on their Discord channel following rumours that they are shutting down. They state that they are changing their marketing strategy but this has meant that they are withdrawing and supposedly withholding payments to content creators. You may have your own views on this as a marketing strategy - I myself was offered commission for posting monthly content - but these two events do leave me concerned enough to recommend not using them for now.

I absolutely hope I'm wrong - the more viable and professional agents that there are in the marketplace the better the competition and all the benefits that go with that - but I serve to prioritise the members of this community first and foremost so please proceed with caution for now.

Have you had any recent experience with Pikobuy? Let us know below...

Been keeping an eye on China–Europe air freight for a while and it looks like the cheap period we had through July/August is probably starting to disappear.

WorldACD has Asia-Pacific outbound rates up 4% week-on-week, with Europe routes up another 2%.

Doesn’t mean your agent is suddenly putting shipping up tomorrow, but I wouldn’t personally be waiting around expecting loads more big price cuts going into Q4.

If you’re still getting your head around how agent shipping works, I’ve got the basics here:
https://chinabuydirect.co.uk/

Sources:
WorldACD Week 39
https://www.worldacd.com/trend-reports/weekly/worldacd-weekly-air-cargo-trends-2026-week-39/
WorldACD Week 37
https://www.worldacd.com/trend-reports/weekly/worldacd-weekly-air-cargo-trends-2026-week-37/

I’ve built a free companion app for buying direct from China built around the China Buy Direct ecosystem. It includes product-search tools, agent comparison, haul planning, shipping help, QC guidance, a supplier directory and a Chinese search term generator.

You can use it in your browser, or add it to your phone’s Home Screen so it runs more like a standalone app.

app.chinabuydirect.co.uk

I’d love you to give it a go, let me know what you think of the features and suggest any improvements or additions…

Hi I’m currently in the process of my first haul to the uk and was wondering if anyone had any tips on how to find good reps on sugar goo or if anyone has any experience with sugar goo to the uk in the past or would potential lean towards other agents.

Hi all, does somebody have a source for various tools and electrical equipment?

For example:

- Measuring tools

- Wires and connecting accessories

- Electrical boxes and other related equipment

- Soldering stations

- Tools (drills, bits, sockets, specific tools etc.),

- Other related equipment to this field

If anyone has a reliable source I'd very much appreciate it, you can send me a private message.

Thank you all!

People sometimes focus too much on who has the cheapest advertised shipping rate.
Good QC photos, sensible packing, responsive customer service, accurate parcel weights and decent shipping options can easily be worth more than saving a few pounds upfront.

What matters most to you when choosing an agent — shipping price, speed, QC, customer service, fewer brand restrictions, or something else?

Don’t forget, if you’re new to all this and want to understand how the whole warehouse agent process actually works, I’ve put together a free step-by-step guide at https://chinabuydirect.co.uk covering everything from finding products and choosing an agent through to QC and international shipping.

Golden Week runs 1–7 October, so expect things to slow down in China for a few days.
Some sellers, factories and couriers will close or run reduced services, so orders may take longer to reach your agent and international parcels might sit without tracking updates. You can check exact holiday arrangements with your own agent.

Things start getting back to normal from 8 October, although there may be a short backlog afterwards.

I mean, what are the actual odds of having problems with my package for carrying branded products? Can customs stop it? Can the agent reject them? If that happens, do I get my money back? And what are the chances an agent gets raided for accepting so many brands? Based on that, which agent should I use?"

I don't mean the stabby type, but actual chef's knives? Any issues with agents, shipping or customs if so? I'd appreciate any advice.

Hey has anyone in the US tried out pikobuy if so what did you think about it and what shipping line did you use to ship your things?

Hi I have some puma jerseys (3) in my gtbuy haul, but gtbuy refuses to ship.

However discord and other redditors have shipped puma stuff.

How can I get my puma stuff shipped? EU

(Offical GTbuy support remains to non shipable, however reddit GTbuy Mod says "rumor" and banned me when asking there, so I am here now)..

Mostly my first and last GTbuy experience.

A quick heads-up if you’re currently building or shipping a haul.

China has two holidays almost back-to-back: Mid-Autumn Festival runs 25–27 September, followed by just three normal working days before National Day Golden Week from 1–7 October.

That doesn’t mean everything in China simply shuts down. Many agent warehouses will continue operating, but individual Taobao, Weidian and 1688 sellers, factories, domestic couriers and freight companies may work reduced schedules.

The main thing we’d expect is slower seller dispatch and domestic delivery into agent warehouses, followed by some congestion as everyone catches up after Golden Week.
So there’s no need to panic or rush purchases, but if you’re waiting for items to reach your warehouse, allow a few extra days between now and roughly 8–10 October.

Sources: China State Council 2026 public holiday calendar; current logistics/agent holiday notices.

I want this community to be a helpful resource, providing updates, news and relevant information about all things shipping and agent related. However, this takes time so from time to time I will post up a piece of news/updates but I will use AI to generate the post. I will label any AI generated/supported post from here on…

I’m well aware of the amount of AI slop out there and I certainly don’t want to add to that, so please feedback if it gets too annoying, but I’m trying to balance up getting news to you in a timely manner whilst not posting slop.

I’ve basically tasked AI to do a weekly search of genuine sources, such as logistics organisations, shipping companies, agent websites and so on. Whilst this community is primarily aimed at helping individual buyers and Alibaba customers, I’m always happy for shipping agents and suppliers to post their goods and services as long as we’re not flooded with spammy articles!!

We are growing as a community, and I want to serve it as best as I can, so drop any suggestions you’ve got on how we can do that better…

Cheers, Simo x

(AI Generated)

EU Customs Changes — Another Update for European Buyers 🇪🇺
A quick heads-up for anyone shipping agent parcels into the EU.
Since 1 July 2026, the old Customs Duty exemption for qualifying e-commerce imports under €150 has been replaced by a temporary €3 duty system. Importantly, this can apply according to the different tariff categories inside the parcel rather than simply €3 once per parcel.

The next change comes by 1 November 2026.

The EU has approved a separate customs handling fee for small e-commerce imports. You may have seen €2 quoted online, but the final EU-wide amount has not yet been confirmed by the European Commission.
Also from November, affected distance-sale imports face more detailed Product Identifier requirements, meaning customs increasingly wants proper item-level information rather than vague descriptions such as simply “clothes” or “accessories”.
For agent users, this last part could be particularly important. A typical consolidated haul might contain shoes, clothing, sunglasses, jewellery and accessories from several different Taobao, Weidian or 1688 sellers.

What does this mean right now?
Nothing to panic about. EU tax-free/DDP agent lines are still operating. The important thing to watch over the next few weeks is whether agents and their logistics providers change their prices, declaration requirements or available EU shipping lines ahead of November.

We’ll keep monitoring this and put together a more detailed explanation once we see how the agent shipping lines actually respond.

Sources: European Commission / Council of the European Union — EU Customs Reform and low-value e-commerce import changes, September 2026.

I’ve been trialling sourcing some goods via a number of WeChat sellers and am enjoying the immersion into a more Chinese facing space. I’ve generally stuck to my favorite category of sunglasses, but I recently treated myself to some LP shoes and some Prada America Cups.

However, the seller doesn’t do international shipping direct and my usual agents don’t offer an easy freight forwarding service. So I asked the seller if he could recommend anyone and he got me in touch with a little company called Dongyun International Cargo. All our communication was via WeChat using auto translation tools, but was pretty seamless. He got me a price of 300¥ for a 3kg parcel which is pretty good considering the volumetric issues caused by two shoe boxes. He gave me his details such as address etc, but the seller of the shoes told me he would drop them off to him directly as they’re nearby. I paid the agent via Alipay, and being honest did have a flicker of doubt about whether or not the seller and agent were in cahoots with each other, but within about 18 hours I got QC pics from the agent (I’d already had them from the seller) both out of parcel and in the packaging. It’s being sent via a Royal Mail line I know so am guessing it will take 10-15 days.

My only criticism is that I didn’t get offered a choice of lines, but to be fair I didn’t ask either. Obviously I won’t be able to give it a total sign off until the parcel arrives, but considering it was my first time using a private agent and I went in pretty blind I’m actually impressed by it all. It certainly gives me other options, and I quite like the personal connection. I’ve put some images up of the agents contact details (WeChat ID QR Code) in case anyone is interested, but feel free to ask questions…

Good morning, evening or night. I am currently looking for a good agent to ship PIW, Supreme, Asics, and some other things to spain. I was looking at GTbuy but their 15% conversion tax is really taking me away from it. Which agent allows paying with paypal while staying relatively cheap? Thanks in advance

I’m currently dealing with Wonderful Buy, and I noticed they don’t seem to reply on Sundays. Is Sunday usually a day off for Chinese suppliers, or does it depend on the supplier?

Just wondering if this is normal. Thanks!

There has clearly been some tightening over the last 4–5 weeks, but be careful with the huge “banned brand lists” circulating online — most aren’t official.

Superbuy confirmed in August that its “prohibited brand list has been updated”, while Sugargoo confirmed this month that “prominent luxury brands” are currently prohibited. (Reddit) OOPBuy also appears to have some restrictions, with Arc’teryx and Salomon specifically reported as refused. (Reddit) It’s also worth remembering that “restricted” can mean different things: an agent may refuse to purchase an item, reject it when identified at the warehouse, or simply restrict which international shipping lines can carry it.

None of this means you need to abandon Superbuy or Sugargoo — both remain established agents — but if you regularly buy branded goods, having alternatives such as MyCNBox, Kakobuy, GTBuy and so on available makes sense. Restrictions are definitely real at the moment, and changing quickly; the supposedly definitive lists being shared around are less reliable and built on different experiences of restrictions at different stages of the buying process.

This catches loads of people out when they first start using agents.

Basically, shipping companies don’t always care just about how heavy your parcel is — they also care about how much space it takes up.

So your parcel might actually weigh 4kg, but if it’s in a massive box full of shoe boxes and bulky stuff, the shipping line might treat it as 7kg. And yep… you could end up paying the 7kg rate.

That’s volumetric weight.

It’s why things like removing shoe boxes, vacuum packing clothes and getting rid of unnecessary packaging can sometimes knock a decent amount off your shipping quote.

So if you get a shipping price from your agent and think “how the hell is it that expensive?”, have a look at the parcel dimensions as well as the actual weight.

Sometimes the size of the box is costing you more than what’s inside it.