Pacifist, I updated my post, and probably misled you because I updated the text at the top. Sorry about that.
But I actually had a terrible experience. They repacked automatically, and did a horrible job:
I chose air mail and received my package after 14 days. Along the way, tracking did not update for even a single day. Note that this isn't Taobaofocus' fault; international tracking is often quite iffy.
I had ordered a keyboard and a bunch of components. The keyboard had what it came to Taobaofocus; one layer of big bubble wrap and one layer of small bubble wrap. The wrapping was haphazard and mostly irregularly crumped up, which I attribute to the Taobaofocus guys having to unwrap, take photos, and rewrap. I guess that's to be expected of a low margin business.
(I once complained about repackers on Qtan's vendor section also. They dirtied my keyboard, so a brand new white keyboard came to me with black smudges and black fingerprints.)
The components, though, were a total disaster. I don't generally like proxy shippers much, having changed different ones only to find more of the same. The employees are basically the equivalent of US aviation security guys or burger flippers in the US - the lowest denominator.
The Taobaofocus guys didn't actually repack anything. Instead of putting the components in a plastic bag or at least wrapping them in paper so that they stay in one place, they just chucked all the loose components randomly into the same box as the keyboard and taped it up. I had to hunt through the bubble wrap and the box for my components. One here, one there, one trapped in this fold, one underneath the keyboard, one hidden behind a cardboard box flap, and so on. This was extremely infuriating. They could have at least put all the components on the keyboard and wrapped them up all together, but they had to chuck everything in loose and haphazardly!
Eventually I discovered I was missing two components.
Since I'd over-ordered, missing two cheap components wasn't a big issue. And I don't feel like talking to the Taobaofocus guys again anyway. But the net result is, if you're happy with these guys, fine. But I ain't recommending.
http://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=50798.0
the problem he had with them was changing around his orders. at the end he says everything else was smooth and better than expected