<update>
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.
Most of the people gushing with praise for Taobaofocus seem to have only ordered one item or else multiple items of largely the same nature (eg keycaps) from the same seller, so repacking was probably not needed. I had orders from two different sellers so the stuff had come in two separate packages. Furthermore the nature of the orders were different: I had one keyboard and a bunch of small things of different shapes and sizes.
I don't think these guys can handle even marginally complex orders. But to be fair, proxy shippers are mostly iffy; I don't think their services would be affordable otherwise.
End
(original text of OP follows)
These guys are a Taobao proxy and I just ordered from them.
I was inspired by a positive review from Bueller. However, having a good experience with a straightforward buy doesn’t mean everything. How the proxy responds if you have a change of needs is also important.
I placed my orders on Sunday, Chinese time. (That’s Saturday night for you geekhackers in the USA.)
I basically started with ordering items X and Y. Then I decided to order more Y. I placed a second order for Y. Call it Y2. Then I realized I could update order Y1 to Yi+. This isn’t as straightforward as you think, since they don’t give you the option to update Y1 until several hours later. It’s not a standard shopping cart user interface once you have placed your orders.
They don’t update until after several hours. I was working in front of my computer for hours and checked and refreshed page regularly, and it was more than 4 hours before they got back to me.
I updated Y1 and the new, bigger order refreshed immediately. But I couldn’t cancel Y2. TaobaoFocus has no help chatline on weekends, so I had to email them. I emailed them immediately after discovering I couldn’t cancel Y2. I emailed them before they even sent me an order update. (I get the impression their order updates are done manually, unlike on US websites where you get an automated update immediately after you place the order.)
What happened next was a slow and confused exchange of emails. I got the impression that different people were answering, because emails alternately showed a lack of understanding and contradicted each other.
Knowing that English standards are quite low, I tried to use simple English. “Please cancel order Y2. I repeat, cancel Y2.” “I confirm I want Y1+.”
After numerous backs and forths, involving a lot of head scratching on my part,
“Sorry, you have propose too late.
For cancellation, you can directly request in order.
And when you mail us, you didn't write clearly, we can't understand your true meaning among your delphic words.
Seller has shipped items yesterday afternoon.”
I will update this thread when delivery is made to Taobaofocus and I am charged shipping, and I will update again after I receive the goodies. But unless I am strongly positively impressed, I’m not likely to use these guys again.
-=-=-=
Update Sunday 17th Nov
Taobaofocus did not contact me in the past few days. So I logged in and found that... the order had arrived and was waiting for me to issue an order to them for shipping out.
One thing that I did like about these guys is that they took a photo. Not all proxies do. As far as I could see, nothing was amiss.
Of course, not contacting me is another annoyance. I could not find any trace of their emails in my spam or trash, so I guess I have to attribute it to a faulty automated system if Bueller was able to get an email update that his order had arrived and I didn't. That's not great.
From a general point of view (also responding to one of the Chinese posters on this thread), most Chinese do business like that. In order to offer low prices, they wind up cutting corners elsewhere. And it is a great pity. If they invested in a better automated system (programmers are freaking cheap in China, ok?), it would probably make buyers like me much less frustrated.
Seriously, Chinese stuff is cheap. +10%, and it is still cheap. If you invested in a sound system, you could probably spread the cost out among all your customers, hike your fees 10%, and wind up with less frustration, less miscommunication, less mutual acrimony, and a competitive business that reviewers like me gush over.
