just wanted to add my shipping experiences with them for comparison (bearing in mind all of the quotes are based off of today's XE exchange rate vs. whatever paypal's was back then)-
bhiner cost - $13.86, hkp quote- $9.70 (3/8/16)
bhiner cost - $87.41, ems quote - $140.65 (11/12/15), but bhiner probably has discounted vendor pricing
bhiner cost - $38.47, hkp quote- $34.89 (3/2/15)
and then i don't know which shipping service they used for my first order with them (back then they offered "bhiner express" shipping), but the shipping cost was $7.88 on a 1kg package in a medium packet. (1/20/15)
in general, pretty sure most of the services i've used (for cn/tw/kr/jp) have overcharged me for shipping to offset their low proxy fees though. they'll also sometimes add-on fees for things like packaging materials and combining packages (even if that only means dropping a tiny package into the other package's box), and so it's not uncommon that the shipping-related fees/markup add up to an amount similar (if not more) than their service fee. i just consider it standard gray-area proxy tactics at this point, so just as long as the service they provide is what i'm expecting (good comms, fast turn-around times, adequate packaging, able to correct issues if-necessary), then i still consider it a good service.
there's also the fact that often times with foreign auctions, the seller requires the winner have massive amounts of positive feedback to consent to selling the item to them, so there is some value there that the proxies aren't accounting for in their standard fee. so i'm good with being scammed out a few dollars here and there if it means long-standing services that open up closed markets to me have incentive to remain in business.
i'll give taobaofocus a harder look next chinese go-around though, thank you for the info.
