FAQ

Hello Peeka Users,

We have updated our services menu items, and added/updated following pages.

Do refer to them to find out more on our charges and policy.

 

Frequently Asked Questions




Why PEEKA?

Peeka is your one-stop agent for all your China sourcing and delivery needs, for both personal and business needs. You can ask us to source, customize, and pay for your purchases (Buy4U service); or you can purchase yourself and engage us to deliver your product from China to your doorstep. Most of our customers purchases from China's leading online sales portal, such as Taobao (淘宝), JD(京东), Dangdang.com (当当).

 

The Peeka! Advantages

  • EASE. Peeka offers an online portal to track all your orders. Users can easily communciate with our support staff through the portal. 
    > No more lengthy forum pages, excesl spreadsheets and multiple emails to keep track of.
  • SECURE. Peeka is specialized for Sea Delivery. We arrange the container by ourself at both China warehouse and Singapore warehouse. Your goods are safe and well maintained.
    > We reduce any shipping damage to a minimum. 
  • HONEST. Peeka measure every single parcel with accuracy in term of gram (weight) and cm (volume). We don't play any trick, such as multiply a factor by 1.1 or 1.2 for volume. At Peeka, every parcel is measured, and the information is recorded in the order. Our shipping charge is based on that data. There should no discrepancy. Also, no agent fee on shipping fee. We never played that trick. Never! 
    > There is other trick such as additional local delivery fee. Watch out.
  • Peeka is operated by N-Idea Pte Ltd, which is a Singapore ACRA registered entity. 
    > You can be assured that your order is secure with us.

 

Taobao / 淘宝 (天猫 T-Mall)

What is Taobao / 淘宝?

Taobao is the largest Internet retailing platform and accounts for 3/4 of China market share (source Wikipedia). You can find every imaginable product there at attractive prices.

Taobao consists of 2 groups of sellers:

C2C

Taobao started out as a consumer-to-consumer platform, pretty much like eBay, with individual sellers and small retailers listing their products for sales, targeted at end-consumers.

B2C

Taobao Mall (mall.taobao.com - 淘宝商城) was later developed to attract accredited retailers to participate. These retailers pays a commission (up to 5%) to Taobao based on their sales and have to adhere to Taobao's strict quality criteria. They guarantee genuine products and generally have better inventory control. You can identify these sellers by these logos:

 

 

Tips for Shopping at Taobao


Click to enlarge

Follow the tips below to get best shopping experience out of Taobao.

0) Rule of Thumb: Never buy those extremly cheap items from China. Those are for the poor people of China. Aim for items that are near 1/3 of Singapore prices.

1) Seller's reputation: Only buy from merchants / sellers which has good reputation and high rating. Crowns are better, followed by Diamonds, then Hearts.

2) Check out previous buyers' reviews and the Total or last 30 days sales volume.

3) Buy from T-Mall - Taobao accredited merchants and sellers. You will get greater assurance on quality and stock availability

How do I make Taobao purchases with Peeka?

via BUY4U

  1. Search for what you like to buy at Taobao web site.

  2. Create an order at Peeka with the following:

    • Delivery method (Economy Sea  or Air Express)

    • Product URLs / links

    • Quantity / Color / Size (or any other variation)

  3. Make payment for the order, and Peeka will proceed to make purchase once payment is confirmed.

  4. Once the items have been received and inspected, they will be weight and measured, and shipped for Singapore. You will be requested for a 2nd payment for the delivery fee before the item is delivered to you.


 

via SHIP4U

  1. Make purchases by your own. Have the sellers to deliver your purchases to your Peeka SHIP4U address.
  2. For every item received at Peeka China, a notification email will be sent to you.
  3. Once all your items are received at Peeka China, you can check out them for delivery.

 

What is the difference between BUY4U and SHIP4U?

With Buy4U, our purchasing staff can work with seller directly should any issue surface. Our QC staff can also check the received products against order details. Peeka recommends Buy4U always. SHIP4U is designed for experienced Taobao users and business owners, who can communicate with China sellers directly.

 

 

Buy4U

Ship4U

Purchase

Product URL is submitted to Peeka

Peeka Staff will make purchase

User arrange purchase by themselves. The products are delivered to Peeka China Warehouse.

Basic Inspection

Yes. Peeka QC can check received products against order details.

Peeka will be responsible for issues regarding Size/Color/Quantity.

No.

Photos of received products will be provided.

Payment

Two payments are required. First for the product cost, second payment for final shipping fee.

Only one payment is required for shipping fee.

Concierge Fee

5% of product cost (minimum S$5), including China domestic delivery fee.  Not applicable to international shipping fee.

S$6 per order.

Targeted User

Recommended for all users.

Frequent Taobao users and business owners.

 

More details about Peeka SHIP4U.

 

 

Different Types of Delivery to choose from

There are 2 delivery options for you to choose from.

Economy Sea Shipping for BUY4U or SHIP4U

Orders are delivered to Singapore right to your door step. You will be requested to make a 2nd payment for shipping cost before receiving your orders. Typical delivery time is 14-16 working days (2 - 3 weeks calendar time). This is good for bulky, heavy orders which are not time critical.

3-Days Air Express

Orders will be sent directly to you from our Receiving Centre via courier (SF-Express by default) to your doorstep. For this method, your order will be measured and weighed when all the items in the order have reached the Receiving Centre. Balance payment is required before your parcel is shipped out. You will be provided with tracking number to track the delivery progress. Use 3 Days Express delivery for urgent orders.

* Important notes:

1) All duration specified are indicative and does not include the time taken to purchase and receive the items at our Receiving Centre. It typically takes 3-5 days for items to reach our Receiving Centre. Custom made items (e.g. furnitures, curtains) may take longer.

2) The delivery durations quoted above are norms. Above 95% of all Peeka delivery meets these durations. Unforeseeable factors such as bad weather, customs delays and inspections that can cause delays are beyond the control of Peeka and its delivery partners. The delivery duration may be longer during peak festive seasons such as Christmas, New Year and Lunar New Year, local China and Singapore holidays. 

3) Both economy Sea and Air Express deliveries are to doorstep in mainland Singapore. MRT meet-ups are not supported. Additional delivery charges apply for delivery to restricted access locations such as  government, military installations, Sentosa, Jurong Island etc.

4) Delivery charge is based on the higher of actual weight or volumetric weight of your parcel (including packaging), for both types of shipment. 

 

How are the charges calculated?

China Domestic Delivery charges (快递 and 物流)

This is the China local courier fees charged by Taobao merchants / sellers. Depending on the type of products purchased (size, weight), purchasing multiple items from the same seller may or may not incur additional local courier fees.

Items below 20kg are typically delivered via 快递 from the seller to Peeka Receiving Centre. This is considered door-to-door delivery within China. Most sellers now provide free courier for small items (包邮，包快递).

Items above 20kg are typically delivered via 物流 in the following manner: Seller -> 物流站 -> Peeka Receiving Centre. When sellers quote 物流 charges, they typically refers to 物流自提. However, Peeka will require the package to be sent to Peeka Receiving Centre, rather than just to the 物流站. As such, there will be a secondary delivery charge for delivery from the 物流站 (wuliuzhan) to Peeka Receiving Centre (i.e. 物流到门).

 

Concierge / Handling Fee (or agent fee)

This covers the processing of your BUY4U orders. 

 

Import Duty/Tax

There is a 7% Goods and Services Tax (GST) levied on all goods, inclusive of new articles, personal effects, souvenirs, gifts, imported into Singapore. GST is calculated based on the product value in China only (procudt cost + China domestic shipping). Peeka absorbs GST for the insurance and sea freight portion.  

GST relief is granted on goods, excluding dutiable products, imported by air to a total CIF value not exceeding $400. Where the CIF value exceeds $400, the entire sum would be subject to GST.  This GST portion (including addiitonal admin fee) will be collected by the appointed forwarder (e.g. DHL, SF Express) directly.

 

Exchange Rate

This fluctuates and will be reflected upon you checkout your order.

 

 

Rates and Payment Info

Please refer to our new Rates Page

 

What should I take note before adding new product?

Before adding new items, please take note of the following:

  1. Time-Limited Promotion - Certain items may have a time-limited promotional price (秒杀价). Peeka does not guarantee a timely purchase. If you do not wish to purchase the item unless its at a particular promotional price, please indicate in remarks: Drop if the promotional price is not x元.
  2. Time-Limited Purchasing -Due to factors such as domestic, international delivery and Customs clearance, which are beyond Peeka’s control, we cannot not support / guarantee / commit to time constrained orders. Time contrained order includes, but not limited to:
    • Time limited promotion (see above)
    • Purchasing by certain date
    • Receiving by certain date
  3. Free Gifts - There are 2 ways Taobao sellers provide Free Gifts.
    • Gift is provided automatically with purchase: To make sure that we are aware of the free gift, please indicate the gift item in your item remarks.
    • You are required to 'purchase' the gift on Taobao at ¥0 or ¥0.01. For such freebies, add the gift item to your order, specify FREE GIFT in the remarks and set price and courier fee to 0.
  4. Variable Product Price - Certain Taobao items are listed with different prices based on the size, design or bundle selected. For such items, please adjust the price accordingly to the options you have selected.
  5. Taobao VIP discounts - Certain Taobao shops offers VIP discounts for loyal customers who have hit a minimum purchase with them. Such discounts are tied to individual Taobao accounts, not Peeka's.

Peeka Basic Inspection criteria

Please refer to our new Purchase Policy page -> Peeka Basic Inspection criteria

 

Can I buy anything from Taobao?

In general, you can buy almost everything from Taobao. However do note that the following non-exhaustive list of items will not be suppported by Peeka.

Peeka reserves the right to reject the purchase and / or delivery if we believe it may has custom clearance issue.

  • All Controlled, Duitiable and Prohibited products including but not limited to: 
  • All types of food products
  • Plants
  • Animals and pets
  • Medications, Controlled drugs and psychotropic substances
  • Firecrackers and Explosives
  • Chewing tobacco and imitation tobacco products
  • Obscene articles, publications, video tapes/discs and software
  • Multimedia contents including video tapes, video compact discs, laser discs, records or cassettes
  • Telecommunication and Radio Communication Equipment including toy walkie-takies
  • Counterfeit of international Branded Products

Please refer to Customs for latest list.

In addition, items containing liquids, powder, gels, batteries are not supported on Express (air) deliveries.

Other FAQs

Can you give a overview of Peeka! order process?

1. After you loging into Peeka!, go to the dashboard and click on New Order.

2. You will be prompted to enter information about the 1st product, such as the product name, URL, unit price, qty, PRC courier price and remarks such as colours and sizes.

3. You can enter as many products as you like.

4. As you add items, you will be able to see the breakdown of all charges except delivery charges to Singapore.

5. Once you have completed adding items to your order, make first payment via I-Banking or ATM bank transfer. Let us know you have transferred the amount specified by acknowledging your payment.

6. Upon receiving your payment, Peeka! will proceed to purchase your order.

7. When the purchased items arrived at our receiving centre, they will be packaged into a single box (if possible) for delivery.

8. Depending on whether you have opted for Express or Economy Delivery, you will be given the weight and dimensions of the parcel. A final quotation with the delivery fee will be sent to you.

9. Pay the balance amount via Internet or ATM transfer and acknowledge the 2nd payment in your order.

10. Sit back and wait for your order to be shipped to your doorstep. =)

Is Peeka! a Taobao Spree or Bulk Purchase?

It is neither. There is no start or end date to place your Taobao orders on Peeka! Peeka! is an on-going service. Upon making first payment, we will proceed to purchase your items on Taobao. You don't have to wait for a Spree or BP to close before your orders are executed.

First payment is total product value of the actual amount paid to the Taobao sellers. We will request for any balance payment and delivery fee in the 2nd payment.

That said, Peeka might organize our own Bulk Puchase in the future.

 

 

I received a notification indicating that my order has been purchased. However, when I review the order online, why are some of the items indicated as not yet purchased?

Your order is indicated as purchased when we have finished entering them into Taobao. However, as out of stock (OOS) situations occur quite frequently, we take an additional proactive step of verifying with Taobao Sellers on their stock availability. If these sellers are not contactable or not able to provide a response immediately, you will see that their items are indicated as not yet purchased in our order online.

We are taking this step so that we can let you buyers know ASAP when there are OOS items in your order.

One more point, if placing order with same merchants and they offer free internal courier after buying from them a certain amounts, are we still being charged for that internal courier? thanks

You will be charged with what we paid to Taobao Sellers, no more and no less. I.e. we will update your order values if there are discrepancies.

If there are promotional pricing that is not indicated or captured in the Price at the top of the Taobao page or if there are freebies, please do the following:

** For promotional pricing, please indicate the promotion in the products' remark: e.g. 三件包邮， 买十送一.

** For freebies, indicate the free items as separate products in your order, put the price and PRC courier as 0 and indicate in the remark e.g. 满100送赠品.

We process numerous orders daily. Sometimes we may miss out such info, so please indicate them in your order/product remarks.

To find out more about how to determine PRC courier (快递费), refer to our earlier FAQ in this thread "Question: I am buying several items from the same Taobao seller. How do I determine the PRC courier / 快递费 ? ".

How does Peeka differs from the other Taobao Spree / BP organisers

Peeka! has own Receiving Centre in 广东，China. We don't depend on 3rd party agents to purchase your items.

With Peeka! advance online ordering system. you can track the status of your order down to the individual items. To be frank, we are not fans of excel spreadsheets :).

How does Peeka! process Out Of Stock items in your order?

In your order, you can specify alternate items such as colors or size should your item of choice be out of stock.

Because Peeka! has its own Receiving Centre in China which execute your orders, you get timely feedback on items which out of stock. As long as your order is not fully received and packed for delivery, you can always submit a request via the order comments to provide us with a replacement seller for your out of stock items.

I am buying several items from the same Taobao seller. How do I determine the PRC courier / 快递费 ?

To determine the PRC domestic courier fees and incremental courier fees （加件运费）, go to the top of the Taobao page, select 广东, and you can see the 快递 amount to our Receiving Centre for the first item. Then scroll all the way to the bottom to see 加件运费 amount. This will work for most of the small items. For most fashion items, it is 加件运费 is usually between 0 - 4 元.

However, some sellers use 首件 and 加件运费 to make their list price lower, thus seemingly cheaper than their competitors. So you will need to take the base and incremental courier fee into consideration when doing your purchase.

On the other hand, there are some sellers who put ridiculously low price for their courier and later ask buyers to top up for courier after after the item has been checked out. This normally apply to wholesalers or sellers with big and heavy items (e.g. furnitures) and it is hard for them to come up with a standard Taobao courier price structure for every single goods in their inventory. In such cases, you can leave Peeka! a comment in your order and we will check our with the sellers.

 


 

Updated on 24 Jul 2016