Buy from Taobao by Country

Taobao does not ship directly to most countries. You order through an agent: they buy the item, receive it at a warehouse in China, photograph it for you, then ship it on a route you pick. The buying part is the same everywhere. What changes country by country is the customs threshold, which shipping lines are available, and how long delivery takes.

This page is the index. Start with your country, then use the shipping section when you are ready to send the parcel home.

Country guides

• United States — Customs rules changed in 2025 — what applies to your parcel now
• United Kingdom — Post-Brexit VAT and duty, plus a real 8-item cost example
• Canada — One of the lowest de minimis thresholds anywhere
• Australia — The AUD $1,000 import threshold and what sits above it
• Europe (overview) — How the EU threshold works and which routes serve which countries
• Germany — German customs handling and typical delivery windows
• France — Written in French: TVA, douane, tailles
• France (service fees) — In French: what an agent actually charges
• Italy — Written in Italian: dazi, IVA, spedizione
• Italy (shipping costs) — In Italian: real shipping prices by route
• Southeast Asia — Shorter routes, different duty rules

Buying second-hand (Xianyu / Goofish) from outside China

• Xianyu from France — In French
• Xianyu from Italy — In Italian
• Xianyu shipping to Europe — Second-hand items have their own routing rules

What actually changes between countries

Three things, and only three:

• The customs threshold. Every country sets a value below which a parcel arrives without duty. Canada’s is low, Australia’s is high, the EU applies VAT from the first euro. This decides whether you split a haul into two parcels or send one.
• Which routes you can use. Express, standard air, economy and sea freight are not offered everywhere, and the cheap lines are usually the ones with the fewest tracking updates.
• How long it takes. Same parcel, same warehouse: express lands in about a week, sea freight can take over a month.

The rest — how you search, how you order, how quality inspection works — is identical whether you are in Toronto or Turin.

Shipping, costs and customs

• Shipping costs by country and carrier — What the second bill actually looks like
• Air, sea or express — Same parcel, three prices and three waiting times
• Cutting the shipping bill — Nine levers, starting with volumetric weight
• How international routing works — What happens after the parcel leaves the warehouse
• When customs holds your parcel — What to send them, and what not to declare
• Tracking that goes quiet — Why some routes show nothing for days
• If a parcel is lost — What insurance covers and what it does not
• Forwarding your own parcels — When you have already bought and just need shipping
• Free storage while you collect items — How long items can wait before you ship

Before your first order

• The first-order checklist — Everything to confirm before you pay
• Chinese sizing — The measurement that decides whether it fits
• Reading your QC photos — What to look for before the parcel ships
• If something is wrong — Returns while the item is still at the warehouse

Storage is free for 100 days after an item reaches the warehouse, so you can collect purchases from several sellers and ship them together — one parcel instead of five is usually the single biggest saving available to you.