Every purchasing agent, priced on the same parcel.
A purchasing agent buys from Taobao, Tmall or 1688 on your behalf, photographs what arrives, and ships it internationally. They differ on fees, freight rates, storage and how carefully they handle your things, and the differences are worth real money. Lantern is independent of all of them, so this table can rank on value instead of commission.
Black and White shoes (¥268 · 830 g, Weidian)
Totals and delivery estimates below are computed for this item, shipped to Western Europe.
Reliability, QC, app and support are scored 0-5: Lantern's assessment, not user reviews.
| # | Agent | Est. total | Delivery | Service fee | Handling | Free storage | Freight vs baseline | Reliability | QC | App | Support | Strong regions | Marketplaces | Affiliate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | MulebuyBest value | ¥323cheapest | 6-15 days | 0% | ¥6 | 90 days | −10% | 4.1 | 4.0 | 4.2 | 3.9 | W. Europe, N. America | Taobao, Tmall, 1688, Weidian | Yes |
| 2 | CSSBuyFastest | ¥324+¥1 vs cheapest | 6-14 days | 0% | ¥5 | 100 days | −4% | 4.4 | 4.1 | 3.4 | 4.1 | W. Europe, E. Europe, N. America | Taobao, Tmall, 1688, Weidian, Xianyu | None |
| 3 | Hoobuy | ¥327+¥4 vs cheapest | 6-15 days | 0% | ¥7 | 60 days | −2% | 4.2 | 4.1 | 4.3 | 4.0 | W. Europe, N. America, Asia-Pacific | Taobao, Tmall, 1688, Weidian | Yes |
| 4 | AllChinaBuy | ¥329+¥6 vs cheapest | 6-14 days | 0% | ¥8 | 60 days | baseline | 4.4 | 4.3 | 4.5 | 4.3 | W. Europe, E. Europe, N. America | Taobao, Tmall, 1688, Weidian, Xianyu | Yes |
| 5 | Sugargoo | ¥331+¥8 vs cheapest | 6-14 days | 0% | ¥10 | 180 days | +2% | 4.3 | 4.2 | 4.8 | 4.4 | Asia-Pacific, Oceania, W. Europe | Taobao, Tmall, 1688, Weidian, Xianyu | Yes |
| 6 | SuperbuyBest QC | ¥337+¥14 vs cheapest | 6-14 days | 0% | ¥12 | 90 days | +12% | 4.5 | 4.7 | 4.4 | 4.2 | N. America, W. Europe, Oceania | Taobao, Tmall, 1688, Weidian | Yes |
| 7 | PonyBuy | ¥339+¥16 vs cheapest | 6-14 days | 0% | ¥15 | 120 days | +8% | 4.5 | 4.6 | 4.2 | 4.5 | N. America, W. Europe, Oceania | Taobao, Tmall, 1688, Weidian | Yes |
Totals are estimates calculated by Lantern from each agent's published fee structure and our own per-region freight table. Actual charges depend on final weight, dimensions, declared value, route and customs. Always confirm in the agent's own cart before paying. Fee structures last reviewed 2026-08-01. Rows are ranked by Lantern's value score; affiliate status is shown in the last column and is only ever used to break exact ties.
How to read this table
Four things explain almost every gap between two rows. The fifth says where the numbers come from.
- Freight dominates, fees don't. On a 830 g parcel to Western Europe, international freight runs ¥38-50 per kilogram while agent fees are ¥5-15 flat. The “freight vs baseline” column moves totals far more than the handling column does, so read it first.
- You pay for chargeable weight, not actual weight. Carriers bill the greater of real and volumetric weight, so a light bulky parcel costs more than the scales suggest. The full explainer covers the maths, and why a good repack is often the biggest saving available.
- Strong regions are real discounts. Agents negotiate their own line-haul contracts. On a route it is strong in, an agent is typically around 8% cheaper and a day faster than its own baseline, which is why the ranking reshuffles when you change region.
- The value score is weighted, and we publish the weights. Price counts for 55%, reliability 20%, QC quality 12%, regional strength 8% and app/support experience 5%. A cheap agent that loses parcels does not win, and neither does a premium agent on a parcel that doesn't need the premium.
- The 0-5 scores are ours, not a review average. Reliability, QC, app and support are scored by Lantern from each agent's published fee structure, its documented policies and hands-on checks of the service. They are our editorial assessment, not aggregated user reviews: Lantern collects no agent ratings from members. Fees, storage windows and freight multipliers are a different kind of number, taken from the agents' own published terms and last checked 2026-08-01.
What actually matters for your kind of order
There is no best agent, only a best agent for a given parcel. These are the four cases that cover most orders.
Light single item (under 1 kg)
Flat fees are a big share of a small total, so a low handling charge and a fast warehouse matter more than the freight multiplier. CSSBuy charges the lowest flat fee at ¥5 per parcel; Mulebuy usually posts the cheapest all-in total anyway.
Heavy or bulky (5 kg and up)
The freight multiplier compounds on every kilogram, so it dwarfs all the fee columns. Mulebuy's roughly 10% discount to baseline saves real money here, and CSSBuy will accept awkward parcels other warehouses refuse. For genuinely large orders, Basetao offers sea freight.
Fragile or high-value
A cheap parcel that arrives cracked is not cheap. PonyBuy specialises in custom packing and condition reporting, and Superbuy's 4.7/5 QC photo sets let you inspect properly before anything ships. Pay the freight premium; skip the regret.
Consolidated haul from many sellers
You need storage time while items trickle in, then one careful repack. Sugargoo holds items free for 180 days, the longest window in the field, and consolidation is where the saving comes from: one parcel means one handling fee and one per-parcel minimum instead of five.
The agents in detail
Each profile has the full fee structure, our score breakdown, strong routes with delivery estimates, and the hauls that actually shipped through it.
Superbuy
The established one: deepest tooling, highest fees
AllChinaBuy
Balanced rates with solid QC, the safe middle
Mulebuy
Aggressive shipping pricing, newer operation
Sugargoo
Best app experience, strong in Asia-Pacific
CSSBuy
Veteran operator, lean fees, plain interface
Hoobuy
Fast warehouse turnaround, good for small parcels
PonyBuy
Premium handling and packing for fragile goods
Basetao
Wholesale-friendly, strong on 1688 bulk orders
New to agents? Start with the pipeline, not the table.
The explainer walks the whole model end to end (listing, agent purchase, warehouse QC, consolidation, freight, customs), including why chargeable weight surprises first-timers and what QC photos do and don't catch. Example: black and white shoes at ¥268 lands very differently depending on those choices.