Most guides to shopping agents explain the system. This is not that — it is the list, in order, for somebody who wants to place a first order today and not discover something expensive on the way. If you want the explanation behind it, that is how Litbuy works.
Before you buy anything
Look up your own customs threshold
Find out what your country charges duty on and above what value. Two minutes on your own customs website.
It is the one number that can turn a cheap order expensive, and it is the only one no agent and no guide can tell you.
Register, and register before you find something
An email and a password. Free, and nothing is charged for having an account.
Signup coupons attach to the account at registration and generally cannot be added later. Doing it in a hurry at checkout is how people miss one.
Decide what a finished parcel looks like
Three or four items, not one. Write down roughly what you want before you start browsing.
Freight has a price floor, so a parcel with one t-shirt costs nearly what a parcel with four costs. Deciding later means shipping twice.
Ordering
Open the find's link rather than pasting a URL
Every item in the list on this site has a Litbuy link that goes straight to that exact item.
The converter works, but pasting the wrong URL — a search page instead of a listing — is the most common way people order the wrong thing.
Read the options against the photos
Sizes and colourways come from the seller and are machine-translated. If the same colour appears twice at different prices, that is usually two qualities of the same item.
This is a seller's listing rendered inside an agent, not a curated shop. Nobody checked the option names for you.
Prefer several items from one seller
Where two things you want are sold by the same seller, buy them together.
Domestic shipping to the warehouse is charged per seller, and many waive it above a threshold.
Pay for the item and note what you have not paid for
This first payment is the item plus domestic shipping in China. It is not the shipping to you.
Budgeting for only this number is the single most common complaint about every shopping agent.
While it is in the warehouse
Decide what would make you reject it, before the photos arrive
Pick the two details that matter on this item — a stitch line, a label, the shape of a toe box — and go and look at those.
Scrolling through QC photos with no question in mind is how everything looks fine.
Ask for a specific extra photo if you need one
Not 'more photos' — name the angle. 'The size label inside the collar.' 'The sole from directly underneath.'
Warehouse staff photograph hundreds of parcels a day. A vague request gets you more of the same three angles.
Raise a problem now or not at all
If something is wrong, open it with support from inside that order, before you submit the parcel.
They are the party who dealt with the seller. Once the parcel ships, nobody can do anything about it.
Shipping it
Strip the volume before you quote
Have shoeboxes removed and ask for a compact repack.
Freight is charged on weight or on size, whichever is greater. Three shoeboxes are mostly air and are billed like a brick.
Quote the finished parcel, not a half-finished one
Submit everything as one parcel and read the full list of lines for your country.
Price per kilo falls as a parcel gets heavier, so a quote on half a haul tells you almost nothing.
Read past the cheapest number
Check the line accepts your category, has tracking to your country, and will not land you over your duty threshold.
A line that is a few pounds cheaper and then holds your parcel for six weeks was not the cheap one.
Step one, in detail
Your country's threshold
The first item on this list is the only one that depends on where you live. These three pages cover the lines, the timing and where the duty threshold sits.
Questions
Which of these steps can I actually skip?
Honestly: the extra QC photo, and buying from one seller. Everything else either costs you money to skip or costs you the item. The customs threshold and the 'do not ship one light item' rule are the two that catch nearly everybody on a first order.
How long does the whole thing take?
Longer than the shipping line's estimate, because that estimate only covers the last part. Add the seller's dispatch time, the days it sits in the warehouse while you decide, and then the transit. For a first order, plan on weeks rather than days.
What happens if I just order one thing?
It works, and you will pay a disproportionate amount to ship it. There is nothing wrong with doing it once to learn the process — in fact a small cheap first order is the sensible way to test any agent before trusting it with a haul.
Do I pay once or twice?
Twice at minimum: once for the item, once for the international freight. Optional extras — extra photos, removing boxes, repacking — attach to one or the other.
Can I add to the parcel over several weeks?
Yes, that is what the warehouse is for, and it is what makes a haul cheaper per item. Items are stored free for a period and then start accruing a small daily fee, so do not leave something there for months.