The sellers in this hobby are domestic Chinese shops. They do not ship abroad, they do not take a foreign card, and their listings are in Chinese. A shopping agent exists to stand between you and that: they buy the item with their own money at a Chinese address, receive it, hold it, and then post it to you as an export.
Everything awkward about the process follows from that one fact, including the thing everyone finds strange on a first order — that you pay twice, weeks apart.
Why there are two payments
The first payment buys the item. At that moment nobody knows what the parcel will weigh, how big it will be, or what else you are going to add to it, so the freight cannot be priced. The second payment happens once the parcel exists.
That gap is not an inconvenience to work around — it is the feature. It is what lets you buy four things over three weeks and ship them as one box, which is the difference between a haul being cheap per item and being pointless. The checklist is built around protecting it.
Who takes what
| Charge | Goes to | What it is |
|---|---|---|
| The seller's price | The seller | What the item costs on Taobao, Weidian or 1688. This is the number quoted in every list, including ours. |
| Domestic shipping in China | The seller | Posting it to the agent's warehouse. Charged per seller, often waived above an order value. |
| The service fee | Litbuy | The agent's cut for buying on your behalf, receiving it, storing it and photographing it. |
| Optional services | Litbuy | Extra photos, removing boxes, repacking. Each is a choice, and removing boxes usually pays for itself. |
| International freight | The shipping line | The large one. Priced on weight or volume, whichever is greater, and quoted per destination. |
| Import VAT and duty | Your own country | Assessed by customs where you live and collected by the carrier. Not set by the agent and not insurable through them. |
What the service fee actually buys
It is easy to read it as a tax on the transaction. It is closer to a warehouse subscription: somebody receives parcels addressed to you in a country you are not in, unpacks them enough to photograph them, stores them, and repacks several into one box. Comparing agents on that number alone is comparing the smallest line on the bill.
The number that actually differs between agents is the freight quote into your country, which is why this site has a page per destination rather than a page per fee.
What the agent is not doing
They are not inspecting the item against anything. They are not judging quality. They are not making a claim about a brand. The QC photographs exist so you can judge, which is why the checklist spends three of its steps on them.
The same goes for this site: we do not sell, make, import or stock anything, and nothing listed here is authenticated or verified by us. The archive, with the QC galleries against each item, is on REPS EMPIRE.
The half that depends on you
Where you live
Everything above is the same for everybody. The customs half is not.
Questions
What is a shopping agent, in one sentence?
A company in China that buys something for you with its own money, receives it, holds it in a warehouse until you are ready, and posts it to you — because the sellers worth buying from do not ship abroad and do not take your card.
What is the agent responsible for?
Buying what you told them to buy, receiving it, storing it, photographing it and shipping it. Not for the item being any good, not for it matching a brand, and not for your customs. Being clear about that line prevents most of the disappointment people have with agents.
Why are there two payments?
Because the item is bought weeks before the parcel ships, and the freight cannot be priced until the parcel exists and has a weight and a size. The gap is what lets you consolidate, which is also what makes hauls cheap per item.
Where is my money between the two payments?
With the agent, as a balance or as goods in their warehouse. That is unavoidable in this model and it is the reason the sensible advice everywhere is to keep the balance small and the cycle short — order, check the photos, ship.
Does a lower service fee make an agent cheaper?
Rarely by much. Agents compete loudly on the service fee because it is the number people compare, and it is usually the smallest difference between them. The shipping quote into your country is where the real money is.
Why does this site not list the fee percentages?
Because they change and a stale figure is worse than none — somebody budgets against it. Every charge is itemised in your own cart before you confirm, which is live in a way this page could never be. What a guide can give you is the order the charges arrive in and which ones you can avoid.