How it works
How ACBuy works
A shopping agent is a simple idea with a lot of small rules attached. This page covers the model, the two services that share the warehouse, and the cases where ACBuy is the wrong choice.
On this page
- What a shopping agent is
- Purchase agent, forwarding and DIY orders
- What is specific to ACBuy
- When another agent suits you better
- Which marketplaces carry a fee
Definition
What a shopping agent is
A shopping agent is a company in China that buys domestic items on your behalf. You send it a marketplace link, it pays the seller in yuan, the seller ships to the agent's warehouse, and the agent then handles export shipping to you. ACBuy has run this model under acbuy.com with a warehouse, a user account system and its own parcel tracking.
The practical point is that the seller never knows you exist. Questions about colour, size or defects go through the agent, which is why the message field on the order page matters more than beginners expect.
Two different services share one warehouse
ACBuy's navigation carries both Purchase Agent and Forwarding. They are not the same product and they do not cost the same.
Purchase Agent means ACBuy buys for you, so you pay the product price and the seller's domestic shipping through ACBuy. Forwarding means you already bought the item yourself and had it sent to the warehouse, so you only pay for the export leg. There is also a DIY Order path for items the system cannot read automatically, where you fill in the details and a human buyer completes the purchase.
If you have no Chinese payment method, Purchase Agent is the only one of the three that works. See the nine steps for what each one looks like in the interface.
Honest comparison
Why choose ACBuy, and when you should not
Start with what every mainstream agent does the same way, because it is most of the service. They all take a marketplace link, pay the seller, receive the parcel, photograph it, hold it for a while, let you combine several orders into one box, and hand that box to an international carrier. Warehouse location, carrier list and photo counts vary. The shape does not.
Three things about ACBuy are genuinely specific, and all three are written on its own pages rather than inferred:
- The fee list is itemised. No service fee on regular platforms, 10 CNY per item on listed special platforms, customs clearance 10 to 30 CNY, warehouse handling 8 CNY.
- Storage is a ladder, not a single number. 90 free days, then a 28 day grace window, then a 180 day hard cap.
- Both status chains are published. Six order states and eleven parcel states, so support conversations can start from a state name instead of a guess.
Now the part most guides leave out. Pick a different agent if you need a warehouse outside China, if your order is mostly from platforms that carry the 10 CNY per item fee and every yuan matters, if you want a published compensation table you can read before you buy insurance, or if you need support outside 09:00 to 18:00 Beijing time and cannot wait. ACBuy publishes its insurance products, AC Care and Free Care Service, but the compensation standard is presented as an image table that this guide could not read reliably, so we do not quote any payout figures.
Source: ACBuy help documents, service fee, storage period and shipping restriction pages. Checked 2026-08-03.
Superbuy and Basetao are other buying and forwarding services for purchases from China. Compare them with ACBuy using the same seller item, destination and packed dimensions: payment charges, warehouse checks, storage and return terms, eligible routes and claim support all affect the final choice. An advertised freight rate alone is not a complete comparison.
Which marketplaces are in scope
The split between regular and special platforms is not cosmetic. It is the difference between paying no agent fee and paying 10 CNY for every item in the order.
| Line | Amount or rule | Where it comes from |
|---|---|---|
| Taobao, Tmall, 1688, JD | no service fee | Listed as regular shopping platforms |
| Xianyu, Paipai, Zhuanzhuan | 10 CNY per item | Listed as special platforms, second hand |
| Douyin, Xiaohongshu, Youzan | 10 CNY per item | Listed as special platforms, social commerce |
| Anything the system cannot parse | DIY Order | You fill in the details, a buyer completes it |
What to read next
If the model makes sense, the next useful thing is the sequence. The nine steps shows each stage with the screen you will actually be looking at, and both status chains in order.
If you would rather know the money first, go to costs. If your worry is the parcel rather than the order, shipping and storage covers consolidation, the 70 cm packing rule and the storage ladder.
Before you commit
How to judge whether an agent is worth trusting
Read the agent’s inspection and exclusion terms together. A clear limit tells you whether to request another photo, use a specialist check or avoid an unsuitable purchase.
ACBuy publishes a five-day return and exchange guarantee, and it names the cases it excludes: customised or tailored items, products whose packaging, tags or accessories have been removed, second-hand goods, items sourced outside mainland China, underwear and adult products, food, snacks and 15+ books, and opened items that no longer meet the packaging standard. The window is counted in hours, not days, from the moment the item reaches Stored.
Run the same three checks on any agent you are weighing up. Can you find the exclusions without asking support? Is the clock stated as a number rather than as “soon”? Is there a named company behind the site, with a way to reach a human? Where any of the three is missing, the gap itself is the answer.
Source: ACBuy return and exchange terms, 5-Day Return/Exchange Guarantee, eligibility and exclusions. Checked 2026-10-09.
