Yes, they are called freight forwarders. Literally, you cant pay for the whole container so they are the logistics company that deals with small stuff. Normally air freight is 1 week, ocean 2. Taiwan to north america or europe. Asia is faster, africa is slower. Note the worlds craziness will delay things a bit ,but not much actually unless the destination has handicaps.
Taiwan has many such companies. Their websites are almost always shit. But they run on real prices and work in the realm of reality rather than chatting. unlike those middlemen front companies piggy backing on said logisics companies those middlemen companies are often just a shell with a phone number and email address…just go to the source and save money/hassle.
We use Oriental Express (超捷國際物流) for Asia. They are better, but more expensive.
you may want to double check they are using European standard for pallet size. It would be worth making boxes (5 ply if fragile) to fit the pallet size they use to avoid breakage from cramming pallets into a container with the forklift. Probably should mention, and ask them to write when wrapping with plastic, not to stack pallets on top.
I had a very good experience at first, sold a few things already. Then suddenly my account was banned, with the reason “There were fraudulent activities detected on your account”. I asked support by chat whats up, they couldn’t tell me and “escalated” to email support. Next day I simply got an email:
We appreciate it that you took the time to write in to us about your account status.
We regret to inform you that your account has been terminated indefinitely, with immediate effect, as our security systems have been alerted to activities performed by your account which violates our Terms of Service.
As such, given the circumstances and context this account is being reviewed under, we will not allow for an appeal.
Thank you for nothing?
I actually do have an idea what might have happened. A day before that someone commented on one of my sale listings that they allegedly can’t access it and I should check it out. They included a photo of some Chinese text and a link to an obviously fake (spelling mistakes etc.) “carousell support website” that asked me to upload personal and banking data there. Of course I blocked that account and reported the attempted phishing to the real carousell support.
So… I guess they found that phishing link I included in the report… and figured I’m a scammer.
But yes, you may be able to book passage on a cargo ship. The problem is that it’s expensive compares to flying – you’re looking at 12 to 30 days of travel, and you have to pay for meals and a room for that entire time.
I would contact Evergreen or another big line directly.
Here’s one as an example (which isn’t for a Taiwanese cargo line, unfortunately, so it’s not directly useful); they charge 120 euros per day.
I’m sorry but I had to laugh. I tried looking them up when I saw your first post about them, and their website was full of “lorem ipsum” which is some sort of placeholder text that has been in use for ages. Talk about a badly run company!
Haha that’s hilarious. I guarantee I didn’t see their website or their fake Latin text. My wife found them, I think through a Taiwanese in America facebook group. Or maybe a very large Line chat. I don’t know. But she thought they looked good and so I said ok. Oh well. It is what it is at this point. We have our stuff, some of it in pieces, which, whatever. And a very comfortable couch that we tried to return but I guess it’s ours now.
Also, to be fair, if I had seen the site, it might not’ve mattered to me. We didn’t hire them for their English writing abilities. Plus I’m a copywriter, so I see placeholder text all the time on sites from companies that haven’t got around to writing anything yet, until they hire me.
OMFG fuck those idiots. I tried again - with other phone number, other email, other items. I had thoroughly read their whole rules page and meticulously avoided everything that might cause any trouble.
Now, after having the first few contacts with prospective buyers, suddenly “Carousell’s policies and community guidelines were violated”.
I strongly recommend NOT using carousell.
Any good alternatives for selling home electronics and similar stuff I don’t need any more? I can only think of Facebook groups like Redirecting...
Initially, nope. In the meanwhile, after complaining, I got an email saying that their “security system had detected unusual activity from my account previously and hence suspended it as a precaution”. After review “all appears in good order”, they “reinstated the account”.
those middlemen companies are often just a shell with a phone number and email address…just go to the source and save money/hassle.
