Reference · A to Z
The China spreadsheet glossary
The words you meet on a China spreadsheet, each in a sentence or two. The three that matter most: an agent buys for you, QC photos show your exact item before it ships, and volumetric weight is why a bulky parcel costs more than it weighs.
Written by buyers, not by an agent · Last reviewed
- 1688
- Alibaba's domestic wholesale marketplace in China. Prices are low and often per batch of units; most agents can buy from it.
- Agent (shopping agent)
- A company in China that buys items from Chinese marketplaces on your behalf, receives them in its warehouse, photographs them and ships them to you. Kakobuy, Litbuy, Oopbuy and USFans are agents.
- Batch
- A production run from one factory. Two sellers can list the same item from different batches, which is why photos of the same model can differ.
- Consolidation
- Combining several items into one parcel at the agent's warehouse, so you pay the shipping minimum once rather than per item.
- Domestic shipping
- The seller's shipping inside China, from their shop to the agent's warehouse. It is paid with the item, separately from international shipping.
- Declared value
- What the parcel's contents are declared as for customs, set when you submit the parcel. Declaring it honestly is your responsibility, not the agent's.
- Find
- An item somebody has located on a Chinese marketplace and shared, usually with a link — the rows of a China spreadsheet.
- GL / RL
- Green light / red light. Community shorthand for approving (GL) or rejecting (RL) an item after looking at its QC photos.
- Haul
- Everything you ship together in one parcel, and by extension the post showing it once it arrives.
- LC (legit check)
- A request for others to judge an item's quality or accuracy from photos. Not an authentication — nothing on a China spreadsheet is authenticated.
- Shipping line
- A route and carrier an agent offers for international shipping. Lines differ in price, speed, accepted goods and how they handle customs.
- QC (quality check) photos
- Photos the agent takes of your exact item when it arrives at the warehouse, before it is shipped to you. The moment to spot a wrong size, colour or flaw while a return is still cheap.
- Rehearsal (parcel rehearsal)
- A paid preview where the agent packs your parcel and reports its weight and size before you choose a line — useful for large hauls.
- Seller
- The shop on Weidian, Taobao or 1688 that actually sells the item. The agent buys from the seller on your behalf.
- Service fee
- What the agent charges for buying the item for you. Depending on the agent it is a percentage, a fixed amount per item, or built into shipping.
- China spreadsheet
- A list of items from Chinese marketplaces with links that open each one at a shopping agent. Originally shared Google Sheets; now often a website like this one.
- Free storage period
- How long the agent keeps your items in its warehouse at no cost while you build a haul.
- Taobao
- China's largest consumer marketplace, run by Alibaba. Tmall is its branded-store section; agents buy from both.
- Volumetric weight
- A weight calculated from the parcel's dimensions. Shipping is charged on the larger of the real and the volumetric weight, which is why bulky boxes cost more than they weigh.
- W2C
- Where to cop — a request for a link to an item. A China spreadsheet is, in effect, a list of answers to W2C posts.
- Weidian
- A Chinese marketplace of small independent shops, popular with sellers of fashion finds. Most items in this spreadsheet are Weidian listings.
Seen the words, now the order of things: how to buy from a China spreadsheet.