Glossary: the words that show up on a GuaBase order

The price the seller charges for the item itself, confirmed at the moment GuaBase places the purchase. Marketplace flash-sale, member, or regional pricing can shift this slightly from what a plain browser shows on the listing.

The seller's own charge for getting an item from their location to GuaBase's warehouse inside China. This is separate from the international leg and is billed in the first payment, not the second.

Charged at 5% of item cost per order, with a CNY ¥15 floor rather than scaling down for a cheap item. It is calculated on item cost only, not on domestic shipping, international shipping, or card charges.

The first of two charges on a GuaBase order: item cost, seller domestic shipping, and the GuaBase service fee, paid before the seller order is placed.

The international shipping charge, paid after the warehouse has packed and weighed the parcel. It is not known at the time of the first payment, because the final package size is not known yet.

A weight worked out from a package's outer dimensions rather than a scale: length × width × height in centimetres, divided by 5000. It exists because a bulky, light parcel can take up as much space on a plane as a small, heavy one.

Whichever is larger: a parcel's actual scale weight or its volumetric weight. International shipping is quoted against this figure, not against the smaller of the two.

The point an item is checked in at GuaBase's warehouse in Anji County, Huzhou, Zhejiang, after the seller's domestic shipment arrives. The basic inspection happens at this same point.

A check of quantity, selected options, and visible exterior condition at intake. GuaBase states directly that this is not authentication, not laboratory testing, and not a guarantee of hidden condition or long-term performance.

Combining more than one stored order into a single outgoing parcel. It can reduce duplicate packaging, but GuaBase says plainly that it does not automatically lower the total shipping cost.

Up to 90 days of free storage at the warehouse after an item passes intake, which is the window for consolidating more orders before paying for shipping once.

The payment processor GuaBase uses for both invoices. Card details are handled by Stripe directly; GuaBase receives only a payment status, a transaction reference, and the currency used.

A Stripe feature that can display the checkout total in a shopper's local currency, even though GuaBase itself calculates and settles the order in CNY, converted to USD for the Stripe session.

A public exchange-rate snapshot GuaBase stores hourly from OpenExchangeRates, shown for transparency. GuaBase states it adds no markup on top; a card issuer or bank may still apply its own conversion charge separately.

GuaBase's name for the purchasing side of an order, tracked separately from shipping: Pending, Paid, Purchasing, Partially Arrived, Stored, or Cancelled.

GuaBase's name for the shipping side of an order, which only starts once a parcel has actually been created: Pending Packaging, Pending Payment, Shipped, or Delivered.

An Order Journey status meaning some, but not all, items in an order have reached the warehouse. The order moves to Stored once everything required has arrived and passed intake.

An item-level status for something that arrived damaged, incorrect, or otherwise did not pass the basic check. It routes toward a refund review rather than being shipped as-is.

An item-level status for something the seller was unable to supply after payment. GuaBase's help center says a refund for this is typically reviewed for return to the original Stripe payment method.

A manual purchase request used when an item cannot be pulled in automatically by keyword, image, or link search, including items outside Taobao and Tmall.

GuaBase's own shipping-cost tool, returning a live SF Express quote for a given destination, weight, and dimensions. This site's own calculator only covers the service-fee and volumetric-weight parts of that maths, see Fees & Exchange Rate.

GuaBase's definition excludes weekends, public holidays, and the day a parcel is first collected (the pickup day) from every transit-time estimate it publishes.

The action attached to a Delivered parcel status, closing out that parcel on GuaBase's side once it has reached the recipient.

Which of three windows an order sits in: before purchase, after purchase, or after dispatch. Each stage carries a different default on what is refundable, see After-Sales for the full breakdown.