Whalebuy help: who to contact, what the terms mean, common answers
Contacts that can act on your order, eighteen terms from the order screens, and nine answers taken from Whalebuy's own help articles.
Checked October 22, 2026Support channels matched to who can actually help
Need help with a live order? Only Whalebuy can act on it. The quickest route is the "Consult" button on the order itself, which opens a chat with the buying team and keeps the order number attached. For account or payment problems, write to [email protected]; to report a counterfeit listing, [email protected]. Whalebuy's help centre at whalebuy.com/notice held 207 English articles when we read it on October 21, 2026; the ones we leaned on most are linked below.
For anything on this site, such as a card that no longer opens or a fee we have misread, the contact is on the about page. We answer corrections; we cannot see or change your Whalebuy orders.
- How to Place Your First Order: all nine steps from Whalebuy's side, with its screenshots.
- Service and Fees: the fee formula and the ¥8 declaration fee.
- Storage: 90 days, then disposal.
- Five-day return and exchange rules: the 120-hour rule and its exclusions.
- Inspection Information: what three free photos cover.
- Actual and volumetric weight: actual against volumetric weight.
Glossary of order-screen terms
A glossary of the words you will see in Whalebuy's order screens and in shopping-agent forums, in the order you are likely to meet them.
- Shopping agent
- A company that buys from Chinese stores on your behalf, receives the goods in China and ships them abroad. Whalebuy is one.
- Spreadsheet
- In this hobby, a product catalog of store listings grouped by type. You browse it to find links; it does not sell anything.
- QC
- Quality control: the warehouse check and the photos it produces before an item can join a parcel.
- GL / RL
- Green light and red light: shorthand for "ship it" and "send it back" after looking at QC photos.
- Haul
- Several finds shipped together in one parcel.
- Signed for
- The warehouse has received the store's parcel; inspection has not happened yet.
- Received, Stored, Stocked in
- Checked, weighed and shelved. Storage time counts from here; the 120-hour return window from "Stocked in".
- Supplementary payment
- The store's real price was higher than what you paid; top up before the order goes ahead.
- To be confirmed
- The buying team needs an answer from you before ordering.
- Waybill
- The parcel order you create from stored items, with address, packing, insurance and line.
- Parcel rehearsal
- A ¥20 trial pack that gives the exact weight and freight before you pay.
- Line
- A shipping route with its own carrier, price, transit time and restrictions, shown with a code such as BF-RoyalMail-GB-1.
- Chargeable weight
- Whichever is greater, the actual or the volumetric weight; freight is priced on it.
- Volumetric weight
- The box's three sides in cm multiplied together, then divided by the line's divisor (5,000 to 8,000).
- Self or fuzzy declaration
- Itemising the customs declaration yourself, or entering one total and letting the system split it.
- Transfer order
- Forwarding: you send goods to Whalebuy's warehouse yourself and only use it for shipping.
- Abnormal package
- A forwarded parcel that cannot be matched to an account; kept 30 days.
- Growth value
- Membership points from freight paid on received parcels; it sets your VIP level.
Answers for first-time buyers
Questions frequently asked by first-time Whalebuy buyers, answered from Whalebuy's own help articles.
Do I need to read Chinese to order?
No. Whalebuy reads the listing into English on its product page, and the message field takes English. If the buying team needs something clarified with the store, the order switches to "To be confirmed" and they ask you.
Can I pay in my own currency?
Yes. Whalebuy says that whatever currency you use you can pay by PayPal, card and other methods; prices are converted from yuan at a rate based on the Bank of China rate. Your bank may add its own conversion fee.
The store showed stock, but Whalebuy says it is sold out. Why?
Stores do not always update their inventory. Whalebuy treats the store's answer when its buyer contacts them as final, and refunds the item to your balance if it cannot be bought.
I bought several items from one store. Do I pay domestic freight on each?
Not if you check them out together: Whalebuy charges the store's domestic freight once for items from the same seller ordered in one checkout, unless the quantity makes the package overweight, in which case the buyer asks you to cover the difference.
The store sent a free gift. What happens to it?
It is yours and goes in your parcel unless it cannot be mailed. If you want a particular gift, ask for it in the remark when you order; Whalebuy will ask the store but cannot force it, and does not inspect gifts you did not ask for.
My order says "Received" but I cannot see it in the warehouse.
"Received" means it has arrived and is waiting to be weighed and checked. It appears among your warehouse items once the status reaches "Stored".
Can I add an item after submitting a parcel or a rehearsal?
No. Once a rehearsal is submitted the contents are fixed. Wait until everything you want is stored before you submit.
How long does a parcel take?
It depends on the line. In our October 21 test the cheapest lines quoted 7 to 14 working days to the UK and Germany and 15 to 20 to the US, plus about a week or more in China before the parcel leaves. The first tracking scan can take three days to appear.
Is the estimator price what I will pay?
No, it is a planning figure. The warehouse weighs and measures the packed parcel, and that decides the freight. A rehearsal tells you the exact figure in advance for ¥20.