What this is
Reps are unauthorized copies sold through Chinese marketplaces. You can't buy them from Weidian or Taobao directly if you live outside China, so a third-party agent reships the order. Candorluma is a catalog of those items with one-click link rewriting for nine agents.
If you've never ordered from China before, expect three weeks minimum. If you have, most of this guide is review — jump to step four for the part that catches most people.
Pick an agent
An agent is the middleman. They buy the item from the seller, ship it to their warehouse, take photos so you can approve quality, then ship internationally. The nine on Candorluma cover most of the market: USFans, Acbuy, Joyagoo, LitBuy, OopBuy, SugarGoo, MuleBuy, KakoBuy, HipoBuy.
- USFans — cheapest EU shipping right now, biggest catalog, 40%-off promo for first orders.
- Acbuy — fastest QC turnaround in tests; warehouse-to-photo under 36 hours.
- SugarGoo — the most extensive shipping-line catalog if you're somewhere weird.
- The rest are fine. Don't agonize: differences are usually two or three euros on a fifty-euro item.
Set your default once in the preferences sheet (top-right currency menu, then Change agent) and every link in the catalog rewrites to it automatically.
Convert the link
If you've got a raw Weidian, Taobao, 1688 or Tmall URL from a spreadsheet, paste it into the converter. It detects the platform, matches against our catalog, and gives you the agent link for whichever agent you picked. For big batches use the spreadsheet converter — paste up to a few hundred URLs and copy them back as a clean list.
Pay and wait
Agents accept cards, PayPal, sometimes crypto. The seller has to pack the item and ship it to the agent's warehouse. That part typically takes three to seven business days. You'll get a warehouse-arrival notification.
Check the QC
This is the step nobody warns you about properly. When the agent receives the item, they take photos and put it on hold. You have to approve or reject those photos before they ship. If you don't open the notification, the package sits in storage indefinitely and some agents start charging storage fees after 90 days.
Use the QC tool to look up community QC photos for items others have already received. It saves you an order if the batch is bad.
Reject without guilt. Agents will return rejects to the seller for a refund minus the seller's domestic shipping (usually 5 to 12 yuan). It's part of the workflow, not a complaint.
Ship and track
Once you approve QC, you pick a shipping line. The agent quotes weight against several carriers. Cheapest isn't always slowest; USPS-style options to the US often beat the dedicated lines on small parcels.
Use our shipping estimator to compare routes per agent before you submit. After it ships, the tracking tool bounces your number into the four trackers that actually update.
When something snags
- Link returns nothing. The item is sold out or got delisted. Try the same shop's other listings — sellers often re-upload with a new ID.
- Price changed. Weidian sellers tweak prices daily, especially around holidays. Whatever the agent quotes at checkout is what you pay.
- QC looks off but you're not sure. Post in our Discord with the QC photos and the W2C link. Someone has probably received the same batch.
- Customs stopped it. EU thresholds changed in 2024; declare honestly, expect 15-25% VAT on anything over €150.
The Discord has channels for QC reads, shipping math, and live order help.
Open Discord