Rep Spreadsheet Guide

01What a spreadsheet actually is

Strip away the branding and it is a spreadsheet with product links in one column and opinions in the others.

A spreadsheet (sometimes called a finds list or a haul list) is a curated catalogue of links to Chinese marketplace listings, kept in Airtable, Google Sheets or Notion and shared publicly. Each row points at one listing on Taobao, Weidian or 1688. The curator adds what they know: which batch is worth buying, what the item weighs, whether the seller ships fast, and whether the item has been quality-checked recently.

There is no central registry and no verification authority. Some sheets are maintained by agents as marketing, some by communities, some by one person with strong opinions about hoodie fabric. Quality varies as much as the sources do, which is why the reading skill matters more than the sheet itself.

02Why batches matter more than links

The same product page can ship you two noticeably different items a month apart, because the factory changed supplier or the mould wore out.

Instead of a version number, this market uses the word batch: a production run from a specific factory at a specific time. A good sheet tracks batches because a link that produced excellent QC photos in spring may produce a worse item by autumn, even though the URL never changed.

This is why a spreadsheet's value is in its notes and dates, not its links. A listing with “updated three weeks ago, batch 2, good stitching” tells you something. A row with no date tells you nothing about what will arrive.

03Reading the columns

Columns vary between sheets, but these eight cover almost everything you will meet.

04Checking a link before you pay

Two minutes here saves a two-week return argument in Chinese with a seller who has already been paid.

1. Confirm the host is real

   Legitimate listings live on item.taobao.com, weidian.com or detail.1688.com. Anything else — a shortener, a random domain, a redirect page — is a reason to stop. Dead links are normal in old sheets; Weidian shops in particular disappear often.

2. Check the shop, not just the item

   A new shop with three reviews and a perfect score is worse than an old shop with 4.7 stars and complaints. Open the store page and look at age, transaction count and the response rate.

3. Read the listing's own photos

   Seller photos are marketing. Look for buyer photos in the reviews — they show the actual stitching, the actual colour, the actual weight of the fabric in someone's hand.

4. Compare the price to the market

   A price far below every other listing is not a bargain, it is a different quality tier. A price far above it needs a reason visible in the photos.

5. Note the size chart before ordering

   Chinese sizing runs small and varies by factory. Ordering by letter without the chart is how people end up with a hoodie two sizes off.

05Weight, freight and the real price

The column people skip is the one that decides the final bill.

Freight is billed on the greater of actual weight and volumetric weight (length × width × height ÷ 6000 for most air lines). A padded shoe box is the classic example: 1.0 kg on the scale, 1.6 kg by volume, charged at 1.6 kg. Multiply that across six items and the difference between a good and a bad haul is the box, not the product.

Two spreadsheet habits follow from this. First, prefer rows that list a warehouse weight — it is measured after the seller's packaging, so it is the number the freight calculator uses. Second, group your order by category: shoes are volumetric, hoodies are heavy, accessories are free riders that fill the gaps in a box. The full mechanics are in the shipping cost guide.

06Red flags worth walking away from

07From link to doorstep

Six steps, and the same six with every agent.

1. Paste the link into the agent

   Pick your agent first — the fee structure differs more than the interface does. The agent comparison covers fifteen of them on the same criteria.

2. Specify the variant in the seller's words

   Colour, size, version, quantity. Copy the exact wording from the listing, not a translation of it.

3. Pay for the goods, not the freight

   Domestic shipping to the warehouse is usually free or a couple of yuan; international freight is charged later, once the real weight is known.

4. Wait for QC photos

   This is the moment the spreadsheet's promises get tested. Compare against the notes: if they said the stitching was clean, check it. See judging quality from photos.

5. Approve, exchange or return

   Exchange inside the seller's window, before the item is submitted for international shipping. After it leaves China, returns become theoretical.

6. Consolidate and ship

   Combine items, strip unnecessary packaging, choose a line. Everything on this step is covered in returns and the shipping guide.

08Questions people actually ask