Before money moves: testing the seller, the near-twin listing and the Spreadsheet site

A five-question test for Spreadsheet sites, applied to this one

The quickest way we know of how to judge any Spreadsheet site is five questions. Is the date of its reading printed? Do its links work and land where they say? Does it explain how picks were chosen? Does it own up to what it cannot tell you? And can you reach a person who will correct it?

The card below answers those for this index. If a Spreadsheet site cannot answer them, use it for ideas and check every price yourself.

Why this Spreadsheet stays at three picks a shelf

Long Spreadsheet lists age fast: listings vanish, prices move, and nobody re-reads thousands of entries. Three picks per shelf is a number we can re-read, open the cover photo of, and write a specific note for. It is also enough to show what the low, middle and high end of a shelf look like.

It also exposes things a long list hides. Laying out the best sellers side by side, we found five eyewear entries using one identical cover and five audio entries doing the same. A list that shows only one of them looks like a find; seen together, they are a reminder to compare sellers, not photos.

Vetting a seller from what the listing shows

Kakobuy's product page shows a few seller signals before you pay: which platform the product comes from, a sales count, a stock count, the seller's delivery fee to the warehouse, and a note of the buyer's working hours. Shop ratings, where a platform has them, do not travel to the agent's page, so these signals carry the weight.

• A seller whose option names match its photos is a seller who keeps its listing in order.
• A domestic delivery fee of zero is common; a high one on a light item is a warning.
• For 1688 wholesale listings, Kakobuy counts cartons, not the pieces inside, and the unit price changes with quantity.
• A remark on your order ("please confirm the colour before buying") costs nothing and gets a human to look.

Stock and sales figures: which ones to believe

Six of our 48 picks showed a stock figure of 200,000 or more for a single listing, including 999,799 and 499,945. Those numbers are typed in, not counted, and say nothing about whether your size is on the shelf. Five showed small figures (1, 99, 209, 398 and 495) that read like real counts.

Small numbers deserve more attention, not less. A jewellery pick showing a stock of one may be gone before the buyer reaches it, and the order will come back as cancelled. Kakobuy's cancellation rules return the money to your Kakobuy balance at that stage.

How to pick the right listing among near-twins

The price on a card is the cheapest option on the listing's menu, and menus can be wide: one hoodie entry runs from ¥101 to ¥592, an audio entry from ¥60 to ¥780. So the first step in picking a listing is opening the menu and finding the price of the option you want.

Then compare near-twins on three things: whether the seller shows real photos of the option you want, whether the size chart gives measurements rather than letters, and whether the domestic delivery fee is sensible. Pick the one that answers most of that before you pay, not the one with the lowest card price.

Seven traps that cost money before the parcel ships

• Manual links. The Fill & Buy form accepts any link, but Kakobuy says it will not handle after-sales for those orders and will not cancel them after payment.
• Made to order. Custom pieces are excluded from the five-day return guarantee.
• Batteries and liquids. Some lines refuse them; check the line before ordering a smartwatch or a fragrance, not after.
• Big parcels. Past 10 kg, or with a stack of identical pieces, a parcel starts to look like trade to customs.
• Declared value. Kakobuy warns that customs return goods, and may fine, when a declared value turns out false.
• Brand-heavy listings. Kakobuy's policy says buyers must buy only authentic products and that it may refuse orders and suspend accounts otherwise.
• The storage deadline. Day 100 comes faster than it sounds when you are waiting for a second order.