Every buyer who lands on the sugargoo spreadsheet for the first time hits a wall of vocabulary. QC, warehouse, base freight, volumetric, hold-or-ship, EUB, coupon window. Rather than dropping you into a workflow before you know the words, this glossary defines twenty essential terms up front.
Essential six (learn before order one)
1. Agent
A cross-border shopping service that buys from Chinese sellers on your behalf. sugargoo is the agent; the sellers on the sheet are the vendors. You pay the agent, agent pays the vendor, agent handles the warehouse and shipping.
2. Spreadsheet
A curated URL directory maintained by community members. Eleven top-level categories: shoes, hoodies, T-shirts, jackets, pants, headwear, sets, underwear, jerseys, accessories, other. Not a marketplace — a shortcut into vetted listings.
3. QC (quality check)
The warehouse photo step before international shipping. Every ordered item is photographed at the warehouse and you decide accept or reject before paying international freight.
4. Warehouse
The Chinese fulfillment center where sugargoo consolidates your orders. Items arrive from sellers, photos are taken for QC, and parcels are assembled here before international shipping.
5. Consolidation
Combining multiple items into one international parcel. One larger parcel is always cheaper per gram than several smaller ones. Consolidation is the biggest lever for annual shipping savings.
6. Coupon
A code applied at parcel submission (not at product checkout) that reduces base freight and volumetric adjustment. Not last-mile fees.
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Freight vocabulary (terms 7-12)
7. Base freight
The carrier’s per-parcel fee. Roughly fixed regardless of parcel weight, up to a threshold. Discounted by coupons.
8. Volumetric weight
The billing weight of parcels that are light for their size. Calculated as length × width × height ÷ carrier divisor. If volumetric exceeds actual, you are billed on volumetric.
9. Volumetric adjustment
The extra fee added when volumetric weight exceeds actual weight. Discounted by coupons.
10. Last-mile fee
The destination-country carrier’s delivery fee. Never discounted by coupons — this fee is set outside the agent’s control.
11. EUB / Yanwen
Economical international carriers with 14-22 day delivery to Western destinations. Cheapest base rates. Best coupon leverage.
12. DHL / FedEx / SF Express
Faster international carriers with 4-10 day delivery. Higher base rates. Smaller coupon percentage.
Decision vocabulary (terms 13-16)
13. Green tier / Yellow tier / Red tier
Community-tracked risk tiers by category. Green: T-shirts, hoodies, accessories (safest). Yellow: headwear, underwear, shoes. Red: sets, structured jackets, jerseys (highest QC variance).
14. Sweet spot weight
The parcel weight band (1.2 to 3 kg) where per-gram cost is minimized. Below 1.2 kg, base freight dominates. Above 3 kg, per-kilo rates take over.
15. Reject rate
Community-tracked percentage of QC photos that get rejected on first pass. Under 5%: safe. 5-10%: normal. Over 10%: cautious.
16. Coupon window
The active period of a shipping coupon. Median 21 days. Fresh drops are unproven; mid-life codes deliver cleanest results.
Skill vocabulary (terms 17-20)
17. Deliberate inspection
A 30-second focused review of each QC photo across six defect axes: structural, print, material, hardware, trim, finish.
18. Reissue
The seller’s replacement of a rejected QC. Usually 3-7 days. Free to buyer.
19. Insurance
Optional coverage for carrier-side losses (parcel destroyed, disappears). Worth it above US$300 declared value.
20. 30-day wear log
A private log of how many times each arrived item was worn in its first month. The single most valuable dataset for future decisions.
How to use this glossary
Skim on the first read. Bookmark for reference. Return to it when a specific term trips you up in a Discord thread or on the platform. By order five, all twenty terms will feel intuitive.
Related reading
Move from glossary to action with the beginner story and the cost-per-hour framework.
Return to our sugargoo Spreadsheet homepage for the full library of guides and the latest sheets.
Frequently asked questions
Why read a glossary before shopping?
Because half of newbie friction comes from vocabulary confusion. QC, warehouse, base freight, volumetric, coupon window u2014 every term is intuitive once defined and infuriating when guessed at. Twenty minutes of glossary saves ten hours of confusion.
Which term causes the most confusion?
Volumetric weight. Actual weight is easy u2014 the parcel weighs 1.4 kg. Volumetric weight is billed differently and depends on parcel dimensions. Most first-parcel surprises trace back to volumetric misunderstanding.
Are these terms sugargoo-specific?
Most are cross-agent. sugargoo, cssbuy, oopbuy and Superbuy all use the same vocabulary because the underlying logistics are identical. Learn the vocabulary once and it applies everywhere.
How is the sugargoo spreadsheet different from the raw catalog?
The spreadsheet is a curated overlay on top of the raw Taobao/Weidian/1688 catalog. Community members vet and organize URLs into eleven categories. The raw catalog is millions of items; the spreadsheet is thousands of vetted listings.
Do I need every term to shop?
No. The first six terms are essential. The next fourteen sharpen your judgment as you gain experience. Learn on demand.
Which term saves the most money?
Volumetric adjustment. Understanding that box removal reduces the volumetric bucket (which coupons discount aggressively) unlocks the 30-40 percent parcel savings that veterans routinely hit.
Ready to open the sugargoo Spreadsheet?
Jump straight to the source. All eleven categories, freshest listings, current shipping coupon — right on sugargoo.