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Help, price vocabulary and reader questions about reduced listings
Three short parts: who can help with an order, what the words on a Chinese price block mean, and practical questions about comparing prices.
Getting help with an order that is still open
If you need help with an order, start with whoever holds it: this site cannot see or change any order. If you have bought through an agent, that agent’s customer service is the place to start: it holds the purchase record, the warehouse photos and the parcel details, and it can ask the seller about a price change or a missing item.
If your order was with Mulebuy, the Mulebuy page sets out what we could and could not find out. If one charge on your card puzzles you, the card’s issuer or the payment service you used is the party that knows the rules for that charge.
A glossary of price words on Chinese listings
The labels on a price block and the terms agents use are short and easy to misread. This glossary keeps them in one place; the meanings are how the words are used on listings and in the rules quoted elsewhere on this site.
- 划线价 huaxian jia
- The struck-through figure beside the current price. A comparison figure whose meaning depends on its label.
- 原价 yuanjia
- Original price. The plainest claim: this is what the shop charged before.
- 吊牌价 diaopai jia
- Tag price, the figure printed on the swing tag.
- 专柜价 zhuangui jia
- Counter price, what a department-store counter charges.
- 建议零售价 / 厂商指导价
- Suggested retail price or manufacturer’s guide price. Chinese rules require it to be labelled as such when used for comparison.
- 日常价 richang jia
- Everyday price, the shop’s price outside campaigns.
- 活动价 / 促销价
- Campaign or promotion price, the current figure during an event.
- 被比较价格
- Comparison price, the legal term in China’s 2022 price-marking rules for the higher figure in any price comparison.
- 成交价
- Transaction price: what a buyer actually paid. China’s seven-day base is a transaction price.
- 折 zhe
- Tenths paid. 7折 means pay 70 per cent of the base, a 30 per cent reduction.
- Prior price
- In EU law, the lowest price a trader applied in at least the 30 days before announcing a reduction.
- RRP
- Recommended retail price, set by a maker or supplier. In UK guidance it must be labelled and must be a genuine selling price.
- Was-now price
- A reference price the trader itself charged earlier, shown beside the current one.
- Station letter (站内信)
- An agent’s internal message, used to tell you about price changes or stock problems.
- Balance request (补款)
- A request to pay the difference when the seller’s price or domestic delivery cost rose after you paid.
- Rehearsal packing
- A trial pack before shipping to learn a parcel’s real weight and size; some agents charge for it.
- QC photos
- Photos the agent’s warehouse takes of your item on arrival, used to check size, colour and condition.
Questions readers ask about reduced prices
These practical questions have short answers below, with links to the longer explanations where a separate page is useful.
Is a crossed-out figure on a Chinese listing always a price the shop charged
No. It may be a tag price, a counter price, a maker’s suggested price or a price shown earlier. The label in front of it is the best clue. With no label, China’s 2022 rules cap it at the seller’s lowest transaction price in the seven days before the comparison.
Why seven days in China and thirty in the EU
They serve different rules. The cited Chinese comparison-price rule uses a seven-day fallback when the comparison base is unspecified. The EU rule generally uses the lowest prior price in at least thirty days for reductions within Article 6a; scope and permitted exceptions matter. The linked reference pages explain those limits.
Can I report a misleading reduction on a Chinese listing
Chinese rules are enforced by Chinese market regulators, and they apply to the seller. This site does not give legal advice or act on complaints. What you can always do is decline to buy, or buy only after checking the price against your own record.
Does the Look-back chart send my prices anywhere
No. It runs in your browser, stores nothing and sends nothing. Close the tab and the record is gone.
Which currency should I record prices in
Yuan, as the seller shows them. Agents convert at their own rates, and mixing converted figures into a record distorts both reference lines.
Why is the saving bigger when I view the price in euros on an agent site
If the agent’s rate is marked up, every converted amount grows by the mark-up, including the saving. The percentage stays the same. The page on price after the link has a worked example from Mulebuy’s archived rate table.
Can I still use a link I saved from Mulebuy
The underlying listing may still exist on Taobao, Weidian or another marketplace. Recover its original URL and variant, then ask a compatible agent to confirm stock, current price, purchase eligibility and shipping restrictions before paying.
Is anything sold on this site
Nothing. Every shelf and card links out to a listing elsewhere. Catalogue links carry a tracking tag; agent links carry an invite code and are marked as sponsored.
Order help: identify the event before asking
For a broken import, keep the original listing; for a missing QC view, name the angle and measurement; for a return, record the Stored time; for a parcel, keep the line and last carrier scan. Ask the agent holding that record. This independent site can correct its guide but cannot access an account.
Open the complete buying guide · CNY / Costs · QC · GL · RL · Returns
Images: catalogue photographs are category examples, not this site’s purchases or verified Mulebuy orders. Drawn material, dimension and lettering examples explain a concept; they do not certify the depicted product.