Three rungs, one question each
The desk does not sort by subject. Customs, weight and quality all appear at more than one rung, because the same subject behaves differently before payment, inside an order, and after something has gone wrong. What changes between rungs is not the topic — it is what you can still do about it.
| # | Rung | What it covers | Enter it when | Entries |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | Rung 1 · Basics | What the table is, what every column means, and what happens the moment you paste a link. | You have not placed an order yet, or you have one sitting in the cart and nothing else. | 16 |
| 02 | Rung 2 · Working | Money and weight while an order is live: consolidating parcels, reading a quote, splitting a shipment. | You already have at least one paid order and you are deciding what to do with it. | 20 |
| 03 | Rung 3 · Edge cases | The expensive, uncommon paths: rejected QC, seized parcels, dead links after payment, disputes that expire. | Something has already gone wrong, or the value at stake is high enough that you want the rare path written down first. | 12 |
| ∑ | Total filed | — | — | 48 |
Every entry belongs to exactly one rung. If a question spans two, it was split into two entries rather than filed twice.
Rung 1 · Basics
What the table is, what every column means, and what happens the moment you paste a link.
Enter it when: You have not placed an order yet, or you have one sitting in the cart and nothing else. What it costs you: Definitions and single-step actions. No arithmetic required.
- What is a CNFans spreadsheet, exactly?
- How is the link table laid out, column by column?
- What does each column actually tell you?
- How do you open a link from the table without losing your place?
- What happens in the first hour after you paste a link?
- What does a warehouse receipt tell you that the seller page does not?
- How do you read a shipping quote line by line?
- What do QC photos actually show, and what do they miss?
- What does each order status mean in plain words?
- How do you tell a live link from a dead one before paying?
- What does the service fee cover, and what does it not?
- How do you find your item in a table with thousands of rows?
- What does a size label actually mean on a Chinese listing?
- How do you check whether a table is still being maintained?
- What can you buy through an agent, and what gets refused?
- How do you ask the warehouse a question that gets a useful answer?
Rung 2 · Working
Money and weight while an order is live: consolidating parcels, reading a quote, splitting a shipment.
Enter it when: You already have at least one paid order and you are deciding what to do with it. What it costs you: Requires a calculator and one or two measurements you take yourself.
- How is chargeable weight calculated on a consolidated parcel?
- How do you read a per-kilo quote without being surprised later?
- When is it worth consolidating parcels, and when is it not?
- How many shipments does your order actually need?
- How is duty assessed when postage is added to the price?
- What joins the declared value, and what does not?
- How do you split an order across shipments without paying twice?
- How much does dropping retail packaging actually save?
- How do you compare two shipping lines fairly?
- What does a transit window mean when the sample is thin?
- How often does tracking update on each transport mode?
- How do you choose a line when a date is fixed?
- What does parcel insurance cover, and what does it exclude?
- How do you measure a parcel so the numbers hold up?
- What do you do when the quote looks wrong?
- How do you move items between warehouses?
- How do coupons and credits apply to a consolidated order?
- How do you plan a budget across three shipments?
- What changes when you add another store to the order?
- How do you handle an order where only part of it arrived?
Rung 3 · Edge cases
The expensive, uncommon paths: rejected QC, seized parcels, dead links after payment, disputes that expire.
Enter it when: Something has already gone wrong, or the value at stake is high enough that you want the rare path written down first. What it costs you: Low frequency, high cost. Every entry lists the deadline that decides the outcome.
- What happens when QC rejects an item?
- What happens when a parcel is held or seized at customs?
- How do you trace a parcel whose tracking stopped moving?
- What can you still do after the handling window expires?
- How do you verify a platform is still operating before trusting it?
- What do you do when the table you were using goes dark?
- How do you recover a purchase made from a link that has since died?
- How do you document a weight dispute so it holds up?
- What can you do when a seller refuses a return?
- How do you file a missing-item claim that gets answered?
- What do you do when a courier bills you after delivery?
- How do you move to another agent with an order already in flight?
Why a rung is allowed to stay short
An entry is only filed once it can state a figure, a deadline or a check that can be run by hand. That rule keeps the edge-case rung deliberately small: there are not many expensive rare paths, and inventing a fourth one to balance the page would make the rung worse, not fuller.
Where a question genuinely spans two rungs, it was split. The weight question is the clearest example: reading a quote is Rung 1, contesting a quote is Rung 2, and documenting a weight dispute after the parcel moved is Rung 3.