What ages in an old sheet and what does not
A spreadsheet row from 2024 or 2025 is a bundle of five things: a title, a photo, a price, a link and, sometimes, a note about size. Only the link has a long life. The title and photo are copied once, the price is frozen on the day the author typed it, and the note reflects whoever wrote it. The link is different, because inside it sits the marketplace item ID, which the seller keeps for as long as the listing exists.
That is why the first job with an old sheet is not "does it work" but "which rows are still alive". Those two questions have different answers. A whole sheet may look broken because its links point to an agent that has shut, yet most of its item IDs may be fine. Our HooBuy spreadsheet home page explains what a row contains; this page is about the sheet you already hold and are unsure about.
Expect decay in three layers. The seller can delist or sell out. The agent that the author linked can change its address or close. The surrounding rules can change, so the cost you worked out in 2024 is no longer the cost today. Each layer has its own test below.
Keep the ID, check the listing, then rebuild the link and recalculate the cost.
A ten-row test to find which rows still load
Do not click every row. Pick ten at random, spread over the top, middle and bottom of the sheet, and sort each into one of four buckets. Open them in the same browser so the results are comparable, and note the time, because the same link can behave differently later.
| What you see | What it usually means | Action |
|---|---|---|
| Loads with title, price, weight | The listing exists and HooBuy can read it | Compare the price, then keep the row |
| Login page | HooBuy asked us to sign in for a Taobao item on 26 October 2026; not proof the item is gone | Log in once or open the original Taobao address instead |
| Loads, but changed | Different title, photo or options than the sheet says | Treat as a new item; do not trust the old note |
| Error or empty | Listing removed, shop closed or the ID was mistyped | Mark dead; check the ID digit by digit once |
Count the dead ones. If three of ten fail, your sheet has a dead-row rate of 30%, a rough guide to how much of the rest to open before you trust it. The sample is small and that figure is only an estimate for your sheet, not a rule. HooBuy also gives its own signal when an order is submitted: the status Invalid appears for a price or name mismatch, missing pictures or description, or a virtual or prohibited item (see HooBuy order statuses).
Ten random rows tell you more than an hour of scrolling.
Pull the item ID from an old HooBuy link
HooBuy's product link follows one pattern, which we confirmed on 26 October 2026: https://hoobuy.com/product/{platform}/{item ID}. The platform digit is 0 for 1688, 1 for Taobao and 2 for Weidian. We opened a Weidian item through number 2; the Taobao link (number 1) redirected to a login page; we did not test number 0 for 1688.
- Copy the row's link and delete anything after the ID, such as tracking parameters that follow a question mark.
- Write down the digit before the ID. It names the marketplace: 0, 1 or 2.
- Write down the ID itself. Our row tracker has a column for each, so you never need to decode the link again.
- Test the pair by opening the HooBuy address once. If it loads, the ID and platform digit are right.
Example: hoobuy.com/product/2/1234567890 is Weidian item 1234567890 (an example ID from our tracker, not a real listing). The same number could mean something else on Taobao, so never drop the digit. If a row carries another agent's link rather than HooBuy's, the HooBuy link converter reads the ID from it and rebuilds the HooBuy form plus the original marketplace address.
Store platform digit and ID together; the HooBuy address can always be rebuilt from them.
Check the price against the live item
The yuan price on the item page is the only figure worth comparing. Dollar and euro prices in a sheet depend on a rate nobody recorded. HooBuy's rate list on 26 October 2026 reads ¥6.04 per US$1, ¥6.91 per €1 and ¥8.13 per £1, and its own item page showed ¥147.68 as about $24.45 for the Weidian item we opened.
Example, with invented prices. An old sheet says a hoodie costs ¥180 (an example price). The live page now shows ¥205.
Change: ¥205 − ¥180 = ¥25, which is 25 ÷ 180 = 13.9% more.
At HooBuy's own rate of ¥6.91 per euro: ¥180 = €26.05 and ¥205 = €29.67, a gap of €3.62.
The item page also lists seller-to-warehouse freight, weight in grams and volume, which the old sheet probably left out. HooBuy's help centre defines item cost as product price plus that domestic freight, and the total as item cost plus international shipping plus customs charges. Our HooBuy fees page lays out those parts, including the 8% clause that contradicts HooBuy's "no service fee" article.
Re-price every row you keep; a sheet's cost is the day it was typed.
What changed in the rules since the sheet was written
If your sheet predates 2026, its cost notes are the part most likely to mislead. The table lists changes we can source in our notes. Each is a reason to recalculate, not to give up on the row.
| Area | Change | Source and date |
|---|---|---|
| HooBuy returns | Tiered fee table: ¥0 for the first return or exchange, then ¥5/¥10, ¥10/¥20 and ¥20/¥40 for returns/exchanges as use grows | HooBuy help article 1564, from 4 September 2024 |
| HooBuy QC | Detailed photo ¥1 and video ¥15, shown against originals of ¥2 and ¥30 | HooBuy order form, 26 October 2026 |
| United States | The US$800 duty-free allowance ended for all countries on 29 August 2025; HooBuy's help article still lists 800 USD | CBP notice of 28 August 2025 |
| EU | A flat €3 duty per tariff category on parcels up to €150, from 1 July 2026; import VAT already applies from the first euro | Council of the EU press release, 11 February 2026 |
| Brazil | 0% federal tax up to US$50 through certified platforms since 12 May 2026; otherwise 60% | Forbes Brasil, 4 September 2026 |
For Brazil, HooBuy's own help article still describes the older 20% rule, and we could not verify whether HooBuy is on the Receita Federal list of certified platforms. Readers in Brazil: your planilha may show a "taxa das blusinhas" estimate that no longer matches. See customs and tax ID for the current picture.
Old sheets understate or overstate taxes; recompute landed cost before ordering.
Rows that point to agents that have closed or moved
Some 2024 and 2025 sheets listed several agents beside each row. Our agent notes, checked on 26 October 2026, label PandaBuy (raided April 2024, never returned), CNFans and AllChinaBuy (maintenance pages after hacker attacks) and WeGoBuy (offline since early 2025) as Closed. HubbuyCN now lives at hubbuy.com, and JoyaBuy was renamed JoyaGoo in March 2025.
Treat those links as dead ends, and be careful not to chase them. The marketplace item behind them may be fine. Pull the ID, rebuild the address, and pick from the open agents listed in HooBuy alternatives. Do not enter a password on any site you reached through a half-remembered address; a lookalike domain is the usual way old links go wrong.
The agent link is disposable; the marketplace ID is the asset.
Move the rows you kept, and pay per order
With live rows sorted, decide where each is bought. HooBuy is on Hold on this site: its site, estimator and item pages worked on 26 October 2026, but between June and September 2026 Trustpilot and Reclame Aqui reviewers reported paid orders stuck at "Purchased" and refunds not arriving, and HooBuy answered 0% of the 30 Reclame Aqui complaints dated 1 April to 30 September 2026. Read the evidence on the HooBuy status page.
If you still want HooBuy, place one small order first, pay for it when you place it and keep nothing in the HooBuy wallet. HooBuy's help pages describe paying into an account balance; we suggest paying per order instead, and on Hold that matters more. For the rest, the free row tracker keeps platform, ID, live price and a backup agent link on one line, and the move checklist covers the swap. If you would rather skip an agent account while HooBuy is on Hold, send us the row through the contact page and pay per order.
Rescue the ID first, buy small second, and keep a backup agent per row.
What HooBuy buyers ask
Does a 2024 or 2025 HooBuy row still work?
Sometimes. The row is only an address, so it works while the seller still lists the item. On 26 October 2026 we opened a Weidian item through HooBuy's link format and it showed price, weight and a QC Photos tab. A Taobao link asked us to log in. We have no count of how many old rows survive, so test your own sample.
How do I get the item ID out of an old HooBuy link?
Read the number after the last slash. In hoobuy.com/product/2/1234567890, the 2 means Weidian and 1234567890 is the item ID; 1 means Taobao and 0 means 1688. That ID is also inside the seller's own address, so it survives even if the HooBuy page is gone. Keep the platform digit with the ID, since digits alone may not tell you the marketplace.
Why is the price on my old sheet different from the item page?
Sellers change yuan prices, and sheets rarely record the date. HooBuy's page also shows a dollar figure at its own rate of ¥6.04 per US$1, so a sheet quoting dollars drifts even if the yuan price is stable. Our test item read ¥147.68, shown as about $24.45. Always compare the yuan figure, and add seller freight separately.
Should I use my 2024 sheet's QC prices and fees?
No, re-read them. HooBuy's order form on 26 October 2026 priced a detailed QC photo at ¥1 and a QC video at ¥15, against a struck-through original of ¥2 and ¥30. Its return fees changed to a tier table from 4 September 2024. A sheet written before that may quote flat fees, so treat its cost notes as history.
My old sheet links to PandaBuy or CNFans. Can I still use those rows?
Yes, for the item, not for the agent. Our agent notes list PandaBuy, CNFans, AllChinaBuy and WeGoBuy as Closed on 26 October 2026, and JoyaBuy is now JoyaGoo. Pull the item ID or original marketplace address from each link, rebuild it with our link converter, then choose an open agent. Never log into a lookalike domain to rescue a link.
Is it safe to buy from an old HooBuy sheet while HooBuy is on Hold?
Safe enough to try with one small order, not to load with money. Between June and September 2026 Trustpilot and Reclame Aqui reviewers reported paid orders stuck at Purchased and refunds not arriving. These are their accounts; we could not verify them. Pay per order, keep nothing in the HooBuy wallet, and keep the ID so the row can move elsewhere.