One daigou, Sydney-based Sophie He, sends up to 60 tins of baby formula and up to 40 bottles of vitamins to China every week. Personal shoppers are buying up local products to satisfy demand in China. Credit:Darren Pateman Daigou get recommended by word of mouth and gradually build up "trust chains" to buy for more and more people, Melbourne IT consultant Michael Ding says. And it's a lucrative business. Ms He said she charged her customers 25 per cent of the purchase price. One Melbourne freight company revealed last year it was sending 20 tonnes of shopping to China every week.

The stock-discussion website HotCopper revealed how profitable working as a daigou can be, with one man claiming to earn $600 a week reselling tins of formula to Chinese customers. Daigou shoppers now want to buy fresh Australian fruit such as cherries directly from the primary producers. Credit:Melissa Adams Melbourne-based Vivian Xing uses an app called WeChat to let people know she offers "daigou shopping" services and, for now, is focused on the huge demand for infant formula. She sends about 20 kilograms of formula a week to people all over China and takes photos of the purchases inside local stores such as Chemist Warehouse or Priceline to prove its authenticity. Australian baby formula packed up and ready to ship to China. Credit:Penny Stephens

Most Chinese don't understand English well enough to order from Australian websites, she says, and they do not trust the online shops set up by A2 or Bellamy's because counterfeiting was rife online. Australian vitamins are also a big seller, with Ms He doing a steady trade in Swisse, Blackmores and Thompson. Workers and customers at the Chang Jiang International Express store on Swanston Street in Melbourne package up Australian goods for export to China. Credit:Penny Stephens Baby formula and vitamins are Australia's speciality, Ms Xing says, with daigou in Hong Kong and the US providing beauty products and clothing coming from daigou in France. But this is changing, with Chinese ordering more and more clothing and food through daigou in Australia.

Because China's customs clears perishable food quickly, cherries, mangoes and peaches can get to their destination within 72 hours. Recently Ms He has been buying seafood and Australian-grown fruit from agents who package it up with ice for shipping. Ms He says she would rather buy directly from the primary producers but Google searches did not reveal any who ship small packages directly to China themselves. Due to Chinese fears of counterfeit products, particularly in food, daigou want to get as close to the source as possible so they can guarantee provenance. One Sydney-based woman said she had been sending two-kilogram parcels of cherries for $90, including postage, to her family before Chinese New Year on February 7.

She has struggled to find a direct source of Australian cherries this year and ended up going through an agent she met through friends, she says. Mr Ding says there would be huge demand for Australian beef, eggs and fresh food if daigou could find reliable direct sources and efficient shipping methods. And, while Chinese don't trust their local retailers to resell genuine products, they do trust personal connections. And they also trust the daigou's recommendations. Should something be done to clamp down on daigou - or is their presence a stamp of approval for superior Australian produce? What do you think?