Taobao is a Chinese website for online shopping, very similar to eBay and Amazon.
I've been asked many times about buying things from Taobao. They are namely the few:
- How do you find things in Taobao?
- How do you know if a merchant is reliable?
- How do you pay?
- How do you ship?
- How is the quality?
I think most people are overwhelmed with the Chinese in the Chinese website, and by our limited vocabulary in Chinese. Also most people do not have much faith in things Made-in-China. (Note: Google Chrome provides auto-translate for the website, but I have tried and found that it is not that accurate.)
So I am writing now to share some of the things I know, and give some tips along the way. It's not everything, just things I know, because I have bought things many times from Taobao (I will share some loots in future blogs). But I hope it is useful, or at least it make shopping less daunting for you.
I will breakdown the writing into a couple of posts. This will avoid over-information. I will start off with buying things in Taobao. This should address most of common the questions I listed out earlier, and so at least those of you who has an account with Taobao can start shopping already.
Here goes.
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First I hope you can see the screenshot. I have boxed and numbered the areas I want to describe alittle.
1. At the top right hand corner is the search bar, like the one you see in web browsers. The search bar in Taobao has autosuggestion and it recognises English. I do not know if this browser dependent (I am using Google Chrome, by the way).
2. This is the shopping cart. If you shopped online in websites like Amazon before, it is similar. Here you will see a list that consolidates your loot.
3. This is where you see the things you bought. You can also track your items here too.
4. This is where you can view shops or items you have bookmarked (收藏).
Now, back to searching for items to buy. Here's a tip, you can always search in English, preferably by brands, or model numbers. The search result normally will show the description in Chinese.
The example here is I want to search for a camera bag, so I just type "camera bag" in search bar. Notice the suggestions are also in English.
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Now that I have searched for something, the website will auto-generate a list of items that may match my search. Browse through to see if the things you are looking for are available! Otherwise, you might have to find the Chinese equivalent description from the search results.
Some things on the website that I wish to describe more:
5. There are filters, such as price range, to refine the search. In this case, the filters actually include external features and internal features of the bag!
6. Here the website will suggest some searches.
7. Here you will find some items that are probably on sale, best selling items, or the like, that are related to your searches. Some times you might find good deals here!
In Part 2, I will share what I know about putting a purchase for the items. Stay tune!
BTW, I am not in anyway affiliated to Taobao, Like most of you, I like online shopping and I like to share knowledge. I hope this has been helpful in some ways.
- ZF
