Taobao Online Shopping Experience

When I said Taobao, I believe most of you guys have heard of it before, yeah? Taobao ( 淘宝网; literally: "searching for treasure website") is an online shopping website similar to eBay and Amazon that is operated in China by Alibaba Group.

Founded by Alibaba Group on May 10, 2003, Taobao Marketplace facilitates consumer-to-consumer (C2C) retail by providing a platform for small businesses and individual entrepreneurs to open online stores that mainly cater to consumers in Chinese-speaking regions (Mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan) and also abroad (from wikipedia).

 

I had two times successful shopping experience with Taobao, overall they are satisfactory. Oh no, it is not sponsored post. I paid for all the goods and the shipping fee. For first timer Taobao shopper, the most worrying part might be the loss of goods we purchased or being cheated by the merchant. Well, I have to say it is safe after all. The moment we check out for the goods, we are paying to Taobao and not the respective merchants that we order the goods. If we do not receive the goods, we can report our complains to Taobao, and the money will be refunded back to our bank account after a thorough investigation. But then remember to do it within 20 days after the goods has been in the "sent out" status. If you do not click you have not receive the goods, Taobao will automatically bank in the money to the respective merchants after 20 days.

comments of buyers

ratings of the merchant

 Before you purchase, do have a check on their buyers' feedback/comments column for a better understanding on their service and goods quality. The merchant's rating is located the right hand side of the page.

Look for 信誉 or credibility in English. The love icon normally is for the newly opened shop which has the lowest credibility and I myself do not recommend you guys to purchase any from the shop as I have unhappy encounter with that. The highest credibility is the golden crowns displayed. The more crowns the better.

1 crown merchant：with10001-20000 good feedback from customers

2 crown merchant：with 20001-50000 good feedback from customers

3 crown merchant：with 50001-100000 good feedback from customers

4 crown merchant：with 100001-200000 good feedback from customers

5 crown merchant：with 200001-500000 good feedback from customers
1 golden crown merchant: 500001-1000000 good feedback from customers

2 golden crown merchant: 1000001-2000000 good feedback from customers 
3 golden crown merchant: 2000001-3000000 good feedback from customers
4 golden crown merchant: 3000001-4000000 good feedback from customers
5 golden crown merchant: 4000001-5000000 good feedback from customers

 

For most of the shop I visited, I give good feedback. For every good feedback they obtained from customers, they have 1 point. And that contributes to their credibility. I do give bad feedback once when I received wrong goods and their customer service is not giving prompt response to me which later ask me to return it all the way from Malaysia to China just for that tee? ==" For every bad feedback they got, 1 point will be minus which affect their credibility too.

 

For my second shopping with Taobao, the main purpose is to purchase my smartphone (old model) case, which I cant find anymore in Malaysia. One of the great thing about Taobao is the variety of choices. Second, we can compare prices among different merchants for the same item. Thus, I always able to find the most worthy one which comes with free goodies. For example, I got the standing clip for smartphone, piece of cloth and transparent stickers comes together with the smartphone case for a total RMB 9.9 (exclude shipping fee to Malaysia).

 

I got the external hard disk case for RMB 9.9(exclude shipping fee to Malaysia).

The wrongly sent tee...I ordered the white tee which is not the same design as shown above. Therefore, I gave bad feedback for them (the details I already mentioned above).

 

To ship the goods from China to Malaysia, we have to get a forwarder. What they do? After we purchased all the goods, we need someone in China helping us to collect and pack before sending it to Malaysia. To ease foreigners buyers, Taobao also collaborate with a few company to provide such service. I use Youkuku and so far I have no problem with it. Important thing for first time shopper, remember to choose and tick your forwarder when you check out, if not your goods might be lost.

 

As I said, forwarder will help you to collect your goods, weigh and pack as well. When they done the weighing for all, it is time for buyers to pay for the shipping fee. The forwarder will provide 20 days free storage for your goods in their cargo and let say if you still not pay for the shipping fee after that period of time, they will charge you some amount of money per day.

 

One thing I am very impressed with Taobao is the tracking system they have. It is run in very systematic way. We always know where our goods are after sent out by merchants. Even though China is a big country, their delivery service is fast and efficient. For buyers located in China, they can get the item in the same day after purchasing. It is considered slow for Chinese in China to get the goods after 2 days and probably the seller might not get a good feedback. Well, that's my shopping experience with Taobao, anyone has shopped with them before? Do let me know :D