unemployed again and,well, bored and rotting, I decided it was high time I share some of the tricks I
have up my sleeve. Some things I said are now irrelevant, like how I used to stay in NTU.
Seasoned blogger I am not, but seasoned shopper I am. This one's for all you girls (or guys) out there
looking to get more for less.
First off, sorry not sorry for the sensational title. One thing this blog is going to do that differs
from the dozens of others I have penned is that this one sets out to build an audience.
If I titled this 'What I bought from Taobao', you probably wouldn't be reading this right now.
But unlike other websites with clickbait boasting a killer headline with an equally murderous
article with no style or substance, I am to use clickbait to lure but content to keep.
OK preaching over. Let's get cracking.
This post was inspired by a passing share on my Facebook wall by my Uni friends Tiffany and Gaby.
Tiff shared a post on my wall that said 'How to hack Taobao' and Gaby claimed that I could
probably write a more thorough, extensive one. Challenge accepted.
I guess I'm a known shopaholic amongst my friends(esp Uni ones since school uniforms are now a
thing of the past). I love clothes, and I love them cheap.
If they look luxe for less, even better. Taobao has been the ultimate discovery for me in 2014.
In sharing this, I also inadvertently and inevitably disclose how to hack blogshops,
given a lot of blogshops in Singapore get ready stock from Guangzhou. Others get it from
Bangkok but as of right now importing clothes from Bangkok and then reselling them is nowhere
as lucrative as it was in, say, 2010. Blogshops who still primarily import from Bangkok for
resell probably have a customer base of 200 Year 3 poly girls with badly dyed hair and 3 inch
thick Creepers.
It's not my aim to name and shame here, but if your brand does get mentioned, shrugs.
You buy low sell high, others buy lower and sell lower than your high. That's life.
Also,if you wanna have a crazy 50-70% price mark up
for your clothes then be prepared to lose out to other merchants who sell the same for less.
The agent I use is 65 DaiGou and as a nod to the recent online saga,
this is not a masked ad ;-)
The sole reason I use 65 DaiGou is because I stay in NTU's dorm 4/7 days a week and
65 DaiGou has a pick up point right behind Canteen 1 in NTU, which is just a 7 minute walk
away from my dorm.
I use an agent simply because Alipayis a bitch to understand and work and this is after copious amounts of Googling.
God. Why Taobao sellers cannot just use PayPal I do not understand.
Also, 65 Daigou deals with everything. They repack your items to make it smaller so
you pay for less space, deal with refunds, monetary problems, and best of all, they
do all the mentioned in a language I can actually fluently speak and read.
Customer service has been pretty damn decent as well and the company seems
to have gotten their logistics right in general (I.e- Even when it rains, meet ups still continue-
the same bespectacled delivery man just huddles under a fluorescent blue raincoat with a hood).
I won't be writing a step-by-step post about how to use TaoBao because 1) Google exists for a reason and 2) At least 10 people have posted easy, bite sized instructions with screen shots as to how to navigate TaoBao. And if you're illiterate(at least when it comes to Chinese characters), view Taobao on Google Chrome so the browser prompts you to auto translate the page to English. Sometimes this can make things trickier so the best thing to do is sit next to your disgruntled Mother and ask her to translate anything (everything) you don't understand.
BEFORE YOU CONTINUE READING PLEASE AT LEAST KNOW HOW TO BUY THINGS ON TAOBAO.
Read the following links if you don't. Google more if you still don't understand. Don't make me your first line of
If you're just lazy then sod off I'm not your PA and being lazy won't do you any good in purchasing anything on Taobao. Or in life in general.I can anticipate this post being bombed with Taobao help-mes so I'm turning comments off for this post.
What I'm sharing today is not the mechanics of TaoBao, but rather, on how to get the most bang for your buck, what to buy, what not to buy, and how to know if you should or should not make the purchase.
I've literally trawled Taobao for hours on end looking for the best possible quality for the least possible price and I don't see why I have to save you the trouble just to have you wear the same item as me. Friends on the other hand are a different story, if you see something you like here please drop me a Facebook message and I'll be glad to share links with you. #Friendperks
1) Know what you want to buy, and know what keywords to use.
Keywords are the key to successful shopping on Taobao (no pun intended). Because there are thousands of merchants selling thousands of the similar, if not the same, items on TaoBao, specific terms are the trick to sieving out gems from crap. Let's say you want to buy a pair of shoes. What kind of shoes? Flat soled? Color? Material of shoe? Material of heel? Worn by celebrity? Which season? Inspired by? Heeled? OK heeled. What kind of heel? Elevated heel? Slutty 6 inch heel? Platform heel? Slutty heels for clubbing? Kitten heels for the office? Virginal looking heels for a wedding? Mary Jane heels? Heels with diamantes? Heels with ribbons? Heels with buckles? Fake Louboutin heels?
The possibilities are literally endless. So this is where Google Translate comes in. I am going to assume no normal Singaporean is going to know the Chinese equivalent of Mary Jane heels, so this is where the trawling comes in. You need patience to shop on TaoBao and if you don't have patience then you don't deserve a well made pair of heels that costs $20 (inclusive of shipping) that would set you back at least $40 anywhere else.
1b)Search generic, narrow down, then copy and paste.
2) Know the generic photos. Tell tale signs of generic photos are the generic models.
Stock photos are a dime a dozen on TaoBao. Some of the really popular TaoBao items like... say... a pair of Zara inspired skorts all yield the same Zara model donning the authentic pair of Zara skorts. Original Zara price: $59.90. TaoBao price: $9. Ah, the wonders of mass production in China.
3) Sort photos by popularity.
Popularity= a lot of buyers/a lot of buys (yes there is a difference)= a lot of reviews=more comments=more photos=more realistic expectations=less chance of a shitty buy. However, this only works if the item you are searching for is cheap.
For example, for my Tokyo 2014 trip I wanted to buy winter coats. I wanted decent quality ones but I didn't want them to be expensive (less than $50) because I knew I'd only wear them once, at most twice, every year. So if I sorted the search 'XXX' by popularity, the first few hits would costs like 600 RMB (which is a very good price to pay for a coat made of 80% wool), but not ideal for my situation.
So in this scenario it would make more sense for me to sort it by lowest-> highest price. Do remember however that because everyone uses the same stock photos (refer to point 2), you might have to click next like...50 times. The first 50 pages will feature coats for something crazy like 60 RMB.
I really have no idea what will come your way should you decide to buy from these sellers... For the adventurous, please venture if you dare and tell me what comes your way. Common sense would tell you that if it looks like too good a deal, it probably is.
As a rule of thumb anything below SGD $10-15 is going to arrive with tons of loose threads, stiff zips, and wonky, off-center cutting. Some sites may tell you to trust seller ratings. This is true, but not to a very far extent. I've bought clothing from 1 heart sellers that boasted better quality than 3 crown sellers. It's all very item dependent. The ranking is as follows:
OK enough words. Photos. Best Taobao buys.
Wore this cropped top and tailored trouser to Singapore Fashion Week.
Yes, I wore a $25 SGD outfit to Singapore Fashion Week. No ragrets tbh.
Trench coat, wool coat and thin coat for Tokyo:
Worst TaoBao buys.
So far I haven't had any ground breakingly bad because I do copious amounts of research before each purchase but alas I still have some less-than-ideal buys :-(.
I've made close to $400 buying things from TaoBao and reselling them on Carousell/Instagram. I don't do it anymore because it's a hassle to deal with so many parties and also because ain't nobody got time to deal with Carouhellers who dock 3 days off my lifespan everytime I deal with them.
