How to purchase things from Taobao (using 65daigou agent)

This is a super highly requested post! Recently, I keep raving about how much money I can save by shopping on Taobao, and many readers have either commented, messaged me on facebook or emailed me on writing a how-to post! So here it is! :D

I normally shop on Taobao through 65daigou - a Taobao service agent based in Singapore. It's much easier and less troublesome! So I suggest if you really want to shop on Taobao, just get an account on 65daigou and start from there! I promise I'm not paid by 65daigou to write this post. Their service is simply stellar and therefore I'm willing to write about them!

Firstly, you will need to go to http://65daigou.com/ and create your account. You can even login using Facebook so yay easy peasy.

You'll notice that at the top of the website, there's an EZ-BUY section. This is where you paste the product URL from Taobao.

So for example, you are interested in this ZARA-inspired dress (It's retailing in ZARA for more than S$60, and I got it for less than S$10 nyahaha).

You just copy the product URL ...

... and paste it on the EZ-BUY section. SUPER EASY RIGHT?

Then 65daigou smart system will configure everything out for you and you just need to input your choice in sizing, color and other special requirements, and then decide on your shipping method.

Normally, if I'm buying a few items that don't weigh so much, I will opt for Economy Air shipping method. The items arrive faster!

If I'm buying in bulk/ buying heavy items (like shoes), then I will opt for Sea shipping. Items will arrive in about 2-3 weeks but you are paying less in terms of shipping (as compared to if you use Economy Air shipping).

The question now is how do you decide whether to ship from Guangzhou or Shanghai?? For beginners, I will suggest just sticking to one warehouse - if you're buying 10 items, then choose either Shanghai/Guangzhou warehouse for all 10 items.

As you shop more frequently on Taobao, you will start to appreciate the 2 different locations. Different Taobao sellers are located at different cities in China, so if a seller is based in a location nearer to Guangzhou, you can save on domestic shipping by opting for the Guangzhou warehouse. You don't really save a significant amount of money (usually not more than 20yuan or S$4+), but you still save some!

But if you don't bother about that, then just stick to one warehouse!

After you check out, they will prompt you to pay via your Prepay account. You can top up your Prepay account via ibanking or paypal. When the top-up is successful they will send you an sms! So thoughtful right (so you don't need to keep stalking the website)!

And then the 65daigou staff will help you order your items and it will be indicated as "order placed"!

It is then the start of the waiting game. If you buy a lot of items, then you need to wait for all of them to reach the chosen warehouse before all of them can be shipped to Singapore. You can choose to ship certain items first, but I suggest you wait for all of them to arrive so that you don't have to pay more shipping fee.

When all the items have been shipped, they will alert you on your parcel number! You will only need to pay for the additional shipping + agent fees after the parcel has arrived in Singapore.

Then, when all transactions are completed, you can choose your delivery method! You can choose methods like collecting your parcel from their warehouses, from the MRT pickup points, from the neighbourhood pickup points or home delivery. Home delivery requires an additional charge of S$5. I have shopped with 65daigou for quite some time, and they really have grown in terms of delivery methods! They have over 80 neighbourhood pickup points now!! CRAZYYY convenient! :D

Now, we have come to the more confusing part - HOW DO YOU SHOP ON TAOBAO?

It's definitely not a friendly site, especially for those who don't really read Chinese characters often. If I went to the website 6 years ago, I would see no difficulty in getting around the website and locating certain items, but now, after 6 years of not writing or reading Chinese characters, my competency level in Chinese language has deteriorated significantly. This was why I found it so freaking hard to shop using Taobao initially!!!

Of course, as with all things in life (generalising here haha), practice makes perfect, and yes after a few visits, I slowly got accustomed with the structure of the website and now searching for items is much easier!

Firstly, you need to visit www.taobao.com (duh!).

For beginners, it will be good to search for BRANDS instead of figure out what a clothing item is called in Chinese. I especially like to use "stylenanda", "ASOS", "ZARA" or "topshop" because you will find A LOT of cute stuff. Most of them you will find things that blogshops are selling and then you'll be so angry because the prices on Taobao are so much lower! MEH.

I like to limit my searches to a certain price point, usually no more than 50 yuan (or around S$10-S$11).

And then, I like to filter the items according to popularity. You don't want to be buying lowly-priced items and then get low quality items. The trick is to pay little and get more out of an item. Hence, filtering searches by popularity makes sure that you find an item that fits your budget AND is of high quality.

I also like to read reviews on the product first before purchasing. If you buy shoes, it's super crucial to read the reviews first because some cuttings are really weird. Through reading the reviews, you will know whether to buy the usual size or a size (or two) up!

After the filtering, you will see something like this!! Look at the blue dress, it's selling for 27.80 yuan (+ 10 yuan domestic shipping). WTF RIGHT?! Blogshops in Singapore confirm plus chop sell a similar dress for over S$25!

Let's now focus on the blue dress.

Things to look out for:

1. Price (cheap cheap good good!)
2. Domestic shipping (sometimes you can get free domestic shipping, which is like cheap thrill haha)
3. Total number of transactions + total number of reviews (248 transactions and 237 reviews for the blue dress)
4. Location - the seller of the blue dress is located in Guangzhou, JUST NICE RIGHT? You can choose Guangzhou warehouse using 65daigou then! 
5. The seller's shop (indicated with the blue water droplet thingy)

I normally like to visit the seller's shop when I like a certain item. Buying more from the same seller actually saves money (only 1 domestic shipping fee) and saves time (instead of waiting for 5 items from different sellers to reach the warehouse in China, you wait for 5 items for one single seller to reach the warehouse, then things can get shipped to Singapore faster).

Some Taobao shops have really pretty websites, some are just basic. The below example is an example of a basic Taobao shop haha, but the prices are pretty low so yay!

The last thing you want to check before confirming on a link to be pasted on 65daigou is to make sure you have the best price. Every single time I like something, I will copy paste the product name and then search that on Taobao one more time to make sure that I have found the best price for the best quality. It takes a long time, but it's better to do that than receive crappy stuff right?

PHEW WHAT A LONG POST. I hope this post is useful for all you Taobao converts! :D

Yay! My latest Taobao purchase has just been shipped and I already can't wait to make my next order. HEEHEE. :)

Have a great weekend guys!!