The Chinese language is recognized as the most difficult on the planet, but it seems that everyone knows the word "Taobao". This is such a virtual giant, a trading platform on which many online stores are based. Knowledgeable people can tell how to order goods of different purposes with Taobao easily and with benefit for a rather poor wallet. And in fact, the main advantages of this resource are affordable prices and ease of placing orders. And for those who have never visited this grandiose fair of Chinese products, it will be useful to read this article. Share your experience.
How to register at Taobao?
To begin with, you can make purchases on this Internet site without registration. True, then there may not be access to pages with the most high-quality and inexpensive product. So, you need to register. Here the fun begins. You need to have two accounts at once - directly on Taobao and on the Alipei payment system website, through which all purchases will be paid. But! To register, you need a phone with a Chinese number. This innovation may have facilitated the work of the Chinese comrades, but greatly complicated the life of foreign buyers, and specifically - residents of the CIS countries.
There is always a way out
Our man will always find a way out, and not one. Acquaintances or friends in China, as well as numerous intermediaries now offer to purchase a Chinese SIM card from them, register an account through them or on their website. They also offer options on how to order goods from Taobao using intermediary services. Perhaps this opportunity should be explored in more detail.
Registration through intermediaries
On the intermediary site you need to find the registration page and perform a simple procedure: enter the email address, password, confirm the password again. And that’s all, you can go to your personal account with these data. In the left menu at the bottom of the page you need to find the tab “My data. Create an account". In the registration form that appears, you need to fill in all the fields. To open an account on Alipay, you need to fill out another form by entering real data.
All data is written in Latin letters. In the column "Identification" you need to enter the series and
passport number. It remains to verify the correctness of the entered data and click the "Save" button. These data can be tracked in your account on the page “My data. My Accounts. "
Top-up balance and account
The status of the account and account after registration will be “Not Paid”. In the tab “My Accounts” you can find an account for payment of services for opening an account - within 300 yuan. You can pay for the service only from your balance on the site. So, you need to replenish it on the tab "My account. Top up account. ” In the form that opens, the amount is entered, then you need to click on the "Pay" button. Ways of replenishment - a bank card, mobile operators, payment systems. But that is not all. With the replenished balance, you need to pay for registration. To do this, go to the tab "My account. Unpaid bills. " Click "Pay". In approximately the same way, following the instructions, you will need to replenish the account in the payment system on the site. How to order things with Taobao will be discussed later, but for now it’s worth asking what kind of product attracts users to the Chinese trading platform.
What do they sell there?
It’s easier to answer what they don’t sell there. Everything that is made in the Middle Kingdom, from hair clips to computer equipment.
Perhaps the most popular type of product that the Taobao Chinese store offers is clothing. I must say that the concept of "Chinese consumer goods" in this case is not always justified. In the conditions of fierce competition, manufacturers from China nevertheless learned to focus on market demands and sew quality things. In addition, many small workshops and large factories produce products of famous brands - both counterfeit and original. How can it be? It is known that many designers and fashion designers open their branches in China - because of cheap labor and more affordable taxes.
Similarly, in China, the assembly of electronics and computers. Of course, along with this, production of cheap and often low-grade goods - equipment, tablets, phones, has been put on a grand scale. The price will tell you where the original is and where the fake is.
How to order goods for children with Taobao?
Children's things and toys are a special conversation.
If clothes for all seasons can be selected by visual viewing the pages of the site, then, for example, you need to be careful with toys. Cases are known when in their production toxic compounds and coloring agents were used that adversely affect children's health.
Website users are happy to order children's clothing in bulk - both for toddlers and for teens. These are bright and high-quality knitwear, children's underwear, tights, socks, colorful T-shirts and original jeans for girls and boys, formal suits for kindergarten and school. If you are interested in how to order things of this category directly from Taobao, it’s enough to go to the catalog and find the “Children’s Clothing” tab on the Russian-language site of the trading platform.
How to place orders?
Although there are Russian-language versions of the site, many are confused by the process of choosing a product and placing an order in the stores of the site - because all the information on the pages, including prices, is placed in Chinese. Until recently, by the way, I had to use an online translator. Now everything is much simpler. The registered user has no problems with how to order with Taobao on their own. We have already mentioned the features of registration.
Nevertheless, some difficulties remain. In Russian, only a limited amount of information - how to register, where to go and so on. And all the most important thing - information about the product, about the sizes, about prices, about the manufacturer - all this is in Chinese. And discussing with the seller the details of the order, bargaining, asking for discounts, negotiating the terms and conditions of delivery is possible only in chat mode. Not being a polyglot, you can try to communicate in English (if anything - using transliteration). But the problem is that not all Chinese speak English, especially Russian. Of course, in "Google" or on "Yandex" you can make translations into Chinese. But everyone who has used these functions at least once knows with what distortions the resulting translation is output. It turns out that there is reason to think about competent intermediaries.
Shopping through intermediaries
Online purchases always carry a certain risk. Just look at the reviews on Taobao to see how often buyers are forced to return an item. Causes? The most harmless and most frequent - the size did not fit. The store’s website seems to have a size chart, both Chinese, and European, Russian, American. In addition, an e-mail comes with a request to measure your parameters and double-check the size. And yet - "the suit does not sit." Or the color is not the same as in the picture. Or the quality is inadequate. This happens often when there is no way to personally feel and consider the goods.
This is the case when it is desirable to resort to the services of intermediaries before ordering a batch of goods with Taobao. Of course, not the first intermediaries that came across, but with a good reputation. Such services are provided, among other things, by logistics companies in China. The intermediary will find the goods via the link, contact the supplier, personally verify its quality, compliance with the declared parameters.
For those who are going to make bulk purchases for resale, the intermediary can prepare a photo and video report and send the customer or express mail samples of the goods, and then make purchases on the spot and send the goods by mail, courier or transport company.
Is it profitable to buy goods on Taobao?
It does not always make sense to spend money on forwarding and waste time waiting. If, for example, you need one thing - a phone, a toy for a child or, say, a steam mop - it’s better to buy it in a nearby store, it will cost less. But if you decide to make a serious purchase - yourself a pair of jackets, clothes, underwear for children for future use, plus something from jewelry to yourself and your sister as a gift - then, of course, the savings will be tangible. By the way, the lower the weight of the parcel, the more expensive it costs. So, before you order something through Taobao, you need to slowly study more offers and decide on a one-time purchase of everything that you liked. And, of course, you need to be more careful, not to be led to excessive cheapness, but to look at reviews, compare the same product from different suppliers.