Friday, December 21, 2012

GUIDE ☆ Taobao

I've already made a post that explained a little about Taobao, but since that post also included lots of word-vomiting and things about the order I made, I decided to make a new one that is only meant to be a guide. I thought it'd be helpful, since I was a wreck first time I made an order, and people have been asking me for help. So here it is!

Let's begin.

A guide to Taobao 

☆ Basics before you start:

1. Find a good shopping service. 
I can highly recommend kinalink.se. They're extremely helpful, very polite, and just overall the best Taobao agent you can find. You can send them an email to help you understand their order process and order form* if you don't understand it - which you of course can even if you go with another Taobao agent.

* Like with any shopping service, or in this case Taobao agent, you fill out this form so that your agent can order your things for you. You usually fill out things like product name, product link... the things that the agent can help you understand. I didn't understand it the first time, so don't feel bad if you're a little confused. 

2. Understand the value of google translate
Many people have asked me "do you understand chinese? How do you find things on Taobao when it's in Chinese?" and the answer is simple - google translate, or any other translating program. If you're looking for a dress, translate it to chinese. As simple as that.

Scroll down a bit to "useful keywords" in the Search guide-part.


☆ Search guide: 

First of all, this is the search field, in case that isn't clear.


Now, how do you find things? It's exactly the same as ebay, but with google translate, so here's a little searching-for-dummies in case it's your first time. Or just in case you're looking for some tips.

1. Combine your keywords
Type of clothing, or item, or brand. Color. It can be anything from one word to five, or more. Translate these words to chinese and press the orange button. If it's a brand or well-known word spelled with our roman letters, however, like for example Candy Stripper or Rilakkuma - you don't have to translate.

Combine the Chinese words with the English words when necessary. It can look like this "COSPLAY 假发" - "Cosplay wig".


2. Useful keywords
KERA is a good searchword if you want to find creepers and nice, punk-y shoes - you can combine it with the Chinese word for shoes too, but just KERA is fine. LOLITA is also a good searchword for shoes and other things. Definitely combine it with "shoes", though, a lot of dresses. Also good for nice wigs. COSPLAY is always good to find wigs. CANDY STRIPPER, other brands you like, Rilakkuma, and so on. And if you search for COSBUS you can find great, cheap kigurumis.


3. Once you find a product you like, you'll see this right next to the picture.


Price: It's pretty obvious, isn't it? The big orange numbers! Use a converter to see how much it is in your currency.

Shipping within China: Right under the price, 18 or 25.

Size: You see the part where it says "S" and "M"? There it is. It looks different from item to item, but it usually says S, M or L. Sometimes clothes are sized after how tall you are, which is weird, but heads up.

Color: You see all the little jackets? Yup, there it is. It's not always pictures, most often it's the Chinese words for different colors. Your browser should have a tool to translate the page, use this - or copy paste the words into google translate - to figure out which colors are which.

Shops: 

Just like with ebay, there are shops on Taobao. It's a little tricky once you visit one, since it's all in Chinese, but click around until you get the hang of it. Here's a great list with lots and lots of links to some different Taobao shops → Click me please. 


☆ Purchase guide: 

Go to your Taobao agent's homepage
Look for an "ordering procedure" page
Read it carefully
If there's something you don't understand, look up the address and send an email to support

Here's how the ordering process usually goes: 
Find the order form and download it
Fill out the order form
Save it under a new name
Use the email listed in the ordering process explanaition and send the new, filled out order form
Wait for a reply, and your agent will take it from there and update you as they move along


☆ General tips:

1. Seriously, don't be afraid to ask your agent for help.
2. Google. Look up guides and shop lists, link lists and anything you can think of. Really helpful.

3. I just have to say this as well: please don't ask me for links to things I've bought, because I don't have them. They're gone as soon as I've sent my order form. Sorry, but that's how it is ( ; ´ ω ` )

There ya go!

Easy, right? I hope this was a little bit helpful. Taobao is a cheap world of wonders (and fashion) and once you get the hang of it, it really is very simple. Take your time and you'll see.

Happy Taobao-ing!
Hugs and kisses, I hope you're having a great post-apocalypse day ♥

25 comments:

  1. Thank you very much Iro! This was really helpful :3 I want to order next month from taobao so I hope it will be sucessful ^^ and then it will became one of my obsession like ordering from ebay since it all SO cheap oO *still can't believe that those cool thirt costs only 140 juans* XD

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thankies,this post is helpful..I want to buy some clothes from this webstore. ^^

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hey, Iro!
    I checked some shoes from some Taobao sellers and... I guess the currency is Chinese Yuan? For example, some shoes that are for 150¥ are about 24.08 US dollars. I really can't believe they are that cheap... Iro, I am very afraid they could take more money from my account than I've expected them to do so. Using google for currency is a little awkward. Are the items really supposed to be that cheap?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. They are :) That's the beauty of taobao. Everything is SUPER cheap. You can find perfectly good clothes for like 10 USD. If you're worried about your payment; When you get a payment invoice from your shopping service you will see how much the entire order with their service fee will be, so you can just cross-check it with the items you put in the order to make sure they don't ask for more money to trick you.

      Really, don't worry!

      Delete
  4. I also recommend Tbtrends as a good shopping service! Very helpful and keep you up to date with the status of your items <3
    It can get confusing with everything on Taobao being in Chinese Yuan... at first i thought it was in dollars and wondered why everything was so expensive 8D

    Very informative post, i got asked to write one but i'm too lazy :'3

    Sapphire
    http://littleowldiary.blogspot.co.uk
    xo

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I will add that to the post then! Thank you ♥

      Haha yeah, of course it's a little confusing when it's chinese... it's kind of hard for it NOT to be confusing XD But it's easy once you get used!

      Delete
  5. Thank you so much, that helped me very much! (:

    ReplyDelete
  6. Thanks for the great guide!
    Happy new year 2013!!~
    Have a great year! :)

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