Hello!
It's been more than 3mths since my last post cos i'm getting super lazy despite being super free and having nth t do. =/
Haven't been doing much lately besides heading out/watching dramas during weekdays and spending my weekends with the boy. Oh and btw, we've just celebrated our 3rd yr anniversary last sat! Haha. Time's passing so fast! I'll prob blog about tt some other day. Too much backlog i think i might just skip some of them, like the taiwan posts, cos i really dunno how t start blogging on a 16 days trip. =/ Or maybe i'll just do a summary, and also for my recent trip t HK in oct as well. Maybe i should start blogging more often again since i've got a lot of time now and nth t do. ):
I'm currently looking for a job, but it hasn't been progressing very well. Prob cos it's the yr end and most of the companies ain't hiring at this time of the yr. Getting really bored, plus bf's in army now, it makes me really wanna start work badly. But now tt i wanna start working, i cant find a job. Why is it always like tt... )':
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Well anw, i'm back again cos i kinda wanna share on my experience w Taobao and also how you could go about purchasing w/o going through agents like 65daigou/peeka etc.
Now tt Taobao is gaining popularity in SG, i'm sure a lot of you are curious about how t make purchases and all. The easiest way is prob you engage an agent like 65daigou/peeka, however, you'll incur agent fees and also, the waiting time is a lot longer if you were t ship by sea.
Since Taobao now has an Southeast Asia page, it makes things a lot easier. You can like their FB page here. They're quite efficient and helpful in terms of responding t your qns!
Taobao now offers a few shipping agents who will ship your items t you. These agents are different from the ones you're aware of like 65daigou, etc. Instead of purchasing through the agent's website, you actually purchase the items yourself and get it shipped t the warehouse of the shipping agents. It is much faster as shipping is by air, and the price you pay are about the same as what you pay the agents t ship by sea!
So the first step is t create a Taobao account! You can either register w an email add or your mobile no.
For registering w an email add:
And for registering w your mobile no.:
Select your country from the drop down list and key in your mobile no. You'll receive a verification code.
For a more detailed guide, you can also visit the website.
So once you've set up your account, you can now start shopping! I'd usually view recently purchased items from 65daigou/peeka for reference. Or if i see sth i like from blogshops which are not self-manufactured, i'd also try my luck t see if i can find it from Taobao. Most of the times you'll be able t find it, esp the very common ones. And most of the items you see on preorder can actually be found on Taobao! I'd usually search by keying in the keywords for eg. colour/design/material.
The basic info about sellers are tt sellers w golden crowns have the best ratings, followed by silver crowns, diamonds and lastly hearts. I'm more of a meticulous kinda person so i'd always try t make sure tt the clothes would fit me fine, by reading reviews or communicating w the sellers via aliwangwang, which is messenger similar t MSN. Sometimes i'd buy from sellers w ratings of only hearts if they have good reviews, cos most of the times sellers w hearts are actually quite new and their prices will be lower than the rest.
Reviews are quite helpful as they will give you info on whether the material is good or if the sizing runs big or small, etc. Speaking from experience, most of the time the measurements are slightly bigger by a few cm, unless stated tt sizing runs big/small in reviews. But i guess it's pretty normal cos measurements provided by blogshops are usually different by a few cm as well.
You can find clothes as cheap as less than S$10 on Taobao. However, from what i've noticed, usually those tt're too cheap t be true doesn't come w good material. Unless you're fine w those material tt feels stuffy when worn (if you see 不透气 in reviews), then i guess it's alright? If not try t stay away from those suuuuuuper cheap ones, though sometimes it's really tempting. But you'll prob regret when it comes. Haha. =/
For shipping, you can select the shipping agents while making payment. Taobao accepts payment by visa/mastercard. I've tried using both payment methods for my recent purchase and the rates were pretty decent! I think i've got about 4.72 for visa and 4.73 for mastercard.
For a more detailed guide, you can visit this link.
I haven't tried using any of the shipping agents in the list though, cos i've actually found one even before they introduced the S.E.A page. It used t be slightly cheaper, but they recently increased their price by a lil, so it's about the same as some of those provided. However, since i've alrd used this agent for a couple of times and am familiar w how they work, i decided t stick t the same agent.
The prices are pretty reasonable. I usually pay about S$2-4 for shipping per item on ave, depending on the amount of items i purchase each time. And it usually takes about 2-3 working days t reach me after the agent has shipped it out. Super fast right! If you're interested t try it out, here's the link!
They'll provide you w the warehouse's add, and once the sellers ship out the items, you'll have t do up an excel order sheet and they'll tally the items w the order sheet. Their service is pretty good and they're friendly and helpful as well. However, do note tt they do not check if the items sent are of correct colour or sizes. Also, for fragile items or shoes whereby you wanna keep the original packaging on, you'll have t let them know as well. If you don't need the original packaging, they'll remove it and pack them accordingly t minimise the size of the package, cos they'll use actual/volumetric weight, whichever is heavier. And usually volumetric weight is heavier, so you'll wanna minimise the size in order t cut down the shipping cost.
Out of all my purchases, there was only once tt item was sent in the wrong size, so i guess it's quite alright. There're definitely some hits and misses. Afterall, tt's how online shopping is right? Haha. I'm glad most of the time they meet my expectations or of satisfactory quality, maybe cos i'm careful w my purchases. Lol.
So... here's what i bought recently! More of formal wear though, cos i wanted t have some 'backup' in case i find a job, though sadly i haven't. ):
I'm pretty satisfied w my purchases this time round! Except for the blue blazer on the top right corner cos the colour's slightly different from the pic, which is also my most ex buy out of all (approx S$25 after factoring in shipping cost).
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| Bought 2 casings for my MBA at a really great deal! The MBA was a gift from the boy for my bday this yr. <3 I've been wanting t get a case for protection t prevent any scratches. And Taobao really has almost everything you want! Haha The purple one was approx S$6.70 and the red one slightly more ex cos it comes w keyboard protector and also the stoppers, which was approx S$9.60. |
Sorry for the really wordy and lengthy post! But i hope it'll help those who wanna purchase from Taobao but dunno how t. I'm quite sure these shipping agents cost lesser than using the agents in SG, since there isn't any agent fees. Do lmk if you have even cheaper alternatives! (:
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