How did I miss this thread initially? O-L you old dog. You sure learn new tricks ehh? :-) And show us other noobs how its done. Thanks for sharing this and the same goes out to darklion who is having math trouble :-D
I want to order something like this too so a big thank you to y'all for making it cheaper for me. TY.
Here’s the deal:
I place an order. Shortly afterwards I get order confirmed, awaiting payment, confirmed stock.
But, you see, I’ve learned my lesson. I don’t believe people when they say they have stock anymore. I’ve been burned too many times. So I contact customer service and say “Seriously, are you sure this is actually in stock?” or something to that effect. And guess what? Two times in a row now, taobao have come back and said “well, errr, yeah, sorry about that, it’s not in stock after all”. So what does the “confirmed stock” status mean? Nothing it seems.
I understand that other people have had positive experiences with them, but I find this sort of thing rather irritating.
Since I first posted about Taobao, I have learned some more and I have tried a couple more agents. What I find is that there are many agents and they come and go swiftly. Some of it is fraud by the agents and some of it is fraud by the buyers, but it is an ever changing marketplace, much like ebay.
I have tired http://www.taobaonow.com/ and http://taobaofocus.com/ with good results. But, I have learned to be patient with them. First of all, we are in different time zones and I have learned to "do business" at around midnight to 2AM my time. It works much better. I still use http://www.go2tao.com/ or http://www.taobao-buying-agent.com/ for my searching, as I think overall, they get better search results. Then I go directly to the sellers item and link it into the other Taobao sites that I buy from. I can see that this is a kind of shopping that is not for many folks, but I want the lowest price I can get, for the same items being sold elsewhere.
My dream is that some day, some member from China will PM me and tell me that he will be the go between (like that's gonna happen), since even with some of the low prices on Taobao, the prices can still be haggled, but agents don't because they want their cut and less fro the sale amount, means less for them.
I still buy a few things from regular sellers like FastTech, or whoever might have something for sale, but with inflation, I just try to get things at the lowest price possible. As an example, I just ordered two different 50mm aspheric lenses and 30 of the 15 degree TIR optics. After Shipping, the lenses ended up being $5 each and the optics ended up being 66 Cents each. I was buying the lenses for $1.50 each before, so that was a big savings to me. The same lenses that were probably bought from the seller I used to use, since they came direct from an "optics company" this time.
To me, Taobao is still viable, but the culture, language and ethics differences are still hard and always will be. Patience is a must and it takes about 1 week, to 2 weeks to get through the order process, to the point of shipment, but I know that, so I order a month or two before I want the stuff (if I have the money).
There are other Taobao agents around and there are some I would like to try, but some do not use PayPal, due to all the fraud on both sides of the coin, so I don't deal with the ones that don't use PayPal.
+1
Hello, My name is Minnie
I am a Taobao buying assistant from China.
Taobao is the largest online retail and wholesale website in China, we at Taobao buying assist customers in the purchase of items from taobao.com and forward their shipments from China to the rest of the world at a low cost.
We also assist our customers by communicating with sellers on their behalf, we can inspect our customers products upon request before shipping internationally for no extra charge.
How does it work?
1: Buyer sends us links to desired items including colours/sizes/quantity
2: We send you the invoice for your selected items and domestic shipping (+10% our fee)
3: Buyer sends payment
4: We purchase your items from sellers
5: We inspect your order and invoice you for international shipping
6: Buyer sends payment for international shipping and items are shipped within 1 business day
We ship with your choice of EMS, DHL, UPS, TNT or China Post
We offer 45% discount off the EMS official pricing for EMS shipments
If you have any questions or would like to make a order please don’t hesitate to contact me and I will assist you and give you a professional Taobao buying experience.
We have been serving our customers since 2009 and I am looking forward to assisting you with your Taobao buying needs.
- Minnie
Web: www.taobaobuying.com
Email: taobaobuyingservice@gmail.com
Skype: piepei12
Hi Minnie. Since you are offering a buying service you should observe the rules regarding commercial sellers:
http://budgetlightforum.com/forum/misc/commercial
HI,where are you from?联合王国？
So you wouldn't be an extremely obvious shill, would you?
Seems like an excited and happy customer to me! :d
hehe, No it’s really not, I just appreciate hardworking and sincerity of this taobaobuying agent. Their service was quick & efficient. They are also professional and has experience more than 5 years in this business. Most probably, I like that even there is night in chins & I got their replies via mobile (I hope you will not ask that how I know there was night in China if you are enough sensible:)). In fact, there must be something attractive not only the IPOD reason for recommending them.
Have a nice day dude.
If you are from China,why do you need taobao agent when you can buy directly from taobao?
I have a store in my country and I always buy from them.
Would very much like to hear your story / store . Your input would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks