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How to buy goods from taobao in Malaysia
Taobao is the biggest customer to customer e-commerce platform based in China with over 800 million product listing and 500 million registered users. You can get clothes, accessories, gadget and even computer hardware at meager prices. However, because the website is 100% Chinese, this may be a barrier to those who want to shop but cannot make heads or tails navigating through the shopping process. The good news is that some sellers understand that there is a market outside of China, so these sellers include English keywords on their listing. Also as an English speaker, the best way to overcome this language barrier is by using google translator or google chrome which automatically translates the pages for you. The only downside is that the translation is not fluid, and sentences may seem strange. When buying directly from Taobao, you have to pick an experienced seller who is trustworthy. And one way to figure out how many transactions they have processed, and successfully delivered is by viewing the seller's profile. Sellers can be ranked by buyers. The lowest ranks are hearts, followed by diamond, blue crown and finally a yellow crown. In the seller profile you can always see when they started their shop and some positive reviews they have received throughout that time. In most online shopping sites, customer review and feedback are great sources of reference before ones make a purchasing decision. Similarly, Taobao also has provided a place where you can check the feedback of previous buyers at the bottom of a product page. Here are tips on How to buy goods from taobao in Malaysia :
- 1. Create your account: Firstly, if you are new to Taobao, I would recommend that you sign up by creating your account for easy checkout and payment. Once you have completed the registration, go to the home page and search for the goods that you would like to purchase.
- 2. Add to cart: now that you have an account find whatever you want to buy and add it to your cart. To add to cart select your size and click on the dark orange button. If you want to purchase more than one item on Taobao, add all your items to your cart and then purchase together.
- 3. Checking out: now you have to set your shipping address, I would recommend you pick your shipping method for global consolidate and shipping (note: not all seller has this option, so check before making payment). The global consolidate and shipping methods is a lot cheaper than using the direct shipping. You may also pick on the type of courier service for local delivery. Also, note that shipping charges on electronic items are much higher than normal goods as it needs different handling and packaging.
- 4. Payment: Then you may pick on the payment methods to make payment, either using a credit card or e-banking. I will recommend you to use a credit card which is a lot safer. After payment, check the status. The seller will need to pack and send the item to the warehouse within 24 hours.
- 5. Second payment: after a few days (depending on the local shipping method you selected) your item will have reached the Taobao warehouse, go to your account tab (it will have a ‘1’ next to it) proceed and pay for the items shipped.
- 6. Track: after second payment, you can check the progress of your order and track it by going to your account.
After ordering your goods from the seller, the items are then shipped to Taobao warehouse, where they are consolidated and then sent internationally. You have to pay for the items, shipping to the ware house, and international shipping from the warehouse.
Overall, buying directly from Taobao may be a bit difficult than engaging in an agents services, but you will manage to save quite a bit on shipping. The whole process from ordering to the time the item reaches the warehouse is usually around 1-3 days, depending on how fast the sellers send the item to the warehouse. You can pay directly to a seller from Malaysia by using Alipay. Signup an Alipay account, and upload relevant ID verification documents, then you can bind your credit card so that you can pay for Taobao orders.
When it comes to shipping, here’s is where it get cheaper! When using an agent, their shipping fees tend to be much higher. Depending on weight, you can save up about half or more on shipping fees. As to the forwarding service to use, use Taobao forwarder shipping services, it usually 3-7 days from its warehouse to deliver your goods to your door step.
You don’t longer need an agent to purchase items from Taobao. You can do it yourself and in turn cut the middle man. When your item have arrived, you may wish to rate the seller and leave a review for the item.