Taobao Trust Or Trash?

[Cerbervs]

Hey I have found some pens on the site that I have seen here called Taobao. I want to now this forums experience with its international shipping and service.

Edited August 11, 2013 by Cerbervs

[rochester21]

I visited this site a couple of weeks ago, and i think it would be pretty difficult for a person not living in China to shop there. I have seen some pens selling for half price, but how can i contact the seller? couldn`t figure out, especially since i don`t know any chinese.

 

Apart from that, my impression is that this site is made for local shopping, those sellers who intend to ship internationally use ebay, Alibaba etc.

[Seele]

While Taobao is geared towards customers living within China, there are also a lot of people outside China who buy through it, me included. There are lots of Taobao purchasing agents who will buy on your behalf, receive the goods, check the goods, store them for as long as you want, and then ship out when you instruct them to do so, while reporting on the status along the way. The service cost is normally 10% of the cost of the goods (goods plus local shipping within China), and when you order them to ship, they tend to offer several shipping options at various price points. There are many Taobao agents, a Google search should bring up their names.

[Flounder]

I've ordered from Taobao through a purchasing agent, Mistertao.com. They were pretty great - even sent a photo of the pen in hand before posting it out to me.

[Flounder]

I've ordered from Taobao through a purchasing agent, Mistertao.com. They were pretty great - even sent a photo of the pen in hand before posting it out to me.

[whitedot]

Taobao is not a seller. It is a marketplace, a great online Chinese bizarre... ahem, bazaar. Service, therefore, isn't uniform. That said, I haven't run into any trouble yet. In fact, all the sellers with whom I dealt shipped on the same or next business day, packaged the goods very well, and promptly provided a tracking number. Pen sellers were very happy to chat about their wares.

[rochester21]

I've ordered from Taobao through a purchasing agent, Mistertao.com. They were pretty great - even sent a photo of the pen in hand before posting it out to me.

How did you do that? the site seems to have no connection to taobao, they sell their own products. Quite full of glitches as well.

[Flounder]

I saw what I wanted on Taobao, which is a marketplace as whitedot says. Copy and paste the link of the product you want from Taobao into the mistertao search bar. They buy it for you and ship it to you. They get a small commission for their trouble.

[rochester21]

Aha! Thank you.

[Jadie]

Luckily, I have friends who are experienced Tao Bao buyers. Occasionally I ask them to look out for pens----got my Duke there for $2.50 when it was selling somewhere else in the U.S. for $25. Awesomeness. ^___^

 

They also stock inks, though the Noodler's and Iroshizukus are much more expensive, so it's really not worth it.

[Gloucesterman]

Any chance of a link so I/we can check it out directly?

Thanks.

[Jadie]

Any chance of a link so I/we can check it out directly?

Thanks.

 

This is the main site, in Chinese: http://www.taobao.com/index_global.php

 

All prices are in Chinese yuan, so convert accordingly!

 

Well, here's a link to a search on "Noodler's":

http://s.taobao.com/search?q=noodler%27s&keyword=&commend=all&ssid=s5-e&search_type=item&atype=&tracelog=&sourceId=tb.index&rt=&source=haiwaigou&pid=&unid=

 

And one on Duke fountain pens:

http://s.taobao.com/search?q=duke+%B8%D6%B1%CA&keyword=&commend=all&ssid=s5-e&search_type=item&atype=&tracelog=&sourceId=tb.index&rt=&source=haiwaigou&pid=&unid=

 

 

And Montblancs (not sure if they're real or fakes...it's tricky like that, so I say stick to the cheaper brands and buy your MBs from somewhere else):

http://s.taobao.com/search?q=montblanc+%B8%D6%B1%CA&keyword=&commend=all&ssid=s5-e&search_type=item&atype=&tracelog=&sourceId=tb.index&rt=&source=haiwaigou&pid=&unid=

[Seele]

It is easier to visualize Taobao as like eBay, where all the vendors sell as BIN rather than auction.

 

For me I would only get Chinese-built products, preferably from the classic period, from Taobao. It would be costly to get imported products in China so it would make no sense at all in the hope of finding a bargain - and genuine - Montblanc or what-have-you. There again, I always find items of great interest for very little there, although I would still not be 100% confident buying inks...

 

It is also good to buy as many as possible from as few vendors as possible, as vendors always combine shipping, which cuts down on your bottomline expense.

[whitedot]

It is easier to visualize Taobao as like eBay, where all the vendors sell as BIN rather than auction.

 

For me I would only get Chinese-built products, preferably from the classic period, from Taobao. It would be costly to get imported products in China so it would make no sense at all in the hope of finding a bargain - and genuine - Montblanc or what-have-you. There again, I always find items of great interest for very little there, although I would still not be 100% confident buying inks...

 

It is also good to buy as many as possible from as few vendors as possible, as vendors always combine shipping, which cuts down on your bottomline expense.

 

Ditto.

 

I particularly enjoy hunting for older FPs by defunct makers.

[Johnasonlulu]

Hey guys,dont u know the english taobao site:www.buychina.com? u can have a check with this link:http://www.buychina.com/taobao-agent/duke/

its just the same as taobao. PS the price u see is including freight.

 

[HITY]

Dear friend ，

 

 

 

 

This is the main site, in Chinese: http://www.taobao.com/index_global.php

 

All prices are in Chinese yuan, so convert accordingly!

 

Well, here's a link to a search on "Noodler's":

http://s.taobao.com/search?q=noodler%27s&keyword=&commend=all&ssid=s5-e&search_type=item&atype=&tracelog=&sourceId=tb.index&rt=&source=haiwaigou&pid=&unid=

 

And one on Duke fountain pens:

http://s.taobao.com/search?q=duke+%B8%D6%B1%CA&keyword=&commend=all&ssid=s5-e&search_type=item&atype=&tracelog=&sourceId=tb.index&rt=&source=haiwaigou&pid=&unid=

 

 

And Montblancs (not sure if they're real or fakes...it's tricky like that, so I say stick to the cheaper brands and buy your MBs from somewhere else):

http://s.taobao.com/search?q=montblanc+%B8%D6%B1%CA&keyword=&commend=all&ssid=s5-e&search_type=item&atype=&tracelog=&sourceId=tb.index&rt=&source=haiwaigou&pid=&unid=

You can also purchase on http://www.aliexpress.com/wholesale?SearchText=duke+pen&catId=0&initiative_id=SB_20130927225144

[nase]

I've ordered from ugomark before. I did my search before finding an agent, and ugomark.com seemed to have a decent reputation. Customer service is really nice and they are really prompt on updating order status and replying to emails. Colin replies to emails really fast. Their shipping and service charges were reasonable.

Edited October 17, 2013 by nase

[eilly]

I have ordered many times from taobao agent Agreetao http://www.agreetao.com , trustable , I received many good quality goods.