How to shop Taobao?

Does the idea of getting quality tops at $5 and bags at $10 entice you? Check out my video below so you can judge for yourself the quality of products I recently purchased from Taobao. (This sounds like those cheesy TV ads selling magical kitchen equipments lol)

A little background for people who aren't familiar with Taobao. It is basically a massive online shopping website based in China. There're many shops selling clothes, shoes, and even household items like sheets or curtains. The prices are really competitive which's why I'm so attracted to the site such that I shop there more than necessary. Even developed a tendency to stop myself from shopping locally because I know I can definitely find something similar on Taobao for a quarter of the price. A challenge most people face is the language barrier. The entire site is in Chinese which means people who don't know the language are pretty much excluded from this awesomeness, and there's only so much Google Translate can do.

I was approached by a Taobao agent, Yoybuy.com, to get to know more about their established website. Please note that I was not paid to write this nor did I benefit in any way by talking about Yoybuy here. All opinions are my own excluding the background information of the site which's provided by them.

The only reason why I'm sharing it is because I'm hoping this would be of help to those who don't understand Chinese and are looking for a reliable agent which they can trust to help them with shopping on Taobao. Good things should be shared! I did talk a little about Yoybuy in my video so I'm just going to add on some other information I feel is important.

Yoybuy.com makes the Taobao shopping experience extremely easy and fuss-free. A few examples:

• Service fee is fixed at 10% of item price + China domestic shipping
• Attention: Certain sites may state that they charge lesser for service fee but because they calculate it based on the product's entire price including international shipping, it is actually more expensive!
• Products on Taobao are already on-site, and sorted by categories in English
• Besides searching for items on Yoybuy itself, you can also paste a Taobao product URL to the search form to access and purchase it
• Yoybuy provides reliable shipping methods e.g. DHL, EMS, Aramex

Another thing I am going to emphasize on is the level of customer service. If you've been reading this space long enough, you'll already know horrid CS is a major pet peeve of mine. As I've worked in retail for quite a bit and did really well at it, I expect the same of staff in CS out there. It's called customer service for a reason right?! So anyway, I am so glad that Yoybuy promises efficient CS.

• Emails to their customer service department (service@yoybuy.com) usually get answered the same day within 24hrs
• Live chat during Beijing business hours from 0930-2000 for urgent enquiries
• Yoybuy's Facebook pages (in English, Spanish, and French of course) as well as their VK.com page (Russian) introduce new Taobao products and updates on information about Yoybuy

Based on all the information provided, I would give Yoybuy.com a try should I want a speedy Taobao experience without having to slowly read descriptions in Chinese. Should you require any form of assistance, I'm sure the ever-ready team at Yoybuy would be glad to help you too.

A huge thank you to everyone who has dropped me an email asking how to shop at Taobao (you inspired this blog post!) and I hope I have provided enough information for y'all here.

Happy Hari Raya Haji to my Muslim friends and have a lovely day everyone!