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Does anyone know a good proxy service to buy goods listed on TaoBao (similar to Ebay, based in China)?
I'm interested in buying teaware but I thought some puerh drinkers might be likely to have tried this.
Thanks.

you mean a taobao agent ?

if so, I use taobaofocus (http://taobaofocus.com/). helpful, efficient, kind.
whatever agent you do business with, I recommend you read terms of use carefully, and be aware of limitation of liability due to their mission and their position as an intermediate. that said, terms should always be read, whomever we deal with.

I've used Taobaonow with good results. I bought a couple of yixing pots. Though I have heard good things about Taobao Focus and would probably use them next time.

puerhking wrote:I've used Taobaonow with good results. I bought a couple of yixing pots. Though I have heard good things about Taobao Focus and would probably use them next time.

Has it been worth the trouble? I mean using taobao outside of "regular" conventional methods like the more international websites

Yes, I guess I meant a Taobao agent. Thanks for much for the suggestions. Will check them out.

I have used TaoBao Focus twice with great results

iannon wrote:

puerhking wrote:I've used Taobaonow with good results. I bought a couple of yixing pots. Though I have heard good things about Taobao Focus and would probably use them next time.

Has it been worth the trouble? I mean using taobao outside of "regular" conventional methods like the more international websites

Actually it was kind of fun looking things up in Chinese....and then receiving them. I did it during Xmas last year so it took a bit longer. Other than that it was pretty easy.

You have to be very careful on Taobao though because there are a lot of dealers that show photos of authentic items, but what you get is totally different. There are also others that will take you money and simply not send you your item. That happened to my wife yesterday. There's not really much you can do if you get cheated. I often purchase items from Taobao, but never buy tea because I've had too many problems.

IPT wrote:You have to be very careful on Taobao though because there are a lot of dealers that show photos of authentic items, but what you get is totally different. There are also others that will take you money and simply not send you your item. That happened to my wife yesterday. There's not really much you can do if you get cheated. I often purchase items from Taobao, but never buy tea because I've had too many problems.

Buyers out of China are more susceptible to this kind of scams. But for people in China, I always recommend alipay (Chinese type of paypal) as payment method. What's great about it is, only if you get the item and approve it, the seller gets paid.
But overall just as you said, in taobao shopping, tea is more complicated than a lot of other things. When I was in China this past summer, I bought a lot of non-tea things from taobao. Some of them, I took one look and decided they were not as good as expected. And I returned them immediately paying a small postage, and got money back. But it's hard to do such quick judgment for tea. Besides, when it comes to puerh, inexpensive puerh is too heavy to justify its shipping cost, and expensive puerh can be very tricky.
As for tea ware on taobao, it's not only important to find a seller reputable for their quality, but also reputable for their packaging - the latter quality might be harder to find
But still, it would be nice if people who have purchase experience keep giving comments on certain sellers they dealt with. I remember a few were mentioned in the past.

gingkoseto wrote:

IPT wrote:You have to be very careful on Taobao though because there are a lot of dealers that show photos of authentic items, but what you get is totally different. There are also others that will take you money and simply not send you your item. That happened to my wife yesterday. There's not really much you can do if you get cheated. I often purchase items from Taobao, but never buy tea because I've had too many problems.

Buyers out of China are more susceptible to this kind of scams. But for people in China, I always recommend alipay (Chinese type of paypal) as payment method. What's great about it is, only if you get the item and approve it, the seller gets paid.
But overall just as you said, in taobao shopping, tea is more complicated than a lot of other things. When I was in China this past summer, I bought a lot of non-tea things from taobao. Some of them, I took one look and decided they were not as good as expected. And I returned them immediately paying a small postage, and got money back. But it's hard to do such quick judgment for tea. Besides, when it comes to puerh, inexpensive puerh is too heavy to justify its shipping cost, and expensive puerh can be very tricky.
As for tea ware on taobao, it's not only important to find a seller reputable for their quality, but also reputable for their packaging - the latter quality might be harder to find
But still, it would be nice if people who have purchase experience keep giving comments on certain sellers they dealt with. I remember a few were mentioned in the past.

Why would a seller agree to using AliPay? What if the buyer simply says they didn't get the goods?

kaminix wrote: Why would a seller agree to using AliPay? What if the buyer simply says they didn't get the goods?

When such a safer method is available, most buyers would prefer it and sellers have to take it. In China, most sellers and buyers prefer express mails with signature confirmation, which cost only about $2-3 for regular packages. So mail security is a minor problem. Besides, alipay does treat sellers much better than paypal or the national banks.

I use panli.com. I like their service more than anyone else's

Taobaonow has been a pain recently. They still seem to be charging an inflated exchange rate even though they're no longer mostly using Paypal, and their current credit card processor seems kind of shady (though they mentioned they are looking to change). Their responsiveness does seem to possibly have improved somewhat since the last time I used them.

Looks like Taobao Direct hasn't been working for a while, and Taobao Focus has suspended new orders til after the Spring Festival (Lunar New Year).

MarshalN wrote:I use panli.com. I like their service more than anyone else's

Looks like no English service though....

TokyoB wrote:

MarshalN wrote:I use panli.com. I like their service more than anyone else's

Looks like no English service though....

Indeed -- they're Chinese only, but I think because of that, they're more responsive than the other ones I've tried.