How do i use taobao

>>6456442
You should post the item. There are plenty of knockoffs on taobao. If it's a licensed product and it's unusually cheap, knock off but sometimes chinese toy stores have unsold stock of some rare stuff that goes for under NA or JP aftermarket prices. Pictures are rarely honest, I wouldn't trust them.

If you want to order from taobao you need a middle man, which can get expensive but I've never lost a package in the mail since China's EMS seems as good as Japan's.

Keep in mind that even if it isn't a bootleg, there are factory rejects or store returned copies.

Also shipping from China is actually pricey, more than from Japan.

>>6456448
When you say 'need a middleman', do you mean like, someone to read all the text?
I'm hesitant to post it, would hate to let the cat out and then gets bought by someone else

Here's some things though
eBay averages this fig $60-80 loose, anywhere from $100-160 MISB
Taobao's listing has (looks like two in stock), 48 bucks CAD

Also potential red flag, the images on the listing all have the same watermark bottom right side, but it's clear the watermark was crudely covered up
I don't know if they just are re-using someone else's photos or what

For the price I'm considering doing it anyways, was asking about the site's customer service in case I have to follow up with anything
'This is a knockoff'
'Package never arrived, want money back'
Etc

>>6456555
Not him, but middleman as in somebody to buy it for you and ship it to their address.
>I don't know if they just are re-using someone else's photos or what
very common on Taobao.

I use Taobao a lot, and I'll definitely tell you you can get screwed over. There are also cases of the store not actually having the item in stock.

>>6456555
Taobao has official forwarders for some countries now and the process is much simplified if you're in these countries(Canada is). However, if you do not speak the language I highly recommend finding a middle service or some chinese guy to help you. There are just many intricacies about buying/shipping/consolidating/paying/complaining that you may be fucked over if you can't speak the language. There are also some online step-by-step picture guides on how to do this blind, I wouldn't recommend it for anything high-risk/expensive.

>>6456540
>>6456448
For things that's officially sold there, like current Titan Returns toys, it's usually safe even if they use stock images. Just make sure they have high ratings and more than 3 units sold.

Even if they are official, they will most likely be domestic China stock (aka "3C" packaging). These are usually exactly same but some domestic runs of toys like CW Legends Shockwave was known to have poor quality.

As for bootlegs, it's actually *safer* to search specifically for bootlegs since there are listings that explicitly tell you that they ARE selling bootlegs.

You may see some listings that are like 50 rmb or some ridiculously low price. These are usually preorder deposits, just skip them.

So I checked out taobaoage(.com I think it was) earlier, looks like they buy the item you want, store it in their warehouse, then ship to you
They also accept Paypal, which is nice

Anyone used this middleman site?

>>6460267
Never uses them but all middlemen will consolidate immediate orders, that is store them and ship them together. I uses taobaoring, they were okay, once misquoted the shipping though which can be suspicious but the price did seem low. Anyway, tread carefully, some middlemen will quote false weights and shipping prices and take the difference for themselves. Personally I wouldn't buy from the Chinese unless only they carried what you want, as in you just can't find it anywhere else.

File: MODEL-FANS-IN-STOCK-22cm-Pocket-Monster-Dragonite-GK-resin-made-toy-figure-for-Collection.jpg (74KB, 728x546px) Image search: [Google]

74KB, 728x546px

>>6456442
It depends on what you want to get. Are you getting cheap knockoffs? Are you getting unlicensed high quality collector toys? Are you buying in bulk for whatever reason for resale?

Taobao just started a worldwide shipping service. You have to do world.taobao.com/item/... rather than the regular taobao.com/item/... link. However their whole menu and website is still in chinese and you have to navigate the menu, pay your stuff, and deal with customer service/seller fully in chinese, there is absolutely no support whatsoever.

Another thing you can do is use a forwarding service. These people charges service fees and will forward the item to you. Some of these forwarding service have deals with EMS shipping up to 50% discount, so for bigger item it might be worthwile to take the service fees and ship your item via EMS with a forwarding service rather than dealing with 100% chinese bullshit in world.taobao

There are couple of forwarding service with varying degree of support. The service fees usually scales with the amount of support you get. For beginner, 1st time buyer I'd recommend taobaoring. They have US based office, full english email support, 45% discount on EMS shipping, 8% service charge and accept Paypal. I've bought several high end collector unlicensed Pokemon statues like pic related so all these extra service are worth it. I can even have them scour through taobao for me in case there is any better deal.

You can go further and further down the line with forwarding service on reduced service fees, but it gets sketchier and sketchier as you go further. Like a lot of the forwarding service doesn't accept Paypal, so you have to do bank transfer, or moneygram/Western Union transfer to a sketchy chinese bank account. The smaller the forwarding service is, the less shipping discount they'll have.

>>6456540
>Keep in mind that even if it isn't a bootleg
good one

Use engtaobao.com for English service. You just copy and paste the Chinese page you want to check out on the English site and it translates and helps you complete purchases. I've used them two or three times, only once did I need customer service to step in. I got a WCF of One Piece's Kaku in his giraffe form from them for like $5 plus shipping, but the first, while perfectly painted, was defective because it had a wonky leg (looked like it might've had two right leg pieces) and couldn't stand properly. They had me keep it and got the seller to send me another. I was even able to sell the defective one on eBay for the full cost of buying one from Taobao in the first place.

>>6456442
>>>/cgl/ always has a taobao thread up with guides to shopping and shopping services/forwarding services etc. Would suggest you have look there.