So you want to buy from Taobao, China’s online mega-wonderland where you can get practically anything and everything at cheap prices. But it’s tricky to shop on Taobao, and you need more than just a knowledge of Chinese (or Google Translate) to be able to shop on TB. Sometimes you have to liaise directly with sellers before purchasing; other times, figuring out shipping direct from Taobao can be a nightmare for noobs. So how?

There are three ways. Buy on Lazada’s Taobao section, though its selection is somewhat limited. You could also beg a TB-savvy friend to shop for you. Or, pay a Taobao agent to help you buy direct and ship it to Singapore — hassle-free. That was what we did.

You may hear terms such as Taobao agents and third-party freight forwarders used interchangeably, but they’re different. Taobao agents act as the middleman between you and sellers, helping you to purchase, consolidate and ship items here. Third-party freight forwarders only help you ship from China to Singapore — you have to buy on Taobao and arrange domestic shipping in China yourself. Agents and freight forwarders are not affiliated to Taobao.

What does a Taobao agent do?
They help you purchase, consolidate and ship to Singapore. They also liaise with Taobao sellers in China if need be, for example, if something is out of stock or there’s something you need to customise. Some also check the quality of the items once they arrive at their warehouse in China, and consolidate purchases if you’re buying from several sellers and ship them all to Singapore in the most cost-efficient way.

One thing to note: these are not sourcing services, so you need to have the URLs of the products you want. Can’t read Chinese? Take a screenshot of the product you want to buy and use the image search function on Taobao to do a preliminary search, which should generate more than enough options. Still can’t find what you’re looking for? Copy and paste the product title and do a text search. Depending on what you purchase, you may need to know a teeny bit of Chinese, so have a friend at the ready to help.

We recently tried the services of two Taobao agents — Oops.sg and ezshop (under ezbuy) — to purchase home décor items from Taobao.

Here’s an 8Days.sg review of Oops.sg and ezshop's services.

Oops.sg’s Assisted Purchase service helps you purchase products from Taobao, consolidate them in China and ship them over.

How to use Oops.sg’s Assisted Purchase service:
Step 1: Get the Taobao URL of the products you want to buy by copying the link on the listing (highlighted in light grey below).

Step 2: Create an account on www.Oops.sg.
Step 3: Click on the ‘Assisted Purchase’ tab, and click on ‘Add Product’.
Step 4: Enter product URL and product description. It helps to have the actual Taobao page open on another tab so you can just copy and paste the relevant fields. Repeat these steps if you’re buying more than one item.

Step 5: Once you’re ready, pay for items. At this point, only domestic shipping in China to Oops.sg’s warehouse is included. You will have to make a second payment later on for international shipping from China to Singapore, among other charges.
Step 6: Wait for the agent to purchase the order for you. You can track the progress of your order on their website. However, note that Oops.sg will not notify you when the order moves, so the onus is on you to log in to your account constantly to check the status, however often that may be. For us, we did it daily.
Step 7: If you see new entries in your ‘Incoming’ inbox under your Oops.sg account, contact the customer service via their live chat service or on WhatsApp to let them know.
Step 8: Once you’ve seen on your account that all your packages have arrived at Oops.sg’s warehouse in China, select what you want to ship and click on ‘Start shipping'. This informs Oops agents to consolidate and ship them to Singapore. At this point, Oops.sg will let you know how much your second payment is. This includes shipping from China to Singapore, GST (if applicable) as well as agent’s fees.
Step 9: Pay the outstanding amount and sit back and wait for your items to be delivered to your home.

Delivery charges and timeframe:
By air: For orders below 11kg, CNY 37 (S$7.60) for first 0.5kg and CNY 15.50 ($3.18) for subsequent 0.5kg. For orders above 11kg, CNY30/kg. Shipping by air takes about five to seven working days.
By sea: From CNY 65 (S$13.34) per 0.1 cubic metre (cbm) for orders amounting to 1cbm and above. Shipping by sea takes 10 to 14 days.
Agent’s service fees: S$1 per kg for air freight; S$5 per 1cbm for sea freight. This is on top of shipping charges.

Oops.sg Assisted Purchase: A review

As a gauge, we ordered four large outdoor mats and about five diatomite bath mats, and shipped them via sea shipping.

For our items totaling 14.53kg in weight, our second shipping payment came up to approximately $40, which included CNY 126.50 ($25.98) for sea shipping, agent’s service fees of $5, and $9.31 in GST.

We placed our order with Oops.sg on Oct 28. The items, which came from four Taobao sellers, reached Oops.sg’s warehouse between Nov 2 and 7, and we made our request to ship the items to Singapore on Nov 9. Items took exactly two weeks to arrive at our doorstep on Nov 23.

Despite its moniker which doesn’t exactly inspire confidence, Oops.sg successfully delivered our items in good condition. Bonus, they have an office in Singapore and you can communicate with customer service in English. They’re also quick to respond either via live chat function on website or via WhatsApp.

The downside: It’s not for those who are looking for a fuss-free process of buying then kicking back to wait for items to arrive. You have to constantly remember to log in to check on the order status (we checked daily). First timers who may not be familiar with the process will also find themselves having to contact customer service quite often as it can get rather confusing the first time.

While you may be able to shop directly for items on ezbuy, there are specific things from Taobao that may not be on ezbuy’s selection. In these instances, use ezShop, ezbuy’s ‘buy for you’ option. Note that ezShop is not the same as its ezShip service, a freight forwarding service.

How to use ezbuy’s ezShop service:
Step 1: Get the Taobao URL of the products you want.
Step 2: Enter URL into ezbuy’s search bar. The item listing will show up in English. Add to cart.

Step 3: Check out, select preferred shipping method and pay. This is payment for the item and only domestic shipping within China. You’ll only pay for international shipping once the item arrives at ezshop’s warehouse in China.
Step 4: Sit back and wait for the Taobao agent to purchase and process the order. No need to log in to check on the status every day — if there are any issues that arise (for example, a certain colour is out of stock) ezshop will send you a message to alert you.
Step 5: Once the items have arrived at ezshop’s warehouse in China, ezShop agents will inspect and repack the goods to prepare to ship to Singapore. At this point, they'll also inform you how much your second shipping payment is.
Step 6: Pay, and sit back and wait for items to be delivered to your doorstep.

Delivery charges and timeframe:
By air: From $1.99/500g for Economy air.
By sea: From $0.70/500g for parcels up to 30kg, $40 flat for parcels amounting from 30 to 80kg (0.5cbm), and $80 flat for parcels amounting from 80 to 160kg. For items 160kg and above, it’s $0.80/cbm.

Ezbuy also charges a $5 delivery fee to ship items to your doorstep within Singapore.

ezShop service: A review
We ordered a large framed canvas artwork, a few display vases, faux plants and rattan hangers, and opted for sea shipping.

For our items totaling 21kg in weight, our second shipping bill came up to about $57, including $25 international shipping fee, $5 delivery fees, service fees of $15.47 and $11.78 for GST.

We placed our order on ezshop on Nov 1, and items were shipped out from China on Nov 6 and reached us about three weeks later on Dec 1.

While agent's fees were higher and delivery took longer than Oops.sg, the ezshop experience was largely hassle-free from the moment we added to cart — just buy and wait. There was no need to chase them up, and ezShop will contact you if you if anything crops up. In our case, we were alerted to a wrong item that was delivered to their warehouse in China, and it was quickly rectified by the agents.

Bottomline: For those who want a hassle-free shopping experience and don’t mind paying slightly more in shipping and agent's fees, ezShop is the way to go. However, if you’re buying bulkier items, Oops.sg may be the more viable and economical option.

Photos: Jasmine Teo, screenshots, justynafaliszek via Pixabay