Taobao is like the Chinese version of eBay where various goods can be found for much lower prices. It has two main sections - Taobao for consumer to consumer sales with cheaper but less reliable sellers, and Tmall for business to consumer sales with official stores and higher but more secure prices. The document recommends using a buying agent who can help navigate Taobao, communicate with sellers, and handle combined shipping to make the process easier, especially for those with limited Chinese skills. It provides details on how to sign up and use the buying agent service Ezbuy, which purchases items on the user's behalf and ships them to warehouses in China before consolidating and shipping to Singapore.

1. GUIDE TO
TAOBAO J

2. Taobao is a wonderland. HAHAHAHA. It is basically like a Chinese eBay,
where you can find virtually anything for a fraction of the price. It can get
super addictive so if you want to save money, you may want to stop
reading here! Hohoho.
Taobao has 2 main sections: Taobao & Tmall:
INTRODUCTION: WHAT IS TAOBAO?
Taobao
Consumer-to-consumer
(C2C) model, so you usually
have cheaper items and
there will be less credible
sellers there too.
TMALL
Business-to-consumer (B2C) model,
so the stores are official business
with licenses. Hence usually item
prices are higher and the whole
transaction is more secure.

3. FindING an agent.
An agent is basically a representative who helps you order, collate and ship your items to
Singapore. It is not compulsory to find an agent, but I prefer to use one because: (1) Agents
help to complete the whole buying and shipping process for you easily, (2) Agents help to
liaise with the Taobao sellers if you need anything (if your Chinese is poor, this is extra
important), (3) Some sellers have rather complicated promotions (e.g. buy 3 get 1 free), an
agent will sort these things out for you and refund you the relevant amount where necessary.
Another good agent I know of (and used to use) is
Peeka.sg!
The agent I use is 65daigou, now known as ezbuy.

4. Signing up for an account is easy as pie!
Visit here: http://ezbuy.sg
Signing up on EZBUY

5. How EZBUY works: the whole process
1.
I find an item I really like on Taobao.
2.
I add it to my cart.
3.
When ready to check out, I will make payment
based on the amount stated on the site
4.
Ezbuy will purchase the item on my
behalf and the seller will proceed to
ship it to ezbuy’s warehouse (they
have one in Guangzhou and one in
Shanghai)
5.
The items arrive in the China
warehouse and I can decide whether
to ship them to Singapore as they
arrive or wait till all arrive in the China
warehouse and ship them together.
6.
Items arrive in Singapore and I
collect them!

6. TIME TO
SEARCH!