Banana 香蕉 In China: Online Shopping In China: Taobao

Brief Introduction:
Taobao 涛宝; which literally means Big Wave Gem/Treasure is a C2C and B2C auction/retail based web market based in China. Taobao was first founded in 2003 and is under the Alibaba group, a B2B wholesale supplier. Taobao is often refered to as Chinese Ebay (note there is an Ebay based in China) since the two sites act as a portal between buyers and sellers. However, similarities end there as several features that distinguishes the two:

Taobao

Ebay Based in Hong kong
Ebay Based in China

1) Line of Communication
This is probably by far the biggest difference between Taobao and Ebay,
On Ebay, you have to chat through email while on Taobao you can talk to the supplier immediately through an InstantMessaging system called Wang Wang (its a cute little drop, this assuming they are online)

Start Chatting here!

I amzzz Chit Chatzing with Dahh Dealerszz

2) Payment system:
Ebay relies on bank transfers, credit card or PayPal.
Taobao: Taobao uses an escrow based payment meaning a third party (AliPay) withholds the money until the 2 parties have successfully completed the transaction. This is one of the reasons why I feel more secure with Taobao, as Taobao will not release funds to the supplier until you have confirmed the receipt of the goods and that you are happy with the quality of the good. Not too sure about Ebay though.

3) Selling Method Retail vs Marketplace?:
From what I understand: Ebay mostly deals with 2nd hand goods or a bidding system. Taobao does most of its stuff on retail price basis as you are in contact with a B not a C most of the time (Biz and Consumer).
(it should be noted that taobao does have an auction system and ebay has a retail price system. The findings above are based on my initial perception; Ebay quotes time remaining before end of auction while taobao normally doesn't unless you ask the site for auction based products.)

Buying stuff on Taobao
Enough of the boring bits, I'm sure you are curious as to how I manage to buy stuff on a site that is littered with Chinese characters everywhere! Yes I can read a little, but with my reading ability, its going to take more than 1 hour to finish read the first page.
Lucky for me, there is this invention called Google Toolbar!
With this awesome software, I can turn this

into this!! ZomG! its like discovering GOLD!

Anyhow lets get down to business:

First things first, you have got to register before you can go chat with the dealers on the Wang Wang, click on the circle to get yourself registered (this guide got me all started, Very handy)

REMEMBER RULE No 1 GOOGLE IS YOUR FRIEND

Email or Handphone? Better to use email since there will be less requirements

ZOMG!! A bunch of Chinese words!!
REMEMBER RULE NO 1

Ahhh its so pleasant to see English

Once Registered you have to tie your bank account to your Taobao Account. But first you have got to activate your Bank E-Pay facility!

Go to your Bank Website Click on E-Pay and follow the instructions given by the bank and you'll soon be able to start buying stuff on Taobao (no screenshots cause even a monkey can do it)

Once E-Pay has been activated, Go to your Taobao Account and link up the two! I can't help you here since I forgot to screen shot the process but Remember GOOGLE IS........

Alternatively, if this is too long and complicated, you could do it the Post Office Way! No Need for bank accounts and all that complications! Just march to the post office and pay an amount you would like to have in your account and Your Set to Go! (keep in mind that you have to fill some boring forms and shit, which could be a challenge to Chinese Dummies)

Now that has been settled, Fill in all the boring details like handphone number, Address, Name, Remember Rule no 1 and how even monkies can do it

Once you have done all that, you are ready to start rocking!

Finding Producting and Buying

Find Desired Treasure!
Screen out Treasures by Setting filters such as 7 Day No Reason Return Policy (an icon with 7 on it), Accurate description (hands cusping a Yellow Bag), and set a price range to weed out those originals or extravagantly priced stuff.
Once you have done that, look at the cities; You want to judge its proximity to your city since the closer it is, the faster you can inspect the stuff, the quicker you can return it if necessary.
For Shanghai guys, You normally want to look for stuff from HangZhou 杭州; because it can easily come the next day, latest 2 days, any later and your seller is playing tricks on you. Another place where stuff comes from is in GuangZhou 广州. I'm Guessing its because Shenzhen is there and alot of shit gets made in ShenZhen.
Stumped and not sure where to start? I normally go to "What's Hot", or I type Korean (韩) and a whole bunch of recommendations from Shoes to Jackets to Jeans all appear

Screen the Supplier, remmeber look for those with a success rate of 95% and above and high transaction volumes (Recommended 500) and Read Evaluations!! The hierarchy is Hearts-> Jewels-> Crowns the more the better!!

Crown

Remember to talk to the WangWang dealer!
Ask for discounts!! if not on product price ask for shipping discount, if product is available, if your color is available, any damn thing you can think of.

Its important to ask if stock is available cause these guys don't update their stock count and it could be sold out with your money locked in! (though fear not your money will eventually be refunded to you)

COMMUNICATION is vital! TALK TO THE DEALER, It's a good way to practice mandarin!
Do not worry if your mandarin is screwed up cause at worst you can just ignore the person! I cannot count the number of times someone said Huuh? Sorry I No understand...... (你所什么意思???)

Always check for pictures or measurements before buying

BUY IT NOW or dump it in the cart

Follow the screenshots steps one by one and you'll be cruising all the way to the SUCCESS SCREEN!

Once you have decided what to Purchase, You have to choose the bank of choice

Login to your bank account

Choose your account

Enter Your E-Token (I was raging so hard the first time because I was typing my password instead and the system kept saying i'm typing it all wrong =,=")

SUCCESS!!成功！！
Good suppliers will often deliver within the day or latest the next day, You can keep tabs on this by looking at your list of goods interface.

Sit back Relax and wait for the Goodies to arrive. If you notice that the seller has not shipped by the next day, be sure to click on his wang wang and ask him why he hasn't shipped out yet!! BE DEMANDING BE CHINESE!!

About 1-3 days later, A random number will contact you and introduce himself as KuaiDi,

If you aren't at home, try telling him to come back at a specified time, it is his job to get the package into your hands!! Or you could go to the KuaiDi Place itself to pick it up, though why the effort? This will probably be the toughest part of the whole process, as the kuaidi guys could have some difficulty communicating with you. Be sure to have an answer read incase they call you while you are out. It also helps if you take down their number, and text them when you are expecting stuff