Assuming that you purchase several items at once, are all the items delivered to your doorstep as a whole package or is it individual?

Has anyone requested it to be sent to your office?

Does anyone have bad experiences when purchasing clothing or is it just a luck thing?

Remember most times you buy from individual sellers or small shops, taobao is just the website that has the ads. I mean its not coming out of the 'taobao warehouse'. So if you buy a lot of stuff from one seller you should be able to get it as a whole package, but always check.

I rarely use taobao, but I know all Chinese colleagues (mostly female) in my office shop on taobao all day long and have their stuff delivered here as well, since they are not home during the day to receive it.

Ask any Chinese colleague in your office to help you out, they will know what to do. I usually give cash to my colleague and let them buy it and delivered to my desk.

Hi! What happens if you buy from different sellers? Are there additional fees?

Not that I know of...

you only pay for the product and the delivery fee (which is dirt cheap)

If you pay from different sellers you just pay the delivery fees seperately, but I never paid more than 7 RMB for delivery so thats nothing to worry about.

No additional fees as far as I know

Errr... do your employees buy a lot of stuff like big books and jackets that kind of thing?

They buy everything.

But 90% of it is clothing, dresses, bags, clothes clothes clothes...................

Everything is wrapped up as normal packages, so no one will really see the difference. Plus, this is China. Nobody thinks its awkward anymore... at least in here....

There are plenty of sellers in Taobao.
1. If you buy different products from same seller, then of course you will get the stuffs in one package at the same time. Delivery cost will be depends on the weights, basic weights ( below 500gr/1kg ), charges from Jiangsu/Zhejiang to Shanghai around RMB 6/7, heavier than that you have to add usually RMB 2/kilo ( not sure, check with them ).
2. If you buy different products from different sellers, of course you have to pay different courier fees, they are sent out from different places.
3. I bought books, children stuffs ( strollers, bike, pampers, clothings, feeding chair, toys, playing mat, tables ), clothings ( some are good some are sucks ), small electronics ( don't dare to buy expensinve one ),
oh fake Iphone too ( but it sucks ). Sometimes the package can be as heavy as 10kgs ( children playing gates ), bags , kitchen stuffs.
4. So far I feel Taobao is quiet reliable but you must do some research too before you decide on which seller. I had bad experience too but i still can vote them with black mark ( the black flower ). Once I did that and put some detailed complaints, they called me and begged me to change it and offered some discounts. However not every seller does that, if the mistakes or problems are from your side then you can't claim for it. Like local people say 一分钱一分货， you get what you pay. You choose on cheap stuffs then you get cheap quality.

What is the diff between: 平邮: 15.0元　快递: 5.0元　EMS: 20.0元
平邮 means normal postage right? Then why is it more expensive than 快递(quick postage)?
What is EMS?

lilstar wrote:There are plenty of sellers in Taobao.
1. If you buy different products from same seller, then of course you will get the stuffs in one package at the same time. Delivery cost will be depends on the weights, basic weights ( below 500gr/1kg ), charges from Jiangsu/Zhejiang to Shanghai around RMB 6/7, heavier than that you have to add usually RMB 2/kilo ( not sure, check with them ).
2. If you buy different products from different sellers, of course you have to pay different courier fees, they are sent out from different places.
3. I bought books, children stuffs ( strollers, bike, pampers, clothings, feeding chair, toys, playing mat, tables ), clothings ( some are good some are sucks ), small electronics ( don't dare to buy expensinve one ),
oh fake Iphone too ( but it sucks ). Sometimes the package can be as heavy as 10kgs ( children playing gates ), bags , kitchen stuffs.
4. So far I feel Taobao is quiet reliable but you must do some research too before you decide on which seller. I had bad experience too but i still can vote them with black mark ( the black flower ). Once I did that and put some detailed complaints, they called me and begged me to change it and offered some discounts. However not every seller does that, if the mistakes or problems are from your side then you can't claim for it. Like local people say 一分钱一分货， you get what you pay. You choose on cheap stuffs then you get cheap quality.

so if I purchase from different sellers the courier fees will be calculated separately while if I buy from the same seller the courier fee will be more or less the same?

My other half lives on that site, i know her orders come in at her office!

hitmen wrote:
so if I purchase from different sellers the courier fees will be calculated separately while if I buy from the same seller the courier fee will be more or less the same?

Yes, try to get one of your Chinese friends or colleagues to contact the seller and just tell them it can be send as one package. It might be a bit more expensive since the weight will increase. But we are talking about a handful of RMB...

hitmen wrote:What is the diff between: 平邮: 15.0元　快递: 5.0元　EMS: 20.0元
平邮 means normal postage right? Then why is it more expensive than 快递(quick postage)?
What is EMS?

15 RMB is the cost if the seller goes to the post office to deliver the package. 5 RMB is if the mail man comes to the person's door. 20 RMB is if the package needs to be sent to a remote village or far away city in China. Most people prefer to just do the 5 RMB mailing.

This is all per my girlfriend who is a TaoBao shopaholic.

平邮: 15.0元　Postal mail
快递: 5.0元　Express company (such as Shunfeng etc.)
EMS: 20.0元 Well, EMS as you know it...

I dont get it. If the mailman comes to the door instead of his post office, it should be cheaper not more expensive. I dont get it. But either away I choose the cheapest.

Typically how long does it take?

hitmen wrote:I dont get it. it should be cheaper not more expensive. I dont get it.

Welcome to China my friend!
I've also wondered every time why a personal courier to your doorstep only costs 5 and something else would be more expensive... I just stopped wondering because nothing here make sense...

The time it takes depends a bit on the seller himself, and what time of day you buy it. But it should be able to be delivered to you the next day, if you buy it later in the day he might not be able to send it to you or call a kuaidi. So it might be 2 days later..

A lot of these people want to get good reviews so they give pretty good service.

My stuff is always here the next day

Either next day or even same day if seller is in Shanghai. Often the seller is in another city so that will take a day or so. Every seller states his location so if you want something quickly you can choose only sellers in Shanghai. I ordered a Mah Jong set once and it had to come from Guangdong province.

TIC wrote:

hitmen wrote:I dont get it. it should be cheaper not more expensive. I dont get it.

Welcome to China my friend!
I've also wondered every time why a personal courier to your doorstep only costs 5 and something else would be more expensive... I just stopped wondering because nothing here make sense...

Too true...I questioned by girlfriend about 5 times to ensure that this was correct. They pay you for your added convenience?

I guess it is considered safer if you take it to the post office yourself. Also, for foreigners, it's a bit hard to call up the mailman for this pick-up service (unless you know someone who speaks Mandarin).

chingiskhan wrote:...if you want something quickly you can choose only sellers in Shanghai.

2 cents worth: "drop-shipping coming to China" , so when we talking about customer electronics - check with seller first

Ok so do you use Alipay 支付宝to pay or do you use your personal bank account?

hitmen wrote:Ok so do you use Alipay 支付宝to pay or do you use your personal bank account?

Do your Ok mean thanks ? With some reasons we only use direct bank transfers.

I am too lazy to set up my Chinese online banking, and I dont trust any Chinese money websites (no reason for that actually).

For easyiness I ususally just give the money to a colleague and let them order it

Yeah but u cant bother your colleagues long term

post mail is more expensive because you have to go to the post office by yourself and give the mailman the package. time is money! and post office is state owned!

^Actually, most of parcels maybe shipped for 10 rmb or so (check difference shipping companies), and usually, sellers ship for free with order over 100rmb. Just fyi.

hitmen wrote:Yeah but u cant bother your colleagues long term

Even more reason to get a Chinese girlfriend...