#JFashion101 - How to buy from Taobao? (Updated)

5 de febrero de 2021

Hi, Gals! So a few years ago I made a blog post about how to buy from Taobao in Spanish, so I thought it's maybe the time to do it in English because believe me, if you're not buying on Taobao, you're missing a lot of fun! Specially if you want to get discontinued designs from J-Fashion brands, mostly Himekaji, Agejo and Onee.


Taobao: https://world.taobao.com/


So... what is Taobao and how to register?


Taobao is a Chinese market place just like Aliexpress. The difference is that they don't sell to many countries (in the past they simply didn't ship abroad) and most cool stuff for J-Fashion is there. All replica stores, indie brands and more are there. And if you like manhua, you will find there most original stuff from artists. And same with independent makeup brands. Some stores have custome made options too and is mostly the paradise of over the top Lolita indie brands. Sadly there isn't that much for Gyaru, because Gyaru is not the most popular J-Style but there are definitely way more options than in Aliexpress or eBay.

Searching in Taobao is not the easiest, so the first thing you should do is to register, otherwise you won't be able to look around stores and your session will be checked as suspicious activity. But don't worry, it's not that hard to sign up. I recommend the following tutorial for that. I followed theses steps to create my account. And that's it. We're not going to buy directly from Taobao, but with a shopping service, so don't pay attention to the other steps on that guide. 

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How to find items on Taobao?


Just like in Aliexpress, you have the search bar. However in this case you will have to search in Chinese. But to be honest, I never do that. I already made a masterlist with a bunch of stores that could work for Gyaru, specially Himekaji, Agejo and Onee.


What I do is to look around those stores and check all the recomended items too. And with that it becomes an infinite loop of cool items I save on an excel, post-its or just my shooping service cart. 

Recomended items on the footer.

But if you want to search by your own I've added a tab with keywords for searching items and recognizing the measurements of each item on the same Gyaru Taobao Stores document. So that way it will be way easier for you to look around.

So let's say you're looking for a Liz Lisa one-piece. Then you have to write "背带裙" on the search bar and you'll find many items, from Liz Lisa replicas to similar style dresses. I recomend you to switch the web to English with the Google translate tool because you could also find super expensive items which could be resellers of authentic pieces. But Taobao is not really the place to buy original brand.


How to buy from Taobao? 


The first thing you need to do is to sign up on your favorite shopping service. There are plenty of them. I use Yoybuy for some years now and I haven't had much issues, however it's a bit expensive on the shipping because due to pandemic the only shipping available is the express one. But that depends on the country you're from. Here I share some options:

In my case I have Yoybuy and their services are divided in two: Buy for me and Ship for me. We're going to use the first one. There you'll find two options: My products (where you'll see listed all the items you bought) and My parcels (where you'll see listed all the parcels they have sent to you).

So let's begin on the home. You just have to paste the link of the item you want on the search bar.

Let's say I want to buy a ribbon from MA*RS (replica)

You click the magnifying glass and you will see all the details of the item you want to buy: Price, domestic shipping, quantity, color, sizes... All the options that are available for that item. If the item has more photos on Taobao, you'll see them all here too. So the next thing you have to do is choosing "Add to cart" and you're ready to buy that. image



You just have to go to the shopping cart and at the end of the page you will see "Proceed with the payment". And there you have two options: You can buy with the credit you have in the web (for example I have US$ 7 because some time ago they refunded me that from another order) or you can pay directly with your card or Paypal. And you're done. You bought the item. 


The next is to wait until the warehouse receives the order (around a week). Once that happen you'll receive an email and you will go to another checkout page. It will be the same as the previous one, but this time you will also see all the shipping methods available and the service/customs fee. I usually choose DHL or FedEx because they have more discounts when you buy a lot of things. Then you will have to pay again (you can choose an extra insurance too) and that's all. You just have to wait until your order arrives home.



It's on My Parcels where you will see the orders that are on the way to you and there you will find the tracking number too. You can save the number on your 17Track app to stay updated or you can click on the tracking number here on Youbuy and check the update from time to time.

Q&A 


What happen if the item I bought get out of stock? The shopping service will automatically refund the amount. However you'll get that money as credit on the web, not on your bank account.

image Where can I calculate the shipping in advance? They have a cost calculator page. I think it's important to consider that the price you pay for the shipping is automatized, which means it's an aprox. Sometimes the real price is a bit less so you will be refunded. Some times it's a bit more, so they'll send you an email to pay the difference.

image And the last thing to consider is that your address on the web should match the one on your Paypal account if that's your payment method. Because they will be synchronized.

And that's it. I really hope this guide was helpful and let me know if you have any other concern. Would you like me to do a guide in English for Mercari and Fril as well? image Good night! 


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REILA LESS

12 comentarios

  1. Thank you for this! I remember I used to buy from Taobao forever ago when I was a Lolita. I later forgot about it XD

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    1. OMG I didn't know you were into Lolita in the past! So cute. <3 I also learnt about Taobao because of Lolita friends. 🥰

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  2. Thanks for the tutorial!! It’s gonna help a lot!

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  3. Awww mil gracias Reila por hacer estas pedazo de guías tan completas... me resultará súper útil si un día caigo en la tentación de probar a comprar en Taobao ^^-

    ¡Un saludito! (´ ω `♡)

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    1. Siiii sobre todo para chucherías, es super adictivo. Encuentras un montón de cositas cuchi. ;; <3 Abracitos para ti también. ♡

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  4. Wow for years I always wanted to try buying from taobao! I'm definitely going to give it a try one day! Thank you so much for uploading!!

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    1. You're welcome cutie! ♡ I really like Taobao everything I can't find old-school stuff or I want to buy super cute accesories!

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  5. Thank you for this super helpful post! The shop masterlist is amazing. Just wanted to share one of my favorite stores to add to the list: https://bobon21.world.taobao.com/

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    1. Added! Bobon21 is one of my favorite stores too! ;A; I hope I can buy directly from they one day. Thank you so much!

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  6. Your guides are super useful as always, and thank you for sharing that master list again! Hope I can order there soon, for now I'll go cry in a corner LOL ♥

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    1. Let me know if you order something! I hope we can build that masterlist with even more Gyaru and Gyaru-friendly stores. <3

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