Many people have started shopping on Taobao, this China e-bay which practically sells everything you can think of. Things are really cheap and there's such a big variety!
I'm using Daigou65 for buying at Taobao. I have bought quite a few items from Taobao, mainly track and pendant lights. I have also bought a few Phillips downlights, but have decided to buy those from Singapore instead since it's fixed inside the false ceiling and I'm somewhat worried about potential quality issues. I've less concerns about pendant lights since they're essentially a piece of metal. I have also custom-made curtains from Taobao, they will sew based on measurements provided, and it's so much cheaper than doing it here. I have also bought Eames fibreglass chairs from Taobao. However, I have not received them.
For the pendant lights, I have received all of them in good condition. Things like Tom Dixon lights, Spinning lights are selling for like SGD$10-$30 each, but shipping is expensive for bigger items, like the big spinning light. Prices are still at least half-price as compared to Singapore. E.g. I heard Tom Dixon replicas are selling for 100++ each, but I got 3 of them for SGD$97 including shipping. My large spinning lights are retailing for 200+++ in Singapore, but I got it for SGD$129 all-in, mainly because of the expensive volumetric shipping fees. I also got track lights track. Everything came in good condition, except the spinning light which I found to be yellowish/cream in colour instead of pure white. Mr K is helping me paint it glossy white.
For me, I buy from Taobao with the mentality that it's really cheap, and even if it turns out bad, I wouldn't be heart pain. I was willing to take the risk and ain't that particular about quality. Moreover, the light shops import from China too!So I think that if you have similar mentality and isn't too bothered about quality and workmanship, the items are pretty decent and at least half-price (for the things I bought). I had fun searching for the chinese names of things I wanted to buy, surfing the endless products. Anyway, I was surfing in Chinese, so if you do not have a decent command of Chinese, this won't work!
A few tips for buying from Taobao:
(1) Find out the chinese name of the things you want to buy. Google translate helps.
(2) Surf the first, say 10 pages of the products. Many of them are similar, and there's a range of prices.
(3) Try to choose sellers with better ratings, just like buying from ebay.
(4) If possible, buy a few items from the same seller and request for them to pack them together to save shipping
(5) Confirm volumetric or actual weight before confirming the orders. Due to different packaging by different sellers, you can save quite abit e.g. same item, one seller might pack into 15kg volume box while the other packs it into 8kg volume box.
It helps if you have an idea of the prices of similar pieces here, and some items are more worth it and 'safe' to buy from Taobao than others. E.g. Phillips lights do not have much savings compared to Singapore pricing. But if you do not mind their China brands, they are very cheap, even LEDs. But that was one item which I wasn't comfortable with buying online as it's troublesome to change.
Will post pictures once my stuff are up!
I'm using Daigou65 for buying at Taobao. I have bought quite a few items from Taobao, mainly track and pendant lights. I have also bought a few Phillips downlights, but have decided to buy those from Singapore instead since it's fixed inside the false ceiling and I'm somewhat worried about potential quality issues. I've less concerns about pendant lights since they're essentially a piece of metal. I have also custom-made curtains from Taobao, they will sew based on measurements provided, and it's so much cheaper than doing it here. I have also bought Eames fibreglass chairs from Taobao. However, I have not received them.
For the pendant lights, I have received all of them in good condition. Things like Tom Dixon lights, Spinning lights are selling for like SGD$10-$30 each, but shipping is expensive for bigger items, like the big spinning light. Prices are still at least half-price as compared to Singapore. E.g. I heard Tom Dixon replicas are selling for 100++ each, but I got 3 of them for SGD$97 including shipping. My large spinning lights are retailing for 200+++ in Singapore, but I got it for SGD$129 all-in, mainly because of the expensive volumetric shipping fees. I also got track lights track. Everything came in good condition, except the spinning light which I found to be yellowish/cream in colour instead of pure white. Mr K is helping me paint it glossy white.
For me, I buy from Taobao with the mentality that it's really cheap, and even if it turns out bad, I wouldn't be heart pain. I was willing to take the risk and ain't that particular about quality. Moreover, the light shops import from China too!So I think that if you have similar mentality and isn't too bothered about quality and workmanship, the items are pretty decent and at least half-price (for the things I bought). I had fun searching for the chinese names of things I wanted to buy, surfing the endless products. Anyway, I was surfing in Chinese, so if you do not have a decent command of Chinese, this won't work!
A few tips for buying from Taobao:
(1) Find out the chinese name of the things you want to buy. Google translate helps.
(2) Surf the first, say 10 pages of the products. Many of them are similar, and there's a range of prices.
(3) Try to choose sellers with better ratings, just like buying from ebay.
(4) If possible, buy a few items from the same seller and request for them to pack them together to save shipping
(5) Confirm volumetric or actual weight before confirming the orders. Due to different packaging by different sellers, you can save quite abit e.g. same item, one seller might pack into 15kg volume box while the other packs it into 8kg volume box.
It helps if you have an idea of the prices of similar pieces here, and some items are more worth it and 'safe' to buy from Taobao than others. E.g. Phillips lights do not have much savings compared to Singapore pricing. But if you do not mind their China brands, they are very cheap, even LEDs. But that was one item which I wasn't comfortable with buying online as it's troublesome to change.
Will post pictures once my stuff are up!
How do you find out the volumetric weight? Do you contect the seller directly?
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