Printable View
I have a 2008 xf200 and am looking to buy parts and tools for my bike. I noticed that there are a bunch of readily available (and very inexpensive!) parts on taobao.com for the qingqi gm200. (which is pretty much the same bike besides the graphic and the name.) I was curious to see if anyone in north America has ever bought anything on taobao.com (which is the Chinese equivalent of eBay) and if so, what has been your experience and how were shipping prices?
Dear ulikedat,
Please give advanced search a try, and search for taobaofocus. You'll find posts about a company that takes your orders in English, fulfills them through taobao, and ships them to you anywhere in the world. There are folks in MCM who have used it, and have reported their experiences. taobaofocus is one of several taobao fulfillers. I don't remember the names of others.
good luck and let us know how you get on.
cheers
+1Quote:
Originally Posted by euphonius
As Euphonius wrote there are other companies that provide the same service as Taobao focus, so search around the WWW as well as the search engine here on MCM. Basically all the taobao focus type companies charge a percentage of the purchase price (though there are minimum purchase amounts etc., or a flat fee applies). You do need to be mindful and exercise some caution with return policies and so forth, and be aware that not all things on taobao are available, real or are what the pictures might indicate to a greater or lesser degree. Sometimes, you might be the one who has to take and accept the risk when buying from SOME taobao sellers, if what you think you are buying doesn't turn out to be as some pictures might appear to be.
A agree with what's already been said, here's my view.
I've bought and sold thousands of RMB of mountain bike parts and a few hundred in motorcycle parts and other kitchen utensils etc. I have a Chinese friend who is a Taobao buyer and seller and understands motorcycles and mountain bikes.
You could learn to do everything yourself but you'd likely...
1. Need to understand Chinese....fully.
2. Need to start a Taobao bank account.
3. Go through a learning curve before you figure out which sellers are worth dealing with.
A few points, on Taobao you are protected from buying the wrong or damaged products. However as soon as a product has been used it's usually not possible to get a refund. Also there is no warranty unless you can get one through the manufacturer directly.
It was a lifeline recently when I needed a carburetor to air filter pipe for my bike, impossible to order from any local bike shop. :thumbsup:
thank you all for the info. i really appreciate it.
OK, there is Taobao, but are there any other Chinese online stores of confidence, with spare parts, tools and other things for motorcycles, with websites in bearable English and worldwide shipping?
Just posting this here since Taobao comes up in the search...
Be careful with Taobao.com came across a scam with a real motorcycle dealer who has been a seller on Taobao since 2008, but just opened a motorcycle shop several months ago (he had a blue diamond too). Negotiated a deal on a (legal) brand new motorcycle for a substantial amount of money (RMB) I'm not talking a 125cc or 250cc bike either.
Everything progressed well, until trying to organise the payment. Because of the sum involved we couldn't use a Chinese issued credit card because the dealer didn't want to have to pay the transaction fee. I offered to reimburse for this (e.g add to the price). With the price we had to go to the bank, to make some amendments to the Alipay linked bank account. Done. Then when I wanted to put the money into Alipay the dealer directed us to www.me.alipay.com - seemed odd.
Checked the site, looked convincing, but something didn't add up. Made calls to both Taobao and Alipay (wangwang) and sure enough me.Alipay is not Alipay, while it does have an affiliation with Alipay (wangwang) it is not the escrow service meaning monies paid into the me.Alipay account go directly into whatever linked account the seller has nominated. So no guarantees.
In this case, the dealer had a Alipay account too, but wanted the funds placed into this other me.Alipay account. When challenged the dealer just said, he needed the funds into the me.alipay account otherwise he couldn't issue the correct tax invoice needed to get the licence plate. BS!
Seems there is a copy of Alipay called "me.Alipay" which looks just like Alipay, but turns out is affiliated. Me.alipay.com is not an escrow type service, meaning funds placed into an me.Alipay.com account go directly into a sellers nominated bank account!!! Once that happens you can't get funds back if there's any dispute between Taobao seller and buyer. The me.Alipay service was put together by Alipay as a direct payment service after the Sichuan earthquake as a means to assist with and handle direct donation appeals, and has been used for other fund-raising efforts since. Seems as though some Taobao sellers have identified this as a means by which to get funds paid directly into their own or a nominated bank account, and once that happens there's no way to get paid monies back.
After a complaint which both Alipay and Taobao are investigating at the moment, the 'dealers' Taobao shop front have been removed from Taobao, although the dealer is still linked with Taobao. Just cannot see any of his bikes or anything he's selling or trying to sell. We have been advised we will be contacted by Taobao and Alipay at the end of the week long investigation.
It's also interesting how this particular dealer was able to leverage his blue diamond seller status in this instance. Likely he'd accrued the necessary feedback since opening a shop selling small less expensive items then supposedly 'opened a new shop' offering or selling motorcycles etc.
You don't have to have completed the purchase on Taobao to make a complaint about a dealer/seller on Taobao.
Just be warned. If you plan to use Alipay for facilitating payment make sure it's Alipay which is tied into Ali-wangwang, and not me.alipay.
You can Buy anything from taobao. The trustfull taobao agent is rorbuy.com. I can assure you about their services I have recently bought a bags from taobao and shiped it my countries with rorbuy. Their service charge is also low.
you can try this out. http://www.rorbuy.com
Old thread.
Recently I got a pair of snail horn weighing 0.8kg and three-piece chains weighing 1kg from Taobao through Superbuy Taobao agent. It took 6 days between when I submitted order and when I received the parcel. The postage inside China was $2.3 and the international shipping charge was $32.8 using DHL. The result is satisfactory.
I imagine the delivery is fairly reliable, but the warranty will be non-existent.
Hi.
I have bought many parts from taobao.com.
I use this translation site : https://engtaobao.com
The taobao listings appear in English when you use their search box. When you order, there is a charge.
They order it in to their warehouse from taobao, then you pay them the costs including shipping.
I have managed to get key switches and handlebar switches from them plus a flywheel removal tool etc. for my bike.
It takes 2-3 weeks to ship to the UK.
I hope this helps.
I don't buy from Taobao because I can't navigate through the website so I use a Taobao agent instead. service is good and shipping prices depend on the weight of your purchase. Even after charges, you will find it affordable.Quote:
Originally Posted by ulikedat
Taobaofocus have been around for several years and provide the same type of service as a number of Taobao agents. Also Aliexpress which is affiliated thru the Alibaba is a similar Taobao "shop" that has English interface and ships globally...
Taobao has recently made it much more harder for none Chinese to open up a account with Taobao.
You need to have an Activision code sent to a Mob number.
I find with all the other Taobao related sites just don't have the full listing of item that Taobao does.