World.Taobao.com - What's New?

If you have been shopping at Taobao, you would realized that our favourite SEA.Taobao.com has be changed to WORLD.TAOBAO.COM! WAH! So Cool! It's WORLD BUSINESS NOW!

So what's the difference? What has changed?

- Country Select, Language Select (simplified and traditional Chinese)
- Shows local partner logos - Shows local currency and payment methods
- Direct shipping (one payment for local and international shipping)
- New search result page
- Order place and payment pages are in English

Wait wait. So what is direct shipping? To be honest I've yet to try it myself. If you are familiar with the previous SEA.Taobao and you have been using it with the help of forwarder such as 4px, you will only know how much you need to pay when the product reaches the warehouse and you have to make a 2nd payment which is the shipping BUT now with direct shipping everything will be faster and easier. You will actually find out the shipping cost right at the 1st payment gateway and you do not need to make a 2nd payment as the payment would already be included!

How to choose direct shipping? It is just here! The part where you used to select 4px.

So now we got this cleared up, time for me to show off my purchased list from my previous purchase!

KO Bumblebee Master Piece 

For toys lover, you will know the meaning of KO. The material is not as decent but the model is exactly the same. I got the Takara version and I got this as an extra play piece. :D

Link: Buy Now
Chinese Text: TAKARA 变形金刚 MP21大黄蜂 甲壳虫 ko版 

Courser Camera Bag 

Wanted a nice camera bag since now I've gotten a new camera. Never liked those typical black ugly ones. This is nice as it looks very lifestyle, with multiple compartments, durable and it is cheap!

Link: Buy Now
Chinese Text:  酷色courser单肩帆布摄影包 佳能尼康索尼单反数码相机包 f1002 

Crazy Party Drinking Hat

Sorry for the messy hair.

I do not even know where do i begin on explaining myself like WHY did I buy this. Anyway it is not as easy as it seems. It is actually pretty damn challenging!

Link: Buy Now
Chinese Text: 查看宝贝详情饮料神器奇葩好玩的稀奇古怪搞怪送男生生日礼物创意新奇聚会玩具

In case you find shopping post boring, here's a new video from my fav local rapistrapper - Shigga Shay. Pretty damn awesome that he is getting more main stream on tvs and movies. Love how his raps always includes local culture and stuff.

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Valentine's Day Present

Every year there will be these people complaining about Valentine's Day being commercial, complain that Valentine's day is a scam and every day can be a valentine's day if you love each other blah blah blah but I guess on top of birthdays, anniversary, birthdays, it is not ALL bad to have another day just to buy a gift and get a gift right?

Not sure what to get for your bf/hubby for this coming Valentine's Day? Don't play play hor, don't just because it is ONLY Jan and you think you have a lot of time. It is really just around the corner.

So besides sailing the 7 seas and trying to save the world. I actually made time for this interview and sharing session with one of my favourite online retailer.

So shopaholic Smith is here to share. Where else besides Taobao?

I know it's a very old photo but it's cool. Comon.

Cheap, good, fast and they have everything!!

Oh lucky for my wife, she just have to follow this shopping list. HAHA.

See the full article here! 

Relationship is about give and take. She give and I take. :p

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How to shop on Taobao?!

If devil has a face it will probably look like me because I am an advocator for one of the most dangerous and addictive thing online - Online shopping. Not just any online shopping but shopping at SEA.Taobao.com!

Over the months I've been talking about how to buy or what I bought but I still get a lot of PM's, messages and even phone calls from friends who haven't called me like for years asking me about how to shop on Taobao. #TrueStory

So thanks to Taobao we kinda did some short videos together, let me call it Taobao X Smithankyou project. LOL. Here is episode 1!



There will probably be another 2-3 episodes. Not really my style of doing video cause it ain't crazy enough but hey, it's informative!

Mr.Smith, SHOP TILL YOU DROP!

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Why I offer Free delivery for SEA Taobao to my friends?

SEA Taobao has totally changed my life of shopping. I no longer spent hours and hours walking around in malls looking for things I can't find and neither do I go around looking for cheaper deals because all these can be done within a click.

This might be me in near future but who cares. (Image from Disney's Wall-E)

To me, shopping at Taobao is not just easy but also addictive and fun. I'm so obsessed with it till the point that I even shop for my friends who complains about not knowing how to set it up or read Chinese.

I mean I tried. 

Read other post related to how to shop at Taobao or What I usually buy.

A small disclaimer, I am not a Daigou or neither do I earn from this whole thing. Although Taobao is my sponsor I do not earn a single cent from helping them to get people to buy, neither do I mark up my friends' purchase nor do I charge them anything for delivery. (Sharing the shipping cost is one benefit for everyone!) Yes, FYI, I deliver to their doorsteps most of the time. 

SIAO AH? WHY? PETROL CHEAP AH? 

Not sure about you but I love Christmas. I love gifting and the look on their face when they get a gift. I can't be playing Santa Claus and do gifting everyday but giving people free delivery puts that (almost) same smile onto their face. That sense of happiness can't be replaced! And of course when these guys appreciates your help, it makes you feel good! 

Toys - Checked! 

Jersey - Checked! 

Laptop Stickers - Checked! 

Books - Checked! 

Soft Toys - Checked! 

Costumes - Checked! 

Of course, I don't just randomly help people to buy things even when I've nothing to buy and who am I kidding... Nothing to buy on Taobao? There is always something for everyone! So after awhile, you will get people tagging you in every other Taobao post. HAHA. 

So I guess I'm just kaypo like that and for those who are wondering what's in for me. Making you guys happy makes me happy! So have you "Taobao-ed" today? 

Mr.Smitha Claus is coming to town!

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SEA Taobao FAQ + Buy of the Month!

It's time of the month again where I show off my Taobao SEA buy!

#happyparcelday ? More like #DamnBlardySuperHappyParcelDay

Other than showing off my buys over and over again, I will be sharing some of the links of the things I've purchased. This is partly because I've been getting too many requests on the images for links and also quite a few questions. I guess I will start with the purchases link and followed by the FAQ.

*Point to note: there are always more than 1 seller selling the same thing so feel free to find alternate ones if you think any of the things should be any cheaper.

Necklaces: http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?id=14434726638

Animals Pajamas : http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?spm=a1z10.1.w1004-3420537405.11.Xy4gnH&id=17828442081

Lego Toys: http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?spm=a1z09.5.0.0.hJZ7Rc&id=35781729726

Craftholics: http://trade.taobao.com/trade/detail/tradeSnap.htm?spm=a1z09.2.9.27.Ne4LZy&tradeID=500791681424981

F . A . Q: 

Q: How to buy at Taobao ah?
A: Good people at Taobao has got the answer! Link

Q: How do I ship to Singapore? I thought Taobao doesn't send to Singapore?
A: Good news, the (not so) new Taobao SEA does! They have four selected partners working with them on that! Not just Singapore but also Malaysia!

Q: Do I still need a 3rd party shipping company or middle man? Where do I find them?
A: Nope! The good thing about Taobao SEA is that everything is done on the site itself. You do not need to find your own middle man or pay the seller, pay the shipping bit by bit, everything is done seamlessly on 1 site as if you are buying directly from 1 person.

Q: How much is the shipping? Is it really saving us money? Is it worth it?
A: Shipping cost as below. Every 1st Kg is 35 RMB which is around $5 SGD and 24 RMB there after.

Q: How many days does it takes to reach Singapore?
A: Usually for the forwarder that I uses (4px), it takes them about 3-4 days to reach Singapore which is pretty standard, but for the seller delivery to 4px, you guys might need a bit of luck because it differs from seller to seller. I've had a seller who told me that she only send her product once a week so if you are lucky and you click on purchase before the cycle you will get it rather quickly cause their domestic delivery usually takes no more than 3 days. Else, if you miss the cycle you will have to wait for 1 week before she send her product out.

Q: Got English version or not? I see Chinese text until I want to faint already.
A: If you are on Google chrome, you can actually use google translate which is pretty good but I prefer the original Chinese context.

Q: The things you buy so cheap. Is it real?
A: It really depends on what is real to you.  If you are skeptical, you can always message the seller for more information. They are usually honest about it, if it's A grade OEM products they will give you a headsup.

Q: Any final tips?
A: Always search around for option and not jump onto the 1st shop cause each items can be sold by different seller at different price. When buy in bulk, always use the blue "water droplet" icon, talk to seller and ask for discount or free domestic shipping. Also, always bookmark your stores you like, cause they will always have new items!

I hope I answered some of your questions on this post. Feel free to drop me a comment below or Tweet me at @Smithankyou. I will be more than happy to answer your questions regarding Taobao or sex

Here is the video I did last month on the things I've purchased previously! Enjoy!



Mr.Smith, People who says that money can't buy them happiness didn't heard of SEA Taobao!

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[Giveaway] Merry Taobao SEA Christmas!

I am kinda like a Christmas Grinch because of my work. I work extra hard on festive seasons like these because of the industry I'm working at. Events and marketing to support this cultural imperialism (if you may) season. It is all about buying and gifting and buying and gifting. So why am I so unhappy? It's not because I don't receive but simply because I am always working, attending events and what not and that leaves me with very little time to shop of gifts for the people I love!

Christmas 2011 where I spent hours and hours on this bus making others' Christmas awesome.

Times has changed and this time round I do not have the same problem because Taobao SEA IS HERE TO SAVE THE DAY! 

If you haven't read or heard about it, it is about time to get fascinated by the world of Taobao! So what is Taobao? It is this fascinating online shopping web portal which allows you to buy literately ANYTHING. (Before you get too bored of reading my jibber jabber blog post, I am giving you a headsup that I am giving away 4 x 500RMB gift card for your Christmas Shopping, so please stay tuned till the very end. )

This is SEA.Taobao

So like many other shopping sites, you can simply surf around to buy what you want or simply key in what you wish to search and like I mentioned earlier, the most wonderful thing about Taobao is that you can find everything and now, you do not need a third party agent to help you with you purchase because you are not from Singapore. 

As I'm a hoarder toy collector, my very first instinct is to find all the things that is so difficult to find at the retail stores in Singapore. One of the toy collection that I've yet to be able to complete. The marvel universe action figures! 

No surprise, they have got every single figure I wanted. All these toys are from different sellers and to make things easy, I prefer to get all from the same seller.

But apparently his "shop" did not list one of those I wanted. What do you do? They actually have this "IM" known as Wang Wang (Instant Messenger) that allows you to communicate with the seller on the fly with any question you have! I ask him about it and he actually has it in stock too! 

Please bear with my not so proper Chinese sentence structure. On Wang Wang, you can even ask for a discount or free shipping if you have purchased in a bit bulk. (Or thick skin enough like me. :X) 

And because of Wang Wang, things can be discussed fairly quickly, they will actually tell you immediately on certain items that runs out of stock etc. So it is really easy to use. I once had an experience with other site that you can only Email to ask question and it took me 72 hours to correct my order and it was too late because they already sent that item out. So I'm really glad they have this function! 

Closer look at the Wang Wang. Seller telling me that 1 of the figure was out of stock.

So on my previous post, I've discussed about this forwarder that you can use. It's really convenient. So you can have 3-4 items sending towards the forwarder and you do not need to send it to Singapore immediately 1 by 1. You can actually keep it there and wait for all your purchases to reach, consolidate before sending them over. 

Let our powers 合拼!!

 FAQ

How do I pay?

This is like the most common question I am getting these days. So far there are two ways that I've tried. 1 is paying directly using your credit card OR you can simply go to any AXS machine and purchase these shopping credits. Top it up to 支付宝 which is like an internal paypal system and you can shop away. Paying with 支付宝 is a very simple process especially for those who are very concern about your credit card details. Point to note: you are not allowed to split your payment using half shopping credit and half on your credit card. If you really wish to do so, I suggest you split your products into two groups and make two payment instead of one. 

All my loot came in good condition and on a Sunday! Can you believe it? They did delivery on a Sunday! 

Looks like Durian delivery! LOL.

Big boy is happy!

So I managed to find all the toys I wanted within a few minutes online instead of doing all the walking around town and getting nothing but disappointment.

Here comes the giveaway: 

So I have with me 4 sets of 500RMB gift cards to giveaway!

Step 1: Simply "LIKE" Taobao SEA Page

Step 2: Simply "LIKE" The AWESOME(and kinda empty) fictional character page of Smithankyou. 

Step 3: Leave your comment under the comment box on Facebook saying what you wish to buy using this 500RMB and keep your fingers crossed! Tell us your wish and it might just come true! Giveaway ends this Friday 20th Dec!

Good luck everyone and Merry X'mas!! 

Mr.Smith, TAOBAO SEA FTW

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I was on Tao Bao, but not for sale.

For those who haven't heard about it. Tao Bao is now "in" Singapore. They now have a SEA version. The major difference is that they have direct shipping to SG! Of course it's not direct by Tao Bao but it's tied down as a 3rd party provider on the page itself like a selected partner. So convenient!

Anyway, before you give me the "aiya, so many Chinese charters.. I cannot read lah.", there IS translation lah dey!

Happy now? 

Before I get too excited about my purchase and all on Tao Bao, I would like to share with you that I was on Tao Bao. Not under the article of "20 Weird Things You Could Buy on Tao Bao" though.

Good News! I was actually featured on their Facebook page!

Bad news was I was there for less than 8hrs. Apparently my item got "cracked" too quickly. Basically the reason why I was there was because of this challenge they are having call the #TaoBaoThrowdown. All you have to do is simply find the item that i wanted and if you are the 1st, you will get rewarded. And there are more weeks to come, so please go their FB and watch out for the other challenges!

In case you are really curious about this item, it's actually the "Shoe Wings" aka Shwings.

So that was my hours of fame on Taobao FB page. Anyway if you are a great fan of Taobao or someone who really wish to try it out, pelase do stay tuned to this space as I will be having another blog post for Taobao and this time you will get to participate and win some Taobao credits!

And if you can't wait, please check out their Facebook page and try your luck with Clara('s question).

Mr.Smith, Was on Taobao and Sold.




                    

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