Currently what is the best way to order off JD.com or TaoBao?

[dante]

There is a keyboard I want to buy (Dare-U EK820) but I need to go through a proxy.  Usually I would go through some of the usual suspects on GH but they either completely left or have a horrible track record at communication / keeping their promises.

Does anyone have a solid recommendation for a proxy?

[kmba]

Bhiner, super buy, or taobao's own cargo service (cheapest) if you can manage to navigate using a lot of Google translate.

[SpAmRaY]

Bhiner isn't the cheapest but they've had more successes than failures for me.

I've also been OK using taoboafocus.

[DaBubbs]

I just put in my first Taobao order. I just finished paying and it said that my shipment is now being shipped to the Taobao warehouse. I decided to try Taobao's own cargo service. It wasn't too bad and too much work translating. I used this very helpful guide: http://www.howtotao.com/buy-from-taobao/.

I will try to remember to post back here with how it went. The nice thing is that once you take the time the first time to enter your info and shipping address, it appears you can skip a lot of those steps the next time.

The 2 keycaps I ordered were $20. So I figure if I get screwed by Taobao's cargo service, it won't sting too bad.

[DaBubbs]

Ok, well I may be stuck now.

Everything up to this point has been perfect. I saw my package getting delivered to the TaoBao warehouse. (My only complaint here is that I did not get an email that it had arrived at the warehouse... I had to log in to TaoBao and check the status every day or so. Not a big complaint, just an FYI.)

So then there was a simple button for me to pay the shipping fee from the warehouse to forward to me in the US. I pressed it and was feeling great. Then it sent me to Alipay and things got stuck.

I had successfully setup an Alipay account to originally pay for my TaoBao purchase. I saw that my US account processed it fine and I was billed exactly what I should have been. Now, when I go to Alipay, it says that my account is locked and no matter what I do, I cannot log in. It keeps telling me to call customer support and gives me a 95,188 number.

I am currently trying to find an email that I can use to send Alipay an email. If my Alipay is locked and I cannot pay for the forward of my items, I know that I will lose them eventually.

I will post updates but if anyone has a contact for Alipay / knows what I am going through / has any advice, please let me know. Thanks!

Overall, this is an Alipay issue, not a TaoBao issue.

[Bucake]

i've used bhiner only once, but had a completely hassle-free experience.
as expected the english of my contact(s) wasn't perfect, but good enough for communication. in my case they opened the box of the product and sent me a picture of the contents, awaiting my approval before sending it my way. (iirc this was optional, for a few dollars extra.) i would most likely use them again if i wanted to import something else.

[DaBubbs]

Yeah, I am screwed out of $20. I have spent hours trying to find someone to talk to. I tried calling Taobao, ANT Financial, Alipay, Alibaba...

I cannot get a hold of anyone. I get messages everywhere and most are in Chinese. No matter what I press, I can never talk to a live person on any of the numbers I have called.

When I called the main Alipay customer service number, I get this long message in Chinese (which I speak none of) and no matter what I press (0 for operator, 1, 1 then 2, etc), there is some cheery Chinese comment and then it hangs up on me. I have scoured the internet trying to find out another number to call or what to press to talk to someone but I don't think it exists.

So I guess my order is just going to time out at the warehouse and I am not sure what happens after that. I don't know if they just send it back to the person I bought it from and maybe I get a partial refund? I guess I am already at my worst case. Alipay has frozen my account for reasons totally unknown to me so my guess is that Taobao cannot charge me any more money anyway.

So I agree with others above and Bucake... I will use Bhiner (or another proxy from now on). It is worth the fee... this is a tiring nightmare. Good thing it was only $20!

[DaBubbs]

Somehow I found a way to request a refund on Taobao. I am not sure if I could ever get there again but I filled out the form and submitted it asking for a refund. I am not expecting much but who knows, maybe it will work out. It says that the refund money goes back to where it came from... so maybe it will find its way back to my credit card.

I'd give it about a ~9% chance of working.

[DaBubbs]

Round 2 has begun... put in the same order with Super Buy. From what I researched online, it got good reviews. I also like that I can use / pay by PayPal.

It will be interesting to see how the international shipping costs compare with what I would have paid directly to TaoBao warehouse.

[brianjking]

Round 2 has begun... put in the same order with Super Buy. From what I researched online, it got good reviews. I also like that I can use / pay by PayPal.

It will be interesting to see how the international shipping costs compare with what I would have paid directly to TaoBao warehouse.

Superbuy is great. I generally use DHL Priority which is around $23 for up to 1kg and if it ships from China on Tuesday/Wednesday I have the items in my hands in Chicago, IL, USA on Friday. There are a ton of other options that are less expensive/more expensive but could be much slower arriving or sit in customs for a longer period of time.

[kmba]

Ok, well I may be stuck now.

Everything up to this point has been perfect. I saw my package getting delivered to the TaoBao warehouse. (My only complaint here is that I did not get an email that it had arrived at the warehouse... I had to log in to TaoBao and check the status every day or so. Not a big complaint, just an FYI.)

So then there was a simple button for me to pay the shipping fee from the warehouse to forward to me in the US. I pressed it and was feeling great. Then it sent me to Alipay and things got stuck.

I had successfully setup an Alipay account to originally pay for my TaoBao purchase. I saw that my US account processed it fine and I was billed exactly what I should have been. Now, when I go to Alipay, it says that my account is locked and no matter what I do, I cannot log in. It keeps telling me to call customer support and gives me a 95,188 number.

I am currently trying to find an email that I can use to send Alipay an email. If my Alipay is locked and I cannot pay for the forward of my items, I know that I will lose them eventually.

I will post updates but if anyone has a contact for Alipay / knows what I am going through / has any advice, please let me know. Thanks!

Overall, this is an Alipay issue, not a TaoBao issue.

That stinks. I've been lucky when paying shipping from the warehouse to me with alipay. It always takes me a couple tries, and then I think it still didn't work but magically shows up as paid. Even though it appears straight forward the transition to make the payment is less than ideal.

[FoxWolf1]

No need for a proxy in this case; the EK820 is available in the West rebranded by Havit, and is now on Amazon.

[DaBubbs]

Ok, well I may be stuck now.

Everything up to this point has been perfect. I saw my package getting delivered to the TaoBao warehouse. (My only complaint here is that I did not get an email that it had arrived at the warehouse... I had to log in to TaoBao and check the status every day or so. Not a big complaint, just an FYI.)

So then there was a simple button for me to pay the shipping fee from the warehouse to forward to me in the US. I pressed it and was feeling great. Then it sent me to Alipay and things got stuck.

I had successfully setup an Alipay account to originally pay for my TaoBao purchase. I saw that my US account processed it fine and I was billed exactly what I should have been. Now, when I go to Alipay, it says that my account is locked and no matter what I do, I cannot log in. It keeps telling me to call customer support and gives me a 95,188 number.

I am currently trying to find an email that I can use to send Alipay an email. If my Alipay is locked and I cannot pay for the forward of my items, I know that I will lose them eventually.

I will post updates but if anyone has a contact for Alipay / knows what I am going through / has any advice, please let me know. Thanks!

Overall, this is an Alipay issue, not a TaoBao issue.

That stinks. I've been lucky when paying shipping from the warehouse to me with alipay. It always takes me a couple tries, and then I think it still didn't work but magically shows up as paid. Even though it appears straight forward the transition to make the payment is less than ideal.

Yep... no worries though.

I am still trying to find a way to make it work but I have hit a few more detours / road blocks. I downloaded the Alipay app on my phone and I was actually able to get past the "Your account is frozen screen". It asked me to put in my "bank card number" to verify my account. After researching, it appears that I would have to open a Chinese bank account in order to get a bank card. I read somewhere that there apparently have been some Chinese banking regulations over the last few years requiring AliPay to get more information from users.

I thought, ok, Chinese bank account it is. Well everyone says how easy they are to open (even to foreigners), by just walking into a Chinese bank and filling out the necessary paperwork with a Passport. Well, living in the US with no international travel plans in the six months, it appears that there are no Chinese banks to walk into to open an account and no mail in applications to open an account via the mail. Furthermore, from what I have seen on applications that you must fill out at the bank, most have minimum account balances you must hold or you get charged low balance fees. The Bank of China commercial bank appeared to be 1,000 yuan (almost $150 usd). I am not sure if I want to lock up that much money right now just to hold open an account for AliPay.

Anyway, I just wanted to detail some of my adventures with all of this so that if anyone comes along and thinks to themselves (like I did), "Hey, I am fine taking some time to do that," that you know some of the pitfalls and challenges. If you have a valid AliPay account, the TaoBao cargo service is rather easy to use... but maybe not the most user friendly with notifications.

If anyone knows that I am wrong in my research, please let me know.

[dante]

No need for a proxy in this case; the EK820 is available in the West rebranded by Havit, and is now on Amazon.

Ordered.  This should be interesting!

[alienman82]

removed.

[dante]

No need for a proxy in this case; the EK820 is available in the West rebranded by Havit, and is now on Amazon.

Ordered.  This should be interesting!

I am going to write a review and have it up hopefully this weekend.

Spoiler alert: OMFG /endgame finally...