TaobaoFocus proxy service

[bueller]

Just a quick note to let everyone know about the positive experience I've had dealing with TaobaoFocus. They have an English site with Paypal support so I figured I'd take a chance and order some used Cherry caps. Ordered them on Oct 22nd and within a few days they'd arrived at the proxy, I totally missed the email about it and only realised a few days ago. Haven't got the caps yet but they take a photo of the items when they arrive and then repackage for shipping with your selected shipping company.

Will let you all know how the postage goes, paid for them today after looking at the photo so I should see them in the next week or so.

[SpAmRaY]

Interested in your thoughts on the proxy service and the caps!!

Did they have any 'cheaper' shipping options?

[TheFlyingRaccoon]

Nice! Hopefully they are in really good condition like in the picture. If you don't mind me asking, what was the total cost?

[Tym]

Grrr, this is confusing. Want to buy, but how much will the final cost be? Confused gah. 

[MsYutai]

I also made an order on TaoBaoFocus recently, since I saw an old post where someone recommended them.

The English version of the TaoBao site is very helpful to browse on.
They send emails each time the status of your order changes (mine is currently on order from the vendor).
I didn't go too crazy with buying stuff on there (in case they ripped me off or something), just one set of caps.

I will let you guys know how my order goes as well...

Interested in your thoughts on the proxy service and the caps!!

Did they have any 'cheaper' shipping options?

They had like 4 different shipping options, they attempt to describe the price difference between them on the site.

Grrr, this is confusing. Want to buy, but how much will the final cost be? Confused gah. 

As for the final price they will show it when you order, but you don't have to pay for the order until you put money in your account. So hopefully that can get you a more accurate price besides the estimated price they show.

[bueller]

Interested in your thoughts on the proxy service and the caps!!

Did they have any 'cheaper' shipping options?

Yep. For 2 sets of caps the shipping to Australia had options at $15, $22 and $35. China Air, EMS and DHL respectively IIRC.

Nice! Hopefully they are in really good condition like in the picture. If you don't mind me asking, what was the total cost?

Yeah no worries, was $99USD all up for both sets, from the second photo I got they appear just as shine free as the first photo so I'm pretty happy. Just checked the order and it's already been shipped too.

[SpAmRaY]

Sounds good. I may try this service in the future.

[bueller]

Thought I'd provide another update, just got tracking details from them and its appeared on the EMS page so I'll let you guy know how it goes! Usually takes 5-6 business days for stuff from China with EMS.

[Elrick]

Thought I'd provide another update, just got tracking details from them and its appeared on the EMS page so I'll let you guy know how it goes! Usually takes 5-6 business days for stuff from China with EMS.

Great, do keep us informed because we'll see if their worth trusting when it comes to full on - Taobao shopping.  Always a risk even when it goes smoothly.

[bueller]

Thought I'd provide another update, just got tracking details from them and its appeared on the EMS page so I'll let you guy know how it goes! Usually takes 5-6 business days for stuff from China with EMS.

Great, do keep us informed because we'll see if their worth trusting when it comes to full on - Taobao shopping.  Always a risk even when it goes smoothly.

Yeah this was my trial run on something cheap and easy before I but buy a couple of Poker cases.

[bueller]

Holy crap. thumbs up for TaoBaoFocus! Just got an email from work and apparently my caps are already waiting for me at reception

Now I need to go into work, wasn't planning on doing that today :|

[theMANtonio]

Thanks for the review. I think I saw it on reddit, too. Beautiful boards BTW 

Just submitted an order on Taobao Focus. We'll see how it goes..

[MsYutai]

Pro tip: Log into the website to check your order status.

I was sad cuz I hadn't gotten an email about the status of my order for two weeks. Logged into the site today only to see that the order had arrived at their warehouse 4 days after being ordered. I guess the email went to spam folder. Now I've paid the shipping (came out to $25, kinda high? I dunno), and should hopefully get the order soon!

[berserkfan]

I've had a poor experience that I placed under Reviews.

Beware; communication is poor, orders don't update (it's not a shopping cart system) properly, and it seems that their email organization is inconsistent (either different people responding, or the same person looking at different emails from dif people and typing the wrong responses in his currently active window) so I was getting responses that didn't match my emails.

EG they sent me 'Confirmation that Order Placed' emails on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday (just now). All for the same order number which I haven't touched since Sunday. As though different employees were looking at my order at different times and decided manually to update me (As opposed to a Omniscient Automated System updating me just once the way most companies' system do.)

[liyolanda]

congratulation for the good shoppong experience.

i also like shopping online from china. for mi, the shop perfect is DELETED BY MOD, i feel very good y his service is very good and friendly. it is very fast the post. i like this shop!

NO ADVERTISING HERE

[SpAmRaY]

congratulation for the good shoppong experience.

i also like shopping online from china. for mi, the shop perfect is DELETED, i feel very good y his service is very good and friendly. it is very fast the post. i like this shop!

Everytime someone talks about taobao we get some spammer up in here advertising.

[theMANtonio]

I've had a poor experience that I placed under Reviews.

Beware; communication is poor, orders don't update (it's not a shopping cart system) properly, and it seems that their email organization is inconsistent (either different people responding, or the same person looking at different emails from dif people and typing the wrong responses in his currently active window) so I was getting responses that didn't match my emails.

EG they sent me 'Confirmation that Order Placed' emails on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday (just now). All for the same order number which I haven't touched since Sunday. As though different employees were looking at my order at different times and decided manually to update me (As opposed to a Omniscient Automated System updating me just once the way most companies' system do.)

Thanks for this feedback too. In hindsight, luckily my orders were cancelled.

[liyolanda]

veryone has his favorite shop, when one talk about his good experience about shopping, the other talk another one. it is not ok??

congratulation for the good shoppong experience.

i also like shopping online from china. for mi, the shop perfect is DELETED, i feel very good y his service is very good and friendly. it is very fast the post. i like this shop!

Everytime someone talks about taobao we get some spammer up in here advertising.

[SpAmRaY]

veryone has his favorite shop, when one talk about his good experience about shopping, the other talk another one. it is not ok??

congratulation for the good shoppong experience.

i also like shopping online from china. for mi, the shop perfect is DELETED, i feel very good y his service is very good and friendly. it is very fast the post. i like this shop!

Everytime someone talks about taobao we get some spammer up in here advertising.

It is awful suspicious that you joined and posted within 10 minutes advertising a taobao service....

[Calcifar]

veryone has his favorite shop, when one talk about his good experience about shopping, the other talk another one. it is not ok??

congratulation for the good shoppong experience.

i also like shopping online from china. for mi, the shop perfect is DELETED, i feel very good y his service is very good and friendly. it is very fast the post. i like this shop!

Everytime someone talks about taobao we get some spammer up in here advertising.

It is awful suspicious that you joined and posted within 10 minutes advertising a taobao service....

Oh my

[berserkfan]

theMANtonio,

to be fair to these guys, all proxy services I've heard of have their flaws.

Taobao is still new. There are lots of businesses trying to be Taobao middlemen. In 10 years time probably all the kinks will be worked out, but for now, Miscommunication and Erratic/ Inconsistent responses are normal for Taobao proxies.

I've had a poor experience that I placed under Reviews.

Thanks for this feedback too. In hindsight, luckily my orders were cancelled.

[SpAmRaY]

Sounds good. I may try this service in the future.

So it took me a while but I finally tried them out. I wasn't entirely impressed. It took about an extra two weeks due to them saying they had received all items and me letting them know things were missing, just a lot of back and forth with little to show for it. And even after all that the order wasn't really correct when I received it and some things arrived broken. I have yet to have a very positive taobao experience, regardless of proxy.

[sethk_]

Sounds good. I may try this service in the future.

So it took me a while but I finally tried them out. I wasn't entirely impressed. It took about an extra two weeks due to them saying they had received all items and me letting them know things were missing, just a lot of back and forth with little to show for it. And even after all that the order wasn't really correct when I received it and some things arrived broken. I have yet to have a very positive taobao experience, regardless of proxy.

Have you tried proxying through QTan yet? I used him once and it was smooth for the most part, except he didn't send tracking number unless I requested and took some time to reply unless I emailed him.

[Elrick]

Have you tried proxying through QTan yet? I used him once and it was smooth for the most part, except he didn't send tracking number unless I requested and took some time to reply unless I emailed him.

You have to be kidding right?

Qtan never responds even when you request numerous items for pricing and availability, a year later still receive nothing from him.  If you really want to be kept in the loop when ordering anything off Taobao, please look elsewhere.

He only excels at selling his own gear off his own shop front, if you want anything else...... good luck  .

[SpAmRaY]

Sounds good. I may try this service in the future.

So it took me a while but I finally tried them out. I wasn't entirely impressed. It took about an extra two weeks due to them saying they had received all items and me letting them know things were missing, just a lot of back and forth with little to show for it. And even after all that the order wasn't really correct when I received it and some things arrived broken. I have yet to have a very positive taobao experience, regardless of proxy.

Have you tried proxying through QTan yet? I used him once and it was smooth for the most part, except he didn't send tracking number unless I requested and took some time to reply unless I emailed him.

That's probably not going to happen.

[saturnotaku]

I had tried to place an order through TB Focus for one of those Royal Kludge keyboards, but ended up having it cancelled because they apparently didn't get notified of exactly which model I wanted. I kept getting emails that my order was "processing" but no notification that they needed this additional information.

Fortunately, I was refunded promptly for the initial deposit. The Taobao proxy system is clearly not as refined as it is with ordering things from Japan (Tenso, White Rabbit Express, etc). Hopefully this will change with the advent of sites like JD.com and 11Main.