China has over 150 online shopping retailers, some we’ve written about before, and others we will be writing about later (shopping for kids, groceries, etc.). When you’re tired of browsing Taobao, here’s nine legit websites that sell a wide variety of items for you to choose from. Don’t forget, if you get their apps, you’ll instantly save money!

ETAO.COM 一淘

Etao is actually not an online shopping site, but an online-shopping search engine run by Alibaba.  For those unfamiliar with the service, an online-shopping search engine is basically a price and availability comparison tool. Etao includes items from foreign shopping websites as well as brick-and-mortar stores. It also finds you “special offers” on groupon type websites.

For example, if I want to find a pair of Adidas Los Angeles sneakers, I can type in the search box, narrow down my price range, and then I can even see how the price has changed over the past few weeks (to decide if I should wait longer before purchasing). From my search, I see that the price has dropped from RMB 550 to RMB 349 in less than a month!  All in all, a service worth testing out

DANGDANG.COM 当当

Dangdang started out in 1999 as the largest online bookstore in China, providing over 600,000 Chinese books.  As with most online retailers, DangDang has also branched out to sell other products, such as home appliances, clothing, tech, and anything a mother might want to buy (e.g. baby and kid stuff).

It should be noted that DangDang was in the news in 2014 for poor seller requirements, having been discovered by CCTV news.  A Beijinger had purchased all his Estee Lauder, Calvin Klein, and other cosmetics from the local Beijing wholesale market, Tianzhaotian and made a small fortune.  Of course, DangDang took precautions and removed quite a few of its stores following the scandal, but perhaps the store is better suited for buying what it was originally meant to sell: books.

Specialties:

Books, audio (music) and visual (DVD) products

Payment methods:

Cash on delivery, money transfer, online payments (Union Pay online payment, 99bill, Alipay, WeChat Pay, Pay Ease, net banking), and gift cards

NEWEGG.CN

Newegg, the second-largest online-only retailer in the US, launched its Chinese e-commerce website in 2010. It advertises itself as “foreign direct purchase”, which means that goods are directly shipped from “foreign” warehouses. Newegg also advertises a superior shopping experience for consumers, rapid delivery, and stellar customer service.

Newegg is typically known for its “geeky” electronics in the US, selling PC components, hard-to-find PC, tech, and other gaming gear and accessories, and better-than-Best-Buy prices for electronics. In China, it also sells computer parts and accessories, electronics, cell phones, and other high-tech products. However, it has branched out to include more household appliances and baby gear.

Yes, baby gear, including products targeting mothers: baby clothes, children’s toys, car seats, strollers, and infant formula.

Specialties:

It features cell phones, computers, household appliance, and other high-tech products.

Payment methods:

Cash on delivery, online payment (bank payments, Unionpay, Alipay, Yeepay, Sumpay, Yingdian Life Card, Tenpay), quick payment, bank wire transfer.

YOU.163.COM 严选

Yan Xuan, which translates to “picks” or “selection”, is a NetEase lifestyle online retailer similar to its RMB1 groupon-like shopping platform.  It has a pleasant, clean design and only sells well-known foreign brands of a certain quality.  Certain products of a few well-known brands include: Carter’s (only the natural line), Muji, and Coach (only leather items). For said products, if they are available in China, they’re sold at a lower price.
Yan Xuan advertises itself as a filter that chooses high-quality products for the sake of the consumer. They select goods with high-quality raw materials, natural materials, low to no formaldehyde (toxic pollutant), made with imported technology (even if domestically made), and guaranteed authenticity. All the products sold on the site are approved by third-party testers: SGS, BV, ITS TOP.

Specialties:

Natural products under the categories of: home, clothing (including maternity), kids’ clothing, accessories (including pollution masks), and food (Muji-style snacks, teas, herbs).

Payment methods:

Credit cards, Alipay, WeChat Pay, Union Pay

YIHAODIAN.COM / SAM’S CLUB

Yihaodian (YHD) translates to “Number One Store”, and it truly strives to be the first with its comprehensive selection of, well, everything.  In addition to the typical items you might normally pick up at a grocery store, YHD also has mobile phones, cameras, computers, and other household electronics. Its selection is similar to Carrefour’s, just online, and ships free to your home with any purchase over RMB 68.

What makes YHD special is its cooperation with Sam’s Club (owned by Wal-Mart), the US wholesale/warehouse super store (similar to Costco).  For RMB 260 a year, you can buy a Sam’s Club Membership, which is valid in-store (Shijingshan, Yizhuang) and online. The YHD outlet for Sam’s Club has special offers for their 3,500 food import products, and is also accessible via the YHD app.

Specialties:

Food, beverages, household products

Payment methods:

Cash on delivery, online payments (bank, union pay, 99bill, Alipay), bank transfer, gift cards, and other payments.

JUMEI.COM 聚美优品

Jumei literally translates to “super beauty” or “super beautiful”, and carries exactly what you would expect from its name. Primarily, Jumei is visited for its beauty products, including cosmetics and makeup. If you click on their beauty products drop down menu, you’ll find a really narrow categorization to help you instantly find what you’re looking for. For example, you can look under Skincare and click on “eyeliner pencil” without having to do a search or load any other pages.

In addition to beauty products, Jumei also features clothing, fitness products, shoes, bags, and accessories. Jumei also has a selection of men’s products.

Jumei trades publicly in the US market and is thus considered the most reliable online retailer for US beauty products.  They have a 30 day return policy, fast delivery (free if total purchase over RMB 159), and a guarantee that your order will leave its warehouse within 1.5 hours after order processing.

Specialties:

Foreign brands, such as: Lancome, Clarins, Clinique, Elizabeth Arden, Estee Lauder, L’oreal, Laneige, SK-II, Avene, Innisfree

Payment methods:

Online banking, payment upon arrival of goods, and Alipay

AMAZON.CN

Before Amazon came to China, there was a Chinese version of Amazon called Joyo. Basically, Amazon in China is the same as Amazon in the rest of the world, with its major categories being: imported goods, fashion, books, electronics, gifts, household products, children’s stuff, and kindles.

The best thing about the Amazon website is that you can change the interface to English, but unfortunately the product titles and descriptions, the majority of links, and the details will all still be in Chinese.

Specialties:

Import goods, kindles, lightning deals

Payment methods:

Amazon pay, pay on delivery, Amazon account (prepaid, Paypal, credit/debit cards, gift cards), online payments (Alipay, Tenpay, net banking)

TMALL.COM天猫

If you’ve heard of Taobao, you’ve probably heard of Tmall (called “sky cat” since 2012) as well. Tmall is the more “legit” version of Taobao under Alibaba.  What this means is that in order to register a flagship store on Tmall, a company has to have either a unique brand or be an official brand representative (with proper documentation), meet the minimum requirements, and have enough investment (let’s just say it’s a lot more than Taobao vendor requirements).  It’s probably one of the largest B2C platforms in China, with about 70,000 brands from over 50,000 vendors, including international brands such as Nike, Dell, Ray-Ban, Uniqlo.

Tmall also has a Hong Kong based international website for its foreign import goods that are stored in China’s free-trade zones. As expected, this site mostly features import cosmetics, beauty products, and baby items (e.g. baby formula).

Specialties:

International brand flagship stores, independent brand products

Payment methods:

Cash on delivery, Alipay, net banking, bank transfer, credit cards.

JD.COM

If you’ve been in China for a while, you’ll remember that Jing Dong (JD) used to be called 360buy with its own merchandise line.  JD operates with a similar model to Amazon in that it delivers goods directly from its warehouses to customers and doesn’t have a middle man.  JD is most often complimented for its incredibly fast delivery service (can be within hours) and its product reliability (genuine products).

What makes JD the most convenient shopping site in this list?  JD can also be found in your WeChat application under Me – Wallet – Scroll down to “Powered by third party operator” – Specials.

In addition, JD has a Hong Kong based website called JD Worldwide, which features international brands stored in a different set of warehouses located in China’s free-trade zones. For customers outside China and Hong Kong, JD has an all-English (and Russian) website called JoyBuy, which only accepts Paypal.

Specialties:

JD has categorized its website like a department store with a total of 11 floors, with the most notable being their electronics section:

1. Clothing, Shoes, Bags; 2. Toiletries, Cosmetics, Beauty products; 3. Mobile Phones; 4. Household Appliances; 5. Computer products; 6. Sports and Fitness; 7. Home Life; 8. Maternity, Children, Toys; 9. Health, Food; 10. Books, Music; 11. Car accessories and supplies

Payment methods:

Cash on delivery, online payment (WangYin, Union Pay, Alipay, WeChat Pay), installment, wire transfer, post office remittance

Photos: Jessica Suotmaa

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If you’ve asked someone in Beijing, “Where did you get that cool thingamajig?” then you’re probably familiar with the household answer: “Taobao.” Taobao (tāobǎo wǎng 淘宝网) has more than 800 million product listings. It is the go-to website for clothes, electronic products, and other material needs for Chinese locals and the growing international community alike. Taobao offers free listings for sellers, a feature that spurred the shopping site’s initial growth. Taobao’s other features include an instant messaging tool to facilitate buyer-seller communication and the escrow-based payment tool, Alipay.

Taobao consists of a broader, eBay-like marketplace and Tian Mao, or Tmall (www.tmall.com). It’s free to list on Taobao’s marketplace, but Tmall requires a basic fee to become a seller. This means that Tmall carries a higher guarantee that the product is legitimate. In general, if you are worried about scams on Taobao, be sure to check the star ratings (1-5) for each seller, which can be found on the top of the page, usually underneath the main product picture. These ratings and comments provide insight into the quality of a seller and their products.

Sign on the Dotted Line
You can sign up for an account (miǎnfèi zhùcè 免费注册) via the Taobao mobile phone app. However, the server for that service is often busy, so we recommend registering via computer. Here’s how:

1) On the site, look for the free registration link (miǎnfèi zhùcè 免费注册) on the upper left hand corner of the Taobao homepage. When signing up, type in your desired username (yònghù míng 用户名) and desired password (dēnglù mìmǎ 登录密码), and retype your password (quèrèn mìmǎ 确认密码). Write out the confirmation code and click to accept the terms and conditions (tóngyì xiéyì bìng zhùcè 同意协议并注册).

2) On the next page, confirm your account info. Select country and area (guójiā dìqū 国家/地区). Often the selection is already made for you as “Chinese mainland” (zhōngguó dàlù 中国大陆) from the dropbox. Then, fill in your mobile number after the +86 country code. Check the box below to agree to Alipay’s terms and conditions (zhīfùbǎo xiéyì 支付宝协议). Click the orange link to read the document in its entirety; if you’re worried about your Chinese skills, have a Chinese-speaking friend look it over.

3) A text window shows up as you click “Next page” (xià yī yè 下一页) and navigate onwards, fill in the six-digit number code you have just received via text message. Be quick in typing the code, as it expires in one minute. If you don’t input the code in time, you will have to redo the confirmation step again.

4) Once your account has been successfully registered, you will move on to the next page and a green check mark bubble will appear. Click on the Taobao Wang icon (tāobǎo wǎng 淘宝网) to return to the homepage. Now, you can start shopping!

The Big Search
Below is a mini-guide to the basics of searching for products. If you type English into the search bar just to the right of the Taobao icon, you will most likely find the kind of product you are looking for – Chinese keywords will only broaden that search. Tmall (tiānmāo 天猫) is the second icon to the right of the Taobao icon. More legitimate than the marketplace, it also sells many middle- to low-end Chinese brand products.

Once you type in the search item name, click “Search” (sōusuǒ 搜索). An array of products will show up. Click on specific items; use your own judgment and review the comments.

Products from Taobao might not meet your expectations or match the photo presented, so it’s vital to troll through ratings and comments. If your Chinese reading isn’t up to par, give Google Translate a spin – the translation might be basic, but it can be quite helpful. The best solution is finding a Chinese-speaking friend to assist in checking product reviews.

Symbols to Note:

7 days to return (first day is counted from the date that the product is received by the buyer)

Purchased goods sent within 24 hours

Part of Taobao sellers’ circle

Legitimate product

Overseas product

Pay in cash when the product arrives

Choose size amount and style and click the orange button on the left to buy immediately or the blue button to add the item to your shopping cart.

Shipping You Can Handle
Fill in your information in the areas boxed in green (shown left). Your street address can be filled in using Chinese characters as well as pinyin.

In shipping options, courier (kuàidì 快递) is usually the preferred method. EMS is trackable and (in theory) more reliable, but it’s usually a bit slower than kuaidi. Delivery companies typically call before they arrive at your home or office.

Pay Up
The pay page will show up, use the first tab Alipay (zhīfù bǎo 支付宝), fill in your pay password and click the orange button to continue. When shopping on Taobao, it is important to note that a seller’s legitimacy is not guaranteed by Taobao; buyers purchase at their own risk. Only Alipay (zhīfùbǎo 支付宝) has guidelines to ensure that a buyer is not scammed. For instance, money is not transferred to the seller if the buyer is unhappy with the quality of the product.

Search for shops located in Beijing (北京); it will say just right of the price when you first click on the product. Shipping costs (yùnfèi 运费) will be around RMB 0-10 if the product is shipped from within China.

It’s Easy with Alipay
First, get to website navigation (wǎngzhàn dǎoháng 网站导航), located on the top right hand corner of Taobao’s home page. A dropbox will show up. Under the third box of tools (gōngjù 工具), select Alipay (zhīfùbǎo 支付宝). You will be directed to a page where you can click (zhùcè 注册) to register.

1 Input the same email you used to register your Taobao account.

2 Fill in the following information: the same email you used for Taobao, an Alipay sign-in password, an Alipay payment password, and a security code question.

3 Provide more details: personal or company account, your full name in capital letters, your passport number, mobile phone, and a second contact number.

4 Once you’ve submitted this information, the next page should look like the image pictured on the right.

5 In your email, activate your Alipay account by clicking the link (in the image circled to the left). Double-check your spam folder if you can’t find it.

6 You will be re-directed to a Taobao page confirming that your Alipay account is activated.

More Online Shopping

Taobao will have almost all the products you dream of buying, from the real deal to cheap copies (foreign and Chinese brands included). Baby, toddler, and kids products are abundant, as well as fashionable or sporting goods that you or your teen might be interested in.

360Buy 京东商城
www.360buy.com (Chinese only)
360Buy is a well-known site with a good reputation and over 25 million registered users. They have every wardrobe staple a kid could want, as well as Disney clothes and accessories. Orders under RMB 39 have a RMB 5 delivery charge; delivery is free for orders over RMB 39.

Vancl 凡客诚品
www.vancl.com (Chinese only)
This clothing website offers an extensive clothing line and ships to 87 countries. Casual clothing ranges from RMB 30 to 300 for shirts, shorts, pants, shoes, underwear, shoes and accessories. The delivery fee is RMB 5 and orders in Beijing are shipped within 24 hours. They accept returns, and you can pay with a card upon delivery. There is an English site, but those orders cannot be shipped to China.

ROMWE
www
.romwe.com
This Nanjing-based site is akin to the fashionable British-based shopping website ASOS. ROMWE’s site is in English, and ships for free worldwide with no minimum purchase required. Clothing styles available are suitable for teens and young women. Romwe has also been recognized by fashionable people worldwide for its on-trend products.

Lijia Baby 丽家宝贝
www.lijiababy.com.cn/eshop (Chinese only)
For expecting parents, Lijia Baby stocks goods for children between the ages 0 and 5. Physical branches are located throughout Beijing, including Wangjing and Yaojiayuan, but the website is much easier to use. Products are delivered a day after purchase.

This article is excerpted from beijingkids September 2012 issue. View it in PDF form here or contact distribution@beijing-kids.com to find out where you can pick up your free copy.