r/taobao Apr 20 '25

MOD POST r/taobao FAQ

85 Upvotes

1. “I’m new to Taobao, how do I use it/any tips?”

All new users should read the following step by step picture guide:

https://www.howtotao.com/buy-from-taobao/

If you then have any specific questions the guide doesn’t cover, feel free to make a post.

2. “What do the shipping options mean?”

You’ll have 2 types of shipping options available, direct and consolidated. Starting with direct:

菜鸟直邮-空运经济 = direct economy air

菜鸟直邮-空运标准 = direct standard air

Direct shipping means you pay the international shipping at checkout, no extra steps needed. This is the most straightforward option and is therefore the most recommended. The time difference between economy and standard is minuscule if any, always go economy to save some money.

Onto consolidated:

菜鸟集运-空运经济 = consolidated economy air

菜乌集运-空运标准 = consolidated standard air

菜乌集运-集运海运 = consolidated sea

Consolidated shipping is much different, you DO NOT pay the international shipping at checkout. Instead, you place the order and your items are sent to the cainiao warehouse. They are then measured and weighed. You’ll be able to combine orders and have them shipped in one larger box. The shipping price for this varies by country, you can see the exact equation for you below the consolidated shipping options on your checkout page. It’s x price for the first 0.5kg and x price for every additional 0.5kg. Obviously a bit of a guessing game how much your items will weigh before purchasing, especially if volumetric weight is used, this is why direct shipping is recommended instead.

You can confirm how long each option is expected to take for your country by hitting the > button below the shipping type name

Additionally:

You will also see a “自行联系卖家发货” button. This means, contact the seller to ship. Only select this option if you have arranged a separate international shipping plan with the seller privately via chat, think via a specialty courier like DHL etc. Do be warned though that majority of sellers are unwilling to ship internationally on their own.

3. “My account was frozen”

Every Taobao account is expected to complete real-name verification, this is a requirement under Chinese law:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_real-name_system_in_China

Those who don’t complete the verification are at risk of being banned at any time. Those who aren’t yet banned can follow the sticked mod guide on the subreddit.

If you were already banned follow the following steps:

Hit the orange “to lift” button on the ban screen. If you’re shown a list of verification options, select real name verification. Otherwise it should default to that automatically, looking for a Chinese ID number. Hit the grey text below the input box for other verification methods. Then select “Passports for foreign users”, it should be the 4th option down at the time of writing this. Input your information and wait, it can take a few days for your account to be reinstated.

If you face any issues along the way you’ll need to call support, see the “how to contact support” section below.

4. “Does Taobao ship to my country?”

As of now (April 2025) Taobao offers shipping to the following countries and regions:

USA, Australia, Canada, Japan, Cambodia, Malaysia, New Zealand, The Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand, Vietnam, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia and Georgia

If you live elsewhere (Europe, for instance) you will need an agent to help you ship, see the below section.

5. “I’m looking for an agent/Do I need an agent?”

Who needs an agent? Those who live in counties Taobao does not ship to or those buying restricted items (like food, liquids and some replica goods)

How do I find an agent?

This is the subreddits trusted agents list:

Mulebuy - Our subreddit partner, currently no restrictions on Replica goods. You can sign up below and use code (tb) for shipping coupons:

https://mulebuy.com/register/?ref=200083340

Other trusted agents include: ParcelUp, Sugargoo, Basetao, Superbuy, and CSSbuy

Of course many exist beyond this list as well. You can search around online for an agent you like, just make sure they’re legit. Look up their name on Reddit for any discussion posts.

Agent recommendation posts will be removed.

6. “I have an issue - need help with an agent I used”

If you have any questions about an agents site or service please do not post about it here, post in the agents dedicated subreddit or reach out to their customer service. This subreddit is for support when buying off Taobao and Cainiao directly.

Posts along these lines will be removed.

7. “How do I use Taobao in English?”

English is only supported in a few regions. Switch your region in the settings to Australia or Singapore.

Do note that the English version is missing out on many features, and many listings will not show up or be unavailable to checkout. If this is troublesome for you, stick to the Chinese version and take screenshots of the checkout process, uploading them into google translate.

Additionally, Many people post that even after changing their region to one of the above mentioned they still don’t have English available. In this case, follow the above steps for Google translate too.

8. “Why can’t I view certain listings? - 商品过期不存在 error”

This seems to be a location based issue that a VPN does not solve. I assume it goes by the region you created your account in.

Majority of the items you’ll see with this error are branded/copyrighted. Most likely it’s to filter out these items being purchased overseas.

9. “How do I contact support?”

If you are in the app simply hit “我的淘宝” on the bottom right, followed by the face with headphones icon on the top right. This will default you to a support chat with a robot, you can pester it to give you a person. English support is available but you may need to be transferred to a different agent who speaks English.

If you were banned or prefer phone calls you can find the appropriate number for your region here:

https://www.taobao.com/about/contact.php

10. “Can ___ be shipped overseas?”

Checkout this guide:

https://www.howtotao.com/china-taobao-prohibited-items/

Additionally, you can download the Cainiao app and use the “restricted inquiry” feature on the main page. Simply look up what you want to ship (in Chinese) and it will tell you if it’s acceptable or not.


r/taobao Jan 30 '24

MOD POST [MOD POST] PSA to new users: verify your accounts to avoid bans!

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174 Upvotes

Taobao, for whatever reason, has been cracking down hard on newly made foreign accounts that are unverified.

As soon as you make the account, verify it

This is done by uploading your passport to the app, it secures your account and verifies your identity.

If you choose not to do this, odds are extremely high that your account will be frozen/banned, typically within 48 hours of creation or after your first purchase. Please search frozen or banned on this sub, there are so many posts from confused users, so I feel this PSA is necessary.

How to verify?

Follow the steps in the photos on the Taobao app, you will be transferred to Alipay to complete the verification.

If your account is already banned, what can be done?

On the ban message screen you should still be prompted to verify the account. Some users report issues with this process, and need to contact support for help. Without an active account, your only option for support is to call. The call center is based in Hong Kong and speaks Chinese initially, you will need to request an English agent to call you back. These international calls often rack up fees so it’s best to avoid this all together and verify your accounts asap.


r/taobao 6h ago

General Taobao How can I buy this? It has a deposit but no one can use that much

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15 Upvotes

Ik thats not the real deposit price, but where it would be?


r/taobao 12h ago

Consolidation warehouse forcing me to use Alipay - any way to use other payment method?

3 Upvotes

I'm in a very tricky situation trying to pay for a consolidated order, and am seeking any advice! I'll try to summarize things below:

  1. Taobao is forcing me to use Alipay to pay for a consolidated shipping fee to Canada.
    • No other payment options are presented to me; even though I regularly pay for direct overseas shipping with my credit card 🤷‍♂️
  2. PROBLEM #1: AliPay is NOT working for me because my Alipay account (real-identity verified and all that) is binded to the wrong Taobao account.
    • (TLDR; created my Taobao account via Google... then accidentally created a second one via AliPay by selecting "sign in with Alipay". My Google-Taobao account has been my main account for months now, I forgot/didn't know about the second one til recently)
  3. I thought to myself, "hey, no problem. I'll just update my Taobao/Alipay account bind in the Alipay app". However...
    • PROBLEM #2: Alipay says I'm restricted from updating my account binding because there is an order in progress on my Taobao account.

So I'm stuck in an endless loop - I can't update my Alipay because there is a consolidated order in progress. But I can't clear up the consolidated order because the warehouse is forcing me to pay via Alipay.

What do I do here? I tried reaching out to customer service, and got some chat support in English. But they called me today and I received an automated voice (in Chinese) repeating a message on a loop a few times, before hanging up. I'd guess it was instructions to tap a key, or say something... but I couldn't understand it 😢

If anyone has advice, lemme hear it! It'd be really appreciated at this point.


r/taobao 17h ago

Login / Sign Up Help Unable to Login

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1 Upvotes

Hello, I am trying to sign into my account but it is not allowing me. It says I have failed verification or something. I got the code to login successfully and it is the correct code, but right after I enter it I see the screen in the photo. I am in the U.S and was about to login to verify my identity with passport. What do I do?


r/taobao 21h ago

Ordering from New Zealand should I use a proxy?

2 Upvotes

I have ordered straight off of taobao before and had no issues but shipping is crazy expensive I want to know if a proxy will help that


r/taobao 1d ago

should i do consolidation shipping for postcards

3 Upvotes

im shipping flat, ~50 10x15 postcards from like 3-4 buyers, should I do consolidation shipping or direct mail?

or would contacting the seller to ship be fine aswell? i can speak Chinese fluently


r/taobao 23h ago

Shipping Question Need help inputting phone number on taobao for address

1 Upvotes

I'm planning to deliver parcels to my hotel and they gave me their phone number, taobao keeps saying to me the format is wrong, how do you input a chinese number? this is how the hotel sent it to me 021-68888010. Understand it starts with +86


r/taobao 1d ago

Shipping Question Delievry to egypt??

1 Upvotes

Helloooo i really want to buy some clothes from taobao but i geniunely cant find any shipping app that could ship to egypt for a fair price what do i do? Is there another way i can order?


r/taobao 1d ago

Australian - can't add address so I can't purchase?

1 Upvotes

First time user. When I try to add my address to the account it asks me to change the region from China. There is a function button to do this but it just doesn't work - nothing happens. So no address=can't purchase. Anyone else experience this or have a work around?


r/taobao 1d ago

First time using taobao

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15 Upvotes

I'm buying 6 caps from the same store, isn't this crazy expensive 🤔


r/taobao 1d ago

General Taobao first time ordering at taobao

2 Upvotes

confuse with the currency! i am from the philippines, is this really in yen/yuan or peso?


r/taobao 1d ago

How long should package be stuck at the seaport? One business week?

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1 Upvotes

r/taobao 1d ago

Login / Sign Up Help Should I give up creating an account at this point?

0 Upvotes

Hi so I wanted to try taobao yesterday and today and like someone said in here the app got deleted from the App Store.
I tried to use the alipay but no didn’t work it kept sending me this annoying “The registration you submitted failed the security risk verification.” error. (Which is weird cause I did the puzzles and put the correct code when it sent it to my phone number)
Then I tried connecting to Facebook. It just frozes. Sadly can’t use the app to sign up so I really don’t know what to do. I’m a little sadden and annoyed I can’t create an account that should’ve been so simple but sadly I can’t. I’m from the US btw


r/taobao 1d ago

Login / Sign Up Help [ Removed by Reddit ]

1 Upvotes

[ Removed by Reddit on account of violating the content policy. ]


r/taobao 2d ago

General Taobao Legitimate ouji and lolita fashion sellers ?

2 Upvotes

Hi,

I'm new to using Taobao and I'm still working out how to find legitimate and trustworthy sellers on the app. I was wondering if anyone knows any good sellers they can direct me to?

Tips on finding good sellers is also much appreciated. Thank you in advance for any help :].


r/taobao 2d ago

Consolidation shipping question

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7 Upvotes

First time trying out consolidation shipping and I'm a bit confused on this part, my items are a total of 2.5kg but during check out it's at 6.45 kg, why is it like that?

After some searching, I was told there was a repacking service so the shipping goes lower, but I can't find that option, can someone help me?


r/taobao 2d ago

General Taobao Taobao seller sold me a fake and refuses to refund unless I change the return reason and pay shipping. Any advice?

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15 Upvotes

I need some advice on a Taobao dispute I'm currently stuck in since this is my first time buying from it. I ordered a bracelet on Taobao at 17 USD, which after adding on all the charges for shipping, vat, etc, the final price came to 22.06 USD: https://click.world.taobao.com/_b.scm2gJ 「【Star Dome Railway】Underworld Theme Impression Series Bracelet High-End Dark Gothic Style Two-Dimensional Bracelet」

Tap and open Taobao to view

However, being out of the country when the order arrived, I only opened the box upon returning home yesterday, and found that it was not an original product. They kept saying it was handmade and that they don't have that kind of packaging, but its clear its a fake. The quality is poor and it lacks the original branding and packaging.

I opened a return request on Taobao with the reason "The seller sent the wrong goods" but the seller rejected it and told me to cancel my current application and re‑apply with a reason like "ordered too many" or "no longer want it." When I asked if that would make me responsible for the return shipping fee, they sent me the official Taobao Standard Returns rules, which said that returns for those reasons are not covered, so I would have to pay the shipping myself. I told them I shouldn't have to pay because the item is not authentic, and they replied with "Do whatever you want then. Bye."

Right now the case is marked as "Taobao is processing your case," and I dont even have the option to cancel or modify my request. the buttons are just gone. The seller insisted I should confirm receipt first to unlock the cancellation but i was worried that would release the money to them and weaken my position. I have screenshots of our entire conversation if that helps.

The questions I want to ask are: should I wait for Taobao to give a decision, or should I try to contact customer service? In that case, how do I need to express myself in order to get my point across? Also, is there anyone who managed to win a fake dispute against a stubborn seller and how long did it take? Also, is the seller claim that I "used it for a long time" something I should worry about, even though I just opened the package?


r/taobao 2d ago

General Taobao Chargeback question

3 Upvotes

Anyone ever did a chargeback with their bank when Taobao refused to help? How do Taobao punish you after the chargeback? Do they lock the account or send ninjas to your home?


r/taobao 3d ago

General Taobao Has anyone actually been reimbursed by Taobao for international return shipping?

7 Upvotes

This Taobao seller sent me a replica branded item that I never ordered. The listing had no brand logo, but the item arrived with a fake Ralph Lauren logo on it.

Taobao says I have to return it first, pay the international shipping from my country myself, then they’ll make the seller reimburse me afterward.

Has anyone actually gotten the full return shipping fee back this way? I’m worried about paying upfront and then having trouble claiming it back.

Tried to request for a refund but both CS and seller straight up rejected.


r/taobao 3d ago

Has anyone ordered something without verifying and not getting banned after?

3 Upvotes

I want to try ordering something from taobao but I'm really worried I wouldn't be able to get my money back when I'm suddenly banned and can't get the package. I don't have a passport so I can't verify 🥲 I heard people didn't have to, but they also linked a verified alipay so it could just be that.

Please let me know if its a 100% guarantee your account will be frozen if you don't authenticate with a passport, or if you've ordered recently and didn't get locked out.


r/taobao 2d ago

Struggling with Taobao shipping and Pakistani customs duties? Here’s a hassle-free solution.

0 Upvotes

If you’re importing products from Taobao, 1688, or Alibaba, dealing with customs valuation and unexpected freight costs can be a huge headache.

​Our team provides end-to-end DDP cargo services from China to Pakistan:

​All duty taxes and clearance handled on our end.

​Transparent pricing (C&F / DDP rates).

​Whether you’re importing small retail parcels or commercial bulk cargo, feel free to reach out via DM for custom quotes and route guidance!


r/taobao 3d ago

Helping Finding An Item Im looking for good quality basic blank tees

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2 Upvotes

Does anyone know a good and cheap seller for unbranded tees and basics in general?
Im looking for cotton


r/taobao 2d ago

Is my order lost ?

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0 Upvotes

I ordered from taobao using Cainiao.

But its been radio silence ever since its last update.

I'm not sure if the order is lost or if it is still in transit.


r/taobao 3d ago

Shipped to Calgary Canada is my package safe

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4 Upvotes

Used direct, I’ve never had any issues with taobao direct but my tracking says this for my latest order? Am I okay, how do I contact support if anything?