Can I buy things on Taobao if I don’t speak Mandarin?
Yes. There are companies that help you shop on the site known as ‘agents’. They have English-language customer services that allow you to pay for your orders with international credit cards or with PayPal. Agents also help you with communication and the due diligence of your purchases so you are always buying good stuff.
Where do I start?
Type some searches into www.taobao.com (using English is fine) to see what is available, and then just send your chosen agent the link. How much do agents cost? Agents tend to charge a service fee – usually around 15 per cent of the cost of the order.
How do I find the right agent?
There are a lot of Taobao agents out there, and not all are created equal! We here at the Taobao Field Guide usually recommend a company called
obook to our users.