Online Shopping in China: Beginner’s Guide Most expats are comfortable with online shopping back home because they know how to spot the deals while avoiding the fakes and scammers. But in China it is not as easy with language and cultural barriers. As a result many don’t even try to pe into the world of online shopping in China, but really you are missing a lot. It’s time to get your feet wet, and we can help.68963

Taobao is probably the most well known of all the Chinese online shopping options and a fantastic starting point for would be online shoppers. It is well worth a browse just to see the massive scope of online shopping available in China. Taobao is the daddy of online shopping platforms in China and the equivalent to www.ebay。com throughout the rest of the world. Taobao’s platform differs from Ebay in two distinct ways: Firstly, it focuses on being a collection of stores with customizable spaces. In turn, this creates the second difference, that being the shopping system in Taobao relies less upon auctions, it allows for more instantaneous communication and bargaining with vendors via ‘Wang Wang’, Taobao’s instant messaging platform.

The most convenient way to make payments for online shopping in China is with an Alipay account. Although, it should be mentioned that certain online shopping service providers, such as a great many Taobao stores, give shoppers a ‘cash on delivery’ option when making a purchase. This is also a good way to safeguard against receiving goods being delivered that do not match their description.It is also worth noting that you can purchase Bian Li Tong top up cards from vendors that sell telephone cards, should you not want to go to the trouble of opening a bank account. This method is also a good option when a cash on delivery option is not available.论文网

The first step in getting an Alipay account is acquiring a bank account. This really requires a minimum of fuss as it only takes about 15 minutes to open an account at a bank after braving the queues. All that is needed is a passport and maybe a little help in interpreting the form, plus a small amount of money for starting up the account. China Construction Bank even has its own Alipay debit card which means that users don’t need to even go to the (minimal) trouble of registering online with Alipay.

The free market with ‘Chinese characteristics’ is still well in China. It is true that you can find almost anything imaginable for purchase online- a recent afternoon idling on Taobao even lead to my discovery of an ‘unusual’ vendor with fruit trees and chipmunks for sale. There is a world of bargains out there. An important rule for buying is that you should chat and make inquiries, either in person or through a Chinese speaking/writing friend, and only make a purchase after doing your homework if an item is expensive. If an item costs just a few RMB- as so many do- then you might as well give it a whirl, you could be pleasantly surprised.

B.原文的翻译

在中国网上购物:初学者的指南

大多数外国人回家都喜欢网上购物，因为他们知道如何现货交易，同时避免骗子和假货。但在中国因为语言和文化障碍就不是那么容易了。因此很多人完全不敢想进入中国的网购世界，但你真的错过了很多。是时候涉及这个领域了，我们可以帮你。

淘宝可能是最知名的中国网上购物选项和是网上购物者的一个很好的起点。在中国它是值得浏览看看的巨大网上购物中心。淘宝是中国网上购物平台之父，相当易贝网在世界其它地区的地位。淘宝的平台在两个方面不同于易贝：首先，它致力于成为可定制的商店的集合。反过来，这形成了第二个区别，在淘宝购物系统不依赖于拍卖，它允许通过旺旺——淘宝的即时通讯平台，与供应商更多的即时沟通和谈判。