KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 15 — It was raining and I couldn’t mow the lawn, I told myself. I was just browsing, I told myself again.
This is a story of how I inadvertently “poisoned” myself into buying a Pop Mart Labubu and along the way found out how easy it is to shop on Taobao now the app is in English.
The T in Taobao is for Temptation
I learned to use China’s version of Amazon, Taobao, during the pandemic despite knowing all of maybe 10 Chinese characters.
Very important when navigating: learn to recognise the characters for Malaysia i.e. 马来西亚 (pinyin: Mǎ lái xī yà)
It is a lot easier to navigate Taobao on a computer — you can just use a translation plugin and see the website rendered in passable though occasionally odd-sounding English.
Still if you want to use it on mobile, here’s how you can do it.
1. Search for 手机淘宝 or “taobao” on whichever mobile app store you’re using. You should see an orange-coloured (Taobao’s primary theme) app with the character 淘 prominently in the centre.
2. Download it and follow the steps to register an account. I muddled through the whole process by screenshotting and reading the result via the Google Translate app.
Terms that might be helpful or at least prevent you from accidentally registering another Taobao account instead of logging in:
我的淘宝 (My Taobao, or your personal user page)新用户注册 (New user registration)国家地区 (Country – scroll through the long list until you see either 马来西亚 or +60 (Malaysia’s telephone prefix)手机号 (Telephone number)同意协议并注册 (Agree to the terms and conditions, and register)登录密码 (Register your password, 6-20 characters, alphanumeric only)确定 (Agree)下一步 (Next step)
Once you have made an account, now here’s how to simply change your Taobao language to English.
1. Look for your My Taobao page shortcut it’s on the bottom righthand side corner with an icon that looks like a smirking eyeless smiley.
2. You should be redirected to a page with your username right on top. Now click on the little icon on the top upper right corner that looks like a gear, that’s your Settings.
3. You should see various settings but the most important one is just above the first horizontal line divider: 国家/地区、语言、货币 or Country/Language/Currency. Click on it.
4. Click on the Language option or 语言 and it will let you choose between Chinese or English. Select English, click Confirm and you’re ready to make unwise financial decisions.
5. Don’t forget to set a delivery address in your account settings now that you can read the different settings without Google or your long-suffering Mandarin-reading friend.
Changing your language in the mobile app is as easy as clicking on the Settings icon and then selecting the language option, and then changing it to English. — Composite of Taobao screenshots
Things to know about the ‘English’ version of Taobao
1. Not all things might be available when you choose English
I wishlisted some items in the desktop version of Taobao but when viewed on the English beta they were listed as “unavailable” in the app, but I could purchase them on the desktop version.Searching in the English version also had fewer listings pop up.
2. Shipping is slightly more streamlined in the English version
One thing that trips up a lot of international buyers is the various kinds of shipping options on Taobao — there’s air shipping, sea shipping, consolidated air shipping, consolidated sea shipping and the option to make private arrangements with the seller directly.
In the English beta, international buyers may only choose between air and sea shipping.
3. SST will be added to your purchase order
Taobao is one of the international sites that has signed up to tack on 10 per cent sales tax for your online international purchases so don’t be surprised if it is added to your purchase total.
4. The English beta makes navigating different payment options easier
When making a purchase you can choose among various supported payment providers including Touch N Go, Apple Pay, credit cards, credit card instalments (Public Bank/CIMB/Hong Leong Bank), online banking (Ambank/Maybank/Public Bank/Hong Leong Bank/RHB Bank) and Lazada Wallet credit.
Do note that there will be an additional transaction fee charged for your purchase. Alipay is however not included as a payment option, unlike for the Chinese version.
How my Labubu hunt on Taobao (English) went
I was curious about Labubu figures so I looked at local websites and balked at the huge markups.
Labubu’s RRP is RM70 but Malaysian resellers were marking the figures up by 100 per cent so I decided to check out prices from the official website on Taobao instead.
While Pop Mart on Taobao did not have stock, I found resellers selling for around RM10 or more than Malaysian RRP, which I decided was acceptable.
Even with the sales tax and shipping, I still paid RM40 or so less than what a Malaysian reseller would charge and the entire process — searching for listings, reading reviews and making the payment took me less than 10 minutes in total.
While you can find bargains aplenty on Taobao I would advise caution as in some cases you might need to pay to ship back goods if you wish for a return or exchange and if you don’t read Chinese, you will find it a bit tricky to explain your case to a seller if they decide to have a chat with you.
Some items such as those with lithium batteries or liquids might also be tricky to get shipped so though you might pay a little more on websites like Shopee or Lazada, you will get that added thing called peace of mind and next day delivery.
