Taobao (淘宝) may take a while to make its foray into the United States, some have already been taking advantage of the Consumer-to-Consumer web site to do business online by serving Internet users overseas. Taobao (淘宝) primarily offer services to the mainland users as a result of its Chinese language user interface. No official site in English is online yet.
While browsing Google, a couple of English sites have caught TG’s eyes as they are building their business vividly around Taobao.com. The services they are providing include guides to buying in Taobao (淘宝), dealing with issues of communication, shipping and payments. TG was told same kinds of services are provided by Korean sites, acting an agent, middle man to do trading with the suppliers in the C2C platform.
Two of the biggest problems with e-commerce in China other than language barrier are:
- China is primarily a cash-based society where the use of credit cards is very limited. While more and more affluent Chinese are obtaining credit cards, most vendors, other than Western-oriented outlets and 5 Star hotels/restaurants, do not accept credit cards.
- Internet security is a major issue in China. Most people with credit cards use extreme caution when providing card information for domestic Internet transactions.
Some service providers offer shopping cart, allowing users to paste the URL of the products they find in Taobao into the form, clicking the “Add To Cart” button, the item will then be added to shopping cart automatically, along with the detail break down of the cost.
A piece of advice though: while overseas buyers may find it easy to use their services, they should be aware of the risk of trade fraud. It’s imperative to be prudent in reviewing their credential before placing an order.
Related Articles:
- Taobao Dating is not for dating gals or guys
- Who’re the big boys in China C2C marketplace?
- Baidu(百度) builds a strong case for C2C marketplace
- Titantic crash – Baidu Hi and Alibaba Ali Wan Wan(阿里旺旺)
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My ears are burning! (That means I think you are talking about me.)
But seriously, I think I do not understand the term C2C. How can a Consumer sell something? It enforces this very rigid view of what a “B” should be. Don’t you think?
-Taobao Field Guide