What do you all think about these e-commerce sites? Can you recommend any others? Pros/cons in no particular order.
Amazon
Pros:
Sometimes you get free shipping on qualifying orders
Website is in English
Much, much better customer service
Ship to your door
Cons:
Import taxes
Prices can be higher
Not so good for small purchases
Aliexpress - like Amazon, except cheaper, with not as good customer service and you need to pay for shipping. Seriously, I was surprised that the customer service from Mainland China is better than the Taiwanese one (both in terms of their attitude, and them speaking English)
Shopee
Pros:
Can be cheaper than other e-commerce sites, usually cheaper than brick-and-mortar retail
Good for small items that wouldn’t qualify for Amazon’s free shipping
Cons:
Worst customer service of all
Orders tend to be delivered to Shopee collection points or convenience stores.
You have to pay for shipping for each order from a separate vendor (usually NT$60 to a convenience store)
It’s a bit of a Wild West - between my wife and myself, we’ve been scammed a few times.
I definitely would not recommend Aliexpress, many stores and their products are borderline or outright scam.
The sellers often treat you somehow okay only if there is something you can hurt them with if they do not.
Shopee is kind of cumbersome for me, but it is sort of okay.
I like Momo or PCHome 24, usually I search the stuff on Google in English or my mother language and it usually works. Or I ask for help, if I still could not find the desired thing.
Some other things I just buy from Europe or US anyway.
Not at all. Convinis have scale, that’s why it’s $40-60 nationwide. It’s cheap. Those trucks are going to the store anyways. I’m not even at home to pick up things. You’re gonna go to the convini anyways to pay your bills.
Numerous sellers do offer home delivery. It is usually more expensive.
You are aware Shopee has personal listings in addition to professional listings? It is as much a classifieds site as a platform for stores to sell. Shopee Shopping Centre is if you want a professional experience.
Not necessarily.
Well what do you expect? It’s like complaining that Craigslist ads are not in Punjabi.
That isnt relevant. Import vs a local store where you can find almost everything and get it in a few days. Nothing to compare mate.
Also you can choose to have things delivered to your home from shoppee. Most people prefer to use convenience stores or shoppee stores because its just suitible for taiwans lifestyle.
Shopee is garbage. shitty algo, shitty category division. Some things for sale don’t come up on a search even though they’re there, just like on Taobao, hmm. Seems to be tied to how recently the seller logged in.
Low res pics.
Forces one to login to see more than one page of crap search results. After I login it quickly malfunctions and wants me to go mobile (chrome browser issue?).
At least the overseas/taiwan button seems to work, unlike Ruten where unscrupulous chinese sellers flood every option besides meet in person.
Ruten’s search though is magical in comparison- any character can be a match. Just wish it was more popular and updated.
Good for you, the majority of people here don’t have that. So picking it up at those shoppee stores works. It is what it is. Different countries are different : shock
I second those. Especially for appliances, electronics and stuff. But I also buy coffee beans and certain toiletries there. Usually Momo tends to be a bit cheaper than PcHome24.
And both can be used from the browser and with Google Translate.
Shopee is great for “small” stuff. Like batteries, cables, adapters, … Those things will be much more expensive on Momo/Pchome24 because of different shipping logistics.
