I have great experiences with taobao
I didn’t know Ruten was still a thing
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opposite experiences I guess.
Yup. In my experience, way better than Taobao.
For what type of products though?
Are you talking about the normal Made in China cheap stuff?
It’s easy to research products without looking at the review on Amazon.
But most people don’t, they look at the reviews or glance at the ratings, which are entirely gamed and they do rely on the comments of reviewers to understand failure rates, potential problems, quality issues etc.
What information do you do your research to rely on if you’re purchasing on Amazon if the product is a generic product from China with someone’s brand label slapped on it?
Isn’t there a thing you can add to your browser that lets you know when the item you’re buying is coming from China?
But pretty much all of it comes from China! People slap a personal brand on the item, import it to the US, buy or give away product in exchange for ‘honest’ reviews and Amazon takes care of everything… payment, distribution etc.
I could do it from here. The success of the strategy though is wholly dependant upon reviews, which most are bought or received from freebie product in exchange for reviews.
If it’s a generic Chinese product then save the picture and do an image search for it in Taobao. I guarantee you will get exactly the same product for a fraction of the price.
Taobao delivery is easy once you know what you are doing. Either get it sent directly (expensive) or order a bunch of stuff and then have it sent collected delivery by plane from Shanghai. The second option is cheap and I usually get stuff in 7 days.
Amazon is great for branded stuff. Hiking stuff is maybe 35% cheaper than Taiwan.
Shopee is the best platform for Taiwan sellers. Also Chinese stuff if the stock is already in Taiwan and I’m willing to pay a little more.
Of course, because it is exactly the same product from exactly the same factories, just with a personal label slapped on and incentivised reviews, when you buy it on Amazon.
The problem with relying upon the reviews on Amazon for the product you’re buying for less on another platform, is that those reviews are mostly incentivised, so they may actually not be representative of how ‘amazing’ that product is in reality, because the reviewer got it for free/was paid to review it.
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my sollution has always been rather simple. Dont support Amazon. Dont support China.
Happy life 
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How do you sign up for that? xD
No, seriously.
I often buy from Ruten , Amazon is probably just about my favorite due to very fast delivery times. Ali Express is pretty good just really slow .
As for giving away free products for stars, that doesn’t bother me. Merchants on Amazon are very concerned about mainitaining high five star ratings , so generally do not mess around. A few bad reviews and they feel it, regardless of how they got there in the first place. Just my experience.
Anything on AliExpress will be cheaper on taobao
So you don’t buy Nike or any other brands that manufacture in China?
I know I’ve posted almost these exact words before, but I dont buy anything from China if I can help it. The only exception I made in the past three years was a new computer. Yes, I could have done a lot of research and found something that wasn’t from China, but I know what I need in a computer and the one I needed was made in China. But I spend US$200+ on one pair of US made shoes and US$20 on pairs of socks now and buy few clothes as it is.
Is really nice to your wallet if you dont support China. You rethink 99% of purchases and end up realizing you dont need any of that stuff anyway.
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I dont really care tbh. If you think you are making a difference, then go ahead. I just don’t think you are
I dont think that the private manufacturers that you see on Taobao are the problem. A lot of them are nice people who worked their way up from nothing and built global manufacturing businesses.
These people aren’t the problem. They suffer as much shit from the CCP as anyone. If you are buying stuff from them you arent supporting the Chinese government. Maybe if you were buying stuff from actual SOE like Huawei, then there is a difference.
You could say that you are still paying tax to the government, but companies like Apple, Nike, TSMC etc all pay more tax to the government
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If everyone stopped supporting things made in China, manufacturers would be forced to reconsider where goods are made. But most consumers only want things quickly and cheaply, so manufacturers continue to produce in China. No need to think about human rights abuses or environmental impact. And that’s the choice of each individual consumer. For me, I made my choice to boycott Chinese goods and consume less crap.
By exploiting cheap labor, often literal slave labor, and destroying the environment with no personal consequences.
Anything you buy from China is supporting the Chinese government
Literally everyone doing business in China is paying taxes to the CCP, which, if nothing else should convince you, is how they pay for their military and weapons.
It doesn’t matter if you’re buying from some “small town success story” or the Apple and Nike type mega corps, they are all businesses in China. They pay taxes to the CCP. They use Uyghur slave labor. They use child labor. There is nothing funnier to me than someone saying “at least they have a job” or “boycotting their goods will mean they don’t have a job”. Umm…or the government could use their wealth to provide educations to these people so they don’t have to work in factories. Prop up the economy in literally any way but environmentally destructive manufacturing. But the government doesn’t want to do that. What’s the CCP’s favorite thing to brag about? “Lifting millions out of poverty”? Yeah, they conveniently forget the part where they drove everyone into poverty in the first place.
So I take my dollars elsewhere. And the people of China and the Chinese government doesn’t care, because I am very much in the minority when it comes to boycotting Chinese goods. But at least I can rest easy knowing I have one less piece of trash in my home and I was not responsible for supporting the CCP in bringing that piece of trash into my home. But we live in a free economy. Everyone is welcome to support whoever they please.
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That’s not true. And also won’t happen
I’ve been to Chinese factories, there is good and bad. Most are just basically factories. Slave labor is true when you are talking about the cotton fields of Xinjiang.
But ok how do you know what you are buying is not made in China? Almost anything you buy in a Taiwan will be. Even if you are buying something that says it’s not made in China, mostly likely that the components will be.
Do you watch Disney shows? Do you wear Nike? Do you watch the NBA?
Why?
Yeah but I’m going to guess the companies you are choosing to support pay more tax to the ccp than the small private manufacturers you are avoiding.
I agree, do what you want. Nobody is coming onto an e-commerce thread to lecture you. If you feel that you are making a difference , that’s cool, I just don’t think you are
The only stuff I buy here is food/drinks, bus/MRT/youbike/HSR/taxi/etc fare, fees for classes I take, and the occasional museum entrance.
No, no, and absolutely not. Especially not the NBA after 90% of the screen was in simplified Chinese characters when I was in the US.
Have you heard of tax loop holes? Probably the people paying the least to the CCP are the major brands. Which I also do not support.
This is a case of agree to disagree. I resented my grandmother for my entire youth due to her anti-China stance when it came to purchasing goods. But I came around and I apologized to her for it, because I decided that she’s right. But I came to that conclusion on my own, through my own research, becoming annoyed with myself for sounding like her as I criticized the Chinese human rights abuses and environmental destruction in my late teens and early 20s. And now I’m here and happily someone who only buys what I need and will use “I like it but it’s made in china” as a very good reason to not buy pretty much anything.
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Sure but I think your protests are pointless in the bigger picture and don’t have much value on threads discussing e-commerce.
If it makes you feel good , then great, but stop proselytizing