Shopping on local websites

More shopping choices:

[quote]Taipei, Nov. 13 (CNA) Japanese e-commerce giant Rakuten Inc. launched an online bookstore in Taiwan Thursday, expanding its presence in the country’s competitive e-commerce market.

Rakuten Online Bookstore opened its Taiwan book business with 100,000 titles, operating within the Rakuten Ichiba Taiwan Marketplace, the company said.
[/quote]
From CNA

Hope we atoahs also can benefit from this.

Rose Kitchen looks brilliant. All I need is a bigger freezer.

[quote=“Icon”]More shopping choices:

[quote]Taipei, Nov. 13 (CNA) Japanese e-commerce giant Rakuten Inc. launched an online bookstore in Taiwan Thursday, expanding its presence in the country’s competitive e-commerce market.

Rakuten Online Bookstore opened its Taiwan book business with 100,000 titles, operating within the Rakuten Ichiba Taiwan Marketplace, the company said.
[/quote]
From CNA

Hope we atoahs also can benefit from this.[/quote]

I’m going to have to check that out. Rakuten bought out Kobo (an eReader company) a while back so maybe I can get some good books.

I just successfully used Ruten with my friend’s ID. It works just fine.

So no dealing with atoahs? Bummer.

You can use your own name, phone number, and so on, but just use a friends local ID number.
Amazingly the ID number is not cross-checked against any of the other details. So just ask a friend, and order your stuff and C.O.D it to 7/Family/OK. And you’re in business!

Thankyou, Mr. Do.
Why do you have Taipei Prison Welcoming in your signature?

How keh eye luoooo… dway boo dway?
(Chorus: Doo waaay ahhh!)

It’s an actual banner from the Taipei Prison’s website, which I found so hilariously out-of-place that I decided to preserve it for posterity - an opportune decision in retrospect, considering the original seems to have since evaporated… Could it be that finally something was too cute even for Taiwan?

Also, I love the “welcoming” part… Makes you really want to experience their hospitality first-hand. Just where does one apply?

And by the way, just like the Taipei Airport, the Taipei Prison is in Taoyuan (in case you were wondering).

One thing I’ve noticed in local websites, and that really grinds my gears, is that you spot an item in the lineup, let’s say it comes up in your search… and it is not available. I think this is a mayor flaw in the software -but what the heck do I know about computers?!- but anyways I do not understand. On Ebay, you buy something, it immediately goes to ENDED status or amends the quantity available. Not on Books. com . tw or Yahoo. It keeps revolving, it is just that you cannot click and buy it, but it shows up on the feed and it is until you open it that you discover, heck, you can’t have it. Really annoying.

BTW, since I started Spring cleaning, I found a bookmarker for EBAY TAIWAN from 2002 -pressed in one of my college books. You mean we had Ebay here? Do I want to know what happened?

that was when ebay was the place to go when you want to buy stuff, ebay was everywhere. I think eventually people grew tired of the ebay model, and just wanted to know they can get the thing they wanted to buy.

Looking for decent website to buy food in Taiwan.

Any suggestions?

Also, has anything changed in the rank of these below? I heard Taobao is picking up here.

Store: Individual resellers
ET Mall: Good selection, sometimes better prices than others, coupons available from many ATMs
ASAP: 6h shipping
momo
Yahoo Buy
Yahoo Bid
Rakuten
7net: Mostly the same stuff that’s available at 7-11, but you can buy in bulk at a discount
Rose Kitchen: For meat products
tkec: Electronics, but generally overpriced and better prices at another website.

[quote=“cyberguppy”]Looking for decent website to buy food in Taiwan.

Any suggestions?

Also, has anything changed in the rank of these below? I heard Taobao is picking up here.

Store: Individual resellers
ET Mall: Good selection, sometimes better prices than others, coupons available from many ATMs
ASAP: 6h shipping
momo
Yahoo Buy
Yahoo Bid
Rakuten
7net: Mostly the same stuff that’s available at 7-11, but you can buy in bulk at a discount
Rose Kitchen: For meat products
tkec: Electronics, but generally overpriced and better prices at another website.[/quote]

These are my rankings of the online stores I shop at

PChome: fast/free shipping and wide variety
Yahoo Buy/Bid: good for price comparison and good variety, but usually do not buy from here
Ruten: usually has the best prices, but always sold by individual, so no free shipping
Momo: best deals

So, how do you buy from Ruten? Whose ID do you use?

What’s your experience with shipping times from taobao when choosing the cheapest method such as zto express, etc?

I used the link for Taiwanese ID and set up an account.
I only buy things that can be delivered to say a 7-11 where I pay for the item there. I use google translate.
But I need some assistance from a local to set up the delivery location. And you can only enter a Chinese name for that, but they don’t care you aren’t that person when you show them the copy of the email/text message sent to pick it up.

Ah, sorry for the late reply, I use girlfriend’s ID number :sunglasses:

Pchome.com.tw and Rakuten.com.tw

Do they

  1. Deliver to local convenience store?
  2. Accept cash on delivery at convenience store?
  3. Accept Taiwan ID like ARC, APRC?
  1. Yes.
  2. Depends on the vendor
  3. I don’t know
1 Like

I searched the forums for comparisons of the major Taiwan online shopping platforms and landed on this topic. But my interest is not figuring out which is the best to BUY FROM – instead, I would like advice on which would be most appropriate to SELL FROM and reach a local Mandarin speaking market.

My product is a health/cosmetic item - all-natural and made from abroad. My partners are applying for FDA Class 1 approval (because it is a spray) but in other countries, it is also sold without health authority approval (so no clinical claims can be made).

Some of us think we should have product pages for our product on all the major platforms (marketplaces) - PCHome, Yahoo/Kimo, Shopee, Ruten, and Momo as well as our own Shopline store. But we are on a budget and it seems wiser to take a more thoughtful approach - like since one of our target users is seniors, we should focus on one or 2 marketplaces that are particularly accessible to them.

I’ve been told that Momo has a tendency to run a lot of promos and sellers on Momo are expected/required to participate. So, the seller ends up with even tighter margins than on other platforms

Have you had any experience selling to Taiwan from online? Can you rank the marketplaces in general terms?

EDIT: Maybe this should be in a thread called Selling on local websites?

Makes sense.
Why don’t you create one?