In high school, window shopping was the norm. You want everything you can’t have, you have a limited budget and restricted time. This is when I discovered Taobao (淘宝). Since then, I’ve become more and more familiar with how the sites works and have helped many of my NYU Shanghai classmates buy items online. Now, I’ll share some of the many experiences I’ve had, as well as tips and tricks to consider when you make a purchase on Taobao. When it comes to searching for what you want, it can be a little bit tricky, just because Taobao is made up of lots of different sellers and private shops. Therefore, knowing how to avoid being cheated is a very important thing to consider when using China’s largest shopping website. If you just want to browse and are not looking for anything specific, you can click the column on the left-hand side titled "Goods Services Classification". All the categories that you may be interested in will be listed below. However, if you want something specific, you should type the name of the product in the search box at the top of the page. There are also three search categories: 'Baby', 'Lynx' and 'Shop'. 'Baby' includes all goods on Taobao; 'Lynx' is a huge online shopping mall managed by Taobao (and is usually of better quality), and; 'Shop' allows you to search for a specific seller or shop. Most often than not, Taobao users are searching for specific items - so we simply use the search function. But - thousands of results come up. How can we decide which product is the best? Based on the picture, most products look the same - but do not judge a book by its cover. Firstly, filter the product by category at the top of the page. After doing this, all you have to do is look at the items listed below. After that, you can rank the products from lowest to highest price or choose the place of dispatch (this may affect delivery time). But now that you have narrowed down your products, how do you know that the goods listed are trustworthy? To test reliability, first notice the sales volume in the right-hand corner of every picture. If you click the picture, detailed information of the shop will come up - including its reputation among buyers. Reputation is determined in levels - the heart is the lowest level, then comes the diamond, the crown, and finally the golden crown. The higher the reputation, the more trustworthy a shop is. You can also evaluate the quality of the product by viewing the ratings under the shop description. The first rating is for how well the photo matches the real good. The second is for services and the third is for logistics. Each rating is out of five and based on the scores, you can evaluate how reliable a shop is. These are the basics of Taobao shopping and should help you get exactly what you want. Taobao is a huge place full of all kinds of shops and products and it becomes very difficult to differentiate quality levels. Just to ensure that you get the best out of your Taobao experiences, here are some more tips:

Be aware of size differences. Sizes on Taobao are not standardized and are generally smaller than they are supposed to be. Check out the complete description of the goods to see if there is more information on measurements and sizing.

Notice the shipping fee. Occasionally, during Taobao promotions and sales, shipping fees may increase dramatically. If this is the case, re-evaluate whether or not the shipping fee is worth it.

Be prepared for low-quality. Taobao is famous for its low prices, so there is a possibility that the goods that you buy are fake or are of very poor quality.

So here is just a basic guide to navigating Taobao - enjoy shopping! This article was written by Amy Zhao. Send an email to [email protected] to get in touch. Photo Credit: Zhang Zhan