Comment on Taobaofocus Review: Is It a Legit TaoBao Agent & Reliable? by AD.
I enrolled and paid for an item through their website. When discussing shipping charges , I checked with my contacts in China and realized that not only on shipping but also on main item , I was about to pay almost 400% more. This is how they make huge profits at the expense of the consumer :
1) The exchange rate used is fixed at I RMB = 0.164 USD which means 1 USD = 6.09 RMB. The exchange rate has changed to about 1 USD = 6.70 RMB which means we are paying 10% extra in USD for no reason.
2) The item shows a discounted price in Chinese from the seller but as soon as you add to cart, the discount mysterious disappears and the original price get added. In my item, the discounted price was 335 RMB but what was added was the original price of 918 RMB . Who takes the difference ? You know the answer
3) There is a 10 % service charge
4) Shipping costs weer quoted as 300 RMB ( heavy item) but I got a quote of 110 RMB when I approached direct.
I cancelled my order. If I had continued I would have ended up paying 1600 RMB for an item which I directly ordered through my China contacts and paid only 440 RMB.
That is what I call fleecing at every step and internationally people should be aware of this.
