TaobaoFocus is an agent for online shopping in China. It pegs its mission as “to help and allow more international buyers to enjoy shopping on Taobao, China’s largest online marketplace.” Obviously expert at targeting worldwide buyers, its appeal to the growing Middle Eastern market is a big plus point. It is now offering a website translation in Arabic in addition to the more usual English, Russian, French and Spanish.
Join us exploring TaobaoFocus in detail to see how it is differentiated from the competition.
#1. Is Their Website Easy To Order ?
Overseas shoppers accustomed to retail websites boasting easy navigation and contact points will feel right at home at TaobaoFocus. It’s “shop til you drop” 3000 miles from home – without ever leaving the house.The extremely well edited English website version is text-heavy but speaks in well-defined terms.
The order system on TaobaoFocus ensures a smooth shopping experience. Calling on a universally recognized account registration and shopping cart structure, shoppers will need no introduction to ordering procedure.
Additional features inherent in this fun excursion include:
- The capability to enter comments/receive replies directly on the order page;
- Multiple delivery address option;
- Order processing updates per e-mail;
- Standard pre-shipping sharing of ordered item’s photos;
- And a “Save Shopping Cart” function to preserve interrupted online sessions.
- Categories of Taobao shopping opportunities — e.g. tea, wedding dresses, men’s shoes – are expertly delineated to support non-Chinese users.
#2. How Much Do They Charge ?
Service fees of 10% (of product costs + domestic shipping) are by no means competitive with some other agencies. And since all calculated and estimated costs presented on the website are expressed in RMB only, it’s difficult for any first-time customer unfamiliar with the Chinese yuan exchange to assess in advance how much of his local currency will actually disappear from his bank account.
TaobaoFocus is one of the few overseas shopping websites to articulate its policies surrounding Refunds and Privacy in official terms.
#3. Which Payment Method Do They Support?
Payment methods are the most varied of any Chinese agent’s site: PayPal, MasterCard, Visa, Maestro, JCB, WebMoney, RBK Money and Western Union are all accepted forms of payment.
#4.What Did They Post On Their Blog?
The general appeal to an overseas shopping public is reflected in the website’s blog. It is here that the curious user can read about local customs and lifestyle in posts about, for example, Chinese New Year. This blog is also designed to be a community-builder. Promotions and contests for “Share your Language”, Valentine’s Day or International Women’s Day are themed to speak to customers from all around the globe.
#5. How Is Their Customer Service Support?
TaobaoFocus seeks to put them to rest with a very American-style, customer-friendly template. Citing Live Support Chat (available 10am to 10pm China time, Monday-Friday), a how-to-order tutorial, copious FAQs, a guarantee that Claims & Complaints will be handled properly – and finally – the Terms & Conditions to back themselves up, TaobaoFocus puts users’ minds at rest.
The TaobaoFocus staff promise to help with translation as well: if a shopper is stymied by a puzzling translation on Taobao, TaobaoFocus will hone in on the relevant products, speak with the seller and relate requested information back to the buyer.
#6. What Did Other Customer Say About TaobaoFocus?
sleemanj: Taobao Agent Experiences/Reviews for Electronics Purchasing
kirkup: Review! Taobao Focus
terra2: My Review of TaoBao Focus Agent
Bryan_drinks: Taobao Focus issue
strawberry-cupcakess: My taobao haul and a little review of Taobao Focus
To see How TaobaoFucus Works watch this short video clip.
[su_youtube url=”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0gCzmc2qXuQ” width=”620″ height=”350″]
TaobaoFocus Review: Conclusion
TaobaoFocus’s forte is easy to navigate website, qucik reply,but their website looks outdated and I do think they should remodel their site a bit.their service price is 10%,which is one of the highest among all the agents,you can see this taobao agent pricing comparison table,most of other agents charge less than 10%.As usually, I highly recommend you check this website yourself to see whether or not it’s the best fit for your needs.
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9 thoughts on “Taobaofocus Review: Is It a Legit TaoBao Agent & Reliable?”
Avoid, a very dishonest company.
View CommentEven thought I was sent a faulty graphics card, they would not even refund a dime to me. The card arrived very obviously damaged, as could be seen when they so call inspected it.
Now I have wasted over $200 and am furious !
Dont take risk, as you not only have the risk of dodgy sellers from there but then you have this so called company who is meant ot have your back, but in end will not help. Just there to take a large chunk of there cut and then your on your own.
Jesus, don’t use this company!!! They are absolute frauds and don’t have a clue what they’re doing. I’ve sent 3 parcels with them to Bulgaria and not one has shown up!!!
View Comment$62.38AU SHIPPING costs to Australia for 3 small items. BIG $$$ to cancel too!! Will never buy from this mob again. They rely on massive amounts of small print that nobody will read, so there you go without having to read all the garbage they wrote.
View CommentI have only recently arrived in Shanghai for work. Our family has been ordering on Amazon since that company sold only textbooks more than 15 years ago. We’ve come to expect a broad selection, competitive prices, very honest and clear transactions, and convenient delivery. Emphasis on “convenient.” Amazon won’t deliver to us while we’re in China, and we’d heard that Taobao is as good as Amazon, but in Chinese.
Enter Taobao FOCUS. This company’s entire sales pitch, for the steep mark-up fee they add onto all orders as a “commission,” is that they process your order in your language (English…). While I do not find that either the Chinese language Taobao site or its significantly more limited multi-lingual counterpart, Taobao FOCUS, rivals the polish and professionalism of Amazon (images, reviews, customer service…), what most perturbs me about Taobao is its nearly exclusive Chinese language delivery service. First off, I recognize I am the foreigner in China and that it is my responsibility to learn Chinese or find help when I need it. However, I paid the commission fees to Taobao b/c I expected the entire purchase experience, from product selection to payment options to account management to delivery, could be conducted in English.
So I bought Taobao’s online goods. Now how do I get them, given I cannot communicate in Chinese? We’ve arranged with friends back in the USA to accept our Amazon deliveries there, repackage, and mail the products to us here in China. In exchange, we’ll throw them a handsome chunk of change to express our appreciation for being able to get the goods we want delivered reliably to us. Taobao FOCUS ought to arrange with English-language delivery services or intermediaries so customers feel confident we’ll get our goods. We’d be happy to pay their “commission” for the convenience.
View CommentI 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 :
View Comment1) 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.
Hello! We would be happy to make things more clear about your order, please provide us your order number to let us help you understand how does our service works. Please contact our Live support, Online Chat Operators are available online: Monday to Friday from 10:00 am till 12:00 am,
View CommentSaturday and Sunday: 1:00 pm till 9:00 pm Bejing time: https://taobaofocus.com/
Also, we would like to note that usually discounted items are calculated via discounted price but sometimes it may not be displayed. In that case we have “Price adjsutement” field in the order form to adjust the price to the real disounted one. We are looking forward to hear from you!
Hi Eric!
Thanks for review of our service, but this is now a little bit outdated, as our website and services were updated last year. Also online support is now available 7 days a week with extended hours.
Also we would like you to pay attention to the fees and commission, as you do not notice something important: while we charge 10% commission on items price, we do not take any commission on payment and shipping, comparing to our competitors charging from 3.5% to 5% on top for every payment, including shipping, etc. It would be nice if you make it more clear about such points.
View CommentI have an order pending on taobaofocus-
Total order + domestic shipping + commissions = 451RMB,
International rate is 1=6rmb, so 451rmb should be $67.42.
Taobaofocus says my order (451rmb) is $73.96.
Taobaofocus is overcharging an additional 10%.
View CommentHello! Please note that we use currency which is based on average interbank currency rate, and currently it is 1RMB=0.164USD. We charge only 10% of commission fee, there are no additional fees for payment or shipping at all. If you will have further questions, please contact our Live support, Online Chat Operators are available online: Monday to Friday from 10:00 am till 12:00 am,
View CommentSaturday and Sunday: 1:00 pm till 9:00 pm Bejing time: https://taobaofocus.com/