SS: Celestial Delinquent Taobao Shopping Service
I'm making this post for my shopping service so that it can be linked to feedback about my shopping service that are posted to eglfeedback :D
My eglfeedback page: http://community.livejournal.com/eglfeedback/180401.html
My Shopping Service Website: www.celestial-delinquent.com
More feedback: http://celestial-delinquent.com/?page_id=13
About Taobao:
For those who don't know what Taobao is, it's the Chinese equivalent of Ebay. You can buy a large variety of items on Taobao straight from the Chinese factories at low prices! There are also many talented craftspeople who design and sell unique clothing items and accessories, Lolita included! But purchasing on Taobao is difficult for non-Chinese because you’d need a validated Alipay account (Chinese counterpart of Paypal) or China bank account to make payments, have a decent command of Chinese to read item descriptions and communicate with sellers, and know someone who can ship your purchases to your own country as many Chinese sellers don’t ship overseas. So that’s where a middleman like me comes in.
My rates are as follows -
For people based in Singapore:
Payable amount = (Item Price + Domestic shipping fee) RMB / 4.5 x 105%
[Based on exchange rate of 1 SGD : 4.5 RMB. 5% = shopping service fee + cross-border transaction fees]
Shopping Service page with the full set of information and terms
Shipping is via Dpex, which costs 18 SGD for first 500g and 5 SGD for each subsequent 500g, and takes 3 - 4 working days to ship your items to you. You pay even less for shipping if you participate in my Batch Orders.
For people based outside Singapore:
Payable amount = (Item Price + Domestic shipping fee) RMB / 4.5 x 110%
[Based on exchange rate of 1 SGD : 4.5 RMB. 10% = shopping service fee + cross-border transaction fees]
Shopping Service page with the full set of information and terms
I can ship via a variety of methods including EMS, DHL, Airmail and SAL. Please click on the above link for full list of methods and rates.
What makes me different from other Taobao shopping services?
I do not boast the lowest shopping service rates or shipping fees. However, I have a keen understanding and passion for the types of items I specialize in purchasing (Lolita, Cosplay, Anime, BJD, Fashion). I can offer you my own input, such as recommendations and reviews, based on personal experience with some of the shops and items.
My service is very personal. I deal with only a few orders each time.
I am effectively bilingual in English and Chinese. No worries about getting lost in translation or fearing that I'll misunderstand you!
Why I Started This Service:
I have been offering my service since around 2009. It started out with doing batch orders for my local lolitas. Although there were many Taobao shopping services and sprees in Singapore, many were reluctant to shop for us since our orders were often more complicated, and because Lolita fashion and other Japanese subculture stuff were alien terms to them. So I started to try communicating with sellers myself, making a Taobao account and finding contacts in China who could help me to pool my purchases together and ship them to Singapore. A couple of lolitas outside Singapore stumbled on my shopping service page and they asked me if I could help them too. So I ended up extending my shopping service to people outside Singapore.
I actually have a full-time job apart from Taobao shopping. My Taobao shopping service is really more like a hobby for me. I do enjoy shopping for others because it allows me to discover wonderful new shops, as well as shop without feeling guilty! (since it's not my money XD)
If you have further questions about my service, please do contact me with the email stated on my website. Thanks for your interest!