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I have been very active on Renotalk, it is a great place to read and learn from others. Also to glean ideas for the renovation.
There has been a lot of talk about buying renovation stuff like lights (from LED to standing lamps), furniture, accessories from this China website. Some people have gone to the extent of purchasing their sinks, TOILET BOWLS, and sofa and beds from Taobao and shipping it to Singapore. The items can be 60% cheaper.
Essentially, Taobao is a site where various vendors sell their goods. The catch is, everything is in Mandarin, and you need to find a agent to assist with the purchase and with the shipment. There are also different agents that charge different pricing. Some by weight, and other by volume. It all gets a little confusing.
From what i have learnt from all my surfing, smaller and lighter stuff, purchase from vendors that go by weight, the heavier stuff like furniture and big lights, going by volume might be more economical.
After some quick surfing around, I am going to put in my first purchase from Taobao. I am actually jumping the gun, which isn’t very sensible. I am buying kitchen ware first. It is a “shop” that sells over runs…and I have managed to find some great flatware by Royal Doulton, Luzerne and Ralph Lauren. Some cute stuff to help decorate the place too.
I had to be mindful and not buy too much because I don’t have space to store too much. But i wanted to buy some stuff now, just to make sure the quality was good. Just so that I am assured the quality is good before i do a big buy.
I have also added in a light, i definitely want for the staircase. It is going to be my test on whether the quality is good. I have found heaps of lights I like from this dealer, I will go on about it later. But for now…sharing some of the purchases I have bought from the cute homeware store. 🙂
Jamie Oliver salad tosser (SG$1.70 each)
Danish Design Salad Bowl (SG$13.40)
Jamie Oliver Chopping Board (SG$12.80)
Large Cake Keeper (SG$13.60)
Antique Salad Spoons (SG$4.90)
Tintin cover pictures on tin plates (SG$13.80 for all seven designs)
Large Luzerne Salad bowls (SG$27.55 for three)
Bread thong (SG$2.45)
Ralph Lauren Baking dish in the brown colour (SG$18)
Royal Doulton White Soup Bowls (SG$77.55 for ten pieces)
Ralph Lauren White Serving Plate (SG$60.40 for two)
In total, the purchase price is SG$258 for the lot. Will update when shipping is included…. I will be using the agent which goes by weight, and I will be sea freighting is back. Lets see how much it will cost. I am expecting it to be about SG$120 for shipping. For the whole lot of things…definitely still a worthwhile buy! I will also be including the light for the staircase in this purchase for shipping. More on that in the next post.
I used http://www.65daigou.com as the agent for shipping. This is the one for lighter, less bulky stuff
pujan said:
HI, I m very impressed by your shopping skill and i am very impressed by t-blog on Taobao shopping thread. I really want to buy things from there but I can’t read chinese so I tried using google translate but still it is very hard for me. I have manage to open account with TB but I can’t seems to go beyond putting stuffs in cart. Will you able to help me? I can’t post anything in t-blog as I am new user so i don’t have rights to post.
If you are willing to help me, you can drop me an email.
thanks
Varnia said:
Hi, do you still have link to this homeware store at TB?
Vanessa Frida said:
Here you go: http://gohooo.taobao.com/?spm=2013.1.w3-8555264810.1.67R53Z&&scene=taobao_shop
Eileen said:
Hi Vanessa, how’s the quality these taobao loots? I am so in love with the cake holder, and going to place order for one! This shop sells so many fab looking stuff! 🙂
Vanessa Frida said:
I am very happy with the stuff…and everything is still good 🙂