Taobao and group orders from Chinese designers have only been a recent thing for me. Before, in the early days of yore, you were advised against anything coming from China, for fear they would be cheaply made copies that barely looked like the stock photo (which was most likely stolen or edited), or replicas with ink that would run at the slightest dampness or faded colors or backwards writing. I had been content buying from the Japanese brand sites, or official American/English-speaking resellers of Korean and indie brands. (Technically most of the above are probably partially made in China anyway.) Bodyline was my closest contact to mainland China for a while lmao.
Last year, I bought replica shoes and petticoats from a Canadian reseller and an English site, and I have made a successful purchase through Aliexpress, which lists some Taobao shops in English instead of Chinese. Everything went well, the shoes looked great and fit fine, the price plus shipping was a reasonable 50% off buying the brand shoe. Shoes are a no-brainer, though, as long as you measure your foot precisely, the stock photos can't really be misleading of what you're going to get.
I then ordered off English version sites of Chinese brands some blouses and dresses and a corset. Customer service was excellent, the value was reasonable, shipping not too bad. The items were as described, and came with a free necklace and extra handmade bows, as well as an empty cookie wrapper (which I guess a packer was snacking on lol.) Definitely would order again from these sites, in conclusion.
This year, I dared to do a group order from Taobao with some local lolitas using a shopping service for things other than shoes, although I did order more shoes lol. The process was much like using a Japanese shopping service at first, for example, ordering the thing you want in a language you did not know after much painful searching and trying to google translate everything. Putting in the order with the shopping service. Getting an estimate. Paying up. Waiting for the order to arrive (and for custom orders to be made.) Getting an estimate for shipping, which almost always had to be EMS. Paying up for that with much wincing and regret. Then actually getting the order, hoping against hope it won't be damaged or stuck in customs. Finally, in this situation, getting the items from the person who arranged the order with the shopping service. A much longer ordeal than buying directly from the brand or their official resellers, even without the language barrier. I had been in no hurry for these items, of course, but the months of waiting was gnawing at the back of my mind. The items I got looked as described, but within 1 day of wearing them out, a button fell off on a blouse and a piece of the sole of a shoe broke off as well. Finally, I was made subject to the adage of "you get what you pay for" or "buyer beware." (Which, to be honest, applied to many items bought from the actual Japanese brands, too.) I also felt like the shipping was unusually high, even for EMS and heavy items, but I was aware that overseas prices had increased by a lot, so I was ready to bite the bullet for it.
Did I feel like this group order was worth it? To be honest, no. I much prefer the customer service of brands especially the ones with stock in the country, or the cheapness of shipping from secondhand sellers in America, or the ease and timeliness of ordering from an English version of the Chinese brand. There are plenty of amazing Taobao only Chinese shops with custom sized dresses and unique prints and accessories, but I am not willing to wait months and pay out the nose for shipping for any of them when I could potentially find secondhand brand for the same price and much faster, from someone who speaks the same language. I'll just make my own accessories, honestly.
I am currently in the middle of another taobao order for some aristocrat jacket and a Mucha print dress. How will this shake out? We shall see...
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