Buying furniture on taobao

[abbby]

Need to seek some advise, has anyone bought furniture from taobao and had it successfully delivered?

[the observer]

Yes I have. A sofa.

Sea freight.

Last mile courier is a door to door service, ie not into your home (literally just to the door step), nor installation.

Cheap for a reason.
Would I do it again, no.

[Lisafuller]

Need to seek some advise, has anyone bought furniture from taobao and had it successfully delivered?

Yes, a dresser. Arrived after a couple MONTHS, and even after all that time, it came broken.

[Lisafuller]

Yes I have. A sofa.

Sea freight.

Last mile courier is a door to door service, ie not into your home (literally just to the door step), nor installation.

Cheap for a reason.
Would I do it again, no.

Well, you get what you pay for.

[abbby]

I have to say their designs re very nice and I just can't seem to find them in Singapore.

[MOCHS]

My colleague is a taobao-holic who accumulates at least 1 crate worth of stuff before shipping it over.

Her advice is to only buy from shops that have the diamond rating which means many people have bought from them before and can attest to the quality of the goods. Also read reviews with pictures. She practically TB her whole house. I am on the fence about their quality.

[smoulder]

My wife takes care of it. Seems like being able to communicate in Mandarin helps a lot, but it is still not easy to buy there.

[Lisafuller]

I have to say their designs re very nice and I just can't seem to find them in Singapore.

A lot of the designs are stolen from small businesses and private designers all over the world. Sometimes you can tell by the pictures.

[Lisafuller]

My wife takes care of it. Seems like being able to communicate in Mandarin helps a lot, but it is still not easy to buy there.

I have seen a couple articles which show the specific phrases that correspond with different design styles and pieces for those who are not fluent in Mandarin.

[Lisafuller]

My colleague is a taobao-holic who accumulates at least 1 crate worth of stuff before shipping it over.

Her advice is to only buy from shops that have the diamond rating which means many people have bought from them before and can attest to the quality of the goods. Also read reviews with pictures. She practically TB her whole house. I am on the fence about their quality.

It's actually getting more and more common for a young homeowners to fully furnish their homes using pieces bought from Taobao. They have plenty of time to wait for shipments to come in while they wait years for their BTOs to be ready.

[nelyanne]

TBH I am really surprised that people are doing this, unless it is just a temporary measure and not your final set of furniture.

1.5 year ago we bought some stuff from HipVan for our rented apartment. The design was ok but the quality is simply not there:
- upholstered chairs are not well balanced, and the whole internal filling is flattened
- table top in the dining table looks terrible - scratches and stains I am not able to clean
- sofa parts are sagging
At least with HipVan, they do the assembling for you.
I guess Taobao is similar quality, or worse.

[abbby]

nelyanne: I think their prices (Hipvan) are incredibly low so that worries me..I would also try to stay away from online shop without a shop presence to view the product.

[nelyanne]

@abby HipVan has a shop at Suntec, so you can see stuff in real before buying. However, it might be hard to tell how well the item will age (unless it is obvious from the first look that it is a crap). There used to be some kind of Taobao showroom at Funan, but of course it doesn't cover all sellers.

Anyway, I don't regret - using Hipvan was still better than renting a fully furnished apartment. I just wouldn't do it again if I buy my own house.

[SammieUY]

I've had a few furniture shipped in from taobao before but i usually purchase it from there if i don't mind the quality (usually for the aesthetic of my place rather than practicality). you can find really good pieces at really cheap prices but there's a risk that it will not show up like in the photos, and returning it can be a hassle. Hipvan on the other hand, i believe most of the stocks came from the same few suppliers from china but at least you get to see the real thing in their physical stores. I would usually shop on Robinsons if i were to look for furniture online, and they carry quite a few well known brands.

[abbby]

I am so tempted to buy study desks from Taobao..just afraid it doesn't look the same as in pictures and it's impossible for a return. I just can't find a nice looking study desk in Singapore..