I’ve heard of Taobao for a long long time, but I can never understand how to shop on it! That’s because it’s basically buying from China, and that means all in Chinese, but I’m Banana (Chinese person that can’t read Chinese TT) so how to shop? Well, recently, I found out about Ezbuy.my. This is actually a Singaporean professional online shopping service, and actually they don’t only shop in Taobao but a lot of other websites too. They basically provide shopping service from China, Taiwan, USA, servicing Singapore and now expanding majorly in Malaysia.
- Use the EzBuy App on Mondays - Good news is on every Monday, so happened to be today, shopping using the Ezbuy app (downloadable from App Store and Google Play) means FREE AGENT FEES. Since we are helped by Ezbuy to buy stuffs from Taobao, they usually charge agent fees, around 8% – 10&. I saved about RM10 just because I shopped using the App today, though the promo does not apply on everything. From the app, I can see what applies and what doesn’t easily. The promo is still ongoing today and next Monday, Aug 1.
2. Shop Flash Deals
Every few hours, there are a bunch of products on flash deals. The deal only last a few hours I think. Some stuffs I saw were going from RM25 to RM15, so I guess it is quite a good deal. I must admit, even thought ezbuy made everything easier, it was not as easy as buying on local websites. I didn’t know about the extra shipping fee from China to Malaysia initially. I had to ask some of my Taobao expert buying friends to find out!
3. Use voucher codes
I use the voucher code EZAPP15 to get 15% off shipping. For eg. all the items I bought showed RM0 domestic shipping, that is the shipping from China to the China warehouse. After I want to checkout, there is a RM16.50 shipping fee, that is the shipping using Economy Air from China to Malaysia. I get some discount for using the voucher code, though it’s not much, RM2.48 only. IF you are new to Ezbuy.my and haven’t signed up, sign up here http://bit.ly/EzbuyRM15 to get RM15 voucher in your account immediately.
4. Use Self Collection at Mcdonalds
Once the parcel reach Malaysia, there will be another shipping fee from Malaysia to my mailing address, costing about RM8. I don’t want to pay another RM8, so I opt to collect at my nearest McDonald’s Drive Thru. I can go there anytime, and it’s FREE. So why not?
5. Use manual bank-in, online or ATM
The only free way to pay is to pay manually, by transferring money into the provided bank accounts after checking out. Unlike most online shipping sites, we need to pay immediately at check out to make the purchase valid, at Ezbuy some time is given for you to go TOP UP and pay manually. Using paypal and credit card will incur additional charges unfortunately. I just use online banking and once it is validated within a few hours, an sms was sent to me to confirm my payment. Yes I only paid RM16.29 for 7 items as I have a RM100 voucher, thanks to Ezbuy.
6. Buy light things
I don’t know, this might not be a valid advise, but I would say, buy things that are light like clothes and accessories. I nearly bought a kids drum set as it was only RM100, selling RM490 in Malaysia leh. However, it is super heavy and the site cannot estimate the international shipping charges. I calculated it myself and it might go higher than the product itself. A fellow shopper told me she did once pay RM100 shipping charges for something that cost below that. So, to save cost I decided I’ll stick with small and light things. You will save nevertheless, as the products on Taobao are super cheap. All the clothes I chose are below RM20. Can’t believe it as they would probably be selling at least at RM40 back here.
There you go, it took me a few days as a newbie Taobao shopper to learn about all these, hope it makes your shopping headache free.
can i use the code over and over again?
you can try!