How to Order from Taobao using Bhiner.com (Part 1: First Payment)

Recently, I've discovered the wonders of Taobao. I found tons of cute items that I wanted to buy, so I researched how to order from Taobao. First of all, you need a shopping service since most shops don't ship overseas. These shopping services are third party companies that will order all your items for you (which can be from different Taobao shops), combine them, and ship them in one package to you for a small service fee--usually 10% of the item price (including shipping costs). When you use a shopping service, there are 2 stages of payments. The first one is the total cost of the items + domestic shipping + shopping service fee, and the second is the international shipping fee.

I searched for reliable shopping services and came across many of them, but the one that stuck out to me the most was bhiner.com. I chose this shopping service because it's really organized and user-friendly, and the service fee is only 5%. Most of the shopping services require you to email the company, but this service has a unique system that makes ordering easier without the hassle of emailing! I will explain MY personal ordering process in the following sections.

The first thing you have to do is register for an account. You can do this by clicking on the Register Now! at the top right side of the page. Once you have an account, log in to start ordering.

Finding Items:

Finding items on taobao.com may be difficult since it's in Chinese. If you can't read Chinese, there are sites that can translate for you. I personally use baoseek.com, and the search bar on the top left of bhiner.com. The bhiner search bar is nice, but sometimes things don't show up, so I use baoseek to look for stuff. Once I find the thing on baoseek, I right click "click to taobao" and copy the taobao link. Then, I paste the url to the bhiner search bar, and the item pops up on bhiner. Then I pick the size, and color of the item and press "add to basket" as shown below (The example does not have options because it only has one size and color).

(edit: The search bar for Bhiner has been updated, so it should more useful now.)

Quote Processing:
Once you add items to your cart, click the cart button at the top of the website. You will be brought to a page that has 3 categories (labeled Phase 1, Phase 2, Phase 3). Phase 1 is basically the items you have added in your cart. When you are sure of the items, check the boxes of the items you want and click"confirm quotes."

Under Phase 2 are the quotes you are waiting to be processed. This just means that the employees at bhiner will calculate the first payment costs (item cost + domestic shipping fees). When they have calculated costs, the items will show up under Phase 3 "confirmed quotes."

Once they are under Phase 3, you may now proceed to the checkout phase.

Checkout:
Once you check the boxes of the items you want to purchase and click "checkout," you will be brought to another page where you are supposed to pay the 1st payment. The first section of this page "Bhiner Account's Value" is what you use to pay. If there is no balance in your account, click "Charge my Bhiner account." You will then be sent to Paypal to add money to your Bhiner account which you can use to purchase your items. There is a Paypal service fee from because you are transferring money to a merchant. This is nice because if you don't receive your items, you may open a Paypal dispute.

Under the Bhiner Account's Value section are 5 other sections:
1) Shipping Options: This is where you enter the address, recipient, and other shipping info. This is also where you can select which shipping provider to use. There is also an "eco friendly" option, which is nice because it sort of lessens the weight (negligible, but still sort of useful).
2) Basket Contents: Shows what items you a checking out.
3) Payment Method: Shows the total item cost (domestic shipping included) + the 5% agent service fee.
4) Order Remarks: Write any special requests you have.
5) Member's Agreement: Terms and conditions of Bhiner.

Once you are done filling everything out, you are done with the first stage!

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This is only part 1 of MY ordering process. I will update my blog and post part 2 after my exams. There is a tutorial on Bhiner.com on how the order and use the site. Feel free to check it out~

Also, just to make things clear, I'm writing this out of my own accord. I am not affiliated with Bhiner. I'm just a customer who was extremely pleased with their service and their website, and decided to post about this to help other people.

♡ Rennie