Taobao marketplace
 

Is it a safe place to shop for genuine goods?

Yes but you need to know how to evaluate sellers.

No different than ebay.

Good and bad sellers.

When we were in China, we depended on taobao for most of our hard to find foods.

Only once did our avacados arrive that were too ripe but other than that, everything is very safe.

Ebay has a Buyer Assurance Program and PayPal dispute resolution.

How does Taobao protect me from bad sellers?

Yes but you have to submit your case within 7 days or so.

Many thanks to everyone who helped via PM.

I purchased the Sony Xperia Z1 Compact from a very motivated Chinese national living in Silver Spring, MD via Craigslist.

Wonder how much a Taobao seller makes at 1400 yuan FOB PRC.

With Taobao, you normally have to pay using Alipay and to get an Alipay account, you need a Chinese ID card.

No true. Alipay is only one option. One certainly does not need a Chinese id card to shop on Taobao.

We did not have an Alipay account and we purchased weekly for 3 plus years without issue.

These days, you can do direct payment via bank transfer.

I didn't feel comfortable with direct payment so we used a third party payment processor (name escapes me at the moment). We send x dollars of money to this account then send all our taobao payments via this account. When money gets low, we transfer from our bank another bit of money.

We were never burned. Once they shipped us avocados that were too ripe and they reshipped with in 24 hours. Ended up having fresh guacamole for an extra week.

This is simply not true; I have a verified Alipay account in my real name. While it is much easier to achieve this with a 身份证 number to type in, there is a specific procedure for doing so without that involves scanning in your passport+visa/residence permit.

There is rating system by buyers on Taobao. Basically sellers are trying best to get "5-point rating" and good feedbacks.

And there is Alipay for the payment process, which is a third-party payment platform. You kinda deposit the payment into Alipay, after you receive and are okay with the goods, then confirm the payment.

I've bought from Taobao and would recommend it. As for genuine goods, I only bought goods I knew were knockoffs and cheap stuff from China. It is perfect for that.

The one thing I loved about Taobao in China was the speed and low cost of shipping (vs the US).

I have also been shopping since 2006 in taobao. I have used my english name and passport. No problem. Now (past year or so) you can use a visa or MC to pay for stuff you pay the 2% but it is easy. Even refunds go back in your visa. We have bought over 1000 in there and only felt screwed twice and it was more of just a misunderstanding.