Wednesday, July 30, 2014

Easy Taobao Shopping: SpreeNow Tutorial & Review

For a long time I’ve been reticent to buy from Taobao. All those shopping services seemed way too complicated and kinda scary, so I was always discouraged to try it out. It’s such a shame because Taobao is so cheap, and you can find amazing stuff!
It’s just recently, after convincing myself that I needed a wardrobe change, that I finally decided to make my first order. I used Spreenow, which is a new shopping service platform created by the agency TaobaoNow, for which I had received good feedback from a few friends.
Honestly, Spreenow can be a little bit confusing when it’s your first time using it, even though it really is simple, sofor this blog's first article, I thought I could make a quick and easy tutorial on how to use it!

Before starting, you need to create an account on Spreenow. It’s just as basic as any other website you’ve ever registered to; enter your personal information and address information, choose an avatar if you feel like it, and you’re done!

[14/08/05 edit: Spreenow's site is changing a bit, so there might be small inaccuracies in this article. I already edited Step 1, but I'll make sure to correct further changes to the process when I do my next order. Sorry for any confusion!]



Step 1: Creating a shopping cart


Spreenow works like a proxy between you and Chinese online webshops. You can use the search bar to browse items directly on their website, or simply copy-paste the URL of any item you would like to buy.

Tip: Although the site is all in english, keep Google Translate open since you might still need to navigate on Taobao at the same time. To translate words from images, use the pen option from the selected Chinese language on Google Translate and write the character yourself!





So let’s say I want to buy this dress from DearLi:



Once the URL is pasted in the search bar and you’ve hit enter, you will be directed to the translated page of the item, hosted on the Spreenow website. You will now be able to select all required options, like color, size and quantity.




Tip: Always make sure that the store has a good rating, and take a look at the product's feedback! In the comments section, customer's comments and reviews will automatically be translated. Read them quickly to get a feel of the general appreciation regarding the item. Some people also include worn pictures; that'll give you an idea of the actual quality of the product.

Your items will be transferred to your shopping cart instantly. In the shopping cart section, you will be given a subtotal for each store you’re buying from, including domestic shipping costs (it'll always be 15 Yuan, which you'll have to pay once per store). The commission fee (10%) is also calculated and added to your total.




Repeat each step for every item!


Step 2: Creating a shipment


Tip: You can separate your purchases into different shipments if you don’t want everything shipped together. All you need to do is select the items you want and click on the Submit Cart button right besides your total, then go on to the next steps and repeat for each shipment.

Once you’ve clicked Submit, you will have the possibility to name your shipment. Then, click on Create Shipment.
Your items will be transferred from your shopping cart to your shopping spree, the place where you can verify the status of each item you are ordering. You can also view your separate shipments by clicking on My Shipments in the menu to your left.
You can transfer items from a shipment to another by selecting/unselecting the items they contain. If you unselect every item and select them in only one shipment, you can reunite all items in one shipment and delete the empty ones!

Once that’s done, you will see that your items’s status is To be reviewed. The Spreenow agents will review your order and verify if everything is in order.



Step 3: Payment


On top of the Spree Now menu, you will see a menu made of four colored pictograms. Each of these sections is a place to send payments and communicate with the Spreenow agents on different matters regarding your order.
Red is for general communication with agents. It's built like a chatting room where you can ask any question you have in mind. An agent will always quickly reply to your message. They are all extremely kind and helpful, I was surprised! (They even use emojis!)
Green is for messages regarding specific items. If there is a problem with an item (color or size of choice is sold out, item is unavailable, etc..), an agent will attach a message to it.
Blue is where you pay your items, and
Orange is where you pay for the shipping once your order is ready.



Once your items are reviewed, their status will change to To be paid. Depending on the time zone, allow a few hours for the status to change.


You will get a notice on the blue credit card icon, informing you that you can start the payment process. This is where it gets a bit tricky. The Spreenow payment system kinda works like a mini bank account. When paying, you can deposit any amount in your account, either the exact amount of your purchase, or any other amount desired. That way, if any item is canceled, the money will go back to your Account Balance instead of refunding your credit card.
The Account Balance page allows you to access your payment history and indicates how much you have in your account.


Tip: In green is the money deposited in your account, either by yourself or refunded by the staff when an item from your order is unavailable. The red subtractions indicate when you paid for something.


After going in the blue section, you can pay by clicking the Confirm Payment button. Your account balance along with the payment needed (shortage) will appear. If this is your first order, your account balance will be 0.00 and you will have to pay the full amount. In the future, you might have some money left if you had to cancel items from a previous order. In that case, you'll only have to pay the difference!
Click the Amount Top Up button to deposit money in your account. You'll need to pay in HKD (Hong Kong Dollars).
Once the payment is done, return to the blue section. Click again on the Confirm Payment button. You now have as much money in your account as you need to pay.
To wrap up the payment, you'll need to enter a payment password. Remember it well, because there is no password retrieving service for it, besides asking the agents to reset it manually.



Step 4: Completing your order


Go back to Shopping Spree: the items' status have all changed to To be processed.



The agents will now order your items! You'll have to wait a few days for all of it to be completed, depending on how big your shipment is.
You might have to replace items in your shipment during the process if something ends up being unavailable. When that happens, the communication with Spreenow agents is really clear and easy-going, and really makes the whole process simple and pleasant!

Tip: this is where you'll need to remember to manage your shipments and put the newly added items to your principal shipment so that everything gets shipped together. Don't worry, if you forget this step, an agent will probably send you a message to remind you!


A few hours after completing your order, the status will change again to Processing. Wait a bit more!



If everything goes smoothly, little by little the status of your items will change to Ordered: your items are on their way to the Spreenow headquarters!


Once the items get to the HQ, they will be checked by agents to make sure everything is as you ordered, and that the actual product matches the shop's online description, especially quality-wise. That done, the item will be marked as Arrived and checked.



Then you will be asked to pay for the shipping from the Spreenow HQ to your home. When clicking on the orange section and checking your package information, you will have to select the shipping option that suits you best. The payment process will be identical as the payment for your order. When everything is paid, the status of your items will subsequently change to Shipping fee paid, to Packed, and finally to Shipped.


That's it! Your order should arrive in a few days up to 2-3 weeks depending on the shipping option you picked.


As for my overall appreciation of the service, I can just say I loved it. It was by far one of the most human online shopping experience I've had until now. Talking with the agents was pleasant, they are all extremely polite and kind. The service is really quick and effective, and the commission fee is reasonable.
The payment method is a bit complex, but I could easily get used to it and the second order was done without problem.

I hope everything was clear enough, if you have any questions don't hesitate to write them in the comments and I'll do my best to help out!



6 comments:

  1. i made a previous comment but idk if it went through so i came back just to say that this article was so helpful and thank you so much for making this! without it, i would have been very panicky and stressed out!

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    Replies
    1. I didn't see your previous comment so I assume it didn't go through, but thank you for taking the time to comment! I'm glad this article could serve its purpose of helping out! I know taobao can be scary when you're not used to it so I'm happy it could ease some worries for you!

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  2. Can we get back the deposited money? How?

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  3. Hello! Thanks so much for this post! It really cleared things up! I'm jus wondering how long the wait time is between order payment and shipping quote/invoice/payment?

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  4. Some time we never feel what we have done but for other that is big achievement
    shopping agent

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  5. Thank you so much these were the most helpful instructions, I got so freaked out when I put money on the account and then all my products said ready to review and I couldn't buy them and I didn't know why. This explanation was very helpful thank you so much :)

    ReplyDelete