internet shopping in China

This site was recommended by an expat who's been here almost five years.  He says you can order just about anything from these guys and that they are reliable.

Has anyone used this shopping site before?  How was the service?  If anyone can figure out how to get the page in English, please let me know.

www.taobao.com

I have ordered a couple of soccer shirts as well as exotic shaving creams from there with the help of a colleague. It works out really well and the prices are much better than retail most of the time

kcanuck - the google toolbar can translate any web page into English.  It doesn't work very well, but it is better than nothing.

Just to revive an old topic.  I have recently discovered Taobao.  The website is amazing, you can find anything on there.  Its much better than Ebay.  Most things you can buy in a western supermarket you can buy on Taobao cheaper.  I have had to take the key for the internet shopping bank account off my wife as she has become addicted to buying stuff.  I bought some nice dressing gowns for 23rmb each, so cheap.  When we moved into our new apartment and we wanted some things, we just ordered them and most of them arrived the next day.

Its only in Chinese, I think you need a Chinese bank account which is opened for internet shopping.  I have a keyring with numbers that change every few seconds, so its quite safe to use.

Also I have used it on my own to search for things, as you can type things in English and most of the time something comes up.  Just ask a Chinese friend to order it for you. 

The Babe is an addict. Everything comes from Taobao. All I do is put the money into her account! A nice Armani overcoat arrived yesterday. Fits perfikkly!

I am totally addicted to Taobao as well. I buy everything from there. My kids are clothed entirely in taobao purchases, I get Western food from Taobao, and I buy secondhand English language books for like 30-50RMB. Even our two computer desks and three chests of drawers came from Taobao. Seriously, you can find pretty much anything you'd want on Taobao, and on the cheap. My husband, the Chinese one in the family, has no interest in it, but I love it. 

yeah, guys!
taobao is the best e-shop in China. It is the most popular.

Taobao is a very popular way of marketing now,i am from chinese,and most of our daily necessities r from taobao,generally speaking,taobao is safe,the quality is good and it is very cheap,this is the reason why most women love it.my cousin is carrying on taobao,so i am very familirar with taobao,any question,contact with me,i will tell u all how to use taobao and how to find a good taobao shop.

Taobao rocks.  They have everything .... everything ... everything.

But it is all in Chinese.  And you need someone to set up a Taobao / Bank account to handle the fund transfers (I have no idea how this is done but it is more than just a credit card ... it is sort of like a bank account at Taobao that you wire money into and then when you buy something the money is taken out .... but you need someone who understands to set it up)

And you need to understand how the sellers get rated so you buy only from the more reputable ones .... lots and lots of copies out there.  Heck there are even copies of th copies!  And my "buyer" usually chats with the seller(s) before we purhase (QQ or something similar).

But they have everything!  From DVDs to PC programs .... heck, I just bought a "Made in China but only sold in the US" car seat for the kid ....