Let's talk Taobao Shopping Services for Lolita Fashion (Don't waste money like I did)

I’ve been contemplating making a post/video about this situation for several weeks as this person could very well dox me or retaliate, and it’s not my intention to pick a fight with them at all. However, I’ve decided it’s best to talk about it since I’ve noticed a lot of Lolita’s with a much larger following than me supporting this shop in some shape or form. I’m not going to tell you how or where to spend your money, but I do want to let everyone know that it’s important to shop around when it comes to buying Lolita fashion, especially from Taobao brands.

Please do not send any hate/spam to any of the services mentioned, this is solely to inform others that there are better options out there!

I’ve spent a few weeks compiling some comparisons between more popular shopping services for Taobao brands, but it’s not going to cover all the shopping services out there.

If you’re newer to Taobao Callista/Magicalgirlme has made a simple video using Taobao Focus as their shopping service, which you can watch it here:

Dreamy Rin/Rin also made a quick video on how to navigate around Taobao, and they have a partner video on How to: use a Shopping Service for Lolita that’s also very helpful!

Personally, I switch between Bhiner and Spreenow as my shopping service of choice as well as ordering through Taobao directly. You do not need to live in China to be able to order from Taobao directly, however you will need to use Google translate if you do not speak/read Chinese. I used this website to help me navigate the order process when I ordered from Taobao the first time: https://www.howtotao.com/buy-from-taobao/

There are many many other options for shopping services and resellers. Don’t be afraid to shop around and compare service fees between each company/service.

So with all of that said, there is one SS (shopping service) that I do not personally recommend if you are on a budget, and that would be Sweet Candy Lolita. I was aware that this SS had a mark-up and decided to give them a try anyway as I saw many prominent Lolita’s following this account and generally supporting them. Needless to say, I spent way more than I needed to for a no frills SS and would really recommend watching the videos linked above on how to order Taobao items on your own through a different SS instead. You can watch my comparison/review video here:

Now, my intention isn’t to send hate to this SS, because they are able to stay in business and provide this service as people are willing to pay for it. What I do want to do though is help inform those who may not be aware or might be newer to purchasing from Taobao that there are many other options that are much more affordable.

This is the item I ordered through Sweet Candy Lolita (SCL), Bhiner, and Spreenow:

This is directly from the Taobao shop for Mystery Kingdom. Since I am located in Canada, my cart is set to show prices in CAD below. As you can see the price for the JSK only is $92.32 CAD (¥478 CNY). The price for the matching headbow is also listed on the Taobao page at ¥78 CNY or roughly $15.06 CAD. The total not including shipping fees etc. would be $107.38 CAD if I purchased this JSK and KC from Taobao.

Price for Dessert Graduate JSK & KC including shipping

Price in Canadian Dollars

With Bhiner and Spreenow you’re able to add items to your cart and then estimate the total cost of the item +domestic shipping+ agent fees. Bhiner charges ¥6CNY + 5% of the item cost for their agent fee, while Spreenow is 10% of the item costs including domestic shipping of 15CNY. Bhiner and Spreenow also have shipping calculators on their website, which is what I used to estimate the total cost of the JSK&KC and shipping in the graph above.

When I ordered from SCL they quoted shipping at £39 GBP (or $67.65 CAD) for a flat weight of 1kg, so I estimated shipping costs based on 1kg for Bhiner and Spreenow and selected China Post EMS which is $45.00 CAD on Bhiner and $52.05 CAD on Spreenow. For Taobao Global Consolidation when I ordered through the Taobao app in the past, they shipped via DHL and the cost for a package weighing 2.7kg is about $50 CAD.

As you can see SCL charges the most for the JSK & KC just from comparing the prices on 2 other shopping services and through Taobao directly. I also took a closer look at my invoice from SCL and while the total for the JSK, KC and shipping would be £139GBP I was invoiced £149.50 GBP to account for the PayPal fees as I opted to pay through Goods&Service for security, which according to PayPal’s TOS sellers shouldn’t be charging PayPal fees to the consumer but here we are. I know anyone can make a chart and put imaginary numbers. so here’s a table comparing the price of the JSK between different options.

This comparison is between SCL, Spreenow, Bhiner and purchasing the Dessert JSK directly from the Taobao app. Exchange rates are based on the rate for the week of March 15, 2021. Spreenow and Bhiner both have their own currency exchange rates listed on the website, hence the discrepancy between the US prices on Spreenow and Bhiner. I’m not sure where either site is sourcing their currency exchange rates from but they are a few dollars apart.

As you can see, the price of just the JSK from SCL is significantly higher compared to even the more expensive Shopping Services (Spreenow & Bhiner). I also wanted to add that when I purchased my JSK and KC through SCL I was also charged a customs and processing fee of $41.89CAD on top of the costs of the JSK, KC and shipping fees. In total the entire experiment cost me about $314 CAD to buy the JSK and KC through SCL. For comparison, for an extra $100 CAD I would be able to buy directly from Angelic Pretty USA and purchase a JSK New With Tags. I’ve purchased a lot of indie and brand JSK’s, even NWT through Lacemarket for a lot less than $314 CAD.

Here’s some other items I looked into comparing just in case anyone thought it was just one item, or that I misread the price on the Dessert Graduate JSK.

This is a comparison with SCL and other popular resellers (Clobba Online, Devil Inspired, as well as the Taobao app) and this time I chose Rainbow Doll House by CC Cat. The original cost of the JSK only on Taobao is ¥228 CNY, the link above is only for the deposit for ¥178CNY, you’ll need to add ¥50CNY to the cost or purchase the second part of the deposit. Exchange rates are based on the rate for the week of March 15, 2021.

Here’s another comparison based on the Stellar Winds of the Universe/Star Wind Universe Bear Biscuit Socks. This time between SCL, Spreenow, Devil Inspired, and the Taobao app. Exchange rates are based on the rate for the week of March 15, 2021. However, I’ve found that the currency exchange on Spreenow’s website and the quote listed on Taobao will vary depending on where they’re basing their exchange rates on!

One final comparison using the Hymn Ice Cream Socks as the example this time. As you can see, even with shipping added on SCL is still the most expensive. I then compared the cost on Spreenow, Superbuy, and Taobao. Superbuy and Spreenow had the same exchange rate listed for $USD so I think they’re getting their currency exchange rate from the same source.

As you can see from the information above Sweet Candy Lolita has been the most expensive out of the options I calculated. I also looked at other shopping services such as Chinese Lolita Updates, Loki Doki Doki Shop, Superbuy, 42Agent etc. and they were still ranked the most expensive.

Now you might say, but Miya, you didn’t include shipping costs for some of these, and that’s solely because depending on the option you pick, and whether or not you’re only buying one item or several as shipping costs are estimated by weight and package dimensions. For the shopping services that had a shipping calculator, I based the calculation on a flat rate of 1kg.

I do want to add that the thing that SCL does well to ease the process for their customers is that they do post the measurements under each item, which is very convenient if you’re already scrolling through Instagram and you don’t need to go to an external website to add things to your cart. However, as I mentioned before you are paying for convenience and if you are on a tight budget I would really recommend spending an extra few minutes to look around at other shopping services to compare the costs.

That’s it from me!

I will stress again, please don’t send hate or spam to any of the businesses mentioned. There are not very many shopping services that will not charge a fee for their services, it’s part of the convenience of using them compared to ordering through Taobao directly. However, the rate at which each shopping service will charge will differ, with most shopping services charging a fee between 5% to 15% of your item cost. But it should never be double to triple the price of the item!

If you have any comments, questions, suggestions please feel free to let me know down below.

Thanks for reading!

**Disclaimer: Spreenow links are my affiliate link, though I really don’t think their affiliate program works. All other links are the direct website.