Taobao Help Needed

[darjoe 0]

Hi darjoe, have you received the items? Any pics to show?

Hi, my shipment only just left China yesterday - i had added more products and due to the China's golden week, the office was shut.

My total shipping for those items came up to SGd160 for economy (2 weeks), the express 7 days was about SGD740 something.. Personally, for the items i have bought + the shipping, i think it is a rather good price.

[darjoe 0]

China and Singapore same voltage. Only electrical items from Amazon need to take note.

Hi all, i am going get to wall power sockets from taobao, and found this:

http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?spm=2013.1.0.0.zcTXw7&scm=1007.77.3.0&id=26707308429&pvid=ccea917e-e417-43e1-8524-145bad690916&jlogid=p23140403c3c30

my chinese secretary checked with teh seller, and they confirm that it is 13A 250V which we can use in sgp.

reason why i am THINKING of getting this is that i can use it for both SG appliances and CHina ones, like kettle, rice cooker etc.

(ok my background, been living in Shanghai for a few years now, still here, and will be moving back when my apt is ready, so this means i have alot of appliances bought here that i want to ship back home). And in Shanghai, i have a extension chord which allows me to use BOTH SG and China plugs. So i thought, might as well find a wall power socket that can take both)

And i also saw in Changi Airport, where they have this type of sockets at the 'resting' area for travellers to use their laptops etc.

I hope i am right on this. If anyone has any comments/feedbacks about using such sockets, pls let me know, i would super appreciate it!

Thank you!

[sunset.dolphin 0]

Any kind souls out there can recommend me kitchen double sink n retractable tap from tb? I wanted to buy from tb for my new house but hubby scare can't use in spore.

[gryffindor 2]

Anyone bought Herman Miller chairs from tb? I believe they are made in China.

[OceanEleven 203]

Any kind souls out there can recommend me kitchen double sink n retractable tap from tb? I wanted to buy from tb for my new house but hubby scare can't use in spore.

Believe the brand equivalent to Kraus is known as Sellena in Tmall.

As for taps, you need to search a bit more.

[mrsyap 3]

hello everyone, I'm back to just give my thanks and contribute back to this thread since i bought lots of stuff for my home back in Apr.

Let me try and remember what i got.

Toilet:

Kohler taps

Kohler sinks

Kohler rainshowers

Towel racks

Hand towel rings

Shower racks (for shampoo/shower foam)

Toilet roll holders

Kitchen:

Sellena sink

Kohler pull out mixer tap

All pendants lightings for the entire house I got them from taobao except LED lights and light bulbs which i bought locally.

TIPS: I didn't choose the cheapest to buy. I buy from sellers with very high crown ratings in taobao or TMALL. I buy if i read reviews that the products are excellent in quality, pictures are reasonable and prices are not too ridiculously cheap that imply those are fakes or inferior. I can't provide any links to the stuff i bought as I think they are all purged out from my tb account already, I can't find them anymore. sorry!

My review after using them for about 4 months:

All the lightings and sanitary fittings are able to install without any problems at all. Hope this will lift all your worries if you are wondering about the compatibility between these china stuff and our sg homes.

The sanitary fittings were all very good, to my SURPRISE. No rusting, feel extremely heavy to touch and nice shiny flawless finish.

All pendant lights are of great quality too and my electricians had no issue installing them. I see the exact lights selling at Jalan Besar at exorbitant prices, I don't think I can ever bear to buy from them coz it's like 200% mark up. Lights from Jalan Besar and taobao are the same replicas of famous designers and i don't really care. I also threw away all the free cheap light bulbs the sellers sent with the lights as those aren't energy saving or LED.

All the Kohler stuff are working GREAT except for the kitchen pull out mixer tap. Now, this tap was not exactly dirt cheap - like S$70 but so much cheaper than SG. But I would say it's a combi of poor quality and as well as rough use on my end. This is the only product without review that I got from an isolated seller coz it was an exchange for some items i bought from this seller (i bought wrong items and seller is so nice about it).

The inner pipe ruptured somehow due to us yanking it out roughly daily for about 3 months plus as we like to rinse the corners of the kitchen sink clean of grease every time we do the dishes. Water didn't burst out or anything, but water flow became increasingly small so we noticed something amiss.

Eventually we got a nice Arino replacement kitchen tap from GR Link Marketing at Jalan Besar which has an external swivel pipe to allow us to rinse the entire sink. Damage was $180 and pretty sure this solid piece can take our abuse for a long time coz the metal pipe is really thick this time and no more pull out pipe. Warning to people who are considering to buy pull out kitchen mixers - pull out is a bad idea. Jalan Besar uncle also advised against it. So if you are like me, rough usage and like to rinse the sink clean, please get something like this Arino T8000A tap.

Edited November 13, 2013 by mrsyap

[OceanEleven 203]

hello everyone, I'm back to just give my thanks and contribute back to this thread since i bought lots of stuff for my home back in Apr.

Let me try and remember what i got.

Toilet:

Kohler taps

Kohler sinks

Kohler rainshowers

Towel racks

Hand towel rings

Shower racks (for shampoo/shower foam)

Toilet roll holders

Kitchen:

Sellena sink

Kohler pull out mixer tap

Good review. Would be great if you can post some reviews on the Kohler items and Sellena sinks.

Issues such as installation, price comparing to Singapore and links would be much appreciated. Thank you.

[mrsyap 3]

actually can't compare them to SG coz SG Kohler are from authorised distributors, guaranteed authentic if you get it here and cost in the range of high hundreds to thousands. I have only used the real thing at hotels.

TB price Kohler taps and sinks at below S$100 usually. And no vouch for authenticity if anyone here is particular about it.

I received them with authenticity booklets, in dust bag and Kohler boxes but I just throw all away coz there is no point for me to keep. I believe China warranty are not recognised here anyway. I wouldn't bother fixing it if it really spoils one day down the road coz I would just get a replacement from Jalan Besar. Honestly, I don't even know if the authenticity booklets are real haha....I didn't examine them.

Installation for taps/sinks have no problems. Plumber did not raise anything unusual and installed as per norm.

Glad it turned out all to be better than expected and taps and sinks were heavy as ****. Plumber uncle says weight tells a lot about the quality of the taps. Not sure how true lah.

[greglhc 30]

Thanks for the review mrs yap. I have heard quite a few issues about pull out kitchen mixers. Not just taobao ones but also those from singapore (since chances are, they are also made in china heh). The advice that my contractor and plumber told me - is not to pull out the kitchen mixer too often and cannot be too rough when pulling at it. I went with the pull out kitchen mixer regardless because of aesthetics. Hope got no regrets!

[mrsyap 3]

Wooo I'm sure u will be gentle.

I didn't think it was that fragile (or we were that rough haha) but since now I do know it, we bought the swivel kind with exposed pipes rather than pull out ones. Initially I wasn't convinced pull out ones won't last when people say the more moving parts the higher possibility of it spoiling.

[blackpeace 1]

has anyone ever spent around 1k on a taobao item? I'm wondering if it is safe to spend so much on a single item from taobao when it may arrive damaged/poorly made

[greglhc 30]

has anyone ever spent around 1k on a taobao item? I'm wondering if it is safe to spend so much on a single item from taobao when it may arrive damaged/poorly made

The most for me is 700 plus (TV console). Took the plunge as it was metal and can take a beating during transport

That's the biggest uncertainty - the freight here and being transported/delivered. To some extent can mitigate risk of buying a poorly made item.

[blackpeace 1]

The most for me is 700 plus (TV console). Took the plunge as it was metal and can take a beating during transport

That's the biggest uncertainty - the freight here and being transported/delivered. To some extent can mitigate risk of buying a poorly made item.

I saw a wooden cabinet I really liked. BUt 1k is a lot of money!

[greglhc 30]

Share the link? Maybe I've seen it sold by other tb sellers. Curious now. Heh

[blackpeace 1]

Hi greg, I'm eyeing these, haven't seen them in SG before

http://detail.tmall.com/item.htm?spm=a1z10.3.w4011-4073202130.215.Il7dol&id=14971831549&rn=514a0e40a6510577ba02b9a55b34c7ba

http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?spm=a1z10.3.w4002-2604958537.47.T39cZM&id=14646526433

http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?spm=a230r.1.0.0.qhP7ty&id=16969487699