Buying judgement for Rowbuy orders: catalogues, shops, agents, listings

Holding catalogue sites to account, this Dress Code too

A Spreadsheet site is only as good as its last check. What makes a useful Spreadsheet site is mostly upkeep. Four signs separate a useful one from a stale one: every price carries a day, links that open real listings rather than a search page, an explanation of how picks were chosen, and a way to tell the authors they got something wrong. If a site promises that a listing is identical to a famous label, close it; that is a trademark problem, and agents including Rowbuy refuse those goods.

Hold this site to the same card. Every slip carries the date we opened it, the method is on the occasion index, and corrections go to [email protected].

Five fields that describe a Taobao shop on Rowbuy

Choosing a seller on Taobao starts with what Rowbuy shows on the listing. Rowbuy shows the shop name at the top of every product page, with a link into the store. Five fields on that page tell you most of what you need about the seller before you pay.

• Shop name. A name ending in flagship store is usually a brand's own or authorised shop; a person's nickname is a small reseller. Neither is better by default.
• Stock count. Low numbers (13, 17 and 19 on three of our picks) mean you should not wait weeks to order.
• Minimum order. All thirty of our picks allowed one piece. Wholesale listings sometimes do not.
• Seller delivery. All thirty showed zero yuan to the warehouse, which is normal on Taobao but not guaranteed.
• Amount box. The price for the selected option, which is the number you actually pay for the goods.

What makes a shopping agent worth trusting

Choosing an agent you can trust is simpler than it sounds. Every agent does the same job, so trust comes from what it publishes and whether it answers. Look for a named operator, published fees, a clear storage rule, a photo policy, a written way to raise problems before shipping, and a contact that replies. Then check whether postage is actually offered to your country.

Rowbuy publishes some of that and not the rest. It names a US-registered operator in its help center, but the footer on its pages names a different company. It explains its fee structure but not its service fee rate. It states a storage window and a photo step. Its public estimator priced two countries. Read the agent page for where that leaves you.

Pieces that match their listing on arrival

Choosing a product from a Taobao listing comes down to evidence. Good picks share three traits: the listing explains the material, the sizing is given in centimetres, not just S, M and L, and the photos show the item on a table as well as on a model. Pieces that are light for their size cost more to post than you expect, so a big puffer from a far country is rarely a bargain. Plain pieces with no prints and no logos also avoid trouble at customs and on the agent's restricted list.

Dress Code habits before paying

• Change every menu before you look at the price, then read the amount box.
• Use the message box on the listing for anything the menu does not answer, such as a laptop sleeve size.
• Never order an item from the restricted list hoping it slips through: perfume, batteries, liquids and aerosols get held back.
• Approve photos only after checking the size label.
• Send light pieces together and heavy pieces with them, so the box is full rather than air.
• Keep screenshots of the listing and the amount you paid until the parcel is in your hands.

The habit we learned the hard way: a listing can bounce you to the blank manual order form instead of the product page. When that happened to us, reopening did not help for the two we retried; picking another shop did.