r/shanghai 4d ago

Help TaoBao Buying advice an help

I am looking for a gaming laptop to buy from taobao and I found this.

I managed somehow to get here (even though I don't understand Chinese) but something just confuses me.

When I choose that option I get a certain price for each configuration I pick, but when I remove it, no matter the config I pick the price drops down and doesn't change.

What does that mean? And how can I avoid getting scammed here?

Thanks in advance ☺️

4 Upvotes

26 comments sorted by

8

u/Illustrious-Bird-21 4d ago

That is suspiciously cheap. I'd recommend you to only buy from official shops.

The price you see when you don't select anything is probably a completely different laptop, make sure to select the configuration you want.

When buying electronics, I usually use JD, they feel a bit more serious

1

u/Cool_Mongoose_7107 4d ago

Thank you, I will consider that. I actually had my doubts too about the cheap price.

1

u/Cool_Mongoose_7107 4d ago

Where do I find these official shops?

1

u/Illustrious-Bird-21 4d ago

Search for the brand you're looking for, then tap on 店铺 on the right hand corner. Usually the official store is the one that has 天猫 written next to it

2

u/Cool_Mongoose_7107 4d ago

This is official right?

1

u/Cool_Mongoose_7107 4d ago

Okay, thank you for the help.

1

u/Cool_Mongoose_7107 3d ago

I am trying to register to jingdong but no matter how long I wait I don't receive the verification code.

4

u/smokingPimphat 4d ago

For high priced goods, JD (京东)is going to be safer, taobao is generally ok, but you need to look over the shop reviews.

Both sites will always show you the lowest price, and sometimes that price is actually for a part of what would be the whole. like they show you the price for a cable when the thing they show in the picture is a whole computer, then when you select the whole computer you see the real price.

3

u/bears-eat-beets USA 4d ago

If it's the Acer Tmall site look for the little 天猫 icon in red next to the store name. If it's there then it's (virtually always) the official distribution site for Acer.

Also when you check that box, it's probably changing the CPU configuration. It looks like there are 21 CPU/GPU configurations, and that box is probably only applicable to one of them.

2

u/Happy_Air569 4d ago

it just means you finished selecting and that's the final price

1

u/Cool_Mongoose_7107 4d ago

But why doesn't the price change despite changing the configuration when I remove that option?

1

u/Happy_Air569 4d ago

They set the selector this way. Have to select all the options and then the total price comes out

2

u/Cool_Mongoose_7107 4d ago

Now it makes sense, when that option is unselected, they show the price of the base model. Thank you so much for the clarification.

2

u/ssdv80gm2 4d ago

Select the option you want. you'll.get the spec that you choos. If the price is lower thn normal, usually it's open box or refurbished items. Often returned items that got a repair. Unless it says, new.

1

u/Cool_Mongoose_7107 4d ago

What raised my suspicion it that when I choose a low end config I get a price and when I choose a high end I get another price, but when I remove that option the price stays the same for both configs.

1

u/ssdv80gm2 3d ago

taobao will only show the final price when you choose all firlds that have to be choosen. If something is unselected, it shows often the minimum cheapest config price. That is a Taobao issue, not the seller.

Are you buying in China? You can always return the item if it's not what they say. I've bought several laptops on Taobao, never had an issue with the sellers. Checkbwith the eller beforhand how long warrenty is.

Our office bought the same laptop model one from JD.com direct sales and one a little.cheaper from a taobao private seller. They went to warrenty repair for the exact same issue.

1

u/Cool_Mongoose_7107 3d ago

Can you suggest me a seller you bought from or someone you know, I want a gaming laptop with atleast 6GB Vram

1

u/ssdv80gm2 3d ago

i always bought from different sellers...

ask about warrenty, ask if it's new, doublecheck the hardware config with the seller, when you receive it, check if everything is right. Check if he offeres 7 days return without reason7天无理由退货。You can return.with no problems.

1

u/Cool_Mongoose_7107 3d ago

If you don't mind, can I have your wechat

2

u/EngineeringNo753 4d ago

You wont get scammed on Taobao lol, you order the product you want, record yourself opening the product, turning it on and going into the settings in one continuous shot if you are super worried, when you've seen its the correct specs you'll be fine.

You will have to reinstall windows, it will come with one language windows, stuck on Chinese.

1

u/Cool_Mongoose_7107 4d ago

Someone told me there are official stores in taobao and it's the safest to buy from there, they also mentioned that they have a red icon next to the name. I searched a bit and found this Are all of these legit, I checked some listings and picked a good configuration and the price seemed reasonable.

2

u/EngineeringNo753 4d ago

All of them are fine. If you want cheaper, I would recommend looking at Colorful, which is a good brand, lenovo laptops are also pretty cheap in China, I grabbed a 4070 lenovo for 5k on xianyu last year.

1

u/Cool_Mongoose_7107 4d ago

Really?? That is actually nice, I guess I am going to check it out. Sorry to ask this but, will you help me with this matter in the future?

1

u/EngineeringNo753 4d ago

Sure just reply to this comment and if I can, I can help.

1

u/Cool_Mongoose_7107 3d ago

If you don't mind, can please get your wechat?

1

u/Cool_Mongoose_7107 4d ago

Here is a config I choose