Path through this site: Home Buying sense
Buying sense for Pikobuy orders
Habits that save money on any listing, illustrated with what we found while building this list.
Vetting a Taobao shop before the link goes into Pikobuy
Pikobuy's own advice for Taobao is to prefer shops rated three stars or above that have paid the platform deposit, and it warns that low-rated shops without a deposit can mean unshipped orders, false shipping and after-sales disputes. That is a sensible floor. Above it, the listing itself tells you a lot: real photos from several angles, at least one not on a model, options whose names match the photos, and sizes listed in order.
Watch the title for refund wording. A phrase such as no returns without a quality problem, which appears in one of our listings, means exactly that. And remember that Taobao pre-sale orders with a deposit cannot be cancelled; miss the balance payment and the deposit is gone.
Option menus that say more than the photos
Knowing how to pick an item worth ordering starts with the menu: read it line by line. On our own list, the crowned pendant is 14 yuan only for a single small letter; the big letter costs 150. A black hoodie listing that pictures a full set sells each piece separately and has five options named only by number. A long-sleeve tee is called short-sleeve in its Chinese title. A ring titled fox design is a triple wave in Chinese. None of this is hidden; it is just not where people look.
When the English and Chinese titles disagree, the Chinese one was written by the seller. When a menu option has no name, ask customer service before choosing it.
Sizes from a Chinese listing
Measure a garment you already like and keep the numbers on your phone. Hold them against any size chart the seller posts, then against the warehouse measurements once the item arrives. For caps, the menus on our list give band ranges of 54 to 60 or 54 to 62 centimetres; measure your head just above the ears.
Loose and cropped cuts need the most care because the shape is the design. A cropped hoodie in your usual letter may sit far higher than you expect.
Grading finds sites by dates, links and menus
A quick method for how to judge any spreadsheet site follows. A finds site is useful only if it has done work you would otherwise do. Check for dates beside prices; a yuan price without a read date is a guess. Click a few links; dead listings mean nobody is checking. Look for notes on option menus; a site that read the menu will tell you what the cheap option really buys. And find out who pays the site: referral links are fine when labelled and a problem when hidden.
Apply the same test here. Every price on this site carries its read date, every find has a menu note, and our referral link is labelled wherever it appears. If a link is dead, tell us.
A five-line check at the payment button
Read the option names in Chinese. Look for refund wording in the title. Write your photo note now, while the order form is open. Check the item is not on the returns exclusion list. And when the order turns In Warehouse, note the time; the clock starts on the next hour.
Doing all five takes a few minutes and avoids most of the problems readers write to us about.
