TAOBAO IPHONE Apps - shop as you go!

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Nice to TWEET you

Tweet
Need to let the world know that you are a fan of the 140 character language known as Twitter? You like cool t-shirts telling the world that you can appreciate a good pun?

It’s For You
Well then I have found the product for you.
This Twitter t-shirt will tell the world I am on Twitter and please follow me, I am an attention whore.
On That Note
Please follow us on Twitter PLEASE!!!

Sweet Tweet Tee ~ 45rmb

Rent a Beijing Girl on Taobao

Cool Stuff to Buy

This might be the coolest of our Cool Stuff to Buy. Meet Chen Xiao. She used to sell cosmetics on Taobao.  After getting bored with that, she decided to sell herself. Or at least rent herself out, 8 minutes at a time.

“I want to change my lifestyle”

“…so I’ll let you plan the rest of my life.”  It sounds like the setup for a movie. Cue the montage of her performing her various errands around Beijing, backed by Donna Summer singing “She Works Hard for the Money.”
Her whimsical plea has attracted some interesting assignments. For example, some of her past contracts have had her deliver coffee, buy train tickets, and take photographs at various locations around Beijing.?In fact, the only restrictions she sets are on ’sexy or violent activities’.

Taobao for Crowdsourcing

Starting at just 8rmb for 8 minutes of service, her rates ramp up to 100rmb for the whole day. That still seems like a pretty good deal. She keeps a regular schedule, splitting her time between working online and going out on assignment. This could be a good option for your personal assistant in Beijing. Chen Xiao’s Remaining Life Shop - 陈潇的剩余人生店
If you need some assistance outside of Beijing, Taobao has plenty of people and companies selling similar types of services.
Running errands 跑腿

obama@ – Email Address for Sale

Obama’s secret new email address

President Obama is keeping his Blackberry, and his new email address has become the ultimate status symbol in Washington. Reports say that his new email address is only known to the VP, Chief of Staff, Obama’s top advisers and some of his oldest friends from Chicago.
Being from Chicago, I like to think of Barack as one of my homeboys. But for some reason, I did not receive the his new email address. That’s alright, I don’t take offense. And I think I might have figured out what his email address is anyway.

obama@126.com

That’s the one. I’m 99% sure. How do I know?
I was searching for Obama merch on Taobao, China’s largest online marketplace. That’s when I ran across an offer for obama@ email addresses on China’s most popular domain names. Surprise, surprise. Two of them were taken.

Judging from this, I think it’s pretty safe to say that Barack chose either obama@126.com or obama@sogou.com. What is unclear is if Barack paid the 100rmb ($14) ransom that this shop was charging, or if he just took them by executive order.

Only for cool dudes

If you want one of the remaining obama@ email addresses, you better make sure that you are up to the challenge. It says here that these email addresses are: ‘for the top togs’  牛人情用. I was thinking about buying obama@163.com for myself, but I don’t know if I can live up to that kind of responsibility. I guess I should stick with one of the “Obama is my homeboy” shirts also being sold on Taobao.

China loves Obama

Right now, China’s online shopping websites are flooded with Obama products. Xinhua News says that you can find 8,000 Obama products on Taobao. That includes Obama branded hats, shoes and cough masks.

$100,000 Diamond Bought on Taobao

Better choose EMS…

You might think that it would be crazy to buy a $100,000 custom-crafted 2.62 karat diamond online. Zoccai says that it would be crazy not to buy it online. The Valentines holiday has been very good to this Taobao diamond shop.

Consumer confidence

Scroll through Zoccai’s past transactions if you’re a fan of big numbers. Besides the 695,000rmb high-water mark, there are plenty of 60,000rmb to 90,000rmb transactions. I originally thought people wouldn’t want to buy this kind of super expensive stuff like diamonds on Taobao. If you think about it, this is one area where you can probably save the most money.

Avoiding the jewelry shops

If someone was going to buy this kind of diamond in a store, it would probably be on Shanghai’s Nanjing Lu or some similar posh part of town. These shops have high overhead and are empty most of the time, just sitting there like a mousetrap waiting for their big score. 

Wisdom of the crowds

Going into a store cold, you have no idea what they have sold in the past and at what price. You would have to be some sort of Diamond Wizard to know what the shiny rocks are worth. But when you buy online, you see the full record of past transactions. You see what sold at what price, and you can benchmark the diamond you are considering to that market value.
Thanks Xinmin.cn (中文)

Uniqlo on Taobao

I like Uniqlo, but this is a big yawn

I like Uniqlo only because I am not that into clothes. It is a great place to get basic stuff, and I buy from there pretty regularly even though nothing really fits me right.
For the past two weeks, my “Taobao” web alerts have been blowing up with the super boring news that Uniqlo has partnered with Taobao. Maybe I am just jaded from the time that I got way too excited by the completely lame Taobao-McDonald’s partnership.  Basically, Uniqlo just took their existing shop on Taobao Mall and gave it it’s own url: uniqlo.cn.

Uniqlo on Taobao Mall (their old shop)

The totally brand new Uniqlo.cn shop

It’s exactly the same.

Lots of Taobao shops buy a seperate domain name and point it to their Taobao shop, like my friends at crazytanning.com. If you must know the whole story, the good folks at In2MarCom have just posted a more rational analysis of the Taobao-Uniqlo thing.
Is anybody out there buying Uniqlo stuff on Taobao?

Taobao’s iPhones getting cheaper on Unicom policy shifts

China Unicom changes its iPhone plan offerings

On April 14, China Unicom shifted its iPhone plans eliminating their most popular free-iPhone-with-contract plan and adding a super discount plan. They also started selling iPhones without a contract: 4,999rmb for a 16GB phone. Analysis in Chinese

Taobao’s iPhone price drops 10 ~ 20%

I was planning choosing Unicom’s popular free-iPhone plan, but after they closed that option I was left reconsidering my options. Thankfully, iPhone prices on Taobao began sinking. You can now find the 16GB iPhone 4 for about 4200rmb to 4400rmb. All without a contract commitment.

My choice was Feichang

I ended up choosing Feichang Shouji 非常手机 for an unlocked Hong Kong iPhone and paid 4420. These guys have many shops around China and I hear that they offer excellent service if you need your firmware scrubbed or your settings tweaked.

Did I make the right choice?

In light of today’s China Unicom offerings, does it still make sense to buy an unlocked iPhone?