Wednesday, January 23, 2013

[Taobao] Trying a new shopping service

So this new shopping service I'm using is called Bhiner. I chose to try them out as they only charge a 5% fee and I've heard a few people talk good about them. I usually used Taobaospree but decided to give a different service a try this time around (TBS also charges a 10% fee).

I've come to find a few good and bad points about Bhiner:
  • BAD: I -have- to choose my shipping method before they start buying my items. The bad side to this is that I don't fully know just HOW much my order is going to weigh! My shipping option I choose could end up being vastly more expensive than planned/hoped! Also they say they will charge you a small fee if you decide to use a different shipping method after you make your order.
  • BAD: They don't offer SAL as a shipping method. Also the cheapest method's price is raising on FEB 22nd (2013). The method that will then become cheapest takes 15-30 days to arrive as opposed to the current time of 7-14 days. Lame.
  • BAD: There's a 4% fee to move money from your Paypal into your "Bhiner account". The whole idea of have a separate account weirds me out as well. However the other Paypal option is to send them money as a personal gift and Paypal charges MORE for that than the 4% (at least it did with my order.) I also don't feel very secure sending them money as a gift.
  • GOOD: Items arrived SUPER quick! I paid for them on Thursday (China's Friday) and everything was with Bhiner by Tuesday. I ordered roughly 10 things though they were only from maybe 3 or 4 shops.
  • GOOD: The cheap fee. They also say they have a 44% discount for EMS shipping (which I intend to try the next time around if I do use them again)
  • GOOD: The cart system is super easy to use and all the items will get confirmed for stock within' a days time :)
  • GOOD: Bhiner automatically takes pictures of the items as they arrive and uploads them online.
  • GOOD: Website has a shipping calculator that shows you the price for each method or shipping and will automatically highlight the cheapest method. Very helpful!
Overall it seems to be a decent service to use. I've been thinking about trying another service for my next order but I will say that I have yet to find a cart system that is as stream-lined as Bhiner's is. I like how they have things set up and the shipping calculator is helpful. I suppose I will give them another shot.

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