I covered how to buy from taobao through an agent in the previous post. Knowing how to order is only part of the battle. There is literally an ocean of teas on taobao and samples are not normally offered. While there are decent teas to be found, there’s also an ocean of crap and overpriced teas. Even amongst the vendors that do indeed offer samples, it’s a long process of trying teas and re-ordering. That makes finding and selecting teas very important. (more…)

Buying through an agent for taobao isn’t terribly difficult. A lot of goods come from China and it’s natural for people to want to buy closer to the source. There’s a number of taobao agents to help satisfy the demand and ship goods to you for a fee. You’ll get dinged and leak money out to these agents/intermediaries, but in many cases the pros of less expensive tea and increased access of goods outweigh the fees and shipping cost. This article details how to go through a forwarder (agent) to purchase tea directly from the bao. (more…)