Least expensive way to pay in TaoBao

[Mo' Ai]

If you really plan to be a regular TB purchaser, why not bring your passport with you, run to SZ, active a Chinese bank account at any nearest bank over the boarder? link bank card to your alipay account, it should be 2000-5000RMB limit on daily transfer. Alipay provide much much higher interests than in bank in HK. They also have this new credit function, you can use alipay as credit card, they pay for you first and you pay back later.

i have many years experiences buying from TB. Just so you know, reviews are not all reliable. Not only ignorant customers who can recongize fake products, also many shops hire people to give positive comments. it's a business line already.

good luck with your shopping, with more experiences you can find many good products with good price. I just bought a chef machine from TB send from Germany, very good price, and the most advanced model you can't find in HK.

[1denisiel]

Can you give instruction on setting up a bank account in SZ- what docs needed, did you deposit RMB or HKD, how link your bank card?

Thanks in advance!

[flameproof]

Well, I tried to link my SZ ICBC account to Taobao, but it seems I can only do that if I have a Chinese ID card, and since HK does not belong to China HK ID cards are not recognized in China.

[alph]

The cheapest way I've found so far (and most convenient - since PPS has a daily limit and a per transaction fee) is to use a Alipay recharging service.

I transfer money to a HSBC account, write "Please recharge my alipay account [email protected]", and they will transfer the amount directly within an hour during office hours. The exchange rate should be on par (or is better) with the PPS rate and they don't charge any service fees if you recharge over HKD1000 each time. Meaning you skip the transaction fee each time.