Taobao is a behemoth Chinese consumer-to-consumer e-commerce platform where you can buy an immense range of products at extremely low prices. You can pick up a large number of useful and attractive products such as electronic gadgets, household products, clothes, accessories and the like to suit your different needs. You can even locate companies that sell high quality and inexpensive products in bulk so that you can sell them to your customers in turn. However, you'll need the help of a good Taobao agent to be able to buy these products for the following reasons:

• The website is entirely in Chinese. If you are not familiar with this language then you will have a tough time understanding the entire process of shopping agent on it. Many of the smaller suppliers are not at all conversant in English and therefore the services of a go-between are absolutely necessary.

• Many of the sellers on Taobao do not accept payments made using internationally accepted methods. They prefer to use payment methods that are commonly used in China. You can send money to the Taobao agent using PayPal, or any other method and make payment to the supplier using Chinese bank transfer.

• International shipping becomes a major obstacle for smaller suppliers who do not want to take on this headache. It can also work out to be very costly for you. A big agent that does a lot of business on this portal is generally able to command a good discount on shipping charges from the most reliable companies.

• Some agents will offer you the service of locating specific products that you might otherwise need to spend a lot of time on. This is generally a paid service but you will save a lot of time if an agent can find out where Taobao sellers offering niche products are.

As you can see, it is very tough to proceed without the help of a Taobao agent if you are not Chinese or live outside that country. If you are not sure about the reliability of a specific agent and are trying it out for the first time then it is perhaps a good idea to place a small order with the agent in order to see how well the order is executed. It is very important to use the services of a good agent in order to ensure a steady supply of high quality goods for your business.