Taobao has pledged to root out fake stuff from its listings, but you gotta be smart out there. Besides the obvious measures of avoiding ‘too-good-to-be-true’ pricing, there are several things you can do to avoid buying bad, fake or low-quality stuff on Taobao.

1. Check sellers feedback 

This will be the best clue. If you are really concerned, only consider Sellers who have 100% feedback on over 500 transactions.  Check our guide to investigating Taobao feedback.

Trying to buy a bag or a watch? Stick to lesser-known brands for those commonly faked items. And maintain your suspicions. Big-brand copies is a saturated market. That has pushed some fakers to copy second- and third-teir brands. Even so, you will have an easier time finding a Seller that you trust if you look past the well-known brands and into the niches. 

It is natural to want to go for the products that have the most professional-looking photos. But these were probably just downloaded from brand’s main website. Better Sellers will take a long series of close-ups on the product to show the details. Look for unprofessional photos with some flash glare and the Seller’s hand in the shot. If a product has generic downloaded photos, but you still really want it, ask for the Seller to take some new photos for you.

Look for real photos:

If you’re having trouble deciding, consider the other products in the Seller’s inventory. If their other stuff looks fake, then your treasure probably is as well. Some Sellers claim to offer both real and ‘like-real’ merchendise. Don’t buy from them. 

  This means that the Seller is located overseas, and ships into China. 

   This means that you can return it within seven days unconditionally for any reason. 

You’re a savvy individual. Use your best judgement and don’t worry about it too much. 

If you have more tips on how to find the good stuff, let us know in the comments.