Sign Up for Taobao, and Beat the Face Mask Scammers

With the coronavirus lockdown looking to run deep into February, you’re likely to start running out of essentials at home. Face masks have become one such essential, as they’re now mandatory to even enter a supermarket or use Didi. But how can you beat the profiteers ramping up prices? And what do you do if the shelves are empty at your local store?

One solution is to use Taobao. that online Aladdin’s Cave where almost anything can be purchased and delivered to your door in a few days. Most sellers are likely to be up and running again on Monday (February 3) as the extended official holiday comes to an end, and you can browse thousands of suppliers to get the best price. There’s plenty of advice online about how to sign up for Taobao, but in the rapidly changing world of the internet most of it us outdated. So here is our bang up-to-date guide on how to “Open Sesame” and get shopping!

First, enter taobao.com into your browser. It’s a busy and confusing homepage, but don’t panic! In the top left-hand corner, you’re looking for 免费注册 (miǎn fèi zhù cè, “free registration”).

Click on this, and you’ll be asked to agree to the terms and conditions. Click the big orange button to do so:

Now comes the bit that’s going to make everything much easier. In the top right-hand corner, you’ll see the lovely word “English”. Click on that:

And all becomes clear.

What you need to do now is to verify your phone number. Enter it in the box, then slide the slider across. If you check the box, you can set up an Alipay account at the same time!

You’ll get a six-digit code sent to your phone. Enter in the box that says “Verification code.”

You’ll also need to create a password, which needs to include letters, numbers, and at least one special character (punctuation etc.), and to find a username nobody has used previously. This can be a challenge to your creativity…