Originally, I wanted to consolidate my recommendations for physical shops and online stores on a single post but it was getting too wordy, so I decided to split it into two postings instead so that it is easier for my readers. In addition, when I was typing, I realised that I got more information and personal observations to share to help fellow CDs. Hopefully they can share their insights with me too. 😊
In my last post, I shared about purchasing from physical shops in Singapore. The pros of this is definitely no waiting time involved, no shipping cost incurred and what you see is what you will get. The cons are running the risks of people seeing you as perverts or giving you that curious or awkward looks when you shop in guy's mode.
As for online shopping, it is the in-thing now. With so many sales and offers per year such as 11.11, 12.12, so on and so forth. There are also coupons and discounts up for grab with perks such as free shipping or 1 for 1. Online shopping also reduces the risk of getting weird stares from others when they see a guy shopping for ladies items. Most of all, it opens the possibilities of getting all sorts of items from all over the world all at your palm of your hands if you are using a mobile phone. The downside is mainly getting items that does not suit your size or the fabric quality is not what you wanted and of course, what you see online always looks better but when you get the items, it is nothing like the pictures. I guess that is the chance we have to weigh and take...
There is not much trick to online shopping except to know your dimensions such as your height and 3 vital statistics when buying any female clothing and also the necessary conversion of length and weight in some cases. There is also a conundrum that CDs faced when buying stuff online is the receiving part. Some CDs may worried about family members questioning about the content of those packages and boxes delivered to the house. Some of the packages include labels with the description of items that will arouse suspicion. Here is my advice. So far, based on what I know, only TaoBao has this option for 官方集运 – 空运 (Consolidated Air Freight) and you can select the option of sending it to a locker for self collection. You can refer to a guide here. Self collection lockers are like POPStation or BluPort and there is a size limit to the items delivered. I learned this the hard way as I ordered a make-up trolley box and I chose the self collection option. The delivery took almost 3 weeks as SpeedPost did not bother to call and inform me that my parcel was too big to fit into the self-collection locker.
For delivery, air freight usually takes about a week or so to arrive but it is usually more expensive. As for normal sea freight shipping, it is usually cheaper and it takes around three weeks or so to arrive, and there is no option for self collection but will only deliver to your doorstep. So for those who do not want your family members to know about what you have been buying, you may consider finding a fellow CD who got more freedom and have the shipment sent to her house instead. Just my suggestion, I am open to hear more ideas on how to receive overseas package without rousing questions... Anyway, just sharing my opinions and experience with some of these online shopping or shopping apps below.
Online Shops or Shopping Apps
When it comes to online shopping, I started pretty early with Costorm where I bought a flight stewardess uniform for my first ex-gf. Then of course, I also purchased satin opera gloves and Hooters uniform through eBay. However, with advancement in technology and birth of e-commerce, I advanced to buying from online stores such as Suddenly Fem and Sonata Dancewear. However, ever since my previous purge, I totally shut myself off from online stores and such. Even when TaoBao and Aliexpress came into existence, I was not catching onto the bandwagon yet. I just took a backseat and not moved by it until I stumbled upon WISH app...
So I must say, I am not an expert on TaoBao or shopping apps but I am learning, catching up and managing how not to let my better half knows about my CD hobby... Anyway, just to share some observations and tips from my 1 year plus of online purchases experience...
- As we know, TaoBao is mainly in China and they offer a wide range of items that is literally a heaven for CDs. However, the language is the main barrier that put people with poor command of Chinese off... However, you can use the cheatsheet below to help you to understand the description of the item.
Just a note for TaoBao items, if you are buying female clothing but you are slightly on the stout side like me, it can be quite a problem as the clothing range suits Chinese ladies who are quite small and petite size. So the trick is to look for 大码 (big size) in your search. Alternative, you can look for 伪娘 (crossdresser) and they should have sizes that suits CDs.
- Aliexpress is a subsidiary of AliBaba. The biggest difference between AliExpress and Taobao is that Taobao is a B2C platform specifically catering to Chinese manufacturers. On the other hand, AliExpress is made for the international market. It also has a wider variety in comparison with Taobao.
Aliexpress usually have the same items as TaoBao but you can find items that are bigger size here. However, in terms of pricing, it is more expensive... Usually, if I find something interesting on Aliexpress, I will usually try to find it on TaoBao as it is cheaper.
- A lot of WISH merchandise that are available through the app comes from China and other overseas distributors such as Indonesia or Vietnam. These products are usually smaller items which are cheaper to ship. However, the shipping is quite slow and takes around two to four weeks. I started with WISH but the items tend to get a bit boring as compared to TaoBao or Aliexpress. One more thing, do not be fooled by the cheap price offer as the shipping can end up quite expensive...
- I decided to lump these three shopping apps together. I used mainly Lazada and Shopee for TYR Swimwear or other items as they frequently have discount for some of these brands. Never really used Qoo10 before though. Lazada and Shopee sell items from local and overseas market, so some of the shipment are quite fast as the suppliers are located locally.
- Amazon is US based and most of their items are from US suppliers, so the sizes offered tend to be bigger than those offered on TaoBao. The prices of items from Amazon are on the high side but what they offered are more unique and suitable for the Western world. The problem with Amazon is that there are some items that they do not offer to Asia or Singapore, so the best way out is to get a freight storage and forwarding company based in US to consolidate your purchases and forward it over. I will share more details later.
- I decided to combine these two marketplace websites together. As we know, eBay is an international marketplace while Carousell is mainly for Singapore market. I used to get a lot of satin opera gloves from an eBay seller angelsbridal because of the texture and quality. But I have to admit that it is a bit on the high side but I still cannot find a China supplier that can match the quality of opera gloves provided by angelsbridal. The main thing about buying from eBay is the extravagant shipping cost but I figure out that you can save some money by using a freight storage and forward company based in US to tap on the cheap local delivery cost. As for Carousell, I did a lot of buy and sell of other items but I never really tried getting my CDs products or items using this platform. For marketplace websites, do not have the impression that they only sell 2nd hand stuff. They do offer brand new products. Do check out the description and communicate with the seller for more information.
- Buyandship is a global shipping service that can help to send overseas goods to Singapore with ease. I gotten a new set of Hooters uniform from Amazon and the supplier from US, does not ship to Singapore. However, I signed up for Buyandship and managed to get a US address where I put that as my shipping address. The supplier just send it to that address and my items was forwarded from US to Hong Kong and sent to Singapore. I just need to pay for the freight forwarding cost. Quite easy to use and they have a few warehouses that spread across United State, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, Italy, Thailand, Japan, China, Korea, Taiwan and Indonesia.
- Sonata Dancewear has always been my favourite when it comes to ballet leotards and tights. You can place your order for what you want and pay through Paypal. A pity that more of their recent releases do not have XL or XXL size. Hence I am turning to TaoBao instead. However, do visit them as their products are of good quality.
- Corset Story is based in UK and was recommended by another CD who I know through SBF. Love the recommendation from her as these corsets are steel bones and really help to tighten the waist. It can reduce anything from one to three inches. They have good offers and range of corsets. They also carry garter belts and stockings collection. Do check out their 4 for 1 promotion.
- D'corselet is also another online shop selling corset but this is based in Singapore. Their quality of corsets is also acceptable and they also carry a good range overbust and underbust corsets too. They do have physical shop but it is more like a pop-up store idea where they will rent a shop (usually around Far East Plaza) for a period of time before wrapping up after the lease is up. Do check out their website or Facebook to see where is their next pop-up store.
These are the list of online stores and shopping apps that I used and had purchased some of my items from them before. Do free feel to share what are your favourite stores with me. Cheers. 😃
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