Buying an iPad 2 cover using 360Buy.com (China)

Category: Techtoday

I've been using the improvised iPad stand (which I wrote about in a previous entry) for the last few months, but then I realized I'd be traveling with my iPad 2 really soon and needed a way to protect its admittedly handsome chassis. Even with a screen protector, an iPad 2 is nowhere near as tough as the steel-covered Sony PRS-600 I had been using for years. So I shopped around on foot in some of the more popular tech places in Shanghai.

Prices, Quality, and Brand

I wanted complete protection for my iPad 2 and a case that didn't make me look like a geek with a man-purse (and still surreptitiously read Marvel Team-Up circa 1970s on the train). I visited a few Apple resellers and out of sheer curiosity checked out the prices over at the Apple Store in Pudong (I nearly coughed up a lung when I saw the price tag). In general, the price of a quality iPad 2 binder/stand costs around RMB232 to RMB400 (roughly $37-$65) at a respectable store such as those found in Xujahui or any of the decent shopping malls that dot the metropolis. Obviously, accessories for the Retina-display iPad 3 are more expensive. The iPad 2 cases in the retail stores are nowhere near as cheap as some of the selections at Amazon, where leather cases can go as low as $20.00. Keep in mind though that Shanghai is one of the most expensive cities in the world.

So now there's the question of brand and quality. There's probably more than two dozen Chinese brands producing iPad 2 accessories (I'd love to list them down but the company names often mix with my crippled Mandarin vocabulary). Chinese products get a lot of flak in the U.S. and in the West. Some of these comments are accurate; some are more political in nature. Most opinions are just plain narrow-minded. Personally, all I'm concerned about is getting protection for my iPad at a reasonable price.

So how do I know if TPOS, ESR, ESK, Moshi, SGP, or any of the unknown Chinese brands is a quality brand that produces a product that won't disintegrate in my hands in two months? Well, if you ride Line 1 or Line 2 in Shanghai, everyone's pretty much using a Chinese-brand case and they don't seem to be complaining. One of the English writers in the company I work in is using an ESK iPad case and she bought an additional three covers (red, blue, black) just to keep things interesting. Only the truly affluent are shelling out for a Belkin, Apple, or Logitech luxury case that's worth two weeks of lunch money.

360Buy.com and shopping online

Truth be told, I was ready to whip out RMB232 for the cheapest iPad 2 leather case over at the Minhang Centre Mall. But then my Chinese colleagues encouraged me to try 360Buy.com because they bought stuff there regularly. One of the technical editors explained online shopping in China quite succinctly to me:

Everyone in the big cities shop online. It's convenient and cheap. No local really buys personal items in the retail stores anymore unless you're from the smaller provinces or you don't have Internet. I think I wouldn't survive if I didn't buy online. You can buy anything from umbrellas to slippers and get it the next day.

I actually received a RMB100.00 360Buy.com gift card during Mid-Autumn Festival so I knew I wouldn't lose much by trying out the service. Plus, my cheapskate-senses weren't tingling when I visited 360Buy so I decided to just go for it. I selected a nice, brown leather portfolio iPad 2 case (Price: RMB119 = $19) from the Chinese web site and took down the URL. Being the paranoid stingy shopper that I am, I was still unsure about using my VISA, Mastercard, or even my Union Pay-powered Bank of Shanghai cash card to buy the item. So I actually asked my friendly Chinese colleague (who was a decade younger than me) to purchase it for me. And no, I didn't "lose face" or anything anachronistic like that - it's the year 2012, people.

My young friend sent me an email through QQ last Saturday telling me the item had sold out. She told me to select a different item. I selected a black leather one (Price:RMB99 = $16) and another brown leather case as a backup in case that one was out of stock, too. At exactly 9:15 am on Monday, she walked up to my workstation grinning and handed me a plastic bag with the logo 360Buy. I thanked her profusely and gleefully opened up the box. The leather case was there, ready to protect my iPad 2 from the dangers of travel and use. I was especially happy that I hadn't spent a single RMB.

Navigating 360Buy.com

Anyone who has purchased any item online won't have any problems navigating around 360Buy.com save for the little problem that the site is in Chinese. There has been recent news that an English version of 360Buy will be available soon, but my understanding is that it's for overseas customers and not expatriates living in China. Here are a few tips in browsing the site:

1. Use Google Chrome to surf the site. Chrome will automatically prompt to translate the page using the Google Translate service. The words used in foreign shopping sites are fairly simple so Google Translate really doesn't struggle with converting Chinese characters to English. If you're using Mozilla Firefox or Internet Explorer 9, you can download a Microsoft Translator plug-in that allows you to translate a page by clicking on a bookmark. It only takes a brief moment for Google Translate or Microsoft Translator to convert the page to English and the translation (though not perfect) certainly helps a lot in the shopping experience.
2. Use simple search strings when searching for items. Typing well-known brands is especially useful. After my successful iPad 2 case purchase, I started shopping around for a portable hard drive. Typing Western Digital or Seagate pulled out better search results than typing hard drive.
3. It's not Amazon.com and it's not perfect. Although the CEO of 360Buy plans to expand the services overseas and admits that their goal is to achieve the success of Jeff Bezos' brilliant shopping company, it's not quite there yet in terms of the number of imported products and choices available. Moreover, you still have to be careful about purchasing obscure brands and items. Ask a local for advice if you're an adventurous shopper.
4. You will definitely find something you want to buy. I saw affordable NAS hardware and equipment on the web site that were either cheaper or not available in Newegg.com. As I browsed through the available items for networking, there were plenty of moments I wish I can buy one (or five items) I could bring home for my Linux network
5. It really is cheaper than buying retail. Buying an item from a site like 360Buy in China is sometimes 50% cheaper than buying from places like Nanjing Road especially when it comes to clothes. 360Buy is particularly well-known for selling affordable but quality electronic and computer parts.
6. Set aside any preconceived notions about Asia and shopping in China. Online shopping is the future in China. If the Chinese online shopping experience works for the millions of locals living in the Middle Kingdom, then it should work for you too (with a little practice). The locals buy dresses and shirts regularly from Chinese online stores because they're familiar with the size, fabric, brand, and quality of specific manufacturers that sell their wares online. They're comfortable purchasing items via their system in the same way Westerners flock to Amazon so there's little reason not to give it a try if you live in China and you're frugal.