Bao & Bun's Bilingual Journey

One of my goals this time in Taiwan is to buy plenty of books so we don’t run out of reading material when we visit Taiwan next time. I started using Shopee last summer but didn’t use it much. Shopee is like a combination of Amazon and eBay. There are lots of established stores like 誠品, but there are also more small bookstores, shops, or even individuals selling their products there. This time, I found many out-of-print books like individual versions of “奇先生 妙小姐” and Dragon Ball comics.

Even though it’s exciting to find these books, Shopee takes some time to learn how to navigate. Since our stay is short, I try to place orders as early as possible. However, there are a few orders that couldn’t arrive before we leave, and I had to communicate with the store owner and cancel the order. Though it’s not difficult to do that, it’s nerve-wracking to keep track of all the different orders and make sure they arrive in time.

Meanwhile, I also ordered a bunch of books from 博客來, and they shipped the next day and arrived on the 3rd day. For anyone who’s in a rush, I think 博客來 is still the best way to get Chinese books.

Other benefits of Shopee are that prices can be a bit cheaper than 博客來, and they have tons of pick-up stores where we can collect packages close to where we are. I know many e-commerce platforms offer pick-up at convenience stores like 7-11 or FamilyMart, but there seems to be a limit in size for shipping to those stores. For example, my order from 博客來 couldn’t ship to 7-11 and had to be shipped to an address that can receive packages, which I don’t have this time. I have to ship it to my friend’s address and pick it up later.