Where to buy physical books in Chinese? (online)

[cncorrect]

@carloThanks for your feedback. I have contacted the support team of dangdang.com. They confirmed that you had to register an account with a Chinese phone number but give no reason.

[Jive Turkey]

For popular books, I've had good results from ordering through Taobao to deliver to Hong Kong. Years ago, I ordered a number of books from Eslite in Taiwan to deliver to Hong Kong, but I haven't done that in a while, maybe because Eslite hasn't had much that I want that isn't already available in Hong Kong book stores; in any case, Eslite was OK at least for delivery to HK. 

 

I have found that Taobao is not quite as useful for academic books, which have a smaller print run. Either I can't find them on Taobao, or in one case, I ordered a book through Taobao and received a bound photocopy of the original book. It looked nice on the outside, but the print quality was very poor. After seeing here that others had good results with JD.com, I ordered a less common academic book through the JD.com site last week. The market price for this second-hand, less common book was high, but the shipping was only about RMB20. Shipping seemed a little slower than when ordering books through Taobao, but for non-popular books, I would definitely use JD.com again. 

 

I've tried dangdang. Same as others, no luck without a mainland phone number. 

[carlo]

On 11/21/2023 at 6:54 AM, Jive Turkey said:

After seeing here that others had good results with JD.com, I ordered a less common academic book through the JD.com site last week.

So you're still in HK? I have ordered books from Taobao and JD for delivery to HK when I lived there, that is until very recently, without issues. But none of this seems to be possible from Europe, unless I'm doing something wrong. (Incidentally, in HK it's also a lot easier to get deliveries from Taiwan and even Japan.)

 

[Luxi]

Can you believe this? Temu is selling Chinese books at Chinese prices in UK - at least for now. I'm sure the prices will increase later but hopefully not too much (sellers through Amazon marketplace have a 1 元 = £ 1  exchange rate

This is the Temu page Bing found for me without me asking , and this a more general page for Chinese books.

 

I never thought of searching for books at Temu, have bought other things and never had any problems with them.

 

 

[Lu]

Thanks for the tip! I just went to look, what an incredibly random collection they have. From Chinese and translated classics to recent stuff, both high- and lowbrow. (Though not the 马伯庸 book I went looking for.)

[Luxi]

On 10/23/2024 at 6:42 PM, Lu said:

what an incredibly random collection they have

 

Eclectic, isn't it? Temu acts as a seller for numerous small businesses, but I never thought they would include books. Fun to be able to buy an obscure Confucian classics or a Ming short stories collection together with a cheese grater or a men's beard shaver. There are some wonderful books on the page Bing made (the first link). I have no more room for physical books at home but it's great to have the titles so I can search for digital versions. 

 

I don't think you'll find 马伯庸 there, but you never know... 

[Geiko]

On 10/23/2024 at 7:42 PM, Lu said:

Though not the 马伯庸 book I went looking for.

 

I was just browsing the Spanish version of Temu, and the first result was a 马伯庸 novel, 长安的荔枝. I don't know if it is the book you're looking for and if it can be bought from any other country, but here's the link: click.

 

@Luxi, thank you so much for the tip! I never used Temu, but now I'll have a look at the site, it has great prices for buying overseas!

[Luxi]

Yes, I found Ma Boyong too - that book was in a Best Sellers'page, but today it had moved somewhere else. Searching for 马伯庸 brings up all books with 马 in the author's name.  @Lu was the one looking for 马伯庸, but he publishes so many books it's probably near impossible to find a particular title outside a major bookseller.

 

Temu's prices are quite amazing, but I suspect the first order may be subsidised by Temu, later orders may not be as cheap. It has some useful kitchen gadgets and everything else under the sun. I don't know how it is in Spain, UK deliveries are quite good, a lot of stuff seems to be already in Europe and is delivered in a few days. If not already in Europe, it comes by surface mail but it only takes a few weeks.  

[Moshen]

>>Temu's prices are quite amazing, but I suspect the first order may be subsidised by Temu, later orders may not be as cheap. <<

My husband has been ordering little gadgets from Temu for more than a year. The prices do not go up over time. I don't get it, because sometimes the prices barely even cover the cost of mailing! Delivery is dependable and we have never had a problem with merchandise quality.