Tired of paying high prices for aged Puerh? Check out these prices from the 70s,80s,90s on TaoBao. The only caveat you probably need to speak Chinese and transfer funds to a bank account in China. Putting together these strings is difficult for this Lowai.
Jim
70s http://216.239.39.104/translate_c?hl=en&u=80s http://216.239.39.104/translate_c?hl=en&u=
I acquired an account on Taobao and had several conversations with vendors. having a bank account in China is not a requirement, since more and more of them take PayPal and other e-money, or so I they told me. IMHO it really worth it only if you can collect these cakes over time at some place in China, have some of them checked out by a knowledgeable person and later shipped or brought to the US by 20-30 cakes at once, rather than ship them 1 by 1 individually as would happen if you buy-and-ship directly. We do have an office in Beijing and if I find something I really like, I can buy it and have it sent to our office so later I or one of my guys can just bring it back on the way home. But none of our Chinese employees (as far as I know) have any serious knowledge of puerh and I do not want to stir things up by asking them questions. In my experience (samarkand, SEb, correct me if I am wrong) mainland Chinese feel uncomfortable when foreigners know more than it is expected of them about things Chinese. Its better to maintain the image of fascinated, interested, but ignorant laowai, who is just happily learning, even with people who work with and for you. Honk Kongers are very different and you get serious credit for each and every piece of intimate knowledge of things Chinese, especially in language and ancient culture. I do not know why, but I have some ideas.
But the fakes are abundant and your Chinese connection will have to be quite knowledable about aged puer. There is a very little chance you will meet such a person haphazardly. But if you do and befriend such a person - there is no need for TaoBao - he will be able to supply you with excellent product without you jumping through TaoBao hoops.
That is my analysis. Very, very IMHO.
Sasha.
"Space Cowboy" wrote in message news: snipped-for-privacy@g14g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
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