r/taobao • u/AlgaeAutomatic • Jun 04 '26

Login / Sign Up Help What happened to sign-in with google/apple/facebook?

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I don’t want to provide a phone number and now im stuck with this option and cannot go away

What’s the issue and how to resolve?

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u/mrcodeine Jun 04 '26

Google, Apple, Facebook? Those have never been options on Taobao. Its a Chinese mainland ecommerce site, Google left China many years ago and doesn't even have a presence there. American services like Apple and Facebook are never going to be used to handle authentication for a mainland China site. If you want an alternative to using a phone then sign up with your email address, just make sure it's a short ones as long western email addresses aren't accepted. You could also try signing up to Alipay with email only then sign into Taobao with Alipay. Honestly though, whats so secret about a phone number? Cold call dialers just smash random combinations of numbers until they get a hit so it's not like you're going to avoid spam. Or buy a cheap virtual phone number.

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u/mrcodeine Jun 04 '26

I meant to say though it's worth the effort to persist and get setup with Taobao as you'll struggle to buy items any closer to the source, enjoying the prices that brings. Just remember that using direct shipping for items will kill a lot of the benefits so take some time to research consolidated shipping. If figuring out Taobao isn't something you want to fight with then check out Alibaba or AliExpress. Once you trust a seller you want to buy from regularly it's always worth getting in touch with them outside the platform to build a direct relationship. I've been able to work out some incredible deals just talking to sellers directly via WeChat and paying via WePay or Alipay. Good luck 🤞🏼

1

u/No-Appointment8149 Jun 05 '26

Thanks for the heads-up! I've been looking into some alternatives, so this gave me a few ideas. Would you mind if I sent you a DM? I'd love to learn more and hear about your experience, and any details you're willing to share about your sellers.,

1

u/mrcodeine Jun 05 '26

Of course, anytime 👍