One agent, three source markets.

Any market → the same GTBuy cart

You don't need three accounts or three checkouts. Whichever market a spreadsheet link points to, the route is identical:

Taobao — the default for almost everything

Taobao is China's largest consumer marketplace, and it's where the majority of spreadsheet links point. If you're buying a single hoodie, a pair of shoes, a bag or an accessory, it almost certainly lives on Taobao. Think of it as the retail floor: enormous variety, individual sellers, and photos that range from studio-perfect to phone-in-a-hurry.

Because anyone can list, quality and accuracy vary from shop to shop — so the listing text and the seller's other reviews matter as much as the hero image. When GTBuy buys a Taobao item for you, their team places the order like a local shopper would, which is exactly why it works: the seller ships domestically to GTBuy's warehouse, and you never deal with the Chinese-only checkout or the "no international shipping" wall.

• Best for: fashion, one-off items, the widest selection, first-time orders.
• Typical trap: assuming every shop is equal — glance at ratings and the item description before you commit.
• Beginner move: if a spreadsheet link is dead, search the item name on Taobao and pick a similar listing, then paste that into GTBuy.

1688 — the wholesale tier beginners skip

1688 is run by the same parent company as Taobao, but it serves a different job: it's the wholesale marketplace where many Taobao sellers themselves buy stock before reselling it. That means for a lot of items, the same product sits on 1688 at a noticeably lower unit price — you're simply moving one step up the supply chain.

The catch is that 1688 is built for buyers who already know what they want. Listings can be terse, some items expect a minimum quantity or come in multipacks, and the interface assumes fluent Chinese. This is precisely where an agent earns its place: GTBuy can buy from 1688 into the same account and same warehouse as your Taobao finds, so the only thing that changes is the price you pay.

• Best for: lower prices on the same item, basics, buying more than one of something, blanks and staples.
• Typical trap: minimum order quantities and bundle listings — read the quantity before ordering.
• Beginner move: found something on Taobao? Copy the product name, search 1688, and compare. If it's cheaper and in-stock, paste the 1688 link into GTBuy instead. This one habit quietly pays for itself.

Weidian — independent shops and specific sellers

Weidian (微店) is a WeChat-based marketplace of smaller, independent shops. It's where a lot of niche items and specific, recommended-by-name sellers live — the kind you hear about in a Discord or on a spreadsheet's "trusted stores" tab rather than by browsing. If a link points to Weidian, you're usually buying from an individual shop rather than a big retailer.

Weidian sellers can be excellent, but they're smaller operations: stock moves fast, and a shop may restock on its own schedule. GTBuy handles Weidian the same way as the others — paste, buy, receive, QC — so from your side the experience is identical even though the seller is tiny.

• Best for: niche shops, specific sellers people recommend, items you can't find elsewhere.
• Typical trap: a sold-out or slow seller — have a backup link ready for anything time-sensitive.
• Beginner move: treat Weidian shop names as the "brand" — save the ones that come through well for you.

Which market should you use?

You rarely choose the market — the spreadsheet link does. But when you do have a choice (say you found the same item in two places), this is the quick logic:

• Buying one of something, fashion or a specific look → Taobao.
• Buying several, or want the lowest price on a basic → check 1688 first.
• The item lives in a specific recommended shop → Weidian.

Whatever you pick, the order flows into the same GTBuy dashboard, gets the same QC photos, and consolidates with everything else. See exactly what that looks like in the full journey, and what it costs on the fees page.