Taobao mlp question

[xdartfrogx]

I have noticed a lot of talk about taobao over the last year. I have seen people making group orders and such. What I'm wondering is, do all ponies featured on taobao end up being available to the public on US shelves? Or are the majority of these ponies just prototypes? I've always leaned toward the idea that they all eventually make it to stores, and that people buy them just to be the first to have them. Please fill me in. What's really going on here? 

[Destiny]

I know that some of them will be or have been official releases and therefor available in stores(at least in some countries). However there are some of the Taobao ponies that seem to be just prototypes so far. Take Minty for instance. She is one of the earlier Taobao finds (to my knowledge), but it's still unknown whether she will be released or not or whether she was just a really well done custom.

But I only know what I've read here from time to time ^^'

[xdartfrogx]

Im seeing prices 20+. Is that equivalent to usd? The thought of prices like that turn my stomach!

[ShinePaw]

It's good if you want to get ponies which only comes in big sets, and you don't want the wholse set only the pony, like Starbeam Twinkle. Or you can get interesting frankenponies with different cutie marks or hair.

And 20 CNY is like 3 USD, so the prices are not that high for a pony.

[hathorcat]

Both - Taobao sellers have everything from completed and boxed sets [as per the ones we see on shelves] down to one of a kind prototypes/tests and everything in between including loose versions of the toys we find in store and runs of as yet unreleased or "franken-ponies".

I would urge caution if you decide to use Taobao - make sure you read up on how it works and are aware of all the costs involved - the price you see with the pony is not your end price you have shipping, your agents commission and shipping to you to pay as well [which from China can be significant].

[Lorelei Redfern]

but its all in chinese..  how do you read it?

[teresat]

You can still search in English.

translate.google.com can give you an idea of what's on the page but Chinese to English does not always translate well.

I use taobaonow.com to do my taobao buying. They are very communicative, they speak English very well, they will send you a Paypal invoice if needed to pay, and their procedures are clearly outlined on their webpage.

There have been many Taobao discussions here at the Arena. You can do a search for "Taobao" here to get a better idea. Feel free to PM me with questions.

Edit to Add
xe.com is great for currency conversions too.

[BrightIdea]

Everyone has great suggestions here.

The vast majority of ponies on Taobao will be available, already are, or were available to buy from your regular toystore. We usually see new ponies available here first because the ponies are made in China.

Every so often, unofficial ponies do pop up. You can sometimes find prototypes, test runs, errors, rare variants, and spare parts ponies.