Good and Bad eBay Shops for Tea and Teaware
I’ve done a little bit of searching for past discussions on eBay purchases, and I found there’s no big thread on trustworthy eBay shops. I found one with some recommendations, but they were mostly UK-based with expensive shipping. So, I thought it would be nice to have a big thread that lists both good and bad experiences with eBay tea and teaware sellers.
So… Where have you purchased good quality tea and/or teaware on eBay? Where are the best deals? And where have you had bad experiences?
Dragon Tea House http://stores.ebay.com/dragonteahouse/
Shanghai Story http://stores.ebay.com/shanghaistory/
have been good to me on ebay.
Admittedly, I’ve switched to Aliexpress. There’s more sellers, more products (both those sellers are there too), more deals and more ways to judge whether the seller/item is good as people rate both. That and the seller doesn’t get paid until you confirm you got your order.
I’ve ordered teaware from Dragon Tea House on AliExpress and had a good experience. I’ve recently placed another order for tea ware and tea with them through their website, but it hasn’t arrived yet.
I agree with Dragon Tea House for teaware anyway – I’ve ordered teaware from both their actual site and their AliExpress site.
I’ve also ordered teaware from Shanghai Story with no issues.
I agree with Shanghai Story for teaware, I got my awesome and huge tea table from them. I use it more for display than use but it is incredible.
It should be noted that no one should buy from Dragon Tea House on EBay. Not that I won’t recommend them, I like them. Its just that they give you a %10 discount on their own site after you register. They still accept Paypal so you are still covered if something doesn’t show up. That being said, there have been some fair accusations about them selling counterfeit teas. They did quickly give me a refund on a definitely questionable tea.
I have ordered from Shanghai Story too. Mail was slow to the NL, but perhaps more so due to the Chinese New Year. …. good communication, excellent teaware
Just realized Dragon Tea House has more sales on their own site as well. Now what about shipping?
Hm… But Aliexpress has much cheaper teas all around from them.
I have found Berylleb King Tea and Streetshop88 to be good.
http://stores.ebay.com/Berylleb-King-Tea?trksid=p2047675.l2563
http://stores.ebay.com/Berylleb-King-Tea?_trksid=p2047675.l2563
I have just put in two small orders with Royal Tea Bay but don’t yet know enough to recommend them.
http://stores.ebay.com/Royal-Tea-Bay?trksid=p2047675.l2563
Royal Tea Bay is very good for tea and customer service. I’ve only gotten one tea ware item from them and have been happy with it.
StreetShop88 is probably my favorite Ebay seller (of the ones I’ve dealt with) – crazy quick shipping – great customer service and the tea was awesome. I have a whole wishlist of stuff I want from them.
I’ll be reviewing a bunch of their puerhs in the coming weeks, I have about ten of their teas in my possession that I have yet to review and about five or six in another shipment I have yet to receive, Streetshop88 that is.
Good: Streetshop88 for cheap tea, fast free shipping.
Bad: kieta0903 for tea ware. Sells gorgeous Japanese mid-century teaware, seems to have an endless supply. Don’t go look if you have a tea ware addiction, lol. But the clay teapot I bought had been painted on the interior with an oil-base black paint and smelled like it. The paint leeched through the pot when water was added. Seller claimed she didn’t notice, if you’re a vintage/antiques dealer, you will notice any condition issue.
thanks for starting this thread. I have been wondering about eBay sellers and this is really helpful!
I should add that a shop I had a most negative experience with is Red Lantern Tea. After a screwed up shipment that didn’t show up on tracking for 35 days and it was because they had not actually shipped it yet I forgave them and didn’t give them negative feedback. They repaid my kindness with rudeness by blocking me. Never trust Red Lantern Tea.
Wow, did they block you for fear you would leave them negative feedback? Doesn’t sound like a great company to me.
So, what other aliexpress shops do you all recommend? I’ve never bought from them.
Han Xian Ecological http://www.aliexpress.com/store/723612
Titan Chinese Commodity Express http://www.aliexpress.com/store/1359449
Both have excellent teas that shipped quickly and arrived safely. I’d stay away from heir pu-erh, but otherwise highly recommend both for tea.
I’ve never bought from the same seller TBH but everything I’ve got has been pretty good – tea, tea ware, clothes, accessories and random crap. Just be sure to purchase from a seller with high ratings and items with good ratings as well.
Tastealeaves was a bad buy for me. they had great “customer service” as in they replaced the tea, but it was still bad.
2 oz of “silver needle” tasted and smelled like old, moldy hay. Both packages. they also sent out some samples of oolongs, both of with tasted like fresh, unwashed seaweed, rolled up like oolong, one with a slight flavoring of something added.
I had good experiences with both Dragon Tea House and Shaghai Story as mentioned by others above. In addition, I like Western Yunnan Tea ( http://stores.ebay.com/Western-Yunnan-Tea ) for Ancient tree Pu-erh tea.
It’s good to know you were happy with them. They sell on aliexpress too. I’ve eyed some of their things but have never bought from them.
Have you tried the big bags of Yunnan black tea? The price certainly seems reasonable for 200 – 238g of tea.
As far as the golden Yunnan, you can get deals that good at Teavivre when they have sales.
I did have a good experience with their Yunnan black teas, which are quite reasonable. I still want to try Teavivre for a whole variety of teas!
Heres two that haven’t been mentioned yet:
http://stores.ebay.com/charmingcharmingchina/
Very unique tea pets! Linda runs the shop and writes thank you notes with each order. It’s rare to have eBay sellers do that.
http://stores.ebay.com/jerrysteawarestore?_trksid=p2047675.l2563
Specializes in cool glassware. I have never had anything break during shipping from them, but just keep in mind that everything is delicate.
I am intrigued by this product fromo Charming China but wonder if the leather adversely effects the flavor of the puerh.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/MengHai-Old-Ancient-Tree-Ripe-Pu-erh-pu-er-tea-500g-bulk-Leather-Bucket-/181669346614?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2a4c563d36
No doubt it does have some effect. Perhaps in a good way? It doesn’t look like it was in there for long-time storage though. Maybe just for display/fun.
Jerry’s has this cool puer combination guiwan/tea cup set that I was thinking of buying, and might do it now… http://www.ebay.com/itm/1x-Porcelain-Portable-Convenient-Tea-Pot-Kungfu-Tea-Puerh-Teapot-110ml-3-7-fl-oz-/161509306562
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