Why this page exists
What we read, when we read it, and what we still cannot confirm
Guides to shopping agents age badly. Policies get rewritten, interfaces move behind logins, promotional numbers change weekly, and nothing on the page tells you which parts are stale.
So this page keeps the log. Every entry is something we read or drove ourselves on the date shown, with enough detail that you could repeat it. Where the official pages contradict each other, the contradiction is recorded rather than resolved, because guessing which version is current would be worse than saying we do not know.
Promotional values are deliberately absent everywhere on this site. The agent home page carries a new user coupon banner and a monthly free shipping draw, and both change. Read them on the day.
The log
Six entries from the first full pass over the official pages.
| Checked | What we found | Detail |
|---|---|---|
| Signed out search returns nothing | Four separate probes: the Taobao results route loads with the keyword in the page title and an empty result area, while the 1688 and Weidian source marks redirect to the login page. Recorded because it changes the order in which a beginner should do things. | |
| QC photos can predate your own order | The help centre article on checking QC before purchasing describes a QC photo section on product pages, populated once an EastMallBuy user has bought that product. This is the basis of most of this guide. | |
| Inspection exclusions read in full | Colour difference, size measurement error and actual usage result are named as excluded, with authenticity, function and quality excluded additionally for appliances, digital products and peripherals. | |
| Three different service hour statements | Footer, help centre and about page each give a different answer. Logged rather than resolved, because we cannot tell which is current. | |
| Manual order form is not a missing page | The DIY fill and buy form is served from a path that reads as not found. The page is a working order form, and the home page links to it deliberately. | |
| Anti-counterfeiting policy read and reflected | The published policy requires authentic products and allows refused orders, withheld funds and suspended accounts. This guide does not use replica framing anywhere as a result. |
Each entry can be reproduced from the official pages linked throughout this guide.
Three things we could not settle
Openly, so that nobody mistakes silence for verification.
Which set of service hours is current
Three official pages, three answers, all read the same day. We have quoted all three and recommended planning around the narrowest, which is the only safe reading.
What the product pages look like signed in
The QC photo section, the order flow and the calculator behind the account are described here from the official help articles rather than from our own screenshots, because we did not open an account to write this. Where that is the case, the text says so.
Whether any specific item will be accepted
The prohibited list and the anti-counterfeiting policy are enforced by the agent, case by case. No guide can tell you in advance what a warehouse will do with a particular parcel.
The signed out search behaviour
This one we did test, four ways, and the result was consistent every time. It is the only interface claim on this site that came from our own testing rather than from official text.
What we do when something changes
Policies get reread every quarter, interface behaviour gets redriven every couple of months, and anything promotional is never quoted in the first place. When a fact changes, the page changes and the log gets a new line, rather than the old line being quietly edited.
If you spot something out of date before we do, the fastest fix is an email. Corrections are welcome, including uncomfortable ones.