How to Buy Simplified Chinese Books from JD

Hopefully this answers most of your questions.

First of all, JD website is FROM CHINA and the books are in Simplified Chinese. So please stop asking if they sell Traditional Chinese books. If you are looking for Traditional books you need to shop elsewhere.

Do I sound snarky? Yes, I am annoyed because people persist in asking the same question no matter how many times I repeat myself. See? I even put Simplified in the title of this post. Okay then.

Note: I am NOT affiliated in any way, just sharing the best way to buy Simplified books if you are in the US.

What is it?

JD is like an Amazon of China. It has it’s own storefront and also some smaller sellers. I recommend you only buy from the JD storefront which is called 京东自营. You will see the small red logo in your cart when you add it in.

Why?

The main reason to buy from JD is low price. You will get a much better deal buying from China yourself as opposed to US retailers. For example Frog and Toad costs $18 (incl shipping to US) on JD and $29 on Jojo Learning. Complete set of Elephant and Piggie costs $59 on JD and $89 on Jojo and an APPALLING $149 on China Sprout. In most cases you can get books for very low prices, about $1-3 per book. More on prices below.

Do they ship to the U.S.?

Yes of course they do, why else would I be writing this post. Please stop asking this question okay?

How to Buy?

Go to this website https://www.jd.com/?country=USA and register an account. You can use a US phone number. Type in your info and US credit card number. I only use the website to register. The actual buying is much easier on the app so I recommend using the app (search for 京东 in App Store) to shop and check out.

What to Buy?

Option 1. Copy paste the Chinese name of book into the search bar

Option 2. Search using the terms below. e.g. type in “picture books hardcover complete set” or “comics complete set”

绘本 picture books

精装 hardcover

注音 pinyin

全套 complete set

桥梁书 bridge books

漫画 comics

一年级 课外读物 first grade books

二年级 课外读物 second grade books

• 

How to Check Out?

You add all the books to cart, click the check out button. It shows you the book cost and the shipping cost (depending on weight). Please note that prices fluctuate somewhat from day to day, similar to Amazon. If you place a BULK order your shipping will be cheaper, for example right now they have a 90% off shipping deal if you purchase over ¥1000. Please trial and error to see what shipping rates will be better for you. Just add all your items to cart and it’ll populate the shipping cost.

How Long Does It Take?

About a week (pre-covid). I have not bought recently so I can’t say.

For Noobs:

If this is your first time buying from JD, I recommend you learn how to use it right now by placing a small order. Then you will be ready to take on the massive 11/11 sales which is like the Black Friday of China. You don’t want to be still learning how it works on 11/11 because good stuff sells out lightning fast.

Prices:

People are constantly asking about price. First, let me just clarify that I do not have the gift of prophecy and hence am not able to predict what items will be on sale, how much they will be, what dates the sale will happen, how much your shipping will be or if it’s the lowest price right now.

The best advice I can offer you is this. Shopping on JD is like basically like shopping on Amazon. The prices fluctuate DAILY and sometimes DRASTICALLY. As you can see, my cart has gone down in price from ¥802 to ¥730 to the current price of ¥672 in the last month. I take screenshots to help me remember what the prices are. This week it has gone down another ¥100. It may go down further, it may not.

The other way JD is similar to Amazon is this: lightning deals go OUT OF STOCK, FAST! By waiting for the price to go down further, you may find yourself out of luck as your beloved is no longer available. Then you really want to kick yourself. So, if you see a reasonable price that you’re willing to pay, JUST BUY IT. Even if you paid a little bit more, you’re still saving a TON. If you see a cheap shipping rate, sometimes 90% off or even free, then do not hesitate for even a second. Check out NOW. This is why you should always have your cart ready to check out at any time.

Usually when something goes out of stock, it may be restocked in a few days or weeks. Long story short, check your cart every day.

Coupons

By randomly clicking all over the app and claiming coupons, I managed to save about ￥400 rmb (about $60 USD). Many of them are limited time only and some have to be “snatched”. I watched the countdown and literally checked out the minute the lightning deal became available.

Note: It is really time consuming to do this. It takes a lot of trial and error as some coupons cannot be stacked and some can, hence you spend hours trying to figure out the best combo.

Note 2: As pictured above, the coupons are typically on the top right corner of your cart, labeled , or they are on the main JD page. This morning I managed to grab a ￥50 off shipping coupon from the main page.

Note 3: Coupons can be applied on top of their regular 50% off books and 80% off shipping deals.

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