A netizen posted a post online asking the best places to get furniture, normally for furniture two things come to mind. Price and Quality.

Many netizens prefer to buy from local shops but many highlighted that it might be cheaper to get them from Taobao.

Here is the question posed by the netizen:

I’m moving and I need to get new furniture for my room. Should I go for the more affordable Shopee products or reliable irl furniture shops? Generally, my Shopee purchases have been decent but furniture is a whole different ball game so I’m unsure.

Here are how netizens responded on buying furniture from online stores:

• Not a very good idea imo. Shopee gets most of its furniture from china, eg taobao. So a markup of around 10-20% of taobao prices. If you don’t mind looking at other platforms, Taobao will be a great place to get furniture. Cost wise after shipping+delivery is like 30-40% cheaper than SG retail places. Cons is its all in mandarin and you need to find your own 3pf to ship. Quality is assured tho.

• My furniture is mostly from Hipvan, Shopee, and Taobao. Hipvan has a good return policy so I feel more assured purchasing the more expensive items. Quality is also good! I went to their showroom to see some of the items before purchasing. I got my bed, and bed frame from there. My work desk, lounge chair is from Taobao. My tip is to look through the reviews posted. Do not purchase if there is no review. For a better estimation on shipping price, can try asking the seller for packaging dimensions. I use the official sea shipping for it. My work chair and book cabinet is from Shopee. Same as Taobao, look at online reviews and I usually get from Singapore based sellers in case have any issues with the products. Technically most of the things are made in China but Shopee refund policy is pretty good and fast.

• if you don’t mind lightly used furniture, i would highly suggest carousell. LOTS of good deals, can check the condition before buying, and you’ll be helping someone get rid of furniture they don’t need!

• I did use shopee to buy a sofa. I more like used shopee to find the stores in Singapore, that sold furniture in the style I wanted, within my budget. I visited a few of those stores. Then I ended up ordering from shopee anyways coz it worked out cheaper than purchasing from the showroom.

Conclusion

Taobao is the best option as it is one of the cheapest, but there are several drawbacks such as delivery time, damage in midst of delivery and unable to test the item.

Coming in at number 2 Carousell for the cheapest option but the item could be worned out.

3. Go to a furniture shop, able to see and feel it but unable to get a good deal.

Just to be clear I rented a 1 room condominium ($2,800 per month) with aircon that was not cold at all, meaning I am the only one staying there and not sharing the apartment with the landlady and I am paying the utilities so I have the right to use as much electricity as I want.

I had a literal landlady from hell (I guess she melted the aircon). She would just come in whenever. Initially, she denied coming in, so I set up a camera. She got mad at me when I showed her going in when she said she didn’t. Sometimes she would go in there when I WAS there, under my covers, NAKED.

She called the Police one time on me when I had FIVE people in my apartment. This was in 2016, not covid era. She yelled at me for throwing a party. five people eating dinner is not a party.

She would sometimes turn off my water. I would find the valve to turn it back on. Sometimes while I was sleeping, I woke up and realised the aircon has been turned off. She would turn it off for no reason.

Called my father, my emergency contact on my lease, to complain about me. (I was 30 at the time)

She also called the Police on my friend’s car, who parked 1 minute at the condominium lobby for passing me some food.

So when the weather was getting a bit hot and the existing aircon did not work well I bought a portable aircon and it requires no drilling whatsoever. She found out about a week later and demanded I pay her an additional $300 a month for the aircon.

She claimed that I was damaging her apartment… So I had no choice but to move out.

And when I was moving out, She invited people to look at the apartment when again, I was sleeping naked in my bed. I worked nights. I opened my eyes and there were three people standing in my bedroom like it was normal.

After a post of a Grab driver stating that it is possible to make $500 a day, Taxi drivers and other private hire drivers pitch in and gave an opinion on this type of method to earn money.

While most stated that it is possible to make this kind of amount on the Grab platform many netizens said that the driver’s health might be at risk for driving 16 hours a day.

The original stated that by picking the correct times to drive and going the extra mile one can earn up to $500 by doing Grab.

Here are what other drivers think:

Drive 16hrs a day, wow, wonder how long he will last. Very fast up lorry liao

Life is no meaningful working more 14 hrs /7 hahahaha ,,,,, waiting for heart attack. Such poor.

This sohai drives Grab 16 hr just to earn revenue of $500, there are drivers that drives smart, 8hrs already hit that as net earning but kept quiet abt it. Stop bragging n free adv for platform la, gundu! $30 petrol some more for 16 hrs driving, base on $3 per litre, his car whole day pumps 10 litres of petrol can run16 hrs. Hybrid also cannot do that, he thinks ppl just born yesterday, want to cannon at least do the maths properly la

When you are young, you can do it. But remember, your health is important.

Like newbies, marathon driving of course earning is good but ur health, family & personal quality time are all sacrificed. Is it worth it? DONT BE A SLAVE TO GRAB OR GO-JEK! Their incentives make u a slave driver. Let’s see how long this guy will last.

take note. it’s $500 a day, not $500 everyday.

$500×30=$15,000/mth. Time to change job and become a Grab Driver.