The popular but risky practice of Daigou

More haitao shoppers are buying directly from foreign merchants to avoid fake products.

When it comes to haitao, another frequently mentioned term will pop up - daigou, which means "buying on behalf of someone else".

Despite the popularity of cross-border e-commerce in China, agents who make purchases overseas on behalf of Chinese consumers still constitute a big, gray market. And although the practice of daigou is an informal, small-scale, person-to-person business, it still dominates China's haitao market.

Du Lingxue, 23, a Chinese accounting student in Australia, buys products from Melbourne for Chinese consumers in China.

"At first I just bought milk powder for my friends at their request. But I realized it would be an easy part-time job for me to make some pocket money while studying abroad," she said.

"Many of my Chinese classmates and friends are doing daigou. Some of them are doing it on a large scale, setting up an online marketplace on Taobao, or WeChat where people can place orders. Some like me only do small, but regular orders by word of mouth."

Apart from milk powder, Du's main buying category is health supplement products.

Australia has higher regulations or standards for health-related foods, she says, and many Chinese buyers think they are manufactured more safely, and with higher quality natural ingredients.