Categories, read as search problems
Most category lists are an index. This one is sorted by what happens when you put the category into the OOTDBUY search box, because that is where the work actually is. Some categories have one precise Chinese word and behave perfectly. Some split into four. Two of them are less about words than about whether the parcel is allowed to fly at all.
Every link on this page opens a live category page. The Chinese word for each is on the word list, with the date its search was run.
Every category, grouped by how it behaves
Six families. The note on each says what the group does to a search; the chips open the live category page. For the mechanics behind all of it, see how OOTDBUY search works.
Tops and outerwear
The largest group and the easiest to search, because the Chinese category words are short and specific. The trap is weight rather than naming: one word covers a summer layer and a winter one.
Trousers and legwear
Cut words do the work here. The category word alone returns every length and every fit, and Chinese listings describe cut far more precisely than they describe size.
Shoes
The one group where the number on the box is least trustworthy. Searching is easy, sizing is not: Chinese listings carry an insole length in centimetres, and that is the figure worth reading.
Bags
One English word, several Chinese ones. Shoulder, across the body, two-strap and hand-carried are separate words, and searching the generic term gets you all of them at once.
Accessories
Small, light, and the widest price spread on the site. A single search can return a bulk lot of a hundred and a single piece, at prices two decimal places apart.
Everything else
Electronics, fragrance and soft toys behave differently from clothing, and two of them touch the official restricted list. Read the rules before you spend an hour choosing.
Why the grouping is by behaviour and not by department
A department list tells you where a thing lives. It does not tell you that the word for it returns four shapes at once, or that the category word covers both a summer and a winter garment, or that the first price you see is for a hundred pieces.
Those are the things that cost you an evening. So the groups above are sorted by which of them you are about to run into, and the table below names the snag family by family.
The usual snag, family by family
The middle column is what goes wrong in the search. The right column is what to do instead. Nothing here is a quality judgement and none of it is about a particular seller.
| Category | What catches people | What to do instead |
|---|---|---|
| Hoodies and knitwear | The category word covers every weight from summer thin to fleece lined. | Add the weight word before you compare anything. It changes the garment and the shipped weight at the same time. |
| T-shirts and shirts | A short-sleeve word and a shirt word return two different shelves, and the English word shirt sits across both. | Decide which one you mean in Chinese first. Both are on the word list. |
| Trousers | The generic word returns every length, cropped and shorts included. | Use the specific cut word. Cargo, sweat and denim are separate words here, not adjectives. |
| Trainers and shoes | Searching is easy; the marked size is the problem. Size deviation is named as outside the official inspection scope. | Ask the seller for the insole length in centimetres for your size, and compare it with a shoe you already own. |
| Bags | One English word maps to four or five Chinese ones, so the generic search always returns a mixed shelf. | Search the shape rather than the object. Shoulder, crossbody and two-strap are three separate searches. |
| Jewellery and small accessories | Wholesale listings for these are usually quantity listings, and the low price is for the lot. | Set a price floor, then read the title for a pack count before you celebrate a bargain. |
| Perfume and liquids | These sit on the official restricted list, so the problem appears at the parcel, not in the search. | Read Notes Before Purchasing before you order. A parcel stopped at the warehouse has still cost you the domestic purchase. |
| Electronics | Batteries and magnets change which shipping lines will accept the parcel. | Check the restricted list first, then treat the line as part of the decision rather than an afterthought. |
Drawn from searches run on ootdbuy.com on 4 August 2026 and from the official Inspection Information and Notes Before Purchasing pages.
A wide price band is a property of the category
When we ran forty-six category words through the official search, the width of the first-screen price band said more about the category than about any listing in it. Socks came back inside a single dollar. Watches spanned two orders of magnitude, because one word reaches both a plastic quartz piece and a mechanical one.
So a cheap result in a wide category usually means a different product, not a better deal. In a narrow category it usually means a bigger pack. Either way the move is the same: set a floor, then read the title.
Before you order out of any of these
Two official pages settle most category questions faster than we can.
Notes Before Purchasing
The prohibited and restricted list. Fragrance, liquids, powders, batteries and blades all appear on it, and the consequences fall on the buyer.
Open the pageOOTDBUY officialInspection Information
What the warehouse checks per item, and the three things it explicitly does not judge: colour deviation, size deviation and how well something works.
Open the page