RepArchive Blog

By Saturday July 10th, 2021 we won't feature any taobao or weidian items on our page. But it's not the end, just a new beginning.

This is just a short excerpt. I strongly recommend you watch the YouTube video to hear me let everything out it a freestyle video that you can just listen to.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-cM-33VcK8Y

Why is RepArchive deleting all items?

Complaints from brands have been part of our deal for a long time. Usually we got one every other month and it was just about a handful of items which we then happily deleted.

Last month, June 2021, we got more complaints that we got in 3.5 years of running RepArchive. They are quite a bit of work to deal with, so much that last month I developed an automation. The big question is, when is it going to be more than a warning?

These complaints basically tell me to take down the items in question or see each other in court. Of course I follow them, since I'm from a country where laws are applicable and I don't want trouble.

This has gotten to a point where apart from the risk I'm taking and the time it's consuming, it's also taking away from RepArchive's value. When the "critically acclaimed" list doesn't include the best items because I had to delete them, there's no point in coming back to the list because you know it only shows the partial truth. Our goal has always been to be a 100% solution for the item finding process, and with 15 brands missing RepArchive is not complete.

Wasn't it clear that this would happen?

It sort of was, but then again it wasn't, because the takedown notices were friendly, I actually became friends with some of the brand protection agents, and I didn't see it escalating like this.

But it's always been my goal to make RepArchive 100% legit, for instance with the move to censor the brand names (which by the way didn't help at all) we took small steps in that direction.

The analytics have been showing a steady decline in the importance of items for the site, while everything else like the blog etc. has been growing. Contrary to popular belief, only 1 in 5 visitors finds RepArchive through items, the blog is already a much bigger part.

Is there any upside for the visitors?

The biggest upside is website speed. Hopefully we can get RepArchive, that had ~7000 items, running like AliTackle with ~150 items. Since many people come for the blog, this will be a big quality of life change.

The item list was largely automated, so I'd be lying if I said I have more time for everything else now.

What are the plans for the future?

Of course this hits us hard, as we were the only site that had a functioning Weidian list and the original Taobao list, that others failed to copy. Both of these components made us stand out. In a way we are quitting while we are far ahead, but it's a move that we need to make.

The RepArchive service will still be running in the background in private. The item lists will be expanded and updated like they've always been, only that you can't see it. We will build on this in one way or another and create more technology to help you, all while staying legal.

I want to hear your opinion, here, on reddit, youtube or discord.

Thanks for your continuous support, the last 3 years and in this new chapter.