To help give a better understanding of what people are talking about, I’ll share my current experience (this is the first time I’ve posted about it) that seems to fit the situation that others are claiming.
29 Sept - Order placed for an SP10S with the Sofirn AliExpress store
30 Sept - Email received from Sofirn with tracking # LW697078302CN
24 Oct - Received a message from Sofirn (on AliExpress) stating the package had been shipped “several days ago”, and the delivery date (the date when you can file a dispute) had been extended. Tracking # LW697078302CN
30 Oct - The tracking number provided by Sofirn does not show up in EMS (or any of the 3rd party trackers) as valid. Contacted Sofirn to check on status of order. Received message saying the ‘tracking information would be updated in 2 days’.
19 Nov - Received another message from Sofirn, almost word for word copy of the 24 Oct msg. Package shipped “several days ago”, delivery date extended. Same tracking #.
22 Nov - AfterShip now shows Tracking # LW697078302CN as “Expired”. Package Mapping shows the label as being created on 1 Jan 0001 with no further updates. 17Track shows no record of it. Contacted Sofirn to inquire about the situation.
25 Nov - Received a screen shot from Sofirn of a tracking progress result showing a package had been received at Chicago on 23 Nov. Looking at the top, the tracking number did not match the one I had received as recently as the 19th from Sofirn. Replied to the rep asking about the discrepancy.
28 Nov - Received an image from Sofirn showing the shipping label with my name/address & the ‘new’ tracking number. Searching the new number it was entered into the system on 2 Nov & received by the processing facility on the 3rd.
Now, this is absolutely shady from a business standpoint BUT at least in my case Sofirn did follow through with the order & the package was been shipped (hopefully it’ll arrive in the next couple of days).
By and large those of us who have been around this hobby for years are pretty laissez-faire when it comes to receiving items from China. We understand the issues caused by distance, language, cultural differences etc and we take it in stride. If Sofirn had been upfront with me when I contacted them on the 30th saying it was back-ordered, and then let me know on the 2nd that it was now on the way with a new tracking #, I wouldn’t have given it a second thought.