Iām more just miffed that itās item, plus post, plus insurance (because without it youāre SOL), then add GST on everything. And even if you use a coupon, gotta pay GST on the full price of the item.
Would rather AliExpress, at least insurance is included and itās easy to work out costs.
Iām sure Banggood are not too concerned. Their trade to Australia is probably too small to bother about.
Push up the postage & make more profit on any orders received.
I will be using AliExpress dealers in future.
Anyone had packages stuck at customs? I have a Q8 thatās been stuck at āArrived awaiting clearance (Inbound)ā in Sydney since 5th of March. All other orders around the same time took a day or two to progress. Filled in a missing item form via the Australia Post website, hopefully the Q8 will turn up eventuallyā¦
I have a q8 arrive yesterday. The tracking didnāt include any breakdown, ie customs. But the torch arrived in under 3 weeks.
Im having huge slow downs on everything from China at the moment, im not even getting to customs on my tracking, though it could be the same.
Banggood, Aliexpress via E-packet or anything else.
Ive been on a huge torch buying run this year.
Back in Feb when China was closed down, i had no issues. In fact Banggood was coming faster via āE-packetā, though it seems they had changed to a different provider as it wasnt coming via Auspost when it got here.
Since March when China got back to work, i havent had anything arrive. Ive got about 10 different packages in transit using all methods, nothing.
No updates when they hit Australia, some Aliexpress e-packets only show leaving the warehouse/distro in China and nothing more.
Sofrin wont give me the time of day even though ive been waiting 6 weeks for e-packets that dont appear to have left China (but maybe they did?).
All i can think is that Australia has a HUGE and slow backlog of containers waiting to be opened and processed and they simply dont have permission or the staff to do it.
The only packages that seem to get through is the premium delivery option from NealsGadgets - 3 x FW3A/FW1A lights arriving today on Fastway apparently 
Yep, I had something get to me from the first entry on the tracking to in my parcel locker in 6 days - was incredible! Now parcels are sitting there for aaaaages.
March 23, Posting
March 25, Despatch from Sorting Center GuangXiZhuangZuZiZhiQuNanNingShi 53004300
And nothing since 
Yep, thats what im getting from Aliexpress on epacket.
Ive got one even waiting from the 8th March, finishes on the same line but a different location.
GuangDongShengGuangZhouShi 51040034
I had some AliExpress standard postage even arrive since then, but i think they have stopped now too, though its harder to tell as they usually take 4+ weeks.
So many things i want, including my new Soldering Iron so i do the mods i have sitting here!
This was the best one
I am also waiting for 5 deliveries from Banggood - earliest was shipped Feb 14. 5 deliveries from various Aliexpress dealers & 2 from eBay.
I guess that because there are no/few passenger services from China to Australia the parcel are just sitting somewhere waiting & waiting for services to be resumed - maybe.
I asked for one to be shipped from Australia, needed it in a hurry, paid a bit more for item & paid for delivery only to get tracking info that item was actually shipped from China.
Only getting lies from China. Once they have your money its all over. Money in the only thing that matters to these dealers.
I just got one of Hanks D4v2ti Blue Swirls with a few extras, almost $200AUD, hope I get it
Ouch. I really want the blue swirl but I just canāt justify the cost of that.
Iāll stick with putting sw45ks in my gold one.
Havenāt bought a light in like 2 years so I used all those funds in 1 hit
This is getting ridiculous.
My ROT66 shipped from Banggood on the 23rd March, hasnt hit Australia.
My pre-ordered BLF LT1 shipped on the 8th April, just hit the local courier for delivery tomorrow.
Both AU Direct Mail.
Doesnt give me confidence on the missing itemsā¦.
Im happy something is getting here, but id rather the items i ordered previously to arrive in order!
Interesting - seems like a weird backlog thing, not FIFO.
Fingers crossed for both of us mate.
After nearly two weeks I got a response from Australia Post:
I was expecting shipping delays. Still doesnāt make it easy to swallow. I ordered some switches from BG on 26th feb > shipped 27th > received today almost 8 weeks later.
Iād like to buy products produced in Taiwan , US (or other) in future. I realize cost may be more and shipping wonāt be any faster (possibly even slower??) but I just want to boycott the Chinese Communist Regime by not dealing with them. Unfortunately sooo much is produced in China.
ā¦.of course, Iāll still have the urge when to buy lights which arenāt produced anywhere else e.g. Hankās KR4
Might be time to turn off Sky News there mateā¦
Meanwhile Iāve had a few of my banggood orders arrive in the past few days.
BLF LT1, ROT66 and some diffusers. All late March I think.
The AU express stuff still came from Fastway though, not AusPost.
All my Ali express (e-packet or Ali express standard shipping) except one still havenāt shown up.
A Nitecore USM4 arrived yesterday from Ali, but it was a delayed shipment a week later from the other stuff, so seemed to miss the āblack hole monthā.
Iāve also had things from April arrive already from BG, it appears AU express from Banggood is fine now(just add a week) , as long as you missed the black hole of March.
Does turning a blind eye make it go away :laughing: :laughing:
Hey lads i found these on clearance they are MR16 globes using a MTG? The store is Sparky direct a Queensland company, Apparently they are using a Cree MTG inside them. $3.95 each seems like a good price not sure if its a MTG2 or the original inside some one would have to buy one and check. Also it could be a 12v MTG doesnāt really matter now as we have decent 12v drivers.
Okay i found this Cree make there own MR16 bulbs using a 6v MTG2. These could be a copy of that design.
https://eng.eewiki.net/app/db_page/get_file.php?docid=51665
Hell, not a bad price for household lighting either. Just moved to high CRI Colourexperts though. Are they 25 or 40 Degree??? Cant work it out.
I could finally update my Nitecore P36 with a warmer higher CRI MTG, if its possible to get it open. Not something i trust to be able to do though.