Walk me through shipping from China

My experience describe above is using “17track.net

so below I change the punctuation slightly — this is what I’ve seen:

17track.net … may give you some more information once your package has actually made it to US shores … but likely nothing before that”

Order, give up, forget you ordered, and then eventually it will arrive, most of the time. Sorry, but it just takes a lot of time and patience.

Just the way these things are with almost all of the Chinese “mega-stores”. If you want better speed and/or certainty then you have to go with the (more expensive) express shipping option. And don’t count on customer service from them; instead rely on paypal or your bank’s policy regarding cancelling payments. It seems that only when the money will disappear that these stores begin to pay attention to you. China Post is notorious for inconsistent shipping; they’re usually quite slow and have no idea where your package is. Partial refunds in the form of store credit is the usual ruse when goods are damaged or wrong, and shipping into China is costly by design to protect their industries making returns financially unacceptable.

Cover your own assets, do not trust the ‘mega-stores’ to be there helping you when you need them. Ain’t gonna happen :frowning:

Other than slow shipping and poor packing I’ve been lucky so far. I don’t hesitate to use them but I won’t spend more than I can afford to lose on one order. With fingers crossed,

Phil

  1. Order your item :slight_smile:
  2. Next day, the store marks your item as shipped. :bigsmile:
  3. Week to a month later, they actually ship your item. :expressionless:
    4a: If untracked, proceed to 5. :zipper_mouth_face:
    4b. If tracked, you get some mostly un-useful tracking updates on the china side.
  4. Package enters blackhole. :ghost:
  5. Depending on the current mood of the god poseidon package is either lost or lands in your country.
  6. Package swings by customs blackhole. If you roll an odd number on your 12 sided die your package enters customs blackhole. :ghost:
  7. Package arrives on you doorstep. You struggle to recall what you ordered. :~
  8. Next day, tracking still shows not delivered yet.

1) Place an order
2) Pray for 3-6 weeks
3) Order arrives half opened, crushed and looks nothing like the pictures.
4) Convince PayPal to refund your money

Rinse and repeat. If your item arrives unscathed, and as depicted on the website, take a picture of it…. because it’s a real life unicorn.

Horror stories do occur but in my experience it’s just slow(like rowboat across the Pacific slow). I figure on 6-8 weeks for most things.

Spot on :smiley:

^ yeah pretty much. Even a Chinese site that gives you information like you show I have found most of the time is inaccurate in what they show, I’ll get stuff that says its shipped but I find a different date its actually shipped on on the package, or they never shipped it, stuff that doesn’t say shipped that I’m waiting for to say shipped and suddenly it arrives, a package that is shipped earlier gets here weeks later than one ordered weeks later, you just never can be certain, its best to do what cabfrank said, but add a reminder to check back later.

The chinese parcel tracking isnt as bad anymore as it was years ago. As you can see, its nowadays pretty detailed.
The point from when my packages “disappear” is, when they get into the hand of DHL/German Post, tracking doesnt gets updated, or packages show up in tracking out of nowhere and so on.

Plus, what i can see from when the tracking is working: packages take often just 3-4 days after order to arrive in germany ……… . but then stuck at customs for weeks!

1. Order.
2. Forget about order.
3. Have a nice surprise when package arrive.

From what I see, it’s on it’s way to USJFK airport. It will show up next as Arrived at ISC NEW YORK NY (USPS) and after that a Processed through USPS Sort Facility (New York, NY or Jamaica, NY ?).

Since it’s on the move, you should start tracking it at USPS. I usually subscribe to USPS email alerts to keep me updated.

Let us know if USPS tracking is working for you now.

i always think of shipping from china like …
Ron Popeil says when describing the Ronco rotisserie grill on his TV infomercial , “Just set it …and forget it ” …
start wondering where your stuff is at about day 23 .
Never pay for tracking …if you do you’re already setting yourself up for disappointment .
always assume a 7% overall loss over time…just factor that into your buying decision.
Don’t get preachy or in depth with how they should re-structure their entire business model when asking for a refund or if you have an issue .
Settle quickly and if you can always take a halfway reasonable offer from them … just to save your own sanity .
worst thing you can do is assume they will act like you think they ought to .
Be aware that vendors can go from wonderful to horrible over night …(fasttech )
Roll your dice and take your chances .Odds are very good you’ll have some very good results spending money overseas

Not recommended but:
2a. Remembered your order was way past stated 40 days free shipping
2b. Open dispute
2c. Won and received refunds.
2d. Forget about it
2e. ???
3. Have a nice surprise when package arrive.

I felt guilty doing that but things get too slow and this sometimes happens.

Small items don’t usually have tracking unless you pay for it. I have been waiting for six weeks for a Nut Light from Banggood.
I ordered some little magnets from Deal Extreme that never came. I complained after a couple of months and they sent them again, but those never came either. Then they suggested I add $1.75 for tracking the third shipment, and it did arrive.
If there is tracking, the USPS will usually show “preparing shipment” within a few days, and then you can have them send email updates.
When it takes so long I don’t have any project to work on, I order parts from Illumination Supply and pick them up in San Jose.
I think it gets slower in the fall when stores are stocking up for Xmas.

Arrived today… 11 days shipping time, guess I got lucky. Here are all the tracking updates I received. As expected, as soon as it hit CONUS, I was able to track to my door. This was for the BLF A6 Flashlight Group Buy from Banggood.

SYNOPSIS
24 Sep: Order placed
29 Sep: Notice of backorder (gave me the option of continuing order or cancel, very nice)
06 Oct: Notice that package shipped
08 Oct: Tracking shows it leaving China
15 Oct: Tracking shows it in New York
17 Oct: My mailbox

ACTUAL TRACKING
Oct 17, 2015 09:19 Delivered, In/At Mailbox, Your item was delivered in or at the mailbox at 9:19 am on October 17, 2015 in VIRGINIA BEACH, VA 23455. VIRGINIA BEACH, VA 23455
Oct 17, 2015 08:34 Sorting Complete VIRGINIA BEACH, VA 23455
Oct 17, 2015 06:23 Arrived at Unit VIRGINIA BEACH, VA 23455
Oct 17, 2015 00:06 Departed USPS Facility NORFOLK, VA 23501
Oct 16, 2015 22:43 Arrived at USPS Destination Facility NORFOLK, VA 23501
Oct 15, 2015 20:01 Departed USPS Facility FLUSHING, NY 11351
Oct 15, 2015 09:13 Arrived at USPS Facility FLUSHING, NY 11351

Oct 08, 2015 10:04 Processed Through Sort FacilityCHINA SHENZHEN EMS
Oct 07, 2015 15:06 AcceptanceCHINA
Oct 06, 2015 15:18 Processed Through Sort FacilityFLYTEXPRESS-CN
Oct 06, 2015 10:22 AcceptanceFLYTEXPRESS-CN
Sep 25, 2015 02:02 Shipping information recievedCustomer

+1

This is the secret magic of the new world economy. In our quest for efficiency and Hierarchical Collective Command Structure, we’ve lost the elements of wonder and surprise. Now we can enjoy that again!

“I wonder if anyone noticed my order?”
“I wonder if they have any to ship?”
“I wonder if they even have any of those silly little yellow envelopes to ship it in?”
“I wonder if their version of ”Postal Patty” has sticky fingers?”
“I wonder if their ”customs” liked my item enough to get sticky fingers?”
“I wonder if that ”slow boat from China” sank?”
“I wonder if the US ”customs” liked my item enough to get sticky fingers?”
“I wonder why USPS seems-to-and-then-won’t track SingPost packages?”
“I wonder if anyone knows anything about Logistics in this crazy system?”
“I wonder if my own ”Postal Patty” has sticky fingers?”
“I wonder if I can still find the order on my system, to try to follow up?”
“I wonder why I did this?”
“I wonder if any of it is real…”

“SURPRISE!!!”

“I wonder why I was so worried!”

Or you could just take cabfrank’s & Boaz’s more-pragmatic advice.

It’s either that or pay extra for the insane regulatory and tax burdens imposed on the people who try to do business here.

rant
(I prefer to share my meager accumulation of resources with those who purposefully strive to keep my operating costs DOWN, not those who artificially increase it for no good reason.) /rant

I also recommend you to try other package tracking site like TrackingMore. If you are interested in knowing main China post tracking info explanations, you can check China post tracking in English.

“start wondering where your stuff is at about day 23” is so spot on accurate I almost died reading your post! In fact I signed up just to express that LOL! So exactly true for me as well over 4 years from your post. Cheers Friend.

A guy in a Kayak paddles it across the pacific and eventually hands it to your customs service after lying about its contents, this is assuming you selected express shipping

About the most accurate description.
I have stuff arrive in a week from China and then again, i have waited almost 3 months for the longest.
9/10 it gets here. Kaidomain uses a tracked courier and i like to use them for reliability. Not the cheapest but i don’t care about a few extra £$€ for the peace of mind.