I just got one of my long-delayed orders. The one from March, I think.
No changes.
Parts from Intl-Outdoor:
2020-04-29 12:24USJFK / Despatched to overseas
2020-04-20 23:30HK / Hand over to airline.
2020-04-20 18:01Information Received
2020-04-20 17:15Shenzhen,China / Depart from facility to service provider.
2020-04-16 14:40Hongqiao,Shanghai,China / Shipment arrived at facility and measured.
Flashing kit from Intl-Outdoor:
2020-05-16 00:35Information Received
2020-05-15 23:59Shenzhen,China / Depart from facility to service provider.
2020-05-15 23:30HK / Hand over to airline.
2020-05-12 17:49Hongqiao,Shanghai,China / Shipment arrived at facility and measured.
2020-05-12 17:49Hongqiao,Shanghai,China / 4PX picked up shipment
LT1- no batteries (Sofirn Amazon):
2020-04-09 09:37Nanning City, delivered to air transport
2020-04-09 08:20Nanning City, arriving at Nanning International Exchange Station
2020-04-08 16:18Nanning City, leaving Nanning International Parcel Processing Center, the next stop , Nanning International Exchange Station
2020-04-08 14:17Nanning City, Nanning International Parcel Processing Center has been exported directly sealed
2020-04-08 14:15Nanning City, Export Customs/Security Release
2020-04-07 18:14Nanning City, Export Customs/Security Retention Pending Inspection
2020-04-06 19:22Nanning City, leaving the East China Collection and Investment Department, the next stop , Nanning International Parcel Processing Center
2020-04-06 16:20Nanning City, “East China Solicitors” has received, agent: Wu Shiyi, Tel: 1777777777777777
Buying from China is very problematic at present. I think I will stop & wait for things to improve, it just too hard.
Actually I have lost a parcel ordered from the USA to me in Australia so its not just China.
If there is anything I need I will buy locally, it will be more expensive but I will get order in a few days rather that a few months - maybe.
Shutdown has killed postage everywhere. Locally it took a customer of mine 6 weeks to receive their order.
Mail within the USA has been quite rapid during all of this, faster than normal. My local carrier said he only had 300 pieces of mail to deliver for our area on a day last week. That’s 10% of what he’s used to delivering.
That’s what happened here in NZ. Just wait until it goes back to normal and there’ll be a flood of packages clogging up the system. In NZ, one courier company received 3.5 million packages over 2 weeks once level 4 lifted.
Sofirn has always been good to me.
Recently put in an order from their website and was just checking in to verify the tracking info.
Lan Lee explained 2 1/2 months by “steamer”.
It’s going to be a bit of a different mind set with the hobby for a while.
Two recent orders to country Victoria. One from China (Sofirn) took 18 days, one from Sydney took 8 days. Impressed with China, Auspost not so much. You’re right about delays everywhere.
Well, it’s hard for a clam to drag a fairly big package like that across the seabed…
I had a winning bid for a Twosun knife on ebay two weeks ago. Ebay auctions is how they sell their products. As far as I can tell, Twosun is also shipping from China. I got the knife today in Western New York. I ordered a light from Sofirn nearly 10 weeks ago and have not received the order. Two weeks to get a knife and over 10 weeks and still no flashlight.
Twosun sells on AliExpress and Amazon, but eBay is where you buy if you want it cheaper for their wares, generally.
The only thing I can think of is that Sofirn got caught trying to ship batteries without declaring properly them and now all of their packages are more closely scrutinized. Many people said they had orders that kept getting returned to the shipper even though they had not ordered batteries, and I can only assume it’s because there were many that actually did contain batteries, pissing off Chinese customs.
Batteries would likely not be a customs matter. It’s an airline safety concern. If they shipped batteries that did comply with the packaging and declarations regulations, that would be treated as a serious matter. It can, and has in the past, killed people.
However, common sized lithium ion batteries shipping inside the device they are used with have reduced regulations, which is why some sellers will offer batteries with a flashlight, but only up to the capacity of the flashlight (and with insulators on one of the terminals to prevent activation.
I still think it is likely that anything shipped by the lowest priced service is only getting through sporadically due to the shortage of air freight capacity, and not reliably in a first-in, first-out manner. And items may be getting returned to shippers that in normal times would not be stopped, simply to reduce the backlog.
Even just considering Sofirn’s products, and not comparing another company like Twosun, one flashlight might arrive at the sorting facility on a day when all the flights are full with higher fare cargo. The next day more packages might not have flights and get dumped on top of yesterday’s packages, burying that flashlight. After a week of this, another Sofirn flashlight might go on the top of the growing pile, but be the first thing grabbed when a flight has room for more bargain fare packages, while the light that arrived a week earlier takes several more weeks to unbury.
Curious about the status of the sofirn Q8 host, C8F host, SP32A v2 hosts, and Q8 diffuser I ordered 13 May I logged in on the sofirnlight website. What did I find? The whole order marked ‘awaiting shipping’. The order was placed almost a month ago but still hasn’t shipped. I’m done with sofirn. Time to find a reliable source for hosts.
I placed and order and the next day changed my mind. I contacted the seller on the official Sofirn web site and they next day their response was it shipped two days ago. Nothing ships out of Sofirn the same day .
I like their products a lot but they customer service , not so much
Well my LT1 suddenly showed up in New York after being stuck in Nanning for 2 whole months.
I have another package that took the slow boat. Anyone know how long the “slow boat” actually takes? Nearing a month and a half since that last update.
2020-04-29 12:24USJFK / Despatched to overseas
2020-04-20 23:30HK / Hand over to airline.
2020-04-20 18:01Information Received
2020-04-20 17:15Shenzhen,China / Depart from facility to service provider.
2020-04-16 14:40Hongqiao,Shanghai,China / Shipment arrived at facility and measured.
2020-04-16 14:40Hongqiao,Shanghai,China / 4PX picked up shipmen
I’ve had similar on more than one parcel. One has now arrived (53 days in transit) and the other is still waiting at the airline, both were ordered on the same day.
2020-06-08 12:39
Item delivered
2020-06-06 03:22
Arrival at Processing Center
2020-05-24 02:41
GBLAL, Despatched to overseas
2020-04-15 23:30
HK, Hand over to airline.
2020-04-15 18:08
Information Received
2020-04-15 17:32
HONG KONG - HONG KONG, Depart from facility to service provider.
2020-04-15 16:22
HONG KONG - HONG KONG, Shipment arrived at facility and measured.
2020-04-15 16:22
HONG KONG - HONG KONG, 4PX picked up shipment.
And the other
2020-04-15 23:30
HK, Hand over to airline.
2020-04-15 18:08
Information Received
2020-04-15 17:32
HONG KONG - HONG KONG, Depart from facility to service provider.
2020-04-15 15:46
HONG KONG - HONG KONG, Shipment arrived at facility and measured.
2020-04-15 15:46
HONG KONG - HONG KONG, 4PX picked up shipment.
Awaiting shipment sounds like a reason to contact Sofirn to ask for an update if you haven’t already.
I did and am awaiting a reply.
Hmph. 24 hours to cross the Pacific, then two weeks so far to travel a few miles near my home??
=
Departed Shipping Partner Facility, USPS Awaiting Item, Your item departed a shipping partner facility at 5:29 am on May 23, 2020 in FREMONT, CA 94536. This does not indicate receipt by the USPS or the actual mailing date.
2020-05-23 05:29:00 [United States,FREMONT]
Arrived Shipping Partner Facility, USPS Awaiting Item
2020-05-23 05:26:00 [United States,FREMONT,CA,94536]
Picked Up by Shipping Partner, USPS Awaiting Item
2020-05-19 23:04:00 [United States,FREMONT,CA,94538]
…
Order time: 00:07 May. 18 2020 Estimated Delivery Time:26-44 Days
Will be shipped within (Business days)3 Days