I ordered a couple of things from the Convoy Store on Aliexpress and I am worried something shady is going on.
My order has said ” Will be shipped within 17 days” for about a week. I only see 3 explanations for this;
1.) The order was packaged and shipped within a day or so and the information was not updated. (I hope this is the case!)
2.) The items are sitting on a shelf waiting on a craftsman to design/paint a box to ship my items in. ( super excited about this option also, can you imagine how nice a box it will be after taking almost a month to build?!?
3.) They do not have my flashlight but now that they have my money maybe they can buy some supplies and build one?? ( Not so excited about this option.)
The entire country is on CNY holiday shut down, there’s not going to be anything shipping or transacting for at least another week.
Furthermore many employees in China use the CNY shut down to turn in resignation letters. This gives them the option to start a new job fresh with a new employer upon return from the holiday. They also do this intentionally to take an extended holiday and return back to work at their leisure with job interviews at a new employer. So the holliday may be over, but still not all businesses will be fully staffed up to where they were before the shut down.
I have many part fabricators and suppliers in China, they work themselves to the bones over there. I don’t blame them one bit for taking a nice long holiday every year.
I make it a point to never order anything from China from mid Jan - late Feb.
Not sure about that ali-store operation specifically, but your 4th option is to just sit and wait for things to ramp back up after the holiday.
Just want to add I put in a multiple item custom order with Simon during CNY via the Ali store and he has filled and shipped it - during the period! Absolute kudos for this man and his store. He’s around but no doubt very short staffed right now.
Convoy Store is legit. He has always answered me when i e mail the store thru ali express and he has good products. It is just that they are getting over the Chinese Lunar New Year.
Convoy is THE best I know for BLF’ers who always request tweaks (and he often makes them). I know of no other seller who strides to give his customers what they want. He is here often and maintains a steady dialog with us. This interaction at the direct level with your customers is rare (in any industry).
Simon is always straight up with the forum (*and with me on a few orders where he really spent time and asked the right questions). He does a REALLY good job in the markets he serves and he makes a stout, reliable, and stylish light. And I am particularly impressed with his recent stuff using the Osrams.
You could not be in better hands! —and as everyone else has pointed out… China is closed for the month (which I think is kinda cool)
I received 1 package from Banggood and one from Simon this week. Both orders were placed the last week of January. So ~3 weeks through Chinese New Year period is good service in my book. I was prepared to wait longer. Much of the 3 weeks, both packages were in USA.
I ordered from Simon on 2/13 and it was shipped yesterday. He has an awesome store and is a great person to deal with!
I also ordered from Kaidomain the same day and the status still says “Processing”. Oh well, everyone deserves a holiday. And after all these years ordering from China, I’ve learned to be patient.
