ordering from GearBest...

Buy / Sell Budget Dealer Experiences
1

I dont know, i was initially putting off ordering from china. I had heard too many horror stories… but, i also knew i would eventually end up doing it, because, you just HAVE TO to get budget “almost anything” and a selection.

after putting it off far too long? I finally used GEARBEST for my first one… which was also my first group buy, the n10sivern 1504 group buy. I ordered 3 lights and 3 remote switches.

I was amazed they were in my hand in about a week or so, from mainland china. I always figured, they were on their best behavior because it was a group buy, maybe.

this got me a few “points” then i just saw a thread how my points would expire because they were from before a certain date… i had to order something, and NOW. SO, i did…

24 hours later (just now) i logged into gearbest, and looked at my order… i was pleased to see it was listed as “shipped out”… and, i was IMPRESSED there seemed to be 2 little pictures posted, that looked like it was my package… one the contents, the other, the white envelops sealed up.

i paid something like 16 CENTS for the slightly quicker shipping to the USA, and, figured what the heck might as well get insurance for a buck and some change.

if everything arrives and everything works? i am starting to be kinda happy and okay with ordering from china… at least from GearBest, so far anyways.

i know some of you guys have hundreds of orders from china, and i hear a lot of horror stories… but so far, i have been pleasantly surprised… or just lucky so far.

=

so far? so good…

2

Nice.
You can click open in new tab on those little pics of the parcels to see them bigger.

3

GB shipping partners have improved, that is obvious. But there are still cases where packages end up “lost” or delayed. It is a small percentage though.

on average I have a 92-95% success rate. very few items get lost.

4

the one thing i find “rude” to customers? is asking you to buy insurance.

I mean, i BOUGHT something… i should GET it. You have a price, you have shipping costs if any… what is “insurance”??

UPS in the states here does this… they “recommend” you buy insurance when you use UPS… if you DONT? Your package gets STOMPED and DROPPED ridiculously… the company doesnt care as long as employees dont do it to INSURED packages… its like a “protection” racket.

I guess if i buy “insurance” ordering from gearbest, they try “really hard” to send me a package that is the correct order, and actually try to make sure it works when they ship it out? eh?

scratches head

quote frankly, if i dont get my package, or its damaged, or the item(s) dont work right? I STILL should get taken care of… maybe with “insurance” in case anything happens, i get less of a run around instead of just reshipping the items, i dont know.

otherwise, its just asking me for a “tip”, i guess.

i guess it boils down to? when a shipper or a company like gearbest recommends you buy insurance? Its like saying “for a little more? we will actually do what we are supposed to do in the first place, and treat you like we are supposed to in the first place”

5

I refuse to buy insurance just because I feel the same and have discovered that it may takea lot of patience, if there is something a miss they will correct it at Gearbest, just keep your cool.

6

The horror stories will nearly always be the only stories that you’ll hear.

It’s not often at all that someone will remark on the perfect service they receive with no problem’s at all from a supplier, nearly all order’s will be like this.

I’m not concerned in the least about ordering from China, all the one’s I’ve used use Paypal.

7

my last order took 20 days to arrive
:slight_smile:

8

I order a cheap AAA flashlight and klarus G30 with good price from gearbest and thorfire S70 at banggood nearly the same day,let see which one is come first >-)

9

Yes, if you use Paypal, I don’t get why someone would pay for insurance. You already get it included with Paypal.

Anyway, my Gearbest order this week arrived fine in 20 days (to Canada), which is good. No tracking, no insurance. So, I don’t think GB is trying to scam anyone, it’s just an odd surcharge I guess they figure some people will pay if it’s there. Go figure.

10

I purchased an item at a great discount. GearBest shows me that it has shipped and then they cancel my order and say the item is no longer available. Then they only offer me in store credit. I’ve had some good experiences, but it’s frustrating when things like this happen!

11

I have ordered two flashlights from them over the last four months. One took 4 weeks and the last one 3 weeks. No problems.
Am I just lucky or should I consider other vendors in the future?

12

I had two missing packages last year, ordered in September which coincides with lots of complaints on missing packages by other users in this forum.
I had to threaten them with PayPal disputes before they relented to refund my money.

Fast forward a few months and most of my orders were delivered in about 4-5 weeks with my last 2 orders which includes Li-Ion batteries and knives were delivered within 3 weeks, so I’m quite pleased with the turnaround and hopefully GB can improve further and not going back to their old ways of missing packages and crappy one-liner CS

13

I’ve ordered about 10 times from GB and never had a problem. The longest it took for a purchase to get to me was 20 days or so. But then again I’ve never had problems ordering from Fasttech, Banggood, or any of the other Chinese stores. I haven’t bought much, maybe 50 times total from all stores, so I’ve probably been lucky so far.

I suspect that the majority of purchases for people go without a hitch but if it doesn’t then it can descent into a hellish condition depending on the vendor. I’ve had DOA items from Fasttech and they were handled quickly and efficient (sent the items to Florida, emailed them the postage receipt, and they resent the items). Hopefully I’ll never have issues with items or shipping with GB since it seems painful working with them to resolve things.

14

I ordered the Opus BT - C3100 V2.2 Intelligent Battery Charger on the 6th of this month and got an email on the 7th saying your order has been shipped (Paid extra for EU warehouse) - 6 days later and the Item still has not been shipped (I asked Yodel & they said Package still with sender). I ordered a few LG/Samsung 18650 batteries few days ago also (8th I think) and got an email today saying Items shipped, so am not sure what`s going on but am not happy about them using Yodel for delivery on battery charger.

I read today they usually take around a week to ship - but am unhappy about paying extra for insurance and especially EU warehouse cost, but Item still not shipped. Why would they send you an email stating Item shipped a week before they actually ship it? or has that just happened to me!

PS. I got the insurance on the Battery charger (Duh)

15

It’s not just you, bad sellers, like gearbest, lie as standard procedure, claiming the item has shipped before it has actually shipped can help them hide their longer processing times. It’s intended to make it look like gearbest did their part promptly and the extra time it takes is just the postal service’s fault.

By the way, Welcome to BLF.
Check out our dealer ratings subforum gearbest is rated AVOID
But as illustrated by this thread, many people are still lured by slightly lower prices and many of them get lucky. But it’s always a bigger gamble with bad sellers.

16

wellllllll. if “GEARBEST is rated AVOID”???

then… “why” do we have (numerous) group guys with them? this is just my 3rd order from china, all have been gearbest, so far this third one looks okay too… so far i’m happy…

my first and only group buy? was also my first ever china purchase… all GB.

who SHOULD i order from china from, if not gearbest? Dont get me wrong… i LOVE MTNelectronics… but, other than drivers and batterys? he really isnt a “shopping mall” for flashlights…

=

since i am so far hapy with GB… the first 2 orders arrived inside of 2 weeks easy (one within a week or ten days, some kinda china to USA record, lol)

who would ship faster to me from china? and have the prices and selection? who is “dont avoid” on your list?

where are you SENDING me to shop in china, if i should avoid GB ?

17

Seller ratings are decided by our admin, sb, who looks over the reported behavior and the volume of complaints (or praise).

Group buys can be set up by any BLF member. And they can do whatever they want. And some members who organize group buys get paid money from sellers like gearbest in exchange for creating a group buy. Gearbest might push groupbuys to help offset their [AVOID] rating / their well earned (imho) bad reputation.

Some groupbuys might not even be good deals. Recently gearbest had a CooYoo Quantum 10180 groupbuy which didn’t feel like much of a deal once other sellers started carrying that light and their prices were similar to the GB price. (By the way, the CooYoo Quantum is also available under different brands, MecArmy IllumineX-1 and Black Water Kite)

Err, see the dealer ratings subforum which I linked to? Right above your post. :beer:

18

I wonder if there’s a way to produce a league table of some kind comparing one seller against another, information such as: price, item in stock?, despatch time, delivery time etc?

19

12/04/16 I searched for “Opus BT-C3100” and the first top sites you come to are “lygte-info.dk & www.candlepowerforums.com”. These are well respected sites, and if you read them you will see people praising the Charger and Gearbest (Gearbest obviously supplied these sites for reviews). I dont know if things have changed since, but I think Gearbest can definitely offer a better service if they are upfront with their customers about stuff not being in stock. I am pretty certain people would still buy if they are told you will have to wait some weeks for stock and then delivery etc.

Out of the three Items which were all in stock at the time of purchase (week ago), one has shipped. If everything turns out OK in the end - I would probably order again, but will keep in mind that its most likely not in stock, and that the wait will be allot longer. The prices are really good, especially for rip-off UK :slight_smile:

EDIT: 13/04/16 - one parcel in UK, two & three in SHENZHEN - CHINA…
I think Yodel waits for delivery to come into UK from China, so till that happens, they list as “Parcel with Sender”. I should have charger by Saturday and batteries by next week Tuesday/Wednesday latest. So they did have all my stuff in stock after all

20

I have had good luck with them on my last three orders. It consistently takes 4-5 days for the order to show up with the tracking number in the system. It could be slow shipping, customs, or their postal system. IDK I typically get my order in about 14-18 days. Give or take.

I had a “problem” with my last order as part of it didn’t ship as it was back ordered. I didn’t read the shipping notice and didn’t notice that it was back ordered. I opened a ticket with them asking when it would ship and they were responsive. The gave me an estimated ship date which they beat by 4 days.

I always use PayPal and I always pay a few dollars extra for insurance and shipping. Maybe it makes a difference. Maybe I have just been lucky? IDK

That has been my experience thus far FWIW.

Bob