I was on here in late november / early december asking for recommendations for an inexpensive light. Loads of great advice and I finally ordered a Convoy S2 and recharger from GearBest. I figured I got loads of free cell phone battery packs from trade shows and they use the 18650 battery.
I’ve ordered things from other companies in China and have always been amazed how quick things come. Every day I go to our mailbox like a little kid…. and nothing from Gearbest… It’s been about 40 days since I ordered this.
By chance, did anyone else order from Gearbest around December 11th? Get your item(s) yet? Does it really take 35 days?
Do they stand behind their shipping? From the email I got back from them, they seem to make it sound like I’m on my own. I guess I can dispute this with my credit card company.
What company other than Gearbest do you like? This convoy S2+ was $12. any recommendation for a flashlight around that price that uses the rechargable 18650?
I have experienced some exceptionally slow deliveries from China recently. But while some were really pokey, some others got here quick. I see no rhyme or reason except maybe a customs delay.
My last order from GearBest took for…………ever to arrive. Like 6 weeks.
My guess would be that GB holds orders until it reaches a certain quantity point where they get a better deal from the seller? Maybe?
Anything you order from China now is definitely going to take the “slowboat” from China because the Chinese New Year festivities are starting.
I would say 6 weeks would be average standard shipping until the end of February.
Wait…didn’t “expedited shipping” promise 7 - 12 days ?
GearBest specifically says for $2.00 more you’ll receive your order in 7 - 12 days vs 35ish
But again, at this time of year (Chinese New Year Celebration), 45 - 60 days is probably par for the course.
Zeb- the party starts today / tomorrow. So orders weeks ago shouldn’t be affected by their party. Yes, End of december is Christmas / New year… but I really want to get this or get another on order : ) I just got the bug reading all the helpful info on this site and want to get a bright small flashlight!
Feets,
I ordered a several things from china around that same time including 2 orders from GB (12/9 &12/16) and have received everything. I did the free shipping as well - no issues.
Still waiting on something I ordered around 1/1 hopefully it’s on the boat already.
Had one item went missing from GB. Open up a ticket and they mention they can only confirm lost once the shipping terms expires (60days IIRC). Follow up with them after it expired and they give an option of either a refund or resend.
If you choose the resend option, be prepare to wait again.
I ordered blf-348 on December 10 and shipped on December 15, it’s been 44 days as of to date, I managed to go to our local post office and they told me that they still dont have any package for me yet. I contacted gearbest and filed a ticket and told them that i paid for insurance (without tracking), will wait for their reply.
Same here. Ordered a smartphone from gearbest about 11-12th december and still not arrived.
But at least the tracking says it already arrived to my country… so it is not gearbest/china problem. Left china on 21th december. Arrived to my country on 9th january
I was part of the UT01 group buy. I ordered it on ~12/5. I forget the exact date. It arrived on 12/21.
This time of year is hard to get stuff out of China. You are better of using domestic (relative to you) sellers until some time after the new year celebrations.
OK let me help you
Order and forget is what is best
Only if it takes two months start contacting vendors
Want it fast, buy local but ordering from China just assume itntakes 60 days and all before that is a pleasant surprise
When you use GearBest free shipping they wait until they have a bulk amount of orders. Post nl gives them a discount for shipping 500 or 1000 packages at a time and then it comes slow boat to america. Then through customs if your lucky you place your order on the tail end of the bulk shipment.
I had one order of batteries that didn’t arrive for like 2 months 8x ga about 6-7 months ago I had insurance. But they wanted me to wait 90 days before they would do anything. I contacted them after 5 weeks or so. I just order now stuff not in a rush and forget like miller said when it shows it does.
Yes
The key word is “pre advised”
This means they collect packages till the minimum of bulk discount is reached.
You see an email saying it is shipped but it actually is waiting for enough parcels
Do your heart a favor and just order and forget, it works like a charm
I have had to open some disputes too when the delivery date was not met, but it usually arrives afteral, often before the dispute is acted upon, so i could close those disputes before they acted upon it.
This though:
That shipping insurance and tracking they offer.
Does it legally mean, when i don’t buy tracking and insurance, that any loss of parcels is just my tough luck?
Or are they still legally supposed to have the goods delivered to me?
So, can they say “Sorry, you should have bought insurance and tracking.” without having to resend the item or refund me?
Or can i say: “Sorry, the package has not arrived after 2 months, please resend item / refund me or i will pursue a (Paypal/CC) dispute.”
Obviously someone could lie about not receiving the goods, and have the seller resend or refund…
This probably happens in reality too…
So i can imagine the shops want to have shipping insurance and tracking for themselves, so they don’t have to refund or resend because they can then be sure the delivery was made.
Like a lot of others, I ordered a few of the BLF 348’s with the last group buy November 29th. Added a Jet - 1 MK just to get one more quality light in hand. Almost 47 years of using junk; I want quality! Tracking says it’s been in US customs since December 11th, which I realize is probably not really true, just that PostNL is hardly likely to keep up with whatever the USPS is doing.
I’ve decided to wait until Feb 2nd, after the Chinese holiday to contact them (if it still hasn’t shown up). That would be a total of 66 days. I want to be patient but from now on will try to stay with domestic companies as much as possible. Any shenanigans, I’ll contact Paypal and order somewhere else. Be patient, young grasshopper! And I’ll try the same…
Joe
ETA: OP, check out this thread for the Thorfire VG10 Amazon deal.
Better still, make several orders, two or three per week for a month, then you will have surprises arrive at various times across the next four months.
I’ve had a package sit “inbound into customs NYC” for 6 months before.
Package had long been replaced by sender, when one day the original made it’s way out of customs
and to my door. It was quite amazing, as the item was $300 and I ended up with two of them!
