Ok well that makes sense. Experiences vary though. I was burnt by a company from Asia for over a thousand dollars. I paid for some electrical parts with a paypal balance. I let it go over 45 days because of the Chinese New Year and because I had ordered from them many times. Now I only pay for anything with a debit card even if I use paypal. (I don’t leave anything in my paypal account anymore)
I could tell you some major horror stories about payscam, evil-bay and shipping insurance. Also it’s true that many buyers have gotten scamming sellers down to an art. Evil-bay in particular messed up when they stopped sellers from posting negative feedback for buyers. This leaves sellers open to blackmail. I must have gotten at least one jackwad a week who told me that if I didn’t send a partial refund that they would leave me negative feedback. I had 100% positive feedback for over 6 years before that policy change. I have a policy of, “return within 90 days for a full refund no questions asked”. Still I got bozo’s trying to scam me and who would leave negative if they didn’t get paid to buy my items.
I think sometimes people blame long wait times on sellers when it’s often carriers and ‘border security’ that hold up the show. I’ve had orders from FourSevens in Atlanta where I received a “shipped” notification literally within hours of ordering. The orders still didn’t arrive in Canada for 22 days.
My last order from Fasttech was here in about 15 or 16 days, while a recent one from I-O took much longer - but when it did arrive, it had been opened by customs (and poorly re-taped). Not I-Os fault.
When I order Timex, I can’t expect Rolex. And when I order from halfway around the world, I need to be patient. I also need to remember that I have no right to impose my own modus operandi on the rest of the planet. If I can’t accept how other people operate I shouldn’t deal with them. So far I’m doing alright.
I made good money for a long time. I was one of the guys selling “refurbished” “used” or “second” items. The new policies and costs have made it terrible. Between paypal fees and e-bay fees and scammers it’s hardly worth it now. They also changed the way your listings show up, if you don’t pay extra for your listing or sell thousands of items a year your listings don’t show up. They get stuck at the bottom if your rating go down so that leaves you really open to blackmail too. If you don’t give the jackwads a partial refund then you get a negative and your listing are also stuck on the bottom. It seems they went from treating all sellers equally to favoring only companies that set up stores and sell tons of items. It’s also next to impossible to compete with China because they can actually ship cheaper to the US than I can within the same state. Plus they don’t have to collect state tax.
It’s also a reason why savvy e-bay shoppers shop with more than the default setting. Bargains come from auctions and newly listed buy it now items. Either wait till the last second to bid or snap up a good deal before someone else does.
Amazon has also changed and not for the better. I really wish someone would come up with an alternative to e-bay though. It’s been tried over and over, but they never seem to really gain traction. For auctions they really seem to have a monopoly.
One thing we should understand is how these companies mark things as shipped. In their office in Shenzhen/mainland China, they pak and prepare the shipment, get tracking # and hand it to a logistics company.
At this point it is marked shipped.
Now, it’s up to the logistics company to drive the product across the border between the mainland and Hong Kong (for those who have not traveled through HK/China, there is still an actual border with checkpoint and customs between the two). It’s a four hour drive from Shenzhen to Lantau, so in theory it can make it to the airport in one day. Realistically, the logistics company may want to maximize it’s deliveries per trip and maybe sit on some packages until they have a load. Others may go every day on principle.
Wallbuys later identified their logistics company was a problem during their Christmas and New Years Sale. In mid-January they switch to a new company. Based on my recent order which arrived in 10 days, I’d say it’s working better for them.
I will not get into delays after it is handed off to HK Post; it’s a nebula that I know little about. I rarely check tracking numbers until things seem obviously late. For me, once HKPost says it’s processed through, I can expect it in 5-7 days. This will be different for everyone and especially during these holiday exceptions.
Thanks for the info Relic38. That’s good to know. It probably explains why I am still waiting on my light when everyone else seems to have gotten theirs, even though they ordered after I did.
No tracking because it was under $15. I would have paid a buck extra for tracking if I had known. I ordered it in late Dec. and they say it was shipped on the 1st of Jan.
I filed a dispute with paypal. I will be glad to simply get the light and inform paypal that it showed up. Fingers crossed.
people go out & buy a @$20 flashlight & expect it to perform like a $200 light… This provides me hours of entertainment… Does this make me a bad person??? LOL
I agree to
but
term “budget lights” or “budget world” varies widely, for example: average monthly income in my country is about 300-350$, cheapest flat rate internet (1,5MB-up/250KB-down)+ landline phone is about 22$ so, what would be a “budget deal” for me? Do I expect for 10-20-30$ light to work properly out of the envelope :D, yes of course, is it realistic to expect that 50+$ light has no flaws, if you ask me, yes it is…
I understand your main frustration is with the varying stories from customer service personnel, I get that. For me, when dealing with small untracked orders I don’t fuss too much about them.
I usually don’t expect untracked shipments them to be quick. They usually take longer than tracked items.
I have an eBay order that is over 30 days now ($25, untracked), and the seller has already offered to reship or refund. I’m waiting a few more days just in case. I don’t want to take advantage of someone for something beyond their control (I’m not saying that’s what you are doing either).
In my experience, Wallbuys will fix this one way or another. I have had one mix-up (missing strap for my UF T90) in five or six orders and they took care of it within 24 hours. Surprisingly, they even did the same for someone else who ordered the same item and hasn’t even received the light to confirm the strap is missing. They just assumed it would be missing and sent it anyway.
+1 agreed. Didnt think about it from that perspective. You are exactly right…. I was eluding more to folks who buy uber expensive lights from very established companies. Then buy from ‘budget’
Companies & expect the same quality & service. Then throwing a fit when they dont get it.
I wouldn’t expect an Epiphone to play like a Gibson or a Squier to play like a true USA Fender. I wouldn’t expect a SRK to shine like a Tiny Monster, but I suppose some people would.
I think one thing to me, is the value of the yen compared to the dollar. A $30 light in China Is a $100 light over here. What we tend to see as budget, is high priced over there. When I buy a light for over $15+ USD, I expect it to perform as well as a higher priced light in the US, just because the huge difference in money would say that the $15 light in China is really mid-priced, not budget. When you get to $30 lights, they should be fantastic and when you get to $50 and above, they should be as good as the best.
That's how I look at it, right or wrong...
As far as members and personal deals, why would a member be any better or worse than a stranger off the street? You are on the internet, anonymous and many times, worse than a guy off the street. The members here are a cross section of honest people, liars, cheats, thieves, perverts, convicts, etc. It's just another representation of life here, so why would it necessarily be any better here, than in real life?
my most expensive flashlight was 300$ and I had to return it for replacement after about 1 week of owning it, can’t tell you how disappointed I was, my cheapest light was about 6$, output = absolute crap, I give it away just not to look at it, 18$ FandyFire G10 from DX, fantastic flashilight, has flaws but I like it a lot…
But, you know how it is, people are never satisfied, if it’s winter, it’s too cold if its summer, it’s too hot, if it rains…. and so on, people will always whine
I think my recent experience with a certain less used Chinese vendor includes most of the key issues I’ve had.
1. I ask for DHL shipping, get a quote, pay it and then got told that’s just standard postage. DHL would cost way more.
2. Issued a tracking number before item is actually dispatched. Item shipped to HK then shipped to me. Why give me false hope my order is but a few days away - just tell me, I’ll grumble but a lot less than I did when I found out myself
3. Why tell me when I complain about high shipping charge that I could have bought the item from your consumer site with free shipping.
Now that the goods have turned up I’m a happy customer, I even sent a note to the girl that’s been looking after my order to say sorry if I got a bit grumpy and that it’s the company not her I had issue with. I hope she understands the difference. I’ve had people say it to me in service roles “You’re great but your company sucks” - at least I know they recognised I tried all I could.
The key issue is the one that seems to curse mankind, decent communication. As time passes and the cultural exchanges work both ways things will improve. I can’t help but think some of the folks at FT have spent time living in the west and therefore have a better understanding of western customer service.
