I don’t like this one bit…
Can’t even find which PP transaction belongs to my order about a week ago…
Jerommel, I really wouldn’t worry. This is a vendor that’s been around for a long time and had plenty of website problems in the past IIRC. He’s always had weird stuff going on (like missing confirmation emails) - his reputation is still much better than FT for example (and I like FT too).
Website down for a while is just not cause for concern by itself, especially considering that his other site is still up after it’s recent relaunch.
EDIT: not to mention the assurances Buwuve got by email. Problems during Chinese festivals is also pretty normal…
Also — remember — today is the anniversary that’s censored and not mentioned in China, and all western telecom is being screened and filtered.
That’s just in addition to whatever else might be going on, but it can’t be helping.
Eh? Please help me out here. I don’t think I know what you are talking about, but it sounds like something I would like to know / should know. EDIT: nevermind, I just don’t have the date of the Tiananmen Square protests memorized.
Thanks for the reassurance, wight, let’s hope you’re right.
Thanks for the worries, hank, it’s either that or something similarly creepy that’s going on in the world, undoubtedly…
Tanks for the memories…
Too soon?
Well, that's one way to make sure this page (or whole site?) is unreachable by anyone behind the Great Firewall... seems kinda counterproductive if you want Ric to eventually get this sorted, no?
can’t be helped since it was a dark past of china
http://www.cnqualitygoods.com/ now links to something called “lightinthebox”
Maybe a clue to who’s actually the owner behind all these many Chinese websites that all look and act about the same?
Hmm. Did RIC get bought by lightinthebox?
I went ahead and opened a Paypal dispute. I’ve had issues with online sellers before, but I never had one just completely disappear. No communications at all, website goes offline for a week, then gets replaced, & Ric-CN hasn’t even been back to BLF since he posted this ‘deal’.
Won't accept my login PW. 
Yup. that’s why I went ahead with the Paypal dispute. There is no way to see my order status and they didn’t respond to communications before the old site went down.
I would do the same in your situation.
Could be he is just using the website/ecommerce stuff as a template. I still see wedding gowns on the front page but the inventory shows CNQ items.
I suspect it isn’t a website upgrade and that his hosting solution somehow blew up, which is why we saw the Apache welcome page.
This is strange. I know Lightinthebox since a 3 years (order 4 times (always the same knife) and it worked ok - but most other shops have better prices and nicer products). Now the old CNQ links show the product in the lightinthebox shop and a cnq link is alo written down in the contact us area: http://www.cnqualitygoods.com/article.php?id=39
I logged in and find my last CNQ order (which I got 2-3 weeks ago) in the lightinthbox account. Only the shipping status is wrong: Shipping status Unshipped - but I got a few weeks ago.
I will write Ric an email and ask what going on. I will report the response here in the thread.
Thanks Buwuve.
hm.
Lightinthebox “About” says:
“LightInTheBox is a global online retail company that delivers products directly to consumers around the world. Founded in 2007, LightInTheBox has offered customers a convenient way to shop for a wide selection of lifestyle products at attractive prices through www.lightinthebox.com, www.miniinthebox.com, and other websites”
Miniinthebox “About” says:
“… MiniInTheBox.com has been a worldwide business leader in selling blue-ribbon consumer goods since 2006. From the moment we founded MiniInTheBox, our vision was to empower people worldwide in buying and selling online.
Whoever you are, and wherever you are, MiniInTheBox offers the same price to all: the lowest possible….”
Comment:
> the lowest possible
What they call “lowest possible” isn’t the lowest you can find if you look around a bit.
I’m guessing what we are seeing is just the tip of the iceberg of the business model over there —- lots of little cottage industry sites producing bits and pieces, lots of others getting buckets and baskets of those bits and pieces and Lego-ing them together, some clever marketers slapping names on whatever batch of stuff comes in.
There aren’t really that many “flashlights” available — there are a great many bits and pieces, put together in batches from whatever’s available — stuck in that standard white box or put in bubble wrap, tossed into bins.
And someone takes today’s bin, takes a picture of one of them, runs the Random Name Magic tool to juggle words and make up a new name that sounds like it’s from a company, and puts the information in another basket.
Then ten or twenty apparently different sales websites grab that picture and description and paste it up as a new flashlight for sale.
These aren’t, mostly, new flashlights — they won’t exist in a few months, and the name doesn’t actually describe a consistent product.
What we get on this end — is the lottery result. Buy six of “the same thing” and get several variations on the idea.
Not complaining, mind you — for those of us who like to fix poorly made things, this gives many opportunities.
But — if someone’s paying attention — the improvements we make could be built in to the products when they’re made.
I hope to see the transition
— from “local buggy whip factories” (each one different, and a different product every day as raw materials aren’t consistent)
to assembly line production, turning out quality products consistently made, paying the workers enough to buy what they make.
Something changed and now the links from CNQ to lightinthebox don't exist anymore.
You got this:
In the shop stocktaking, please come again later...Website is under upgration & maintainess! Any question please email to cnqualitygoods@hotmail.com
Yup, after 4/5 orders with problems and not getting all my items in one order, plus getting items an average of 3.5+ months later, some up to 6 mo later, I especially wouldn’t suggest buying from them now with the web site changes.
I doubt he’s trying to run off with your money though. I get the impression he’s probably a disorganized sub-manager of part of a bigger company who may have just decided to do something else with this website/department.