Shipping from China

Forums › Off topic › Shipping from China

SirHumphreyAppleby

2844 posts

Uber Geek

#154547 31-Oct-2014 10:39

Just wondering if anyone else has noticed shipping of non-registered items from China becoming very erratic over recent months?

I currently have three packages approaching two months in transit, where the usual transit time is between two and three weeks. I've also had some packages turn up much quicker than expected, from order to delivery in approximately seven days.

Registered items are being delivered as usual.

Most shipments are from eBay and AliExpress sellers, so it's impossible to be sure exactly what delivery method is being used, however one of the late deliveries is from Deal Extreme, and I've been buying from them for years.

Yes, I know there are seasonal performance issues with China Post, but this is the slowest packages have ever been delivered in over 15 years of online shopping. And don't get me started on iParcel... no longer using Amazon because of them.

Andib

1363 posts

Uber Geek

ID Verified

Trusted

#1165646 31-Oct-2014 10:50

DX typically will wait until they have a "Bulk" amount of mail for a country as China post charges per KG for each mail sack.

Hence they can ship a $0.99c Item to NZ for free

<#
.DISCLAIMER
Anything I post is my own and not the views of my past/present/future employer.
#>

MikeB4

18435 posts

Uber Geek

ID Verified

Trusted

#1165647 31-Oct-2014 10:51

yep I have a package that has been sitting in HongKong for a week and a half now. However my wife sent a package from Shenzen when she was there two weeks ago and it arrived within 5 days.

SirHumphreyAppleby

2844 posts

Uber Geek

#1165650 31-Oct-2014 10:55

Andib: Hence they can ship a $0.99c Item to NZ for free

There are many $US0.99 items from eBay with free shipping. Once you take out Paypal fees, shipping, and the cost of the item, it can't leave much room for profit. Despite all that, they've still managed to deliver within three weeks. Something in the mail processing has changed it seems.

jpoc

1043 posts

Uber Geek

#1165819 31-Oct-2014 12:46

At the low cost end of the market, mail sacks also get onto aircraft on an opportunistic basis - rather like standby passenger flights. If you are unlucky, there may just not be an aircraft going in the right direction with a spare fifty kilos of cargo capacity for a couple of weeks.

Looking at the tracking info from China post, I have sometimes seen a parcel described as being at an airport waiting for a flight and the status has stayed like that for weeks.

SirHumphreyAppleby

2844 posts

Uber Geek

#1165919 31-Oct-2014 14:22

The DX package turned up today, seven weeks after postage. At least there is a good reason why that one was so slow. It was apparently handled by Swiss Post, having a Swiss Post sticker over the China Post one.

jpoc: Looking at the tracking info from China post, I have sometimes seen a parcel described as being at an airport waiting for a flight and the status has stayed like that for weeks.

It will remain in that state until it arrives in NZ. Usually with China Post it's about a week. With Malaysian Post I've had a package in that state over a month.

jpoc

1043 posts

Uber Geek

#1165927 31-Oct-2014 14:35

SirHumphreyAppleby: The DX package turned up today, seven weeks after postage. At least there is a good reason why that one was so slow. It was apparently handled by Swiss Post, having a Swiss Post sticker over the China Post one.

jpoc: Looking at the tracking info from China post, I have sometimes seen a parcel described as being at an airport waiting for a flight and the status has stayed like that for weeks.

It will remain in that state until it arrives in NZ. Usually with China Post it's about a week. With Malaysian Post I've had a package in that state over a month.

I have seen a later state being that the item has left the country and that one seems then to last just a few days before it is reported as arriving here.

This is from looking at chinese language sites and putting them into google translate.