Goods deliveries from Chinese suppliers

[Mike Barton]

Just an update on this thread, of the 40+ items I ordered in the first week in September about 10 have arrived over the course of the past week, with email notifications that more are on the way. The items are well packaged and in good shape and appear to be what was ordered.

However, that would seem to indicate at least a two-month lead time from ordering to delivery for most goods, so if you were thinking of ordering stuff from AliExpress to beat the Christmas shopping lockdown I think you'd be a bit late by this stage.

 

[TamH70]

I bought my second "Hello Kitty Crusader Knight Velcro Morale Patch" (*)from an AliExpress seller recently and it arrived a lot earlier than the lead-time on the listing led me to believe.

Great quality as well...

(*) What can I say, they look cute.

ETA piccy from Pinterest:

Warrior Hello Kitty x Crusader Morale Velcro Patch | Hello kitty, Velcro patches, Kitty

Oct 24, 2019 - Warrior, Hello, Kitty, Character, Morale, Patch, Hello Kitty, Velcro

www.pinterest.co.uk

 

[Maninthestreet]

From Kowloon (yes it's new and different Kowloon) I'm looking at a month from order to delivery as opposed to two weeks to delivery this time last month.
Brexit ?

 

[Mike Barton]

I bought my second "Hello Kitty Crusader Knight Velcro Morale Patch" (*)from an AliExpress seller recently and it arrived a lot earlier than the lead-time on the listing led me to believe.

Great quality as well...

(*) What can I say, they look cute.

ETA piccy from Pinterest:

Warrior Hello Kitty x Crusader Morale Velcro Patch | Hello kitty, Velcro patches, Kitty

Oct 24, 2019 - Warrior, Hello, Kitty, Character, Morale, Patch, Hello Kitty, Velcro

www.pinterest.co.uk

I ordered this for a friend (only 5 quid, c'mon, I am not going to admit I ordered it for myself am I?) hoping he could have it in time for the election count, alas it hasn't arrived yet and will probably be nothing more than a historical curiosity by the time it gets here.

 

[medwaymud]

Don't worry lads, Covid 21 will turn up quite soon.
You can pay for it later.

 

[Gout Man]

Talking of supplies, I ordered a bench drill off the web, from a well known UK company, distributor.
Next day I get an e mail advising that the product will be delayed and it won’t be in stock till Nov 2021. Now this was back in the second week of October, no problem thinks I, must be a typo.
I bash off an e mail questioning the typo, oh no they replied it won’t be in stock until Nov 2021, do you want to keep the order open?
ER NO!! In fairness they refunded me within the hour but they really should state on the web site OUT OF STOCK, it would save a lot of time.
I now have what I want from another supplier.

 

[721CXT]

My experience has been 10-14 days...... up until C18 stopped most passenger flights. Since then the delivery dates quoted on eBay by Chinese suppliers has gone from a few weeks to a couple of months or more. I ordered a couple of Lithium batteries to replace a duff one in a dashcam on 15/08. Chinapost tracked them through China and they made it to the airport by 07/09 and have been in transit since, due 26/10 approx. I guess they have to wait their turn on freighters.

An update on this post. Both batteries were tracking concurrently until they reached the airport, then nothing. One turned up in the mail mid October. The other, nada. It may turn up but as it was only a couple of quid I won't be crying too much if it doesn't.
The dash cam is working fine.

 

[oscar1whisky]

Going from recent purchases, the Chinese mainland traders are now shipping by rail via Kazakhstan into Europe, rather than wait for ships.
Belt & road seems to be working so far.

 

[endure]

If you're given the choice using Aliexpress's own shipping method seems to be reliable. It usually takes a couple of weeks and you get an email when it hits the UK. A lot of them have a Royal Mail tracking number and come with Royal Mail postage labels on

 

[721CXT]

I just out-clevered myself on eBay.
Due to a week in hospital Mrs. CXT can't be bothered to bully me into putting up the decorations this year. Hooray!
Consequently, our only 'decorations' are several packs of red bead chains dumped in a vase that came with an Orchid in it that a neighbour gave her on release from prison hospital, that soon succumbed to her care.
It looks OK, so I suggested getting some more from eBay for another vase also recently devoid of an occupant. Fine, but she wanted silver.
The first site only had red, so I thought, "Copy the item description without colour and do a search".
Hey Presto! A company with silver in stock - damn cheap too.
Order placed.
30 mins later she asks what the delivery date will be,
"Post" says I, "About a week, but I'll check."

12th to 25th January........WTF?

From China. FAAARK!

And they'd already posted them, the efficient, inscrutable swine.

 

[721CXT]

I just out-clevered myself on eBay.
Due to a week in hospital Mrs. CXT can't be bothered to bully me into putting up the decorations this year. Hooray!
Consequently, our only 'decorations' are several packs of red bead chains dumped in a vase that came with an Orchid in it that a neighbour gave her on release from prison hospital, that soon succumbed to her care.
It looks OK, so I suggested getting some more from eBay for another vase also recently devoid of an occupant. Fine, but she wanted silver.
The first site only had red, so I thought, "Copy the item description without colour and do a search".
Hey Presto! A company with silver in stock - damn cheap too.
Order placed.
30 mins later she asks what the delivery date will be,
"Post" says I, "About a week, but I'll check."

12th to 25th January........WTF?

From China. FAAARK!

And they'd already posted them, the efficient, inscrutable swine.

Well, colour me surprised! The postie just rang the doorbell and pointed to a package on the doorstep - they came!
15 days counting day ordered and day delivered.

 

[Mike Barton]

Well, colour me surprised! The postie just rang the doorbell and pointed to a package on the doorstep - they came!
15 days counting day ordered and day delivered.

That's a nice result, was it sent by air?

 

[721CXT]

That's a nice result, was it sent by air?

Must've been. I just dug the bag out of the bin and the Royal Mail label was printed by 'World Express, Hayes, Middx.' All for a tenner's worth of plastic beads.

 

[4(T)]

Blimey, I've just had one of the online greeting card suppliers quote ten days for Royal Mail to get a card about 30km within UK.

I wonder if the Chinese can do late Christmas cards by the 24th?

 

[RTU'd]

Waiting on 2 shipping containers from China.
Only have a mere $10 million each of hi end IT networking equipment in them.
Both are now missing & whereabouts it seems are unknown, at least we have not paid for them yet.
And once on the net the MAC address will shine brightly for all to see hopefully?

 

[721CXT]

Waiting on 2 shipping containers from China.
Only have a mere $10 million each of hi end IT networking equipment in them.
Both are now missing & whereabouts it seems are unknown, at least we have not paid for them yet.
And once on the net the MAC address will shine brightly for all to see hopefully?

The funny thing was, they supplied shipping details all through China:

• 19 Dec 2020
• 12:30pm

• Received-Royal Mail Received

• 18 Dec 2020
• 11:06pm

• Arrived at Destination Hub

• 18 Dec 2020
• 9:04am

• Departed from Origin Country

• 16 Dec 2020
• 8:40pm

• Export Customs Declaration Completed

• 15 Dec 2020
• 6:08am

• Departed from Regional Distribution Center

• 14 Dec 2020
• 4:04am

• Arrived at Local Facility
• JIAXING, ZHEJIANG

• 13 Dec 2020
• 7:26pm

• Departed from Local Facility
• SONGJIANG DISTRICT, SHANGHAI

• 13 Dec 2020
• 5:23pm

• Package Received (Customer Service Email: CS@orangeconnex.com)
• SONGJIANG DISTRICT, SHANGHAI

• 8 Dec 2020
• 7:06pm

• Shipment Data Received
• BEIJING, BEIJING

• 8 Dec 2020
• 11:04am
• • Tracking number provided

It was only when RM got their mitts on it tracking stopped.

 

[gaijin]

Blimey, I've just had one of the online greeting card suppliers quote ten days for Royal Mail to get a card about 30km within UK.

I wonder if the Chinese can do late Christmas cards by the 24th?

Being organised, as I am, I finally got around to posting Christmas cards to the UK yesterday.

There is no airmail option due to Covid so I imagine that my family will receive them sometime in March

 

[PFGEN]

My recent experiences of buying in China have not been good. One thing to watch out for are websites which looks like the supplier is based in your own country but they're actually in China. You only discover this once you've paid for the order. Then wait anything from 3 weeks to a month for something that was in stock and would ship the same day to eventually turn up.

I had a couple of experiences where I had to help out companies who had been ripped off badly by the inscrutable little smiley fellows. In most cases it was the same; parts were ordered, money changed hands, some junk eventually turns up and any queries are met with "fuk lou whitey" and laughter loud enough that you can hear it from China.

Generally if your are ordering stuff from HK or the Shenzen area the problems are less as they have a reasonable grasp of what is expected from quality control and do tend to have a pride in delivering something that will meet or beat expectations.

 

[Mike Barton]

Being organised, as I am, I finally got around to posting Christmas cards to the UK yesterday.

There is no airmail option due to Covid so I imagine that my family will receive them sometime in March

What's the situation about no air mail?

I am overseas at the moment and cannot send letters by old-fashioned airmail, the local Post Office says it's because of COVD-19 and if I want to send anything it has to be by courier service (EMS), now that means it would cost the thick end of 25 quid to send one Christmas card. What I don't understand is how the stuff can go by air via a courier but not by air via the mail service.

Interestingly I can receive stuff by airmail from the UK as my sister was able to send me the kids' presents by regular Royal Mail bag at 15 quid or so per bag.

 

[gaijin]

What's the situation about no air mail?

I am overseas at the moment and cannot send letters by old-fashioned airmail, the local Post Office says it's because of COVD-19 and if I want to send anything it has to be by courier service (EMS), now that means it would cost the thick end of 25 quid to send one Christmas card. What I don't understand is how the stuff can go by air via a courier but not by air via the mail service.

Interestingly I can receive stuff by airmail from the UK as my sister was able to send me the kids' presents by regular Royal Mail bag at 15 quid or so per bag.

Restrictions on flights I suppose, there are so few now flying. Surface mail is still fine.