Why is buying from China so hit and miss?

[giddyup]

I have bought a few electronic items (car cam, media players, battery chargers etc) in the last 12 months, but only half the items arrived. I got a full refund via PayPal but I wonder why Chinese post is so unreliable and slooow. It takes up to a month on average from China to Thailand, that's ridiculous. If I could buy the same items elsewhere I would, but it seems a lot of items are only available from China.

[asdecas]

I'm in China and have some experience of China Post. I've never had any problem with them between here and overseas, so perhaps your problems lie no so much with China Post itself but more somewhere in the grey area of customs between China and Thailand, or with the Thai postal service.

Edited August 3, 2013 by asdecas

[tpthai2]

I placed 7 PayPal/eBay "item not received" clams this year from multiple sellers.

All from Hong Kong via China Post, mostHong Kong eBay sellers even tried to send the

item again.

In past years very few items would not arrive.

If you are an eBay/PayPal shopper you may notice that increasingly companies will not

ship to Thailand. This is a fact.

Literally nothing arrives in CM today ordered from China with the exception of higher

value items requiring a tracking number and signature, these items attract customsI had to pay 5,000 bt.

on an order that fully met the FTA requirements, It was now a new "fee" and not acknowledged as a

customs duty.

In late 2011 China revised it export policy for everything and this caused long delays.

However, the mail eventually did get through via China Post.

The Thai FTA with China allows a vast majority of products produces, assembled, sourced and

shipped from China to be duty free.

Given the above, draw your own conclusions on what happens to your orders from China

or any place else. AEC coming? Just watch how this is applied on the street.

[Satcommlee]

I've found that they will try and delay you and delay you until the time limit for making a claim elapses..

It does not take a month, but when you contact them and say you didn't receive the item you get a message like this...

Now would you please do me a favor to confirm the shipping address with me again.so that I can make sure if the item has been shipped out to the correct address then I will give you a good solution.Hope you can understand,thank you.

Then followed by something like this..

Oh my god
Thanks for your confirmation and sorry for the inconvenience. I am sorry, I was told that your items were lost on the shipping way just now. its an accident now, what i can do for you. its to resend you a new one, or refund you full payment as your compensation. please advise. real sorry for the inconvenience. hope you understand us. looking forward to your reply

Then you wait and wait and wait..

And Guess what... it is too late to lodge a complaint.

This item was only about $12, so they know that it is simply not worth your time to pursue any further.

[giddyup]

I'm in China and have some experience of China Post. I've never had any problem with them between here and overseas, so perhaps your problems lie no so much with China Post itself but more somewhere in the grey area of customs between China and Thailand, or with the Thai postal service.

Well, it's only China where I have the problem. I have received dozens of items from Australia, US and UK in around 10 day and never had one go missing. At least 50% of the items I've bought from China have either never been sent in the first place or disappeared into the Chinese postal system. Even the Chinese sellers state on their Ebay ads that delivery for their items can take up to a months, longer for European countries. So can't blame it on the Thai postal service.

[tpthai2]

In the past I would receive items from Canada and the UK. The last two or three orders never arrived

as they did not have tracking numbers and are easy to "misplace."

Satcommiee:

Yes, good trick I was burned on twice. No more.

If you do order, put the 45 day limit date on your calendar.

Opening a case at 40 days or so as this will proceed

without limit.

eBay sellers are wary of being exposed with "Negative Feedback"

that may expose there scam and, in my experience, always refund

to keep there game going.

Tracking numbers via China Post now requires a $30 or more value of the item.

[JimShortz]

I have only ordered from China a few times, but received goods every time - albeit slow coning! I tend to favour ordering from Hong Kong sellers since the goods arrive much more quickly. It is normally the case that anything available from a Chinese seller will also be available from a Hong Kong seller too.

I use my workplace (a school) as the delivery address and this seems to ensure delivery, whereas I am aware that friends using residential addresses frequently have failed deliveries. It therefore seems to me that it is indeed at the Thai end where the "redirection" of goods is taking place...

[jbrain]

Ordered a lot from Aliexpress in the past, not anymore since they are 30% more expensive for the exact same item from the same seller on Ebay these days, never had anything got lost. But I never buy items shipped by China Post. On Aliexpress you always have a choice of how you want it to be shipped, and I will choose EMS. Sometimes it will cost a little extra, but it's worth the time saved and the security.On Ebay most items are shipped by USPS priority mail. which provides you with a tracking number.

As for the FTA's, these can only be honored if you have the right import documents, and you can only larger companies that have an export license will be able to provide you with those. Ebay and the Chinese online sites are all drop shippers and have no access to these kind of documents.

[giddyup]

Ordered a lot from Aliexpress in the past, not anymore since they are 30% more expensive for the exact same item from the same seller on Ebay these days, never had anything got lost. But I never buy items shipped by China Post. On Aliexpress you always have a choice of how you want it to be shipped, and I will choose EMS. Sometimes it will cost a little extra, but it's worth the time saved and the security.On Ebay most items are shipped by USPS priority mail. which provides you with a tracking number.

As for the FTA's, these can only be honored if you have the right import documents, and you can only larger companies that have an export license will be able to provide you with those. Ebay and the Chinese online sites are all drop shippers and have no access to these kind of documents.

You are correct, you usually have the option of choosing another postal method other than China Post. However, when you say "it will cost a little extra", I don't agree. The extra I've been quoted to send via EMS is $25-28 as opposed to FREE. When the item is only worth $25 it kind of defeats any saving you may have made.

Edited August 4, 2013 by giddyup

[jbrain]

Ordered a lot from Aliexpress in the past, not anymore since they are 30% more expensive for the exact same item from the same seller on Ebay these days, never had anything got lost. But I never buy items shipped by China Post. On Aliexpress you always have a choice of how you want it to be shipped, and I will choose EMS. Sometimes it will cost a little extra, but it's worth the time saved and the security.On Ebay most items are shipped by USPS priority mail. which provides you with a tracking number.

As for the FTA's, these can only be honored if you have the right import documents, and you can only larger companies that have an export license will be able to provide you with those. Ebay and the Chinese online sites are all drop shippers and have no access to these kind of documents.

You are correct, you usually have the option of choosing another postal method other than China Post. However, when you say "it will cost a little extra", I don't agree. The extra I've been quoted to send via EMS is $25-28 as opposed to FREE. When the item is only worth $25 it kind of defeats any saving you may have made.

Shipping comes at a cost, if you don't want to pay for a trackable shipping, you should not complain if something gets lost.

As I said earlier, these days Ebay is way cheaper than Aliexpress for the same items. I don't know why this is, but Aliexpress and Alibaba are owned by Yahoo and they are know to be specialists in messing up businesses.

Also when someone asks 25$ to postal ship a 25$ item, I smell a rat.

[giddyup]

Ordered a lot from Aliexpress in the past, not anymore since they are 30% more expensive for the exact same item from the same seller on Ebay these days, never had anything got lost. But I never buy items shipped by China Post. On Aliexpress you always have a choice of how you want it to be shipped, and I will choose EMS. Sometimes it will cost a little extra, but it's worth the time saved and the security.On Ebay most items are shipped by USPS priority mail. which provides you with a tracking number.

As for the FTA's, these can only be honored if you have the right import documents, and you can only larger companies that have an export license will be able to provide you with those. Ebay and the Chinese online sites are all drop shippers and have no access to these kind of documents.

You are correct, you usually have the option of choosing another postal method other than China Post. However, when you say "it will cost a little extra", I don't agree. The extra I've been quoted to send via EMS is $25-28 as opposed to FREE. When the item is only worth $25 it kind of defeats any saving you may have made.

Shipping comes at a cost, if you don't want to pay for a trackable shipping, you should not complain if something gets lost.

As I said earlier, these days Ebay is way cheaper than Aliexpress for the same items. I don't know why this is, but Aliexpress and Alibaba are owned by Yahoo and they are know to be specialists in messing up businesses.

Also when someone asks 25$ to postal ship a 25$ item, I smell a rat.

I think the shipping costs via EMS would be the same whether the item cost $2.50 or $250. Whenever I've used EMS they give me the price after they weigh the item. The shipping cost has nothing to do with the item's value.

Edited August 4, 2013 by giddyup

[jbrain]

Ordered a lot from Aliexpress in the past, not anymore since they are 30% more expensive for the exact same item from the same seller on Ebay these days, never had anything got lost. But I never buy items shipped by China Post. On Aliexpress you always have a choice of how you want it to be shipped, and I will choose EMS. Sometimes it will cost a little extra, but it's worth the time saved and the security.On Ebay most items are shipped by USPS priority mail. which provides you with a tracking number.

As for the FTA's, these can only be honored if you have the right import documents, and you can only larger companies that have an export license will be able to provide you with those. Ebay and the Chinese online sites are all drop shippers and have no access to these kind of documents.

You are correct, you usually have the option of choosing another postal method other than China Post. However, when you say "it will cost a little extra", I don't agree. The extra I've been quoted to send via EMS is $25-28 as opposed to FREE. When the item is only worth $25 it kind of defeats any saving you may have made.

Shipping comes at a cost, if you don't want to pay for a trackable shipping, you should not complain if something gets lost.

As I said earlier, these days Ebay is way cheaper than Aliexpress for the same items. I don't know why this is, but Aliexpress and Alibaba are owned by Yahoo and they are know to be specialists in messing up businesses.

Also when someone asks 25$ to postal ship a 25$ item, I smell a rat.

I think the shipping costs via EMS would be the same whether the item cost $2.50 or $250. Whenever I've used EMS they give me the price after they weigh the item. The shipping cost has nothing to do with the item's value.

I'm very well aware of how shipping is calculated, I think you just don't get my point.

My experience with Aliexpress is that there will be several suppliers who offer the same item at xx price including shipping by EMS or with EMS at low price.

Then there will be a few suppliers who over that same item at about half the price but with free shipping by China post, or a high premium for the EMS shipping.

The reason is that they hope you buy the item without tracking number, and don't bother or forget to issue a claim in time when the item doesn't arrive .

[giddyup]

If I don't receive the item (Ebay) by the time the seller has estimated, I start a PayPal dispute immediately. The last seller said he would refund my money but asked if I wouldn't give him any negative feedback. He was so quick to offer a refund that I seriously doubt if the item was ever shipped. Quite often the Chinese sellers will take your money without even having the item in stock. Perhaps anticipating that they will have the item soon or that you won't instigate a claim, who knows? You only have to look at the feedback for the majority of Chinese sellers, it's not good.

Edited August 4, 2013 by giddyup

[jbrain]

If I don't receive the item (Ebay) by the time the seller has estimated, I start a PayPal dispute immediately. The last seller said he would refund my money but asked if I wouldn't give him any negative feedback. He was so quick to offer a refund that I seriously doubt if the item was ever shipped. Quite often the Chinese sellers will take your money without even having the item in stock. Perhaps anticipating that they will have the item soon or that you won't instigate a claim, who knows? You only have to look at the feedback for the majority of Chinese sellers, it's not good.

That is the point I tried to make, and which Satcommlee had related to already, since they only need a few people a month who step in that trap to make a nice extra.

[astral]

Moved to General section

[MartinBKK]

I have only ordered from China a few times, but received goods every time - albeit slow coning! I tend to favour ordering from Hong Kong sellers since the goods arrive much more quickly. It is normally the case that anything available from a Chinese seller will also be available from a Hong Kong seller too.

I use my workplace (a school) as the delivery address and this seems to ensure delivery, whereas I am aware that friends using residential addresses frequently have failed deliveries. It therefore seems to me that it is indeed at the Thai end where the "redirection" of goods is taking place...

My experience is exactly this - HK ok but China hit and miss.

[h90]

I had only a few items from Hongkong and all arrive very fast. But maybe I was just lucky.

For the FTA you need the Form E. Which only works for higher value goods as it costs a lot to be issued.

[impulse]

Quite often the Chinese sellers will take your money without even having the item in stock. Perhaps anticipating that they will have the item soon or that you won't instigate a claim, who knows? You only have to look at the feedback for the majority of Chinese sellers, it's not good.

Quite a few of them have no stock at all. They wait until someone places an order then go to the local market and buy the item. Some of them wait to get a sale then order the goodies from the factory and they have to wait... and wait.

Not a bad business model as long as they stick to goods they can get reliably.

[jbrain]

Quite often the Chinese sellers will take your money without even having the item in stock. Perhaps anticipating that they will have the item soon or that you won't instigate a claim, who knows? You only have to look at the feedback for the majority of Chinese sellers, it's not good.

Quite a few of them have no stock at all. They wait until someone places an order then go to the local market and buy the item. Some of them wait to get a sale then order the goodies from the factory and they have to wait... and wait.

Not a bad business model as long as they stick to goods they can get reliably.

In fact 90% of the sellers are what are called drop shippers, siting in a 20 sqm appartment with all but a laptop.

[topt]

Shipping comes at a cost, if you don't want to pay for a trackable shipping, you should not complain if something gets lost.

As I said earlier, these days Ebay is way cheaper than Aliexpress for the same items. I don't know why this is, but Aliexpress and Alibaba are owned by Yahoo and they are know to be specialists in messing up businesses.

Also when someone asks 25$ to postal ship a 25$ item, I smell a rat.

Just a correction jbrain - Yahoo used to own a chunk of AliBaba (and still own a fair bit) but they never owned the whole thing or had control. See here for current news if interested -

http://tech.fortune.cnn.com/2013/07/31/yahoos-alibaba-problem/

[jbrain]

Shipping comes at a cost, if you don't want to pay for a trackable shipping, you should not complain if something gets lost.

As I said earlier, these days Ebay is way cheaper than Aliexpress for the same items. I don't know why this is, but Aliexpress and Alibaba are owned by Yahoo and they are know to be specialists in messing up businesses.

Also when someone asks 25$ to postal ship a 25$ item, I smell a rat.

Just a correction jbrain - Yahoo used to own a chunk of AliBaba (and still own a fair bit) but they never owned the whole thing or had control. See here for current news if interested -

http://tech.fortune.cnn.com/2013/07/31/yahoos-alibaba-problem/

Thanks for the link, so initially Yahoo owned 48% of Alibaba now down to 24% and another 50 or 100% sale before the IPO.

All i can say is that Alibaba so close to the IPO at once has such remarkebly increasing figures. looks a bit like the next Chinese company in line that is falsifying it's books

[h90]

I've found that they will try and delay you and delay you until the time limit for making a claim elapses..

It does not take a month, but when you contact them and say you didn't receive the item you get a message like this...

Now would you please do me a favor to confirm the shipping address with me again.so that I can make sure if the item has been shipped out to the correct address then I will give you a good solution.Hope you can understand,thank you.

Then followed by something like this..

Oh my god

Thanks for your confirmation and sorry for the inconvenience. I am sorry, I was told that your items were lost on the shipping way just now. its an accident now, what i can do for you. its to resend you a new one, or refund you full payment as your compensation. please advise. real sorry for the inconvenience. hope you understand us. looking forward to your reply

Then you wait and wait and wait..

And Guess what... it is too late to lodge a complaint.

This item was only about $12, so they know that it is simply not worth your time to pursue any further.

you can lodge a complain 3 month or?

I had a webshop before and the first customer start whining after 1 week, if you tell 10-14 days, but sometimes 3 weeks. And for 50 % of my replacements the original shipment arrived 1-2 days later and in many cases the customer did not send back the replacement (or refuse to accept it).

On the other hand if it does not work for some countries the shop must stop this shipping methode. But in my opinion registered airmail works almost always. Not registered is often a headache and you really can't offer it.

[katana]

Bought items from Hong Kong to Europe several times on Ebay.

So far they've all arrived. A couple of the times on arrival, the quality of the item was too poor and I got an immediate refund from the seller.

Edited August 5, 2013 by katana

[tpthai2]

LOL...so many memories here of tricky scams. One more: Ordered from a Hong Kong seller with a tracking number, that will normally take it through the Thai side. Then they stall it and at the last minute send a package full of junk plastic. You sign for it and then open it to find trash inside. So now you have signed for it and it's to late to open a case. @v@

[impulse]

LOL...so many memories here of tricky scams. One more: Ordered from a Hong Kong seller with a tracking number, that will normally take it through the Thai side. Then they stall it and at the last minute send a package full of junk plastic. You sign for it and then open it to find trash inside. So now you have signed for it and it's to late to open a case. @v@

Don't feel too bad about that. There have been many full 40' shipping containers filled with nothing but rocks.

[kannot]

Many suppliers from China are simply con artists, a prime example is "trainers" you can go to many websites checking out Chinese e mails the companies use to see if they are real or not.

However it's very easy to simply open up a new email address and website.

Distance is also used to their advantage followed by lack of strict laws I would imagine?

[GreenSnapper]

Most of the Chinese / HK ebay shops have good reviews. Not a big risk to order cheaper items.

I just got refunded by a HK-shop, after I didn't receive the cheap item I ordered. A lot seems to get lost in the post.

[giddyup]

Most of the Chinese / HK ebay shops have good reviews. Not a big risk to order cheaper items.

I just got refunded by a HK-shop, after I didn't receive the cheap item I ordered. A lot seems to get lost in the post.

Lost? I'm not sure if the items ever get sent in the first place. Either that or they have the worst postal system in the world.

[rene123]

China is probably like Japan was in the 1950s. My father told me that in the 1950s the Japanese products that were being exported to Canada were crap. Then, Japan got smart and hired Germans and Swiss to bring in Quality control. Within a few years the Japanese were at the top of their fields and were even superior to USA products. The US were forced to improve just to compete. It happened with South Korea as well. I think China will learn the same lesson.

[GreenSnapper]

Most of the Chinese / HK ebay shops have good reviews. Not a big risk to order cheaper items.

I just got refunded by a HK-shop, after I didn't receive the cheap item I ordered. A lot seems to get lost in the post.

Lost? I'm not sure if the items ever get sent in the first place. Either that or they have the worst postal system in the world.

Why would they refund me if the items never get sent? Makes no sense.

Just choose a shop with 99+% positive reviews. Those people did receive their items.