Slow or lost shipping from China to Canada?

[klejoh0]

I have an item from China to Canada, up to date, shipping 75 days, not yet received.  mostly like lost?

I ordered 3 items on Apr 24, 2016, but up to date, none of them arrived.

Before I seldom had so slow shipping.  I don't why the shipping is so slow recently?

[sob2141]

I have never had such poor shipping from China. In the past 12 months I have disputed 50% of my purchases. Yes I get my money back but I really wanted the product. This is getting stupid and no one seems to want to fix it.

[megatitaniumman]

Well its been a year since this was posted and in the past 6 months I have had few of my many purchases delivered. The sellers keep asking me to wait another week or two, again and again, this seems like a stall tactic. Once the number of days until a consumer can request a refund has expired they are off the hook to repay for the items that may or may not have even been shipped.
I used to purchase heavily off of Ebay, but now I think I will shop elsewhere.
Sorry Ebay, you were good for a time, it seems your time has expired.

[denob2012]

You need to keep on top of your purchases. Personally, I check my purchase history daily (I buy a lot of electronics components from China).
If an item is not received on the last expected delivery day, open a claim the next morning for "item not received". I ALWAYS request a refund as accepting reshipment will usually put delivery way past the claim date. If the item does show up in the future, you can always request an invoice from the seller to pay for it. But the most important thing is to watch your expected delivery dates and never let anything go that long.

[thestuffofchris]

I agree with keeping on top of all of the relevant dates, and some people might find a calendar works well to keep track of the dates.

For example, many mobile devices have calendars built in, and you can even set them to notify you days in advance of upcoming dates. Of course, physical calendars work just as well for keeping track of dates, depending on your personal preferences.

[chicanedrv]

Ebay should really look into this. Out of 5 items I have ordered one arrived within the time allotted. It used to be you would get the package before the last date all the time. Ebay should check and see if these shippers are storing up packages before shipping out, maybe they get better shipping rates? Some of this problem can be attributed to vendors using drop shippers in china. Had this happen to me, I checked the shipping info the vendor claimed it had been shipped but shipping info showed the drop shipper sat on the order for 2 weeks. I don't believe this is Canada post problem, as much as I don't like Canada post. The Chinese vendors are blaming Canada customs, Chinese customs, etc but this has to be a major problem for them so it's up to them to put pressure on whoever is doing the shipping. I wonder if alibaba is having similar problems?

[astroguy001]

I've been waiting for items to be shipped from China since late December via Ebay, Amazon and direct from an electronics store in China DX.com
I think it is a problem in China, not Canada post because other products from anywhere including other places in Asia have been delivered.
A caveat though... with the drugs being sent by post from China (like fentanyl), I am sure customs is being bogged down somewhat. I've given up hope on those items and repurchased from elsewhere.

[redribbonred]

Hi guys, in short, as a seller in Taiwan who sells items every day to Canada, mail has been slow since late 2014.

But since December 2016, many packages are taking 3 months+  (but do arrive, as many customers have confirmed).

Two reasons for slow delivery currently:

1. Customs has too many items to sort through from Asia, compared to their resources for processing, and money paid for it.

2. This year they are scanning and inspecting more thoroughly than ever to prevent Fentanyl getting through - its killed hundreds of Canadians the past few years and threatening to kill thousands more. It mainly comes from China.

Here's an article:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/investigations/a-killer-high-how-canada-got-addicted-tofentanyl/...

All packages over 30 grams are waiting to be checked and even opened for inspection if suspected.

All packages under 30 grams are waiting to be scanned since they can't be opened.

We sell many pens and pen refills among other things - you would expect on a scan they might look like they're worth checking. But so would many other products coming in through customs.

We now always send a message to Canadian buyers to tell them about the slow situation and check if they are ok to wait, before we mail. Most are very polite and understanding - we refund for them if they can't wait. It continues to work well for us.

But hopefully delivery times will improve this year!

[andremontevilla]

Funny, I just saw a news report about Fentanyl from China where CBSA said just about the opposite about checking said packages. It would be impossible to check them all seeing that the quantity would be beyond their means.

[gamingguy2004]

Of my last 4 eBay purchases from China, one 1 actually ever arrived. 2 never appeared (and were refunded), and the fourth is still pending.

The price is certainly attractive, and if it's not something you need urgently, it's no big deal to wait a month.

I fear, however, that many of these listings are actually "phantom" items. They don't exist, and were never shipped. The seller is just hoping you forget about your $5 item, and they pocket 100% of the cash. My last refunded item, I asked the seller to send a replacement instead of a refund and they said "oops, sorry. None left." And yet, they still have a listing up with 10 pcs available to buy.

[femmefan1946]

Any offer of a replacement should be treated as a scam.

Get the money.

Then if you still trust the seller, buy the item again, thus restarting the clock.

While feedback no longer has an impact on your seller's account, it does serve as an Early Warning System for other buyers.

A glitchy and unreliable DEW line, if you are old enough to understand the reference.

[femmefan1946]

I'm surprised that Taiwan is also being targeted by the fentanyl searches.

It would be impossible to check them all seeing that the quantity would be beyond their means.

Yes, it is.

But if you have ever watched Border Security, there are sniffer dogs and xray machines doing the first checks.

And the UPU question is separate, and controlled by Canada Post, who would like China Post to pay a fair share of the cost of delivering shipments. And that sentiment is shared by most Western treaty signators.

[archp2005]

I just received an item today that I ordered on Nov. 25, 2016.  That's a delay of nearly five months.  Interestingly it appeared to be repackaged in a new envelope and was marked Locked Bag No. 70, Mail Section, Mail and Parcel Processing Centre, Berakas, Brunei, Darussalem BB3510.  There was a block of items over sevearl months beginning at around November 2016 none of which arrived on time.  Now after 4 - 5 months almost all of them have shown up except for two or three. They were all low priced items, mostly under $2 Can.

[archp2005]

Almost all items have been extremely late arriving since November, 2016.  Some of these items showed up after 4 to 5 months.

[dreamingleopard]

I have noticed this, too... especially from China. It makes me wonder if this is intentional - to keep the product and hope the buyer forgets to open a resolution case on time - seller gets to keep the money. eBay should be penalizing this practice - if there is a pattern with a particular seller. I am worried that my many requests for refunds of late will make it seem like I'm the one not paying for the merchandise (that I never receive!).   It would be really good, too, if the search engine allowed us to search Worldwide EXCEPT in a certain country (in my case, I'd single out China until they stop this non-shipping practice)!  In all my refund requests, I do state that I will repay the refund IF the item arrives within a week or so.

[joseph_scallywag]

  I doubt that sellers from China are intentionally trying to scam buyers.The biggest problem is customs.Most if not all items from outside Canada and the USA must go through customs Canada .When buying something with free shipping means that the seller will use the least expensive way to send.Usually this is economy shipping.This means that the declared value of the item needs to be low to avoid import duties.This likely gives a red flag to customs Canada because the item must be worth less than ,I believe, 40 dollars to be duty free. So customs inspection can be very slow .Economy shipping  will also be the slowest because of priority through customs.Tracking numbers won't be transferred to Canada Post until the item clears customs.

  Also the rise of illicit narcotics being imported has made Customs Canada that much more paranoid.I've noticed that some of the packages I've received look to have been opened.

  With free shipping you just need to be patient.Many items I've ordered have taken over 60 days to arrive,but they do arrive eventually. 

  It would be better if sellers would offer more choices of how things are shipped.I would be willing to pay the extra shipping charges to get items faster.  Standard or expedited shipping would receive higher priority and would arrive faster.

[redribbonred]

FWIW we can send from Taiwan very fast by EMS Courier starting from about US$20. It's worthwhile if you buy 1kg of stuff - not very practical if you're buying very small items like pens that we mostly sell. 60grams = 6 pens which costs about US$1 to mail, but obviously now takes a long time. But EMS gets it there in 1-2 weeks.

Also, I've noticed a lot of Chinese sellers I bought items from mailing to Australia (which only took a few weeks typically) has had alot of multiple fake items - thermometers, dash cams etc. No longer do negative feedbacks lead to them getting caught out since ebay changed the account rating criteria - also alot of buyers are happy to just get refunds, and those sellers just keep sending out fake items en masse. However I've experienced no items that didn't arrive from China.I think for Canadians its the postal/customs services.

Regarding fake items from China - I think if price is too good to be true, its probably is fake 🙂 but you can always try and see and refund if necessary.

[argenticspirit]

Agree totally - the sellers from China aren't scamming anyone. Sometime last fall the shipping times went from 3-4 weeks to 3-4 months. I ordered a number of items last November/December and they trickled in slowly, the last arriving in April, over four months later. And if an item the price of a cup of coffee doesn't show up, I'm not too concerned. If it's $20, I'll ask for my money back. It's honestly frustrating seeing how many people screw over international sellers because they just don't understand the time frames.

Canada Post hasn't charged duty on items marked up to $150 in at least a decade, for me anyway. Fedex and UPS on the other hand collect duty on virtually every order.

[deontaz]

I'm seeing a new pattern in responses from low-cost Chinese electronics sellers. The new pattern is "we are so sorry, we received a defective batch of products, will you please wait another 7 days?" or "we are sorry, this product did not meet our standards, we are unable to send it to you, would you like a refund or will you wait longer for next batch?". That kind of text.

At this point I am asking for refunds (and getting them) because obviously I won't be waiting "another 7 days," I'll be waiting another 2 or 3 months. Sheesh.

I do notice also that some Chinese electronics parts outlets do ship, with product arriving in about 4 to 5 weeks, whereas others (even with high ratings and apparently lots of sales history) don't deliver even after 8 weeks+. So it is hard to believe that there's a global problem affecting all shipping from China.

Another scam-like feature is that some purchased products are updated in my Ebay purchase history with "delivered on (date)" when I know for a fact they have not been delivered (one for example claimed to have been delivered on a Sunday -- my rural PO is open only MWF). Am guessing that this means "delivered to the dock in China" -- if it means anything.

FWIW, low-cost electronics resellers like Banggood seem to be able to get their product to N American buyers w/in a reasonable time frame. I'm starting to give up on Ebay for electronic components; most US sources charge excessive amounts for postage ($20 for a tiny 1-gram part? really?), most Chinese sources never ship... it's just getting too frustrating, a waste of my time even trying to source parts on Ebay any more. Tracking all these non-arriving packages and filing refund claims is starting to eat up too much of my day.

If you're Canadian and seeking electronic components, Digi-Key is not too bad -- $8 flat rate box shipping for most orders, pretty reasonable component costs, selection is fairly extensive. It's not a Hot Deal like some of the HK and PRC stuff, but OTOH you get it w/in 2 or 3 days.

[alexhkyip621]

I have three items which have been delayed for for over 180 days and I am still waiting!

[femmefan1946]

Then you waited too long.

Six months? Really?

That seller has some silver tongue!

Here's the boilerplate I have about getting refunds.

You have 30 days after that 'last estimated date for arrival' to open a Dispute with eBay's Resolution Centre, which is at the bottom of this page.
The first suggestion is to Contact the Seller. Don’t get into a conversation.
Just ask “When was this sent? What service was used? What is the tracking number?”
Don’t get into a conversation. You want either a prompt refund OR a tracking number that shows the purchase is in Canada.
Do NOT accept a replacement. It won’t arrive.
Do NOT close the Dispute until you have the product or the refund.
If you have already attempted to Contact the Seller,  skip that step, ask eBay to step in and Escalate to a Claim.
If the seller cannot prove Delivery (not shipping, delivery) you will be refunded.
 
If the 30 days have passed, go to your Paypal account.
You have 180 days from payment for this Dispute.
Find the transaction and copy the number.
The PP Resolution Centre is at the top of your PP account page under Tools
Same process basically, skip the Contact Seller and escalate to a Claim.
If the seller cannot prove Delivery (not shipping, delivery) you will be refunded.
 
In future, read the feedback.
Don't buy from sellers with less than 98% positive (99% for Asian sellers)
Read the negative feedback , including seller responses, for patterns like slow or no delivery, poor communication, low quality, counterfeits.

It is very likely the seller never sent anything.