Shipping delays from China?

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joelbct
Posts: 81
Joined: Tue Oct 10, 2017 6:14 pm
Location: NY

Wed Sep 30, 2020 1:16 pm

Anyone else had shipments take longer than usual?

I've had DHL deliveries from China to US recently take only a few days.

But a 'standard' delivery from a HK vendor that usually arrives within a week or two, has taken 3.5 weeks so far, and isn't showing up in USPS or EMS tracking.

I've read sea shipping is sometimes experiencing delays due to pandemic.
polezaivsani
Posts: 191
Joined: Sun Oct 06, 2019 4:43 pm
Location: Kaliningrad, RU

Wed Sep 30, 2020 1:52 pm

FWIW, service to my location is about to break the record of the previous average of 1 month :D.

Regarding delays in maritime - is any regular post from China being carried into US by sea? I was under impression that it's all airmail now.
DailyTX
Posts: 882
Joined: Wed Jul 03, 2019 4:43 pm
Location: United States

Wed Sep 30, 2020 2:24 pm

I heard that there’s a massive delay with packages stuck in Shanghai between March to May. My EOT package is among them 😕, it has been in Shanghai for the past 4+ months. Hopefully it will come before the year is over.
Janice
Posts: 262
Joined: Tue Oct 10, 2017 11:11 pm
Location: New Jersey

Wed Sep 30, 2020 2:28 pm

I’m in the EOT tea club so I get a package every month. Shipping times have improved for me with the exception of the April parcel which has been stuck in Shanghai since 5/19. The September parcel took 26 days but a chunk of that was delays in the US.

Have you tried https://t.17track.net for tracking? I find that provides detailed information until the package arrives in the US.
Janice
Posts: 262
Joined: Tue Oct 10, 2017 11:11 pm
Location: New Jersey

Wed Sep 30, 2020 2:28 pm

DailyTX wrote:
Wed Sep 30, 2020 2:24 pm
I heard that there’s a massive delay with packages stuck in Shanghai between March to May. My EOT package is among them 😕, it has been in Shanghai for the past 4+ months. Hopefully it will come before the year is over.
I’m hoping the April parcel contains a tea that’s meant to age.
maitre_tea
Posts: 59
Joined: Wed Aug 19, 2020 11:54 am
Location: Washington, DC

Wed Sep 30, 2020 3:12 pm

I've been getting packages from China through EMS and Airmail in about two weeks or so, but this is all orders from the last month or so. I've found that what adds time is how many stops a package has to make before it leaves China. It's actually funny - I have an order from KTM that's split into two packages sent at the same time. One left from the Guangzhou airport and is now in the US. The other went to Shanghai before leaving China and isn't in the US yet.
Noonie
Posts: 360
Joined: Tue Dec 12, 2017 12:30 pm
Location: Ontario, Canada

Wed Sep 30, 2020 3:24 pm

I stocked up on Pu'erh from YS US site earlier in the summer...I hate the idea of my tea being stuck in its journey. Hopefully this all improves, soon!
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joelbct
Posts: 81
Joined: Tue Oct 10, 2017 6:14 pm
Location: NY

Fri Oct 02, 2020 6:21 pm

Thanks for responses. And thanks Janice, but nope, doesn't show up on that site.

Usps says "label created, not yet in system."

This shipment is from Hong Kong so I don't think Shanghai delays would have an impact, but who knows. With the state of the usps lately, anything is possible I guess.

And it's odd, I had a DHL package arrive from Hong Kong to New York in literally 4 days, a couple weeks ago.

It's too bad, because I love some of the teas from this vendor.

But, next time I order china tea, I might just have to order from a North American-based vendor, or Hojo.
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aet
Vendor
Posts: 409
Joined: Tue Feb 06, 2018 7:56 pm
Location: Kunming ( China )

Fri Oct 02, 2020 8:53 pm

That has been discussed also on Reddit.
https://www.reddit.com/r/tea/comments/h ... rom_china/
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joelbct
Posts: 81
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Location: NY

Sat Oct 03, 2020 12:58 pm

aet wrote:
Fri Oct 02, 2020 8:53 pm
That has been discussed also on Reddit.
https://www.reddit.com/r/tea/comments/h ... rom_china/
I've avoided r/tea since all the astroturfing drama of 2017. But thanks.

I wonder how long I should wait before I ask the vendor to file a claim, if they can even do that.

I don't really want to do a chargeback, because it's most likely not their fault, and I'd like to order from them again at some point. With express shipping, at least.

I did receive an item from fasttech in under 2 weeks last month, via ems/china post. so maybe it is the vendor's fault after all. Strange.
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aet
Vendor
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Joined: Tue Feb 06, 2018 7:56 pm
Location: Kunming ( China )

Sat Oct 03, 2020 7:58 pm

joelbct wrote:
Sat Oct 03, 2020 12:58 pm
aet wrote:
Fri Oct 02, 2020 8:53 pm
That has been discussed also on Reddit.
https://www.reddit.com/r/tea/comments/h ... rom_china/
astroturfing drama of 2017.
... what is that ?

"I wonder how long I should wait before I ask the vendor to file a claim, if they can even do that." ..I believe each vendor should have Terms & Conditions of Delivery which you have to agree with while proceeding the order. So you'll better check that before do any further steps to claims.
For example for this year we had to add there , that if parcel stuck in somewhere because no flights available to destination country / lock down , we can not refund the money until the parcel return to us.
Just for your info: there is no any insurance even with actual lost parcels for regular international shipping. China post gives only 50% of shipping fee back ( after quite long time ) and EMS gives a 0 CNY. So in any case of your claim, it goes all from vendor's savings. ( means not only loosing profit, but actually paying for shipping which hadn't happened / succeeded and for costs of the goods in that parcel )
We want to be fair with customers so in peak time of Covid we even had a red banner about it on front page which , I believe, pushed away many customers ( orders ) that time, but I think it's better this way rather than have a hassle with unhappy customers later.

The vendor who accepts any of those claims with full refund ,naturally have to get those money somewhere and I believe they don't come from other "day job" salary , so more likely it has to be reflected on either product margins or shipping fees. Like if you loose some expensive tea ware , how many following orders you need to get just to cover that loss?

Sorry for writing too many insides, just feel like many people not aware ( or just don't realize this at the time of purchasing ) of this type of business economy , so please don't take it as it's like aimed on you or something. I believe more people read this topic.

If you are / were happy with the vendor and still want to order later , I'd suggest be patient and wait till parcel arrives. It will take ages, but will arrive eventually.

This year is hard for everyone. If vendor has a very few orders and some part of it even have to refund, it might actually cost them close down the business.
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joelbct
Posts: 81
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Location: NY

Sun Oct 04, 2020 6:25 pm

Yeah I'm not trying to do a charge back if it's not their fault.

It's just, the order was in 'checking stock" status for a week, then still hasn't even shown up in EMS/China Post tracking aside from saying 'label created.' it's not like it's saying stuck in Shanghai or anything.

But, I've used them for 10 or 15 years, so, I'll just chalk it up to bad luck if it never arrives.

Luckily it wasn't a huge order, anyway.
alejandro2high
Posts: 69
Joined: Tue Dec 17, 2019 1:51 pm
Location: Dallas–Fort Worth, TX

Mon Oct 05, 2020 12:44 am

I experienced some delays for the first time in a long time. It was USPS international express too which is usually quick. Coming out of eastern China.
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aet
Vendor
Posts: 409
Joined: Tue Feb 06, 2018 7:56 pm
Location: Kunming ( China )

Mon Oct 05, 2020 4:08 am

joelbct wrote:
Sun Oct 04, 2020 6:25 pm
It's just, the order was in 'checking stock" status for a week, then still hasn't even shown up in EMS/China Post tracking aside from saying 'label created.' it's not like it's saying stuck in Shanghai or anything.
You can try https://www.17track.net/en
it is better than official EMS/China Post tracking website. That's I can confirm as a vendor. Don't ask me how is that possible , but it is ;-D
From 1st. October there is a holiday here for a week, but some parcels can be send already.
If your tracking number doesn't show any location / warehouse / city where is it, than contact the vendor to check up for details. We ( vendors ) can call our customer service of the carrier . But truth is , that most of the time we don't get better info than 17track web gives, it's just sometimes can learn info like that BJ is packed or SH returned all parcels to everybody ...or something like that.
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joelbct
Posts: 81
Joined: Tue Oct 10, 2017 6:14 pm
Location: NY

Mon Oct 05, 2020 9:03 am

Yeah, nothing on that 17 site or other tracking sites.

I just placed an order from O-cha, and they are only offering FedEx shipping to the US, so I guess this is a known thing in Japan too.

Ippodo also had a similar message, saying they are only shipping DHL.
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