Shipping from China...

[keithr0]

Is it just my imagination or are shipping fees from Chinese suppliers
going up? The options for shipping a display only included DHL at $26,
slightly more than the item itself, and a very small GPS module from Ali
Express shipped for only just less than the cost of the item ( and could
still take up to 20 days).

 

[news18]

On Fri, 12 Jun 2020 22:21:29 +1000, keithr0 wrote:

Is it just my imagination or are shipping fees from Chinese suppliers
going up? The options for shipping a display only included DHL at $26,
slightly more than the item itself, and a very small GPS module from Ali
Express shipped for only just less than the cost of the item ( and could
still take up to 20 days).

I guess China has stopped the free shipping boost to its merchants
selling good overseas and/or it is just part of the new Chinese approach
of sticking it to wqesterners who don\'t kiss their arse.

 

[Jasen Betts]

On 2020-06-12, keithr0 <user@account.invalid> wrote:

Is it just my imagination or are shipping fees from Chinese suppliers
going up? The options for shipping a display only included DHL at $26,
slightly more than the item itself, and a very small GPS module from Ali
Express shipped for only just less than the cost of the item ( and could
still take up to 20 days).

I\'m still seeing \"free\" or <$5 for many items, of course
international shipping is in a state of flux at the moment.

--
Jasen.

 

[Computer Nerd Kev]

Jasen Betts <jasen@xnet.co.nz> wrote:

On 2020-06-12, keithr0 <user@account.invalid> wrote:
Is it just my imagination or are shipping fees from Chinese suppliers
going up? The options for shipping a display only included DHL at $26,
slightly more than the item itself, and a very small GPS module from Ali
Express shipped for only just less than the cost of the item ( and could
still take up to 20 days).

I\'m still seeing \"free\" or <$5 for many items, of course
international shipping is in a state of flux at the moment.

What I usually see on Aliexpress (especially last time I looked since
the effect of the virus kicked in) is \"free\" in the search results,
then go to the item page and they want $20. Or go the item page and
it says \"doesn\'t ship to Australia\", then add it to your cart and see
$20.

Occasionally though, \"free\" in the search results does still carry
through to the item page and into your cart, but as far as I can see
the only way to tell is to try with every item until you find one. I
suspect that it\'s free to the USA still (or maybe Russia - they seem
get a lot of business from there), but not to us. The website just
gets mixed up.

The code that runs that website is just as much Chinese junk as the
sort of stuff they sell. There are good deals to be found there
though, if they ever arrive.

--
__ __
#_ < |\\| |< _#

 

[Computer Nerd Kev]

keithr0 <user@account.invalid> wrote:

Is it just my imagination or are shipping fees from Chinese suppliers
going up? The options for shipping a display only included DHL at $26,
slightly more than the item itself, and a very small GPS module from Ali
Express shipped for only just less than the cost of the item ( and could
still take up to 20 days).

No imagination - like here in Australia the cheaper international
post services have probably been suspended. If you want to send
something _to_ China it\'s more expensive than before the virus as
well. \"Flight cancellations and government restrictions\" is Australia
Post\'s excuse.

I ordered some things from Aliexpress in early-mid March, just before
the service suspensions and price rises started. One arrived about a
month and a bit later (the cheapest one, funnily enough, also least
important), another about a week ago, and still waiting on the other
(will have to order again elsewhere because even with my pessimism
about postage times from China, I didn\'t allow for three months!).

Aliexpress also won\'t let you put in a claim for a refund if the
tracking says the item has arrived in Australia (even if that was
well over a month ago). I used an Australia Post pre-paid credit
card and it has since expired and AP changed from Visa to Mastercard
so I had to get a different one and probably can\'t get a refund back
to it anyway.

Also ordered from an Alibaba seller at around the same time. They
basically extorted me, upping the postage cost after I\'d agreed to
the one originally quoted for DHL. They\'re the only supplier though,
so I went with their excuse that they had to use FedEx due to the
virus - the parcel was sent using DHL anyway. That arrived in
reasonable time though.

--
__ __
#_ < |\\| |< _#

 

[Clifford Heath]

On 12/6/20 11:26 pm, news18 wrote:

On Fri, 12 Jun 2020 22:21:29 +1000, keithr0 wrote:

Is it just my imagination or are shipping fees from Chinese suppliers
going up?

I guess China has stopped the free shipping boost to its merchants
selling good overseas...

China has never provided free postage for items leaving China, AFAIK.
It\'s just so cheap and efficient that many sellers include the cost of
postage in with the cost of the item.

I got the Shenzhen manufacturers of one of my products (250g, about A5
size fat cardboard envelope) to find the cheapest available shipping.
They spent a month looking, and for this package the best they could do
was about $AU3.

There are many shipping companies. They provide vendors with big boxes,
each labelled for a specific country. The entire contents of the box is
emptied into the postal service at a port in that country. The cost to
the vendor depends on the weight, so small envelopes (say with a couple
of transistors, or some little trinket) cost very little, just a few
cents. There is no individual handling until the recipient postal
service has to sort and deliver the items.

Possibly there has been a slight increase in charges, maybe because the
global system is clogged with stuff that is sitting for a week or three
because it\'s been handled.

But the main thing I see that has changed (broken!) recently is that
AliExpress changed its search function, so you can search and see
hundreds of responses, but as soon as you hit \"free shipping\", or \"sort
by # of orders\", or some other search customisation, most or all of the
items disappear; even ones that were visible as \"free shipping\" in the
initial results. This is incredibly frustrating, but the change happened
before COVID19.

Another thing that changed at the same time is that you get many items
that have no relationship to your search terms. Especially if you search
and they have no matches; then you get hundreds of completely irrelevant
results.

I wish AliExpress would fix their bloody search engine. It used to be
excellent.

Clifford Heath.

 

[server]

On Friday, June 12, 2020 at 8:21:32 PM UTC+8, keithr0 wrote:

Is it just my imagination or are shipping fees from Chinese suppliers
going up? The options for shipping a display only included DHL at $26,
slightly more than the item itself, and a very small GPS module from Ali
Express shipped for only just less than the cost of the item ( and could
still take up to 20 days).

I bought some 2.5GbE cards last week, and there were sellers either offering
free postage for US$20 or $16 plus $4 postage.

 

[Clocky]

On 13/06/2020 10:14 am, Clifford Heath wrote:

On 12/6/20 11:26 pm, news18 wrote:
On Fri, 12 Jun 2020 22:21:29 +1000, keithr0 wrote:

Is it just my imagination or are shipping fees from Chinese suppliers
going up?

I guess China has stopped the free shipping boost to its merchants
selling good overseas...

China has never provided free postage for items leaving China, AFAIK.

AFAIK the government covered shipping costs for small items at least.
They no longer do, hence it is passed on to buyers.

It\'s just so cheap and efficient that many sellers include the cost of
postage in with the cost of the item.

I got the Shenzhen manufacturers of one of my products (250g, about A5
size fat cardboard envelope) to find the cheapest available shipping.
They spent a month looking, and for this package the best they could do
was about $AU3.

There are many shipping companies. They provide vendors with big boxes,
each labelled for a specific country. The entire contents of the box is
emptied into the postal service at a port in that country. The cost to
the vendor depends on the weight, so small envelopes (say with a couple
of transistors, or some little trinket) cost very little, just a few
cents. There is no individual handling until the recipient postal
service has to sort and deliver the items.

Possibly there has been a slight increase in charges, maybe because the
global system is clogged with stuff that is sitting for a week or three
because it\'s been handled.

But the main thing I see that has changed (broken!) recently is that
AliExpress changed its search function, so you can search and see
hundreds of responses, but as soon as you hit \"free shipping\", or \"sort
by # of orders\", or some other search customisation, most or all of the
items disappear; even ones that were visible as \"free shipping\" in the
initial results. This is incredibly frustrating, but the change happened
before COVID19.

Another thing that changed at the same time is that you get many items
that have no relationship to your search terms. Especially if you search
and they have no matches; then you get hundreds of completely irrelevant
results.

I wish AliExpress would fix their bloody search engine. It used to be
excellent.

Clifford Heath.