Orders from Australia and China still en rout after 5 weeks. Apparently both orders are on the same very slow boat from China...

What type of shipping did you get?

Normally get stuff from the Far East to the East Coast of the US within 7-21 days depending on what rate I use.

I guess i have waited about a month from Sincere Hobby in China,but the price was right,and it wasn't like I needed it right away.So you kind of forget about it and when it arrives its like a surprise.

China deliveries usually get to me in Oregon in about 21 days. Orders from the UK, 30+. Eastern Europe 10 days, tops.

I order from online and overseas all the time. Like the others have said above, it depends on how you shipped it. My guess is you went with Surface shipping, which is the usually the cheapest, but is always the slowest. A Surface package goes by boat, but first, it goes by mail in the origin country, gets loaded into a container that has to be filled, then the container gets loaded onto a ship that has to be filled, the ship then transits the ocean (takes about 2 weeks minimum), then your box is unloaded from the ship and container, then transfers to USPS and has to be transported to your mailbox. All this takes lots of time. Even though not the cheapest way, Air Mail is usually the fastest. It usually takes 7-10 days door to door.

Not sure about the delay from Australia, but the one from China is a real pain. Cancelled an order as it was already past the due by date, four days later it shows up, and I already have the refund, pia.

Stuff from China is taking much longer as they are inspecting the packages more closely.

As long as we are talking about the mail. Does anybody else who ordered kits and aftermarket stuff from Poland find their packages were shipped by registered mail? Every package I received from Poland or the Ukraine requires me to sign a receipt. I never requested the items be shipped that way. I guess those shippers are not a trusting lot. Even a three dollar gun barrel will require a sign receipt. Yet the shippers in the states will package hundred of dollars worth of kits without any confirmation they arrived at their destination. Twice now I received very expensive shipments from Freetime and Squadron that were ordered by someone else. The modellers wondering what happen to their orders were very happy to receive my phone call.

Well, I have a different nightmare story, which I wasn't going to share, but another modeler told me I should. It involves two domestic shippers (USA). The first is Weta Workshop. When the new 1/32 Wingnut Wngs Sopwith Camels were announced for "preorder" back on January 2nd 2017, my wife ordered one through thier Weta shipper, which happens to be 27 miles from my home. They took an $11 deposit/shipping fee on my credit card. The kits were then released to Sprue Brothers models in February, and began shipping immediately from that distributor. I waited patiently for my kit, and finally started emailing WnW and my wife started emailing Weta, we kept getting replies stating the kits had not arrived yet (my correspondence with WnW was more positive, and it seemed they too were exasperated with Weta). We waited through March, April and finally, after threatening to go to our state's fraud office, the kit showed up in early May-- unfortunately not the kit we ordered, it was a comparable kit though-- one of thier other Sopwith Camels. They charged the same amount of postage to ship it 27 miles than I would have paid to ship it 500 miles. To make up for the problems though, a few weeks after I received my "wrong" kit, they did send out one of thier fine Windsock monographs on the Sopwith at no charge, which was a surprise. What I find ironic though is the package with the monograph took two days to ship from New Zealand while the kit took nearly 5 months from 27 miles away!
My other story involves Hobbylinc in Atlanta. Last November my daughter went on line to get me an Xmas present-- the new Revell 1/32 scale ME262B. She ordered it pre-order from Hobbylinc, at a special "pre-order" rate. It was due in around Xmas, but the date slipped to February, then a date was given of "March 17". My daughter and I made several inquiries during that period, and were told the item hadn't been received in country. Late in March, the kit appeared in thier on-line catalog as "in stock", so I inquired, and was told "the preorders will be filled first". This was perplexing, as it was now advertised as "in stock", and mine had been pre-ordered in early November. I kept my eye on the on-line catalog, and it went to "out of stock" within a couple of days. Assuming my kit was in the mail, I waited two weeks, when it didn't arrive, I made a further inquiry, only to be told the "pre-orders" had been filled, and the rest of the stock went to "first come, first serve customers. My daughter inquired since she had pre-ordered with her credit card--but was told they were out of stock currently, and could again pre-order for the next shipment at the regular price! It's pretty cheesy to advertise a pre-order for six months then when it comes in, put the item on line to sell it and not fill all the pre-orders at the original pre-order price-- this is a classic "bait and switch scheme". I had my daughter cancel her order and I went to Sprue Brothers and bought the same kit and had it in my hands within three days-- and they are 2000 miles away. Thier service was so great I ordered that WnW kit I'd originally ordered from Weta who sent me the wrong kit and I had it even faster in two days! From now on, my on-line company will be Sprue Brothers, although I know Squadron is pretty good too-- the LHS I used to work at used them exclusively for wholesale, they were very easy to work with.
VR, Russ

I've been on the other end of my stuff going to the wrong state, but the recipient wasn't as honest as you were...

Also, I do wonder if the postal tracking system for Poland and Ukraine are just not that reliable. It's easy to tell eBay or PayPal that you didn't get something in the mail when you see that the parcel tracking system didn't properly track the package.

Eastern European post is notoriously corrupt. LOTS of train-thieves, etc. When registered, they are kept under more strict controls, and usually arrive as planned. Their post-system is far different from our, as well. A lot cheaper.

I just ordered something from PlazaJapan.

Anyone experience slow delivery from this vendor/or generally from Japan itself?

I had it shipped "general postage"-it said 7-21 days

Japan is typically 20 days or so.

I believe ordered from them before, took about a month. The model was well packaged and they even wrote me a thank you note.

Well, that is... somewhat reassuring... as I ordered a book from Model Centrum in Poland and I can't track it, but at least I did pay for registered.

I've done quite a lot of mail order in the past year since I started modelling and have mostly had a positive experience. I'm not at all surprised that it would cost the same to ship something 25 miles as 2000 because the postal or parcel system may charge the same.

This might explain why.

http://bc.ctvnews.ca/mobile/delivery-delays-online-customers-waiting-months-for-orders-from-china-1.3441778

Customs agent to buddy: "Hey look, this guy paid $50 extra for express air service. We'll just leave it on the shelf and check it in a couple (3 or 4) weeks."

My rule of thumb is to never order anything from overseas I need now. It can take a while. (However, my orders from the UK to the US usually take 1-2 weeks and about 2 weeks from Australia.) Don't order around Christmas (November or December) because that will take 2 months or more even from the UK. Finally, never expect a pre-order item to be available when they say it will be available. (I'm still waiting on a kit from Japan originally listed for December, but now listed as June delivery. Manufacturer has not shipped to anyone yet)

That's only for stuff from Aliexpress or Wish. stuff that is "free shipping". everything from China now has to be checked by customs, and they only work a 5 day work week.

I've ordered stuff from Chinese evilbay vendors and never had a problem - things always arrive earlier then expected (albeit it may be a couple - 3 weeks in passage). I've ordered PE and gun barrels from Polish vendors - also never a problem. Ditto on kits and stuff from the UK, Australia, the Netherlands. Stuff arrives - usually quite earlier than expected and always in good shape.

I don't order from Russia or Ukraine or Greece or Italy or most other places. Too much fear of FU's in the process, I guess!

I've never had to request "registered mail" or any such thing, and have never had to sign for anything from these places.

I never order stuff from anywhere, foreign or domestic, with any expectation that I'll get it "yesterday". I don't order stuff with any NEED for it right away. If I need it NOW, I'll need to find someone who has it to sell to me NOW.

PS: I've probably bought over 90% of my sizable stash and most tools and such on the internet over 10 years, with no losses and no smashed stuff. But I did once or twice get a wrong kit from a private party! I mostly constrain myself to using sellers who accept PayPal.

Bob

I live in a really rural area where I'm not left with any choice but to order everything online. I quit ordering anything overseas after I went through a couple of month long waiting periods im too im patient to handle. I always use Megahobby and Scalehobbyist now. Megahobby has always gotten my items out the same day, but scalehobbyist seems to like to hold onto things for a couple days every other order or so. Nonetheless, scalehobbyist has a good site and better prices than I've seen anywhere else, with the exception of a few things. I was going to try Hobbylinc until I read the previous post.

I regularly order from Hobby Easy. From date of shipment to my door is always about seven days. My son waited till the last minute to pick out which supercar kits he wanted for Christmas. He finally decided on Christmas Eve ( ). I placed an order with Hobby Search that afternoon (Dec. 25th in Japan) and the crate o'kits was delivered on the morning of Dec. 29th. FOUR DAYS!!!!! That's the kind of service I'm talking about.

Checking the shipping label from Hobby Search, it didn't take four days..........IT ONLY TOOK TWO DAYS! The shipping date was Dec. 27th.

Hi

I have had orders take a little two months via slow boat and as little as three days (even via surface). As others have stated, your shipping choice usually has the greatest impact.

A lot also depends upon the integrity of the vendor. Are they shipping the day your CC was billed or are they ordering from someone else and then shipping.

As with everything, your mileage may vary.

Tom

I buy from Hobbylinc a good bit. It usually takes 3-5 days for an order to ship but once they ship I usually get the order the next day. I usually browse shop there, looking for good deals. I usually compare shop between them and Squadron. I typically don't pre-order...I prefer to just wait until they are in-stock.

Their inventory system can be odd...different stock numbers and prices for the same items. I wonder if there are multiple sellers selling through the site...that would explain alot. Or, they just need to take inventory really bad and update their system.

I've had a couple of orders ship missing items (listed as out of stock on packing slip) but then you point out the same item listed under another stock number. Customer service is done through messaging so there's no live person to call. They've always addressed the issues quickly. Talking to a person makes you feel like the issue is being addressed right then, and you get immediate feedback.

Reading this thread I found that I have had much the same experience as everyone.

Then I realized I have been ordering stuff through the mail for 40 years. The 4 to 6 weeks I now wait for something from Asia once was the time I waited for a package from Maryland or Texas.

I have gotten royally hosed at times by both eBay and PayPal and a lying buyer and at another got Belgian chocolate because the post office screwed up and returned to the sender in Europe without attempting delivery.

And Hobbylinc still owes me a pre-order but then if the stock is held up, it's held up and I can wait. It's one of the things I do best. Ever go shoe shopping with a woman? And you can't get away and just have to wait?

Patience is my middle effing name.