Question for Canadians: shipping delays from China?

[ICMF]

My last three eBay orders from China have all disappeared. The first two were surface shipping and should have been here in 30 - 40 days, but are now pushing 60. The latest was airmail and should have taken two weeks, but is now nearing a month with zero updates since leaving China.

Doing some googling, looks like Canada Post is now doing thorough inspections of all parcels from China, looking for fentanyl, which is causing major delays. That sounds a little unlikely though. Just wondering if anyone else has noticed anything similar.

[9volt]

Delays are almost always at the local border. I'm in the USA, but I've been through the same game. Electronics are always a threat to national security. If someone found something suspicious, inspections get ramped up. If they find more, then they ramp-up more. It's a cascade effect. Also, politics, like international treaties and warfare, can effect border inspection time. I once waited 10 months for a package that contained a small usb device from China. The same website, shipped a second package, purchased the next day, in three weeks. Good luck!

[ICMF]

Small update:

Just got some 3DS buttons/sticks from Aliexpress, ordered April 23, sent via ePacket (so about 17 days shipping?)

Still waiting on all my eBay free shipping items though. Even the LiPo battery that has a tracking number and was supposed to be 2 - 3 weeks delivery hasn't been updated in a month.


So paying a few extra bucks for ePacket is definitely worth it.

[ICMF]

Update on this (since I know everyone's really interested )

I have finally received all three orders.

The airmail shipment (LiPo cell), which should have arrived in two weeks got here about 60 days after being ordered. Ironically, just a couple of days after I'd received a Power Bank ordered from Amazon.

The second surface shipment got here about week ago, 90+ days after ordering.

The *FIRST* order I placed, on March 13, arrived today. 119 days later. Funny thing though - I contacted the seller in mid-May to inquire about the missing package, and they re-sent my order. And I'm really not sure whether the parcel I got today was shipped in March, or in May.

Even funnier, I got sick of waiting for the shipments a couple of weeks ago, and re-ordered everything from *another* seller, with expedited shipping, which should (theoretically) be here any day now. Soooo many tact switches. Can anyone tell me how to wire up PWM audio with 20 volume pots and a dozen speakers?

[ICMF]

Postscript:

Just got my re-order. Purchased June 16; arrived July 12. So just under a month to get here. Not spectacular, but a hell of a lot better than 120 days!

Lesson learned: if you're Canadian, avoid free shipping and find a seller who will ship ePacket. It's a bit of a hassle checking a bunch of listings to fine a seller who does, but the shipping upgrade only costs a couple of bucks, and saves a lot of pain and misery. At least until shipping from China normalizes.

[Vidkid72]

A buddy of mine works for Canada Post. I was mentioning to him the same delays you're seeing, sometimes receiving things 4 months later! He told me mail from China gets the lowest priority based on mail volume and they store containers of mail to get through when they can.

[YaYa]

I presume they lower the priority of Chinese mail to dissuade people from importing, aren't they ?
This might be some kind of protective shield against world trade...

[johnnydoughert]

I received mine yesterday thanks to BRI freight forwarder China to Australia. Is your international delivery being sent to and taking longer than expected? It's possible an event or disruption overseas may be impacting delivery especially now that the is a pandemic going on. Some shipping and logistics are experiencing longer waiting times. Delays in loading and delivery of cargoes in the tanker, dry bulk and container shipping segments are being reported because of that.