Curious: Shipping A Rod From China

[Dogface]

I recently made my first JDM purchase. The shipping time was incredibly fast, about a week. Because of that experience I started exploring other sites in Asia. 

 

I just looked at a rod on a Chinese site and the estimated delivery date for my ZIP code would be March 31, 2023. I have never purchased anything directly from China but I'm curious if their shipping times are a misprint, a miscommunication or are they really that slow?   

[LCG]

All depends on the shipping method.

[garroyo130]

I've never intentionally received anything from China but the couple of times that I've inadvertently purchased from scam sellers on Amazon, the items took forever to ship from China. 

 

Also make sure the site/gear is legit ... just sayin

[Dogface]

38 minutes ago, LCG said:

All depends on the shipping method.

 

Thanks Guys!!

 

I have a feeling they are shipping via a fishing Junk. ? I just cannot believe anything would take 2 months to get from Asia to here in 2023. 

 

   

[Jrob78]

I ordered some baits from ebay that came from Singapore with free shipping, it's been 3 weeks so far and they still haven't arrived but tracking is progressing, just slowly. I've also ordered from Japan many times and had stuff get here in 3 days. 

[bulldog1935]

Don't expect anything coming from China, Singapore, Pacific Rim countries to compare to speed from Japan. 

Couriers all compete with each other for shipping contracts with Japan vendors, and have nonstop flights from Japan to their Customs and distribution hubs here (Memphis, Cincinnati, Indy). 

Amazon.jp offers upgrade to DHL, but they also have shipping almost as quick through their own shipping containers and US Customs broker. 

If you bought from Europe, you'd discover expense and tedium in both post and courier delivery.  Even with couriers from Europe, what takes longest is getting out of the origin country. 

 

Since you didn't mention a specific Chinese website, AE holds goods until they can fill a shipping container to import through their US Customs broker; then ground trucking inside the US before delivering to a USPS regional hub. 

 

International Post is always delayed at least a week at USPS ISC Customs, and Chicago ISC is a freaking black hole. 

The couriers from Japan clear US Customs while in flight to US. 

_________________________

 

adding a ps - what I wrote above all stabilized after the '20 postal crunch shut down the whole world.  Before that, JP EMS Post to US was 4 days - part of that was USPS then treating Express mail as Express mail - and Royal Airmail from UK was cheap and reliable.  Postal pick-up shut down for a year in both Japan and England. 

When everything shut down in '20, the couriers scrambled in Japan, because we still wanted Japanese goods and couldn't get them from the shut-down US supply chain. 

USPS has not recovered from increased postal volume for toilet paper, et.al by mail since '20. 

Within the US, Amazon distribution grew into a shipping monster. 

[Dogface]

19 minutes ago, bulldog1935 said:

Since you didn't mention a specific Chinese website, AE holds goods until they can fill a shipping container to import through their US Customs broker; then ground trucking inside the US before delivering to a USPS regional hub. 

 

 

It would be AE. 

 

I may give it a try since it is not a lot of money. I guess my one and only experience with JDM stuff spoiled me. 

[newapti5]

19 minutes ago, Dogface said:

 

It would be AE. 

 

I may give it a try since it is not a lot of money. I guess my one and only experience with JDM stuff spoiled me. 

 

I've had many things shipped from China to PA, including rods. Even with the same listed shipping method, the real shipping time varies from 10 to 40 days. As others mentioned, it depends on a lot of factors.  But the good news is, among all the 50+ orders from them, there is not one package lost or damaged, including rods. I guess I am lucky.

[Dogface]

33 minutes ago, newapti5 said:

But the good news is, among all the 50+ orders from them, there is not one package lost or damaged, including rods. I guess I am lucky.

 

That's great to know. I'm going to order the rod and give it a shot. 

[Tatulatard]

17 hours ago, Dogface said:

I recently made my first JDM purchase. The shipping time was incredibly fast, about a week. Because of that experience I started exploring other sites in Asia. 

 

I just looked at a rod on a Chinese site and the estimated delivery date for my ZIP code would be March 31, 2023. I have never purchased anything directly from China but I'm curious if their shipping times are a misprint, a miscommunication or are they really that slow?   

They are that slow.  Like a month or more.  

[Choporoz]

@bulldog1935gave great info above.  It is pretty easy to understand 2-4 months when you consider that a Chinese distribution site might wait to fill a truck to a particular port consolidation point, and then the consolidation point will wait to fill a container....assuming they can get one in a few weeks, and then transit and hope to enter US port within weeks of arrival, never mind offload,  customs, more consolidation,  and surface trucking towards you.  Toss in continuing Covid related delays in China affecting ports and trucking, and holidays....and....well...I haven't intentionally ordered anything from China in years.

[bulldog1935]

If you follow your AE tracking in detail, they sell many items from Singapore, Hong Kong, Malaysia and Thailand.  Those must first be imported into China before waiting for that AE shipping container and transport to US. 

 

If you want a horror story from '20, a lot of Canada's international mail is routed through USPS ISC in NYC, CHI, and LAX - ISCs are like Duty Free shops in airports - they're free commerce zones without a country.  I had a $120 Stradic from Asian Portal in transit by JP EMS Post in April '20.  It was routed from Chicago into Canada for a month before being delivered here 2 months later.  I talked to a really nice Customer Service lady in Chicago - getting that USPS phone number was a nightmare in itself, US Customs and USPS would pass the buck (you) to each other.  It was my local post office who gave me the right phone number.

[Dogface]

Thanks again guys. Maybe I'll have it for Christmas.

 

Bulldog you mentioned Chicago twice. Last spring and summer my son had three packages from overseas disappear in Chicago. He had been working with a Postal Inspector and she told him there was a serious problem with theft in Chicago. Unfortunately the three packages never showed up.  

[Tatulatard]

What rod did you order?

[gim]

22 minutes ago, Dogface said:

Bulldog you mentioned Chicago twice. Last spring and summer my son had three packages from overseas disappear in Chicago. He had been working with a Postal Inspector and she told him there was a serious problem with theft in Chicago. Unfortunately the three packages never showed up.  

Not really a surprise.  Unfortunate, but not surprising.

[Dogface]

Tatulatard

 

It was a cheap no-name BFS rod but I liked the specs. I have one I had been using for years but it is not a true BFS rod. I saw this and thought I'd give it a try. 

 

BTW I'll get a name next time I get on the site.

[Dogface]

1 hour ago, Tatulatard said:

What rod did you order?

 

I just checked. It is a Kastking Zephyr 6' UL bait caster. I had just looked at the specs and did not realize it was a Kastking. 

 

There is a note on the order that this is the Chinese New Year and it won't be shipped for "17 days". There is another note that if they can't ship it within 10 days they will refund my money. ??????? 

[TnRiver46]

I get my Chinese rods off a rack in sporting goods stores in the US 

[newapti5]

3 minutes ago, Dogface said:

There is a note on the order that this is the Chinese New Year and it won't be shipped for "17 days". There is another note that if they can't ship it within 10 days they will refund my money. ??????? 

 

Yeah, that goes for most Chinese businesses. It's THE national holiday; the whole country shuts down, just as Japan's holiday shutdown. I am pretty sure that "10 days" policy excludes this holiday break. 

[Tatulatard]

Either way if you ordered from the kastking official store then you have basically ordered from the best vendor on the site.  You'll be fine.

[Dogface]

15 minutes ago, TnRiver46 said:

I get my Chinese rods off a rack in sporting goods stores in the US 

 I'll try that next time. It may work out better.  ?

16 minutes ago, Tatulatard said:

Either way if you ordered from the kastking official store then you have basically ordered from the best vendor on the site.  You'll be fine.

 

Thanks!  Good to know.

[bulldog1935]

might as well pay for 3 and get 1

[MAN]

If the factory uses a basic Chinese mailing service then yes, it will snail mail itself over here. That's how they are able to still make a profit on selling/sending just 1 item overseas, because this service just cost them about $7/rod so they still come out ahead.  I was actually going to set up one of my factories to delivery personalized fishing rods on a order by order basis using this mail service....but later decided against it.   

[Dogface]

Just an update. I was watching the site and tracking the rod shipment. The invoice said it would be delivered by March 31, 2023. A few days ago the tracking showed the rod was moving in China and then the tracking froze up. The rod arrived here this past Friday.  Total time about twelve days......not bad.

 

I also ordered a reel and that took about six days. Again not bad. 

[newapti5]

13 hours ago, Dogface said:

Just an update. I was watching the site and tracking the rod shipment. The invoice said it would be delivered by March 31, 2023. A few days ago the tracking showed the rod was moving in China and then the tracking froze up. The rod arrived here this past Friday.  Total time about twelve days......not bad.

 

I also ordered a reel and that took about six days. Again not bad. 

 

12 days is not bad at all, considered the low-priced shipping method they use. The worst wait I had during 2020 was about 50 days. 

 

I am gonna digress a bit here: as far as I know, many Chinese vendors have fully realized the impact of slow shipping to their sales. Nowadays they would either ship directly from China with faster and more expensive shipping methods, or they would place the popular items in a US/Canada warehouse to shorten the shipping time.