Ever since I first read about the cooperation amongst China Post, Hong Kong Post and the USPS to make the ePacket service possible a couple of years ago, I’ve been trying, whenever possible, to buy from eBay and Aliexpress sellers who use ePacket for customers in the United States.
Prior to ePacket I would get lots of parcels from China, Hong Kong, and Singapore sent by ordinary air mail, which would take between 2 and 3 weeks to arrive. Of course, even back then it was a bit faster to the U.S. than to many other countries, but 2 to 3 weeks is still enough of a wait to make it so that, price being equal, I used to buy from U.S. sellers because it was faster.
With ePacket though, as long as price is equal, there’s absolutely no reason for me to buy from a U.S. seller rather than a seller in China or Hong Kong. If I get an item sent by first class mail from, say, California it would take about 3 to 4 business days to arrive here in New York. That’s assuming the seller ships immediately. Now let’s compare with this parcel sent by ePacket that I ordered just recently:
ePacket to the U.S. is at least as fast as EMS.
ePacket is not always this quick, but it’s not at all unusual for the item to make it here to NY in just a few days. I remember the first time I ever had something sent to me by ePacket it wasn’t much better than ordinary air mail. But over the past year or so it seems to have gotten much faster, at least to my location.
Two neat things I’ve noticed by tracking ePacket parcels is that, at least according to the tracking info, they seem to get sorted at the EMS sort facilities. The other thing, which may or may not be mere coincidence, is that I’ve never had ePacket parcels held up at customs. With ordinary air mail it’s rare for my packages to be held up at U.S. customs for more than a few days, but I’ve had items shipped to me occasionally that have been stuck for up to 14 days yet never opened or inspected in any way that I could detect. With ePacket I never even see a scan at customs. The first scan I see after the origin sort facility is always a local sort facility, rather than ISC New York. I guess ePacket must still get processed through customs like any other package, but it sure is a lot faster.
Placed an order on 10-22-16, Acceptance in China on 10-26-16…. 12 days later, still no update. Order things as gifts, and cannot even find out if they are actually on the way or not. Getting pretty fed up!
It can take a few weeks or even more than a month sometimes. It’s also possible the item may already be at US customs but not yet processed. Often you don’t see any scan until after it gets though customs and into USPS’ possession.
I ordered an item from China and they used epacket. My item made it isc Los Angeles on 10/31/16 and they gave me an expected delivery Nov. 5th. My item never arrived. I was told by USPS support that my item was sent to Montreal, Canada. Why would they do that?
By mistake, presumably 😉 There’s no way to know really. It could be the label got scanned incorrectly so it was sent to the wrong place. Or maybe the label got torn or damaged.
Something similar happens to me quite often when I ship to any country in Europe via USPS. When shipping from the US to Europe my items often get sent first to Canada and marked “undeliverable as addressed, return to sender” before being sent back to ISC New York and eventually getting shipped to Europe like they should have been in the first place.
Hi I’ve never used AliExpress before and I want to order some stuff for Christmas this weekend but I’m scared it won’t come in time . I’m gunna use epacket to order these seven items but do you guys think I’ll receive it before the 20th of next month ? Most of it Is Clothes , shoes and makeup. I live in Texas if that helps .
I’ve been proven wrong before, but I’d say there’s a good chance you’ll get the items in time. The amount of time ePacket items take to arrive can vary wildly. I’ve had items arrive in as little as 4 days, but other times it can take as much as 4-5 weeks. But I’d say the odds are probably in your favor, since you ordered the items so far in advance.
I contacted the seller and asked if faster shipment is possible. Paid $10 extra and got the item within 3 or 4 days. I had very good experience when contacting the sellers. They want to have excellent ratings.
28 days and waiting for epacket item. Vendor did not provide tracking number.
Ordered December 23rd , still waiting hasn’t gotten to america yet, could it be the holidays?
Could be. But about 2 to 4 weeks or so is typical for me when it comes to ePacket. The screenshot above was just one that arrived unusually fast. I wouldn’t start to worry until after 5-6 weeks or so.
I also ordered some stuff that was sent by ePacket on 12/16 and it hasn’t yet arrived in the US.
Hey I put wrong address for my order in Aliexpress app how I can restore my order please let me know
I don’t know all that much about Aliexpress, but you should probably try to contact the seller. If they haven’t shipped the order yet, then maybe it can be cancelled so you can update your address and then repurchase.
Hi I bought a item off Amazon.ca as I live in Ontario Canada. I checked online with the tracking number that I got and on Canada Post website it says it has been accepted. What exactly does that mean ? As Amazon.ca doesn’t say my package is in Canada yet?
It just means the item was shipped in the country where the seller is located. Even if you bought it on Amazon.ca it’s possible the seller might be located outside Canada. Usually it indicates where the seller ships from on the item description page before purchasing, but sometimes it might look as though a seller is shipping domestically when actually they might ship from China or Hong Kong.
Yes, sometimes epacket is even as fast as express service, only took 4-5 days to arrived at US. And the epacket tracking results can be tracked all the time.
Hello there and good afternoon. I too am a big fan of ePacket, as airmail has airFailed me far too often. Im a bit unclear and was hoping you could clarify some thing. i don’t get it, why, with price being equal, would you prefer to buy from China rather than domestically? the distance traveled is still much longer, with many more stops/scans – opportunities for the item to get lost. sure, it can happen here too, but just based on objective probability, would chances of everything going right/on time be better, even if only slightly, intra-national, rather than internationally? plus, if its clothes or shoes, your chances of counterfeit increase drastically from buying from China. if I’m missing the crux of your argument, please let me know. I buy a lot of things from ioffer/alibaba express/trade key, and always like talking shipping with people. don’t get me wrong, ePacket is very impressive(as are all of EMS’s services). I just don’t get your preference for Chinese sellers. Also, one thing I just thought of that won’t make cost equal; what if you need to return something? unless they offer prepaid return labels(not standard practice over in Asia, like it is here), return shipping is gonna cost you-ePacket is a one-way deal, no? thanks and I look forward to hearing from you. I also like buying things from China, but if a US-based seller offered the same product at the same price, I just think you’d be hard-pressed to find another person who’d choose China.
Lol look @ all the idiot complainers. “ZOMG, its been 8 days since I ordered and I’m getting ” Fed Up!” This ain’t my first rodeo.” Lol what an idiot, if ur filing refund claims after 8 days, it may not be your first rodeo, but obviously you are the shit-shoveler or the concession stand worker and not an able participant.
Maybe order ONLY domestically if you are impatient as a two-year old.
Yep, I agree with you 100%. All the points you make are true. I wouldn’t say I have a preference for Chinese sellers necessarily. I don’t really care where the items come from, so if the price were the same I’d probably decide based on feedback or how informative the description of the item is. I mostly buy cheap, generic, electronic parts, so getting a counterfeit item isn’t a concern for me. I never buy anything from overseas that’s expensive enough that I would actually return it if something were wrong. If there were a problem with the order, I’d contact the seller and if they weren’t willing or able to pay for return shipping I’d just eat the loss.
Price being equal, the only scenario in which I think I’d prefer to buy from a Chinese seller who ships via ePacket over a U.S. seller would be if the U.S. seller used DHL Global Mail, since it can be very slow and doesn’t always have the best tracking. I find that ePacket from China or Hong Kong is a little bit faster and usually has better tracking, so in a situation like that I’d probably choose the seller in China. But if the U.S. seller shipped via USPS First Class Mail, then I’d probably go with the U.S. seller for all the reasons you mentioned.
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