Small items from HK not being delivered

[happycamperau]

Over the last year or two I've been noticing that small items from Hong Kong don't arrive....not everytime, but about 5 out of 10.  Are they being lost in transit or not shipped at all?  Everytime I've had to contact a seller prior to the 45 day limit, they will always ask to 'wait a few more days' to which I reply that I will be lodging a Paypal claim on xxx date, because if I don't then we all know that I don't have any chance of getting a refund. 

Generally these items are small $$ items which soon mount up if you don't do any follow up and am wondering what other people do in this situation?  Paypal are really good and will always refund the money within a day or so, but surely I'm not the only one where parcels are not arriving??   Other parcels are being delivered without a problem, so I tend to think these don't arrive in the country?

Just curious and interested to know if this is happening to others....

[i-love-my-sheep]

I guess it could depend on what you are buying. Could they have been intercepted by customs? I've bought quite a few things over the years from both China and HK and only had 2 shipments not arrive when they should have. The first arrived months later, so I repayed the seller and the other never arrived and the seller refunded me even though it was after the 45 days (tracking still says it's at a sorting centre in China somewhere and has been for the last 3 months).

None of what I've bought is on the can't bring into the country list.

[lyndal1838]

I have bought a lot of small items from China and Hong Kong....some cheap and some reasonably expensive.  None of them have failed to arrive although a couple of them were very close to the cut off time for a dispute.   The postmarks show that they were posted when the sellers said they were.

[i-love-my-sheep]

I just picked up a box from the PO from China. The seller marked as posted on 30/9, the post mark says it was posted 30/9. Now I just have to spend the next hour trying to get into it because one thing the Chinese are good at using is, TAPE (and toilet paper)!!! They are obsessed with tape and wrapping everything in toilet paper!

I can't complain about how well they wrap the items i buy, a house could fall on the box and it wouldn't get damaged.

[modestbods]

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@i-love-my-sheep wrote:

TAPE (and toilet paper)!!! They are obsessed with tape and wrapping everything in toilet paper!

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LOL so very true as regards the tape. I don't recall getting anything wrapped in toilet paper before though.

On one occasion I had a largish package come in that as per usual had more tape than cardboard, but this package arrived in a hell of a mess, mishapen with a fresh lot of tape haphazardly applied all over it, along with an attached notice that it had been inspected & cleared by customs.

It looks as though the inspector responsible didn't have a great deal of patience when it came to unwrapping all that tape, and so had forcibly ripped the package open. They then tried their best to put it back together, but ultimately took a leaf out of the Chinese book and went nuts with the tape. Geez it was a mess and then some, but everything in it was fine when I eventually got it open. 

As for OP's issue, it may depend on what you're trying to bring in, it might suprise you just what won't be allowed out/in if either countries customs service spot it. For instance, whilst you can take a filled cigarette lighter onto a plane with you if it's in your pocket, you can't send a never filled new lighter via air parcel (well you can, but you're not supposed to, and if they spot it they'll not allow it through).

[digital*ghost]

50% is actually a very high rate for non-arrival. I've bought many items from HK and China, and I'd say that less than 1 in 100 never showed up, with a couple even presumed MIA but turning up as late a 3 months after purchase. 

China introduced much more stringent restrictions on export a while back, (for some stuff it just cause extra delays,) so you may want to have a look into that and check whether the items you're buying have the all-clear in both countries. 

[amber-eyed-girl]

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@i-love-my-sheep wrote:

I just picked up a box from the PO from China. The seller marked as posted on 30/9, the post mark says it was posted 30/9. Now I just have to spend the next hour trying to get into it because one thing the Chinese are good at using is, TAPE (and toilet paper)!!! They are obsessed with tape and wrapping everything in toilet paper!

I can't complain about how well they wrap the items i buy, a house could fall on the box and it wouldn't get damaged.

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True. On a side note, if you ever travel to China, take your own as there is a shortage for the intended use. Maybe because it makes such great protective packaging.

[happycamperau]

None of the items would be a Quarantine or Customs risk....mainly they are computer/camera/etc items if I'm uncertain about something then I check on the AQIS website. 

LOL....I've had some of those mile-of-tape parcels too, although they have never been inspected.....not that it would matter because they don't contain anything illegal. 

Once (some years ago) I had an item arrive about 6 months later and when I emailed the seller they just said not to bother with payment after all that time.  That was the only time something has arrived late though....mainly they never arrive at all and I just don't know if they go missing after they arrive in the country or if they are never mailed at all/or lost in the originating country...which is why I asked the question.   I've asked at the local post office and of course they blame the seller but that's the easy way out, imho. 

Don't recall having any toilet paper either, will keep an eye out for that!!  Most of the items I buy (when they do arrive) are in a small padded post bag and 'always' marked as 'Gift' on the customs declaration, the value is also much less than the price paid too, but that's for Customs to follow up, not me. 

Anyway, thanks for the replies, I was mainly curious to know if anyone else was having the same/similar problem.  ;-))

[i-love-my-sheep]

Most of what I buy from China is mineral specimens and I think the toilet paper is great for protecting them (far better than bubble wrap). A few months ago I bought some minerals from Pakistan and was very surprised to see they packed with toilet paper too......only instead of the usual white, it was HOT PINK!!! Serious!

After saying that my packages always seem to arrive, I noticed last night that one shipment is getting very close to the 45 days and it's still not here yet. I've bought from that seller before, so I believe they have posted it. If it hasn't arrived by Monday, I'll open a PayPal dispute just to cover myself. It wasn't an expensive lot this time, so it's no big issue, but I still need to cover myself. I think it will arrive, it's just a matter of when!

[happycamperau]

Sorry, laughing at your comment that 'toilet paper is better than bubble wrap' ...was going to make a smart comment but thought better of it,  then you went on to say it's HOT PINK!!!  ROFLMHO!!!  The mind boggles!!   LOL    You've just reminded me that I bought some Malachite earrings and they were wrapped in toilet paper....it was white!!  LOL 

It's not that some of the items are expensive (at least not the ones I'm buying) but they still add up after a while if you haven't received them.  Just checked and I bought some Caribiner clips on 21 Aug and they still haven't arrived.  The seller has refunded the money and asked if they arrive that I re-send the money which I will do, but the point is they must have been lost or they would be here by now.   Sometimes I wonder if they have so many sales that some get missed, not sure what their mailing room setup is like, so hard to know.  A few weeks ago it was a WiFi/USB adaptor...less than $2 but a pita when they don't arrive because I had already waited 45 days, then had to wait another 45 days....and another, because it wasn't until the 3rd one that it actually arrived. 

I asked at the local post office in case they had other reports of missing packages, not in anyway accusing them, although it's happened in the past.  Some years ago when I first joined eBay/Paypal (around 2000 or 2001) an expensive parcel didn't arrive.  Long story short, the parcel delivery person was hoarding parcels at home and selling them to pay her gambling debts...so having been through that it's something that resurfaces again when parcels don't arrive.  Back then I was compensated because the item I had bought had been sold, but it took a while to get the money back.  These latest packages are more of an inconvenience to chase up than anything as (individually) they are not expensive. 

Funnily enough, this week (since posting this question) several small packages all arrived on the same day when they had been mailed over the space of three weeks. 

Have a great weekend 😉