<div class="bbWrapper"><blockquote data-attributes="member: 8408" data-quote="California" data-source="post: 5458879"
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This thread seems like a good place to warn others - Not HF but Ebay:<br />
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I've ordered a lot of small purchases from China, mostly with good results, inexpensive stuff that was fairly priced.<br />
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Not this time. <br />
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<a href="https://www.ebay.com/itm/392255777313" target="_blank" class="link link--external" rel="nofollow ugc noopener">80mm Mini Plastic Student Sliding Vernier Caliper Gauge<br />
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FREE Economy Int'l Shipping <br />
Item location: Shanghai, China <br />
Seller ships within 1 day after receiving cleared payment</a><br />
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Then an email<br />
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Ok, fine. Shanghai is civilized country, this shouldn't take any longer than other stuff I've receive from China.<br />
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Wrong. 2 months after the order, it finally arrives. Address label is on Philippines Post label, to me. Over that is pasted a near identical address label to me that indicates a China Customs declaration. Maybe a drop-ship, or the Shanghai guy orders from Phillippines after he has accumulated enough orders for a bulk purchase? WTF? 2 months from Shanghai means he didn't have in stock the items he listed.<br />
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That tracking number is meaningless. USPS shows such a # but only that 'label prepared'. # unknown at any other tracking site I can find. It is too long for China Post. I think this Ebay seller uses that USPS gimic to give the appearance an order is moving when it isn't.<br />
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The last straw was the items arrived after the 2-month (?) window to give feedback. So <b>none</b> of his visible feedback reflects his slow shipping.<br />
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One general lesson learned, aside from 'avoid this seller': Economy Shipping isn't the same thing as China Post, which is a government owned service intended to promote China's export capability, and relatively efficient. Shipping Carrier: FLYT. I can't find them but saw a couple of bad reviews that they are the slowest shipper that exits. Lesson: Avoid any Economy Shipping. In contrast, Express Shipping from China is fine.<br />
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Oh the 'vernier calipers'? I didn't expect much but these are just kids toys. The long marks every quarter inch are identical size so at a glance you can't recognize the unlabelled first inch mark. I thought these would be a short version of the usual 6 inch vernier caliper but instead they are miniatures of it. The metric markings are decent so these may be useful as intended, to leave with my socket and wrench sets to quickly judge a bolt head. For inch-designated wrenches, probably no better than just 'grab a few wrenches and try them all'.<br />
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Bah.
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California, if it's worth it to you, I'd bump this up to Ebay customer service. As I recall, you can do it with a couple of clicks. I bet you'll get a reply within an hour that they've issued you a refund. More importantly, they can take further action if it's a known issue with this seller. If folks don't escalate to them, they won't know.<br />
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My guess is that this is a real outlier. I've ordered small items from various sellers that only shipped "Economy Shipping", and the estimated time has always been met or beaten.<br />
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Also, why not start a separate thread, e.g. "Ebay "Economy Shipping" experience"? <br />
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Or "Why it makes sense to buy cheap stuff from Harbor Freight instead of Ebay". :laughing:</div>
