Shipping from China to Minnesota, USA

@maezee (41997)
United States
August 5, 2011 3:54pm CST
Hi there. Bought something off eBay and didn't realize until after I paid for it (of course) that it was actually being shipped from CHINA. (I feel like there should be a disclaimer... in these scenarios). I'm just wondering - if you live in the US (or reversely, live in China) and have bought something from US/China - how long did it typically take to ship to you? I'm wondering as I just checked the tracking number provided by eBay and it was "shipped" on 7/28 and is still "preparing for shipment" today, 8/5. That's a little over a week! I know it would take a while but I'd just like to see that it's actually in transit..; About how long do you think this will take????
4 responses
• China
12 Aug 11
Aha, sometimes it will take about two weeks. Trust me, I'm in China. And if you buy Chinese products from Ebay, I suggest you to buy from yoybuy.com... (I recommend this site because you can choose things from www.taobao.com...)
• United States
11 Aug 11
Thankfully most eBay sellers are morecear about their shipping. In my past importing situations from China I have all kinds of different experiences.: Almost instant to months! And so many factors affect it that you can't predict what's going to happen. Last year, when waiting for one item, I decided I needed another of the same item from the same seller. The second one arrived first despite being ordered 2 weeks later. Good luck!
@bounce58 (17387)
• Canada
9 Aug 11
So, has it shipped already? I just recently launched a business, and a few suppliers that we're talking to are in China. We are buying quite a few items, and they say that all of it will be charged by weight when it shipped air - a week. We thought it would be expensive so we ask how long if it were shipped sea. Not too expensive but 7-8 weeks!
@FrugalMommy (1438)
• United States
5 Aug 11
It's been a while since I ordered anything that came from China, but shipping times shouldn't have changed much in the last few months. How fast your item will come depends on how the seller shipped it. Express Mail (EMS) can take as little as 3-4 days. Air mail is a little slower. I think I used to get letters in about 5-7 days, and packages in about 7-10 days by air mail. Surface is the slowest because the package comes by ship, and it usually takes at least 3 weeks to arrive. If they say it was shipped by SAL, it's coming by ship. How did you track your item? I seem to remember that some things couldn't be tracked in transit because they weren't in the USPS system until they cleared customs here. So it might be possible that your item is on its way, but the USPS system hasn't updated the tracking information yet.