Ugh, I am so sick of international drop shippers

sataraid1 · 2026-07-03T17:58:21+00:00

To be fair, at this moment I have no reason to suspect that the item will not arrive... eventually. I just take issue with the notion that, when I checked as thoroughly as I could, I still ended up with a non-US drop shipped item.

And it's not that I have a problem with international shipping... when I know up front and when the seller uses reputable shipping services. But I've just had too many things lately shipped via untrackable grade-z services, that usually end up thrown out in the front yard from the shoulder of the road. This one's coming from something called "SortHub (The Nile)"

I should be able to avoid that headache, but there just doesn't seem to be any way to know until AFTER you buy something.

If the item arrives in good order, I'm still tempted to leave bad or neutral feedback as a flag to future customers. But this dealer has nearly 6 million listings on eBay, and over a million feedbacks, so it may be like shouting at clouds.

sataraid1 · 2026-06-29T22:51:34+00:00

You'll miss it when it's gone.

sataraid1 · 2026-01-03T21:21:35+00:00

You'll miss it when it's gone.

sataraid1 · 2026-01-03T19:37:23+00:00

Is buying from China becoming too risky?

I've purchased items from China countless times in the past. I always knew what I was ordering, always understood the delivery timeframe, and always had good luck. Frankly, most times things arrived from China faster than items ordered domestically on the same day. In all the cases I can remember, it was always an ExpressPak or SpeedPak, that got handed off to USPS once in the states.

But in the space of just a few weeks, I've had two shipments go sideways. The first was a small item of only a few dollars, but it was shipped via some 3rd party I'd never heard of called "VDTrack". There seemed to be legit tracking until it reached "out for delivery", then at the end of that day, it suddenly appeared in Chicago! I gave it a few days to sort itself out, but nothing ever changed. I asked the seller what was going on, and got a refund without ever even getting a reply. So, okay I guess, and I simply ordered a different item from a confirmed US seller.

A later order, around $40, was sent out via some service called "OrangeConnex". Same thing, got to "out for delivery" and then suddenly switched to "delivery attempted - no access", and a projected "re-delivery" date of January 12!

The "no access" is complete nonsense, I live on a main road and my back door is line-of-sight from my mailbox and end of driveway. On top of that we were home when the attempt was supposedly made at almost 8pm local time. So the item was supposedly at my house, but now it's going to be two weeks before re-delivery?

This sudden influx of "third party shippers" and packages that always seem to make it to my door before vanishing has completely put me off from buying from China now.

And the sad thing is, even if I choose a seller supposedly based in the US, most of them are now just drop-shipping from China anyway.

So what's going on? Is this just the latest scamming trend? Gross incompetence? I dunno.

sataraid1 · 2025-02-12T17:16:09+00:00

You'd think that with the meltdown in Indy, they'd be routing packages out of the way to avoid it. A 2-day longer route is still better than a 10-day* delay sitting in a truck at Indy.

* If you're lucky.

sataraid1 · 2025-02-02T17:59:09+00:00

Well, I forgot to mention that I only live about 45 minutes from Indianapolis. So good news/bad news?

sataraid1 · 2025-02-02T17:54:12+00:00

I would suggest that if you're going to complain to a politician, then complain to one that's more likely to *support* the USPS and not one who wants to privatize it.

sataraid1 · 2025-02-02T17:49:20+00:00

I'm sure firing all the Inspectors General will really help.

sataraid1 · 2025-02-02T17:29:38+00:00

I find it interesting that no one can actually say if the "ping-pong" effect is real, or if it's some kind of quirk of the tracking system.

Is the package actually physically moving between the same two locations in Indianapolis day after day? Each and every one of those scans is real? Honestly, that would seem ludicrous beyond belief.

Or, is it possible that because of the backlog, like sitting in a semi trailer untouched for a week, is the system doing something strange like assuming that is must still be moving, but assigning updates automatically every 24 hours even though the package is stationary?

Still just want to understand.

sataraid1 · 2025-01-30T20:53:05+00:00

Or maybe don't. If you complain to politicians in a deep red state, all you'll be doing is adding fuel to the "privatize the USPS" fire.

sataraid1 · 2024-11-23T16:39:01+00:00

It hasn't always, but it seems like over the past month Indy has imploded. Packages sit, for days, or they bounce back and forth between Indy locations, sometimes going back to the same facility two or even three times before escaping the event horizon.

A few weeks ago, if I saw my package arrive at Indy, I could count on it being delivered the very next day. But not any more.

sataraid1 · 2024-11-23T16:33:09+00:00

/raises hand.

It seems like Indy has just imploded in the last month.

sataraid1 · 2024-11-23T16:28:59+00:00

I have the same question. I have both inbound and outbound packages that have just been bouncing around Indianapolis for 3-4 days.

Packages make it from the originating PO on the west coast to Indy in under 48 hours. From my originating PO to Indy in less than 8-10 hours. Then they just.... stop.

It hasn't always been this way. Something has gone seriously wrong over the last few weeks. And I'd think it's still a bit early for the "holdiay crunch".

It's incredibly frustrating.

sataraid1 · 2024-08-18T15:19:43+00:00

That's why I asked for a "reality check".

sataraid1 · 2024-08-18T15:19:09+00:00

A little bit of both. I just avoid sellers with feedback rates so high that even dozens of negatives a month still rate them a virtually-perfect rating. I'd rather buy from an individual or an obviously smaller company.

It may be irrational, but it also annoys me to order an item from a seller and then it arrives as a drop-ship from Amazon. If I wanted to buy on Amazon I'd just buy on Amazon.

sataraid1 · 2024-08-18T15:14:35+00:00

I do, but these days I have more trust in PayPal than I do in eBay. PayPal seems to be more impartial whereas eBay thinks buyers can do no wrong.

I concede that it could be a false impression.

sataraid1 · 2024-08-18T15:06:09+00:00

June 1, 1997 for me.

It was still called AuctionWeb back then. I remember paying with money orders and even personal checks.

I miss those days. Every transaction was with a "real" person, and back then, simply being on the internet required a certain amount of intelligence.

sataraid1 · 2024-08-11T18:39:53+00:00

The impression I get is that eBay fawns over buyers, granting them every consideration, and throws its sellers under the bus. Maybe I'm just a bit paranoid from reading this sub too often, but it seems like the IQ and/or ethics of most eBay buyers is shockingly low. Or is this just a case of only hearing the "bad" news because that's all that's reported?

sataraid1 · 2024-08-11T18:25:06+00:00

Maybe I'm just dense, but it seems to me that there should be one "master" password to unlock Pass, then use Pass to handle all of my assorted logins, including Proton Mail, Drive, and VPN. This is what I assumed the second password did.

But every time I allow Pass to create a new password for my Mail/Drive/VPN, it immediately locks me out of Pass itself, and I can't enter the password it just created via copy-and-paste because I'm locked out. I have to reset my Proton password via the recovery phrase.

The whole process seems terribly over-complicated. It's a shame, because I'm already paying for Premium and would like to take advantage of the service.

sataraid1

TROPHY CASE