Amazon package coming from China.

[Scott Shepherd]

I ordered some aluminum knobs I found on Amazon. No big deal. Amazon had a note, "Sold by such and such", which you see if it's not coming directly from Amazon's distribution system. $26 total, shipping was free, and for some reason, I got a $1.50 discount. Okay....whatever. About 1 hour later (and this was ordered late at night), I get an order update that my items have shipped. Wow, cool. I don't know where they are, but that's impressive, shipping in less than 1 hour (well, filling out the paper work anyway).

So I thought I'd check it today to see if the tracking number showed where it could be coming from so I'd know about when it would be here. I log in, look at the estimated delivery date and it tells me Monday-Wednesday of next week. Okay, I'd expect that with the free shipping option.

The kicker- no tracking number, but the carrier is China Post.

Had I known that in advance, I probably would have ordered them from someone else. I thought I was buying it from someone in the USA and I'd be helping them. Turns out, not so much. I've gone back and looked at the Amazon add for the items and no where does it say that it comes directly from China.

Interesting twist on Amazon products now. I think I'll be a little more careful on future orders. Not sure how I'd know, but I'm going to pay a little more attention.

[Matt Meiser]

I won't buy from 3rd party sellers on Amazon unless Amazon is shipping it. This is yet another reason in my mind.

[Wes Mitchell]

I've had a few Amazon items come from China, usually little things, and you're right it's hard to tell when products will come from China. I ordered a vessel sink, vessel sink mount, and faucet on Amazon. The sink and faucet came from China and the mount came from FL. The items from China showed up 2-3 days before the mount from Florida. Go figure.

[Brian Elfert]

Items shipped from China or Hong Kong are commonplace on Ebay, but they let you know before you buy. I buy from Amazon marketplace sellers pretty often without issues so far. I buy some pretty obscure stuff at times that Amazon would never sell due to limited demand.

I have bought a few times on Ebay from Hong Kong or China and the stuff usually shows up within two weeks.

[Steve Peterson]

So many items sold on Amazon are actually coming from China anyway. I don't really see much difference (other than the shipping delay) if it ships directly from China, or if Amazon buys it from China and then ships it to you.

It surprises me how cheap some of the items are that get direct shipped from China. I ordered a small stereo connector from China for $1.29 with free shipping.

Steve

[Royce Meritt]

I ordered some items from China (not through Amazon, but another outlet) that were sent "China Post". My package arrived MUCH quicker than I anticipated.

[Harry Hagan]

So many items sold on Amazon are actually coming from China anyway. I don't really see much difference (other than the shipping delay) if it ships directly from China, or if Amazon buys it from China and then ships it to you.

It surprises me how cheap some of the items are that get direct shipped from China. I ordered a small stereo connector from China for $1.29 with free shipping.

Steve

My thoughts exactly.

The last item I purchased from Amazon with free shipping was made in China and took ten days to arrive—eight days of getting around to contact UPS to come and pick it up, and two days to actually ship it to me.

Several years ago I purchased some antennas for a cell phone. It came from China via UPS and arrived in Kentucky three days later with no shipping charge.

There’s no reasonable reason why Amazon should take eight days before processing an order.

[Scott Shepherd]

I'm not an "Anti-China" person. I've bought things directly from China as well. But when it comes to some things, I try and keep it here if I can, as if I had something I sold, I'd rather you give me your business than someone else overseas too. Some times you don't have much choice. In this case, I did have a choice, had I known. I'd rather support someone working at a distribution center in the midwest than not support them at all and have China post delivering it via U.S.Mail.

If it hadn't already shipped, I'd have cancelled the order and ordered it from a stateside vendor. Even if they are selling China make products, the profit still goes into our economy instead of theirs.

[David Weaver]

I haven't had great experience with large packages coming from china, but experience with small packages has been fine. Large packages often come slowly, at high cost, and in my case sometimes get lost.

I suppose amazon's response would be that you should join prime and only order things that are prime eligible, but we'll see how this plays out.

[Brian Elfert]

There’s no reasonable reason why Amazon should take eight days before processing an order.

Was it actually sold by Amazon, or by a third party selling on Amazon? Amazon has been purposely delaying shipping of "free" shipping items that they sell, but not usually for eight days. I think they are trying to encourage folks to pay for prime.

[William Adams]

Usually delays for Amazon free shipping are caused by consolidation of items in a warehouse so that they can all go out in a single box --- I wish they had a system which would show which warehouse a given item was in.

[Brian Elfert]

They don't do the consolidation process for Prime orders. I've had orders of one item with free shipping not leave the warehouse for three or four business days, and not just once. Others have reported the same thing with Amazon free shipping. I don't really blame Amazon for doing it, but it also means they are usually my vendor of last resort because they it.

I've had various trials of Prime over the years and I think only once did an item show up on the third business day. Heck, they have shipped items on a Saturday and I would get them on Monday. The items were marked with next day air even though I only paid for two day delivery and by rights they had until Wednesday to get it to me.

[Steve Milito]

I have on rare occasions bought overseas items on ebay, mostly because there was no domestic vendor selling the product. I haven't had a problem.
I am an Amazon Prime member. It's worth every penny. I sometimes get items from a regional warehouse the next day and they never hold items to bundle them. I can buy just single CD or book and not have to pay more for shipping than the item is worth, and therefore don't feel compelled to buy several items to keep the shipping cost to a reasonable percentage. I've also been pleasantly surprised that some fairly substantially bulky/heavy items are part of the prime program.
I think Prime is a bargain.

[David Weaver]

I'm a prime person also, but I'm out next year. There's no great reason for me to have it, it doesn't pencil out and what used to be (amazon had fantastic prices) is no longer the case - especially when you start ordering small items just because you're on prime. For the small stuff, walmart or target or whatever is local is often cheaper (because the prime prices have to be jacked up to cover the shipping) and for the big stuff, you're already over amazon's free shipping limit, anyway.

five years ago, amazon would often have better prices than anyone else, but I'm pretty sure they realize they don't have to any longer, and the fact that they think they need 20 bucks more for prime tips me over to not having any interest in it.

The videos are probably the best part of the whole prime setup, but I can't think of anything that I've watched that I can't live without - certainly not $100 worth of stuff.

Ebay and amazon are both making their way off my list of places to use as a default if there are any other options available at all. There are too many mature retailers (B&M and internet) and I'm ready for the next wave.

[David G Baker]

I purchase an audio adapter cord on Amazon thinking I was going to get soon. I did everything to order the item and on the last step of the transaction I found out I would be getting it between the 15th and 17th of April. I placed the order on March 15th. I guess it is coming from China or some far away place like Florida. It was cheap so I went to Radio Shack and bought one locally.