Shoddy supplier communication after CNY?

[kirkland]

For those who source overseas from Chinese suppliers, just wondering if anyone is seeing extra piss poor communication after CNY... or if I'm the sole recipient and just set myself up for scam city by trusting some new suppliers.

Maybe I'm just really impatient but I hate asking for tracking only to be met with prolonged silence or (what seems to me to be) pure excuses- especially when these same suppliers were all chatty not too long ago. Hope it's a delay/CNY backlog at worst as opposed to pure scamming.

[nimade71]

PP in China are not very efficient these days. Many pp are still not back from the holiday physically or mentally. I got pissed for the low efficiency from my chinese partners too. You need some diversifications, like sourcing from multiple factories.

[kirkland]

Thanks for the advice. I tried sourcing from a different supplier because my main supplier was unresponsive.. and then this new, second supplier became unresponsive too. Oy vey

[kirkland]

Do you expect things to normalize this week?

[Kajunrook]

I have 4 main suppliers in China and 3 of them actually messaged me they were back to work and ready for more business, the 4th must still be hungover.

[phaz0rz]

Originally Posted by kirkland

Do you expect things to normalize this week?

Things are still returning to normal. Try not to take it out on your supplier - chances are they are doing the best they can.

Try to consider their point of view. They have people from all over the world placing orders during CNY when all the factories are closed. So when CNY is over a supplier will have dozens or even hundreds of orders lined up awaiting shipment. On top of that most Chinese suppliers use a forwarding service so they aren't shipping directly from China, which slows things down even more. I placed a $15k order the day after the Chinese started returning to work. Of that I've received only about $2k in inventory so far. Haven't even got tracking for the rest yet. It's perfectly normal. This is my 5th year dealing with CNY.

[nimade71]

Originally Posted by phaz0rz

Things are still returning to normal. Try not to take it out on your supplier - chances are they are doing the best they can.

Try to consider their point of view. They have people from all over the world placing orders during CNY when all the factories are closed. So when CNY is over a supplier will have dozens or even hundreds of orders lined up awaiting shipment. On top of that most Chinese suppliers use a forwarding service so they aren't shipping directly from China, which slows things down even more. I placed a $15k order the day after the Chinese started returning to work. Of that I've received only about $2k in inventory so far. Haven't even got tracking for the rest yet. It's perfectly normal. This is my 5th year dealing with CNY.

Right, I agree with these. I doubt whether those factories are able to return to regular efficiency within this week. Since they have many unhandled or unshipped orders during the holiday.

[yankee]

also Fedex, DHL, UPS etc... are back logged. a whole month of product sales waiting to get loaded onto planes. Expect regular 3-4 day shipments to take up to weeks. Same as right before Christmas.

[dallis]

Yeah, they're slow responding to me also right now.

They could be scammers, though, hope you didn't give them too much money up front.

[MikeRock]

i could take up to a month for things to get normal. Most of these people go to their villages during CNY. These villages are super far outside the cities can take days to get to on Train. Some get 2-3 weeks off as their families including kids live in these villages. City life in major Chinese cities are like major cities anywhere....very expensive. The people usually taking the orders are these type of people.

Some people dont leave....hence why you get better responses. Even if they are responding....usually somewhere in the supply chain there will be a delay whether the factory, shipping consolidators, customs....

Its just the way it is this time of year......Welcome to China. If you want better service.....get yourself a work visa for china cause most likely you will be going outside a major city and need it along with your passport. Go do some pounding the pavement...And find multiple FACTORIES....not selling agents to help you source you goods.

[phaz0rz]

^^PERFECT summary of the situation above me

[kirkland]

Still not seeing much improvement across the board, is it the same with everyone else in this thread? Tiny improvements if at all

[yankee]

Originally Posted by kirkland

Still not seeing much improvement across the board, is it the same with everyone else in this thread? Tiny improvements if at all

Nope.
Find better suppliers.

Delivery is early for a couple weeks now. Fedex, ups and DHL are running faster than usual. Right now, no delays at all.

[Kajunrook]

My sentiments exactly getting items faster than ever.

[MikeRock]

Me too. Not only is China back and at full steam again.....But i havent got tagged on a Stainless Tariff yet since CNY, and literally ive been tagged probably on every single shipment over the last year.

I probably imported 2 metric tons of stainless from China since CNY. Even on Friday after the supposed sanctions go into place. Super large stainless order came into Kentucky and out without getting the dreaded Customs tariff call.

Im gonna dread the day an $800 customs bill turns into a $4000 customs bill. But until then FTW!

[rsot]

Originally Posted by MikeRock

Me too. Not only is China back and at full steam again.....But i havent got tagged on a Stainless Tariff yet since CNY, and literally ive been tagged probably on every single shipment over the last year.

I probably imported 2 metric tons of stainless from China since CNY. Even on Friday after the supposed sanctions go into place. Super large stainless order came into Kentucky and out without getting the dreaded Customs tariff call.

Im gonna dread the day an $800 customs bill turns into a $4000 customs bill. But until then FTW!

Way to be ahead of the tariffs

[MikeRock]

Originally Posted by rsot

Way to be ahead of the tariffs

not really ahead of them....those are just the normal shipments. I get about a ton of stainless 2x a month. I just havent got tagged since CNY. Im sure i will soon enough.