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EMS=No Good?
 

Apologies to the moderators ahead of time if this is in the wrong section.
Reading through everything, it seems that the collectrive opinion of EMS is not good. I would think that getting ANYTHING from China could be a gamble, but EMS has gotten a pretty bad rap. Any stories for or against?

In My Experience EMS is the Cheapest and Most Likley to get Customs inspected Choice.

The Best choice is to have a Seller in China that has a "Good" Relationship with a Private carrier like DHL

Have never had any problems with EMS shipping. I have been using them for a few years now. However, my supplier now uses UPS and I get my things in 3 days!

I've used ONLY ems and receive orders on average of 1 per week to the same address. I've only had 2 held up at customs and they were released and arrived without a problem.

Most of my shipments come in through DHL. The few that came through EMS have had no problems. I have two shipments coming in through EMS supposedly on the same day. We'll see how that goes.

What is the weight limit for such ems dhl international shipping?

EMS is pretty awesome, but they are pretty pricey. However, I get my items usually within a week from China so that's pretty good. When I first started, I went with EMS. Probably 100 large bulk amounts over the course of a year.

Ems is usually only a problem with bulk shipments, DHL is good for bulk, Ems is good for small stuff.

I respectfully disagree.

EMS will work with you on the price, a lot, but not really for small items. For example, when I was using EMS the rates were 240 RMB for the first 500g, then 70 RMB for the next following 500g. However, EMS will offer you 55% off for bulky orders. If you are buying and reselling products from China quickly, this is great.

The rates on EMS are always free for me and based on my experience bulk shipments have been seized using ems but not with dhl which is also free if you order over 21kg.

I would always use DHL only. Have had too many shipments seized going through San Fransisco using EMS. Can reroute through NY but takes too long. I get large packages from DHL within 4 days without any ever being seized.

It doesn't seem like you can choose your carrier, though. Certain suppliers use EMS, and others DHL. I've noticed you can't choose.

So it's safe to ship to my real house? I will be doing small packages.

It depends on what the product is and if it's over 21kg or not you have to ask the seller, EMS is standard for most shipments but DHL, FEDEX,UPS, TNT are typical for larger shipments. You can have many nonbranded or chinese branded stuff shipped to your house but for name brand merchandise would be better to have shipped to a mailbox on the other side of the moon, whoops, I meant town lol.

But you can/should triple-check that your supplier will consider a different carrier. It boils down to the amount of business you are doing with your supplier:pop2: Take it a step further, have a range of suppliers for your items.
Makes life easier:pop2:

WHat kind of MAILBOX is safe enough to receive brand merchandise?


You need ID to open mailbox, right?

Yeah you need 2 pieces of id, business mailboxes are good since you can have packages shipped there in anyones name.

Which business mailbox do you recommend?

You are right; I think PO BOX only can receive mail under PO BOX owner's name.

Been using EMS for a year now, but I order many small amounts to avoid customs BS. Good luck!

customs fees are charged random?

How do you decide which shipping package to charge tariff; do US cumtoms open all packages?

EMS are great except for Holland (Netherlands). Make sure your chinese supplier marks the shipment as a low value gift. Not the fastest but they all get through.

EMS do get stopped by customs, but also what is the deal with DHL? They are more expensive but I alway thought that they were stricter with checking what is actually inside the box?

If you are selling f**e goods, I was on the understanding that DHL was a no go?

Alot of people use DHL for that stuff with not many problems and the shipping is free when it's over 21kg.