After answered so many questions about shipping, we decided to summarize the questions and answers as follows.
The couriers we normally used are DHL, FedEx, UPS, EMS, Aramex and dedicated lines such as Sino-US express line etc, tracking website for each courier are listed as follows.
DHL tracking – http://www.dhl.com.hk/en.html
FedEx tracking – http://www.fedex.com/us/track/
UPS tracking – http://www.ups.com/WebTracking/track?loc=en_US
EMS tracking – http://www.17track.net/index_en.shtml
Aramex tracking – http://www.aramex.com/
Sino-US express tracking – http://www.22222232.com/
GLE express tracking – http://www.gletrack.com/gse/en/index.aspx
Sino-Australia express tracking – http://www.com1express.com/
For customers, these orders can all be tracked using respective courier’s website as listed above, for example, when you have the DHL tracking number we sent to you, you can directly track it at DHL’s website.
It seems to customers that, there is only 3 parties involved, solidremote – the seller, DHL or others – the courier, you – the customer.
While this is not true, at least not fully true, since there is another party involved in the chain of shipping, it is called the shipping agent or shipping forwarder, so the correct chain should be as follows.
solidremote -> shipping agent -> actual courier -> you
You may ask why there is shipping agent, what is that for? in short, shipping agent is considered as a shipping wholesaler, who can offer discounted shipping price for you, and simplified the shipping sending process.
While there are so many advantages as above, it also has cost, which is time, normally when we ship the package on day 1, the package will arrive shipping agent on day 2, and then he will forward the package to actual shipper, then you can see the status has become picked-up, it will be on day 2 or day 3, sometimes FedEx can take 3 working days to pick-up, so it would be day 5.
During the shipping info received and picked-up period, when you ask DHL or FedEx office, he will tell you the shipment hasn’t been pick-up or shipped, while it is true, but actually you package has already on the way from shipping agent to them.
Most time, the shipping time will stick to schedule, while if there are following circumstances, the shipping time maybe delayed.
1. During shipping agent in Shenzhen -> actual courier in Hong Kong, there is customs inspection, and customs may sometimes held the package due to strict check.
2. Sometimes during peak season, the actual courier may delay the package, since all package will be queued due to heavy load.
Or sometimes courier has strict battery check, the package will be sent back and we need to re-send the package, this is often happened when using EMS as courier, so we always recommend using non-PO box address if possible to expedite the shipping process. DHL sometimes also has strict battery check, but the chances are much lower.
You can always contact us anytime regarding your orders, we will take care of your orders and try to deliver it with our partners as soon as possible.