Receiving packages in China

[PaulB]

I'm moving to Harbin in a couple of months and this topic concerns me. After doing some searching, I found that some people were having problems receiving packages.

Links:

http://pcchina.wordpress.com/2005/05/10/receiving-packages-in-china/

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/china/638013-can-i-mail-gift-china.html

What are your experiences with receiving packages?

Do any of you intentionally not have things sent to you because you're concerned that packages may never get to you?

[liuzhou]

As far as I know, every package (except one) sent to me over the last 13 years has arrived safely. Books, food, cameras, kitchen utensils, clothing, cell phones, narcotics, porn.

No problem. Ok. Scratch the last two.

As I've pointed out before, it helps to have your friends or family fill in the customs form by saying that the contents are educational material.

I'm looking forward to a new batch of M&S educational socks in the next few days. Chinese socks suck.

(Although the M&S socks are probably made in China!)

The one failure was an innocuous DVD. Don't have DVDs or CDs sent. They won't arrive.

[gerri]

My experience is more like 1+3 packages than 13 years (wow, did you really say 13 years?!?), they have been both chocolates (and other things) from family and "food" marked as such and with correct customs declaration form, and all of them have arrived safely, unopened, without any hassle whatsoever. By normal air mail (as letter, or as parcel).

Have been thinking about some things from REI, but stuff like workout clothes??? I've gotten too used to the Chinese prices... do somewhat miss Clif Bars

[kdavid]

I've had no problem with either DHL or Fed-Ex. A colleague has been using USPS and hasn't had any problems there either.

The important thing is that you have the contents of the box labeled clearly on the customs form. They do randomly open things, and if something is inside that's not on the form/label, they'll hold it.

You'll also need to make sure that the phone number on this form is to someone who can speak Chinese and has your passport number handy, as customs may call to verify the contents of the package. That being said, you should know what's coming and when.

Tracking numbers help too. My package once got held up in Beijing and they hadn't notified me. I had to call myself to get it cleared.

[teaforme]

I've had quite a bit of mail (all documents and letters) lost in the ether. They were all addressed entirely in pinyin, so I suspect that might be part of the reason why they never made it. To get around that problem, I made an "address label" JPEG with my Chinese and English name and address in Chinese characters. I've e-mailed it to all who need to reach me. Since then, all my mail has gotten through, though some of it at a slower pace than others. (The record: 3+ months for an airmail letter).