JLCPCB EuroPacket going downhill? -- 2023 update, things got better

[ebastler]

I have had my JLCPCB orders shipped via their "Europacket" option multiple times, and found it quite attractive. They bundle your order with those from other European customers and ship a big box via fast airfreight to their import agent in Germany. The importer takes care of customs processing for the whole lot, then splits up the contents of the box and remails them to the individual customers via regular local mail or DHL.

This has worked well for me: You prepay the net import duties to JLCPCB upon order and avoid DHL's extortion fee for customs handling, and you get relatively fast shipment at a reasonable cost.

But lately, all my EuroPacket orders have taken longer than expected. Two of them were sitting at the European import agent (Patac GmbH, Weixing Wu) for days before being remailed. The current one sits in customs since Tuesday, with the DHL tracking status saying "A DHL representative shall attempt to contact importer or shipper...", so it seems the import agent is unresponsive. I only found that out by contacting JLCPCB, by the way, because their online tracking for the first leg of the journey is broken.

Have others experienced the same, or is it just a streak of bad luck for me?

[DIYGUY Chris]

About the business growth, I totally agree, the shipping and turnaround delay increases lately but the most important things is no matter how busy they are it should be a good quality delivered by the end of the end. We all know that massive production decrease product quality, I tried some local suppliers and I got my boards delivered faster by JLC than the local manufacturers  unfortunately that's a fact.
Well I don't think that this is a big deal if they make a delay of one or two days because them delivered quality and them prices worth it especially with the current world situation caused by the pandemic. 

[ebastler]

About the business growth, I totally agree, the shipping and turnaround delay increases lately but the most important things is no matter how busy they are it should be a good quality delivered by the end of the end. We all know that massive production decrease product quality, I tried some local suppliers and I got my boards delivered faster by JLC than the local manufacturers  unfortunately that's a fact.
Well I don't think that this is a big deal if they make a delay of one or two days because them delivered quality and them prices worth it especially with the current world situation caused by the pandemic. 

I agree that JLCPCB still offers a good balance of cost, quality and production time. It is just a pity when, after manufacturing and shipping the boards pretty quickly, they lose a week on the last leg of the shipping process.

Your posting history shows a keen interest in all things JLCPCB (and not much else). Are you a DIYGuy or a JLCGuy? 

[DIYGUY Chris]

Not a DIYGUY not nothing.. I'm an electrical engineer working in automotive industry  (we develop harnesses for German manufacturers) just a bit like a friend to JLC because they made it easy for a guy like me to transform my stupid imagination and experiments into something useful in life.
I'm not defending them, not even defending any other manufacturer, about my posts just watching what's going on about JLC on social media and intervene when necessary.
I'm not giving excuses for what I wrote, after all your thoughts belongs to you.. 
You can consider that I didn't even posted in this thread 

[BreakingOhmsLaw]

Yes, I've noticed a big increase in delivery times.
I blame the ominous "Patac GmbH" that now seems to be handling the shipping in Germany. I got 4 DHL announcements from Patac for a single order, about two weeks before i got another announcement - this time from sender JLC.
Total delivery time has risen from two weeks (with assembly) to about a month (bare PCB).
Before this order, the sender was a always a "Mr.Wu".
Whatever Mr.Wu did differently from Patac GmbH , he did it a lot faster!

[phil from seattle]

I sure hope they don't change the US version of that. Maybe that's what Mr Wu is doing now.  I get bare PCBs in around a week via DHL.  What is strange, recently the price went down to around $15 for delivery - total with delivery was under $20.  Impressively cheap and fast.

[ebastler]

Yes, I've noticed a big increase in delivery times.
I blame the ominous "Patac GmbH" that now seems to be handling the shipping in Germany. [...]
Before this order, the sender was a always a "Mr.Wu".
Whatever Mr.Wu did differently from Patac GmbH , he did it a lot faster!

I don't think JLCPCB have changed their agent -- Weixing Wu is the managing director of Patac GmbH, and has been since 2016. But Mr. Wu or his employees can't seem to keep up with the (increased?) volume of packages reliably.

[Gerhard_dk4xp]

Mine came within the promised 10 working days.

Gerhard

[NivagSwerdna]

To the UK I see shipping times of around 14 days... and I checked past orders.... it's about the same as it has been for a while.

[ebastler]

Time for a quick update maybe. JLCPCB have made changes to their Europacket process, including some clear improvements -- but it is not perfect.

Tracking on the JLCPCB website now covers both, the initial bulk shipment to their European distribution center and the re-shipment from there to individual customers. 

The European distribution center has moved from its former location in Germany to Eindhoven, Netherlands. That adds a day or two before the bulk shipment from China gets there, since it now goes through Germany, Belgium, then Netherlands. But the new reshipper seems to have a better handle on things: They already create shipping labels for the individual parcels (including registering them with DHL) while the bulk shipment is still in transit. And normally they seem to be pretty prompt with the re-packing and shipping too, better than Mr. Wu before.

Nevertheless, the shipment I am currently waiting for has been delivered to the Eindhoven center on Monday, and they have been sitting on it through Tuesday and Wednesday now. Hope to see it handed over to DHL tomorrow...

What is your recent experience with JLCPCB, and specifically their Europacket shipping?

[artag]

To the UK I see shipping times of around 14 days... and I checked past orders.... it's about the same as it has been for a while.

Do they use this system for the UK, though ? Shipping from EU would likely add further cost and delay.

[themadhippy]

Do they use this system for the UK, though ? Shipping from EU would likely add further cost and delay.

Dont worry about the delay,royal snail will add plenty of that.

[JPortici]

Never heard of this option, is this a germany only thing? (though we usually need stuff pronto so ship with the DDP option)

[ebastler]

Never heard of this option, is this a germany only thing? (though we usually need stuff pronto so ship with the DDP option)

Looks like they offer Europacket to most (all?) of continental Europe. I just checked for Italy as the destination, and Europacket is on the list of options.

It is a cost-effective option if you don't need your boards very quickly. And there are no hidden costs (DHL fees...), since you pre-pay the import duties to JLC and they take care of the formalities when importing the bulk shipment.

Do they use this system for the UK, though ? Shipping from EU would likely add further cost and delay.

No, the Europacket service is not offered to the UK.

[Solder_Junkie]

“Do they use this system for the UK”
No, not for their cheapest delivery option.

I have a set of boards shipped a few days ago by their “Global Standard Direct Line” option, They fly from Hong Kong to London and then put the packages into the hands of Royal Mail on 48 hour delivery.

Previous orders take typically 14 days from uploading the zip file to the postie handing the package over.

[Simon1234]

You can use also "Global Standard Direct Line" instead of "Europacket" to Germany. It's also DDP, a bit cheaper and officaly is the tranist time a few days more.
But so far I haven't noticed any difference in the shipping time between the two options.

For 3D/CNC orders, only Global Standard Direct Line is available.

[tszaboo]

Unfortunately, this is still not available for PCBAs. I've just checked shipping the same board assembled is 6 times more expensive, while it fits into the same box, and no practical difference in weight. And you need to pay taxes and import duty also on the shipping. And to add insult to injury, paypal will exchange your EUR to USD with about 1 to 1 exchange rate, because why not.
These are unnecessary costs that could be improved.

[ebastler]

Unfortunately, this is still not available for PCBAs. I've just checked shipping the same board assembled is 6 times more expensive, while it fits into the same box, and no practical difference in weight. And you need to pay taxes and import duty also on the shipping. And to add insult to injury, paypal will exchange your EUR to USD with about 1 to 1 exchange rate, because why not.
These are unnecessary costs that could be improved.

You mean, Europacket is not available for assembled boards? That's strange, I have ordered populated PCBs several times from JLCPCB, always via Europacket (to Germany). Tax and duties prepaid, as always.

Yes, forcing the customer to pay in USD (via Paypal) is very annoying, especially since JLCPCB lets you switch prices their own website to EUR. But then you end up paying more in EUR, due to Paypal's outrageous exchange rates.

[tszaboo]

Unfortunately, this is still not available for PCBAs. I've just checked shipping the same board assembled is 6 times more expensive, while it fits into the same box, and no practical difference in weight. And you need to pay taxes and import duty also on the shipping. And to add insult to injury, paypal will exchange your EUR to USD with about 1 to 1 exchange rate, because why not.
These are unnecessary costs that could be improved.

You mean, Europacket is not available for assembled boards? That's strange, I have ordered populated PCBs several times from JLCPCB, always via Europacket (to Germany). Tax and duties prepaid, as always.

Yes, forcing the customer to pay in USD (via Paypal) is very annoying, especially since JLCPCB lets you switch prices their own website to EUR. But then you end up paying more in EUR, due to Paypal's outrageous exchange rates.

This is what I have offered as shipping methods for a PCBA re-order.
The total is about 25% more expensive than it should be with a few changes on their side. Honestly I kinda think they charge way more for shipping than they should and profit from that, at least for anything other than a 100x100 2 layer board.

[ebastler]

Hmm, I just went through the re-order steps also, and indeed get neither Europacket nor Global Standard Direct as shipping options. The online support agent wrote that they have discontinued it for PCBAs a while ago, but could not explain why.

Pity... Maybe some import declaration hurdles were added which make it impractical to include assembled PCBs as part of a bulk shipment?

[jfiresto]

... Yes, forcing the customer to pay in USD (via Paypal) is very annoying, especially since JLCPCB lets you switch prices their own website to EUR. But then you end up paying more in EUR, due to Paypal's outrageous exchange rates.

It is easy to overlook but you can tick a box that will bill the credit card in the original currency – and let your bank do the conversion from $ to EUR.

[tszaboo]

... Yes, forcing the customer to pay in USD (via Paypal) is very annoying, especially since JLCPCB lets you switch prices their own website to EUR. But then you end up paying more in EUR, due to Paypal's outrageous exchange rates.

It is easy to overlook but you can tick a box that will bill the credit card in the original currency – and let your bank do the conversion from $ to EUR.

That used to be the case for the ~20 years I've been using paypal, but I don't find that option anymore. Probably it also has to do with the bank I'm at and the joke of a debit card they are giving. It's not even embossed, embarrassing really.

[ceteras]

I have a package from JLCPCB, shipped with EuroPacket, and it has a strange route on JLCPCB's tracking.
These are the cities it went through, in chronological order:
ZHUJIANG DELTA AREA-CHN
HONG KONG-HKG
LEIPZIG-DEU
BRUSSELS-BEL
LEIPZIG-DEU
BRUSSELS-BEL
AMSTERDAM-NLD
BRUSSELS-BEL
EINDHOVEN-NLD

This is the shipment tracking on JLCPCB website (I had to rearrange it, as it wasn't chronologically sorted).

2023-11-27 15:44:00 Processed for clearance at EINDHOVEN-NLD
2023-11-27 15:44:00 Clearance Event
2023-11-27 09:55:00 Arrived at DHL Sort Facility EINDHOVEN-NLD
2023-11-27 05:19:20 Customs clearance status updated. Note ...
2023-11-27 02:57:00 Shipment has departed from a DHL facility BRUSSELS-BEL
2023-11-24 21:15:00 Processed at BRUSSELS-BEL
2023-11-24 11:23:00 Clearance Event
2023-11-24 11:23:00 Processed for clearance at AMSTERDAM-NLD
2023-11-24 08:04:00 Arrived at DHL Sort Facility AMSTERDAM-NLD
2023-11-24 06:14:00 Processed for clearance at BRUSSELS-BEL
2023-11-24 06:13:00 Clearance Event
2023-11-24 05:31:00 Arrived at DHL Sort Facility BRUSSELS-BEL
2023-11-24 05:03:15 Customs clearance status updated. Note ...
2023-11-24 04:48:00 Shipment has departed from a DHL facility BRUSSELS-BEL
2023-11-24 03:42:00 Shipment has departed from a DHL facility LEIPZIG-DEU
2023-11-24 03:22:00 Processed at BRUSSELS-BEL
2023-11-24 00:23:00 Processed at LEIPZIG-DEU
2023-11-23 22:16:00 Arrived at DHL Sort Facility LEIPZIG-DEU
2023-11-23 10:16:00 Shipment has departed from a DHL facility HONG KONG-HKG
2023-11-23 09:30:00 Shipment is on hold
2023-11-23 07:55:00 Processed at HONG KONG-HKG
2023-11-22 21:36:00 Shipment has departed from a DHL facility HONG KONG-HKG
2023-11-22 17:22:00 Scheduled to depart on the next planned movement
2023-11-22 17:16:00 Shipment is on hold
2023-11-22 16:37:00 Processed at HONG KONG-HKG
2023-11-22 06:23:00 Processed at HONG KONG-HKG
2023-11-21 23:46:00 Arrived at DHL Sort Facility HONG KONG-HKG
2023-11-21 20:20:00 Shipment has departed from a DHL facility ZHUJIANG DELTA AREA-CHN
2023-11-21 18:54:00 Processed at ZHUJIANG DELTA AREA-CHN
2023-11-21 18:12:00 Arrived at DHL Sort Facility ZHUJIANG DELTA AREA-CHN
2023-11-21 17:12:00 Shipment picked up
2023-11-21 11:13:10 Customs clearance status updated. Note - ...
2023-11-21 11:13:10 Customs clearance status updated. Note - ...
2023-11-21 07:40:00 The instruction data for this shipment have been provided by the sender to DHL electronically

Is it normal for a package to hop multiple times through cities like that?

On DHL tracking, there is no such route, only "The instruction data for this shipment have been provided by the sender to DHL electronically" .

[ebastler]

Not all mentions of a location mean that the package has actually been there physically. "Processed at xxx" can also mean that they have just received and processed information. So what looks like a Leipzig-Brussels-Leipzig-Brussels move at first glance, is only one physical move from Leipzig to Brussels if you look at the messages more closely.

I assume that the "departed from Brussels" message somehow made it into the log with a delay (over the weekend). The shipment must have left Brussels before it arrived in Amsterdam.

In that case, the actual path in Europe would be Leipzig - Brussels - Amsterdam - Eindhoven, which makes more sense.

[ceteras]

Thank you, indeed it makes sense!