Online Buying - Forget It!

[Johnnydibo]

Turning 76 years old, my wife decided as a birthday gift to update my Apple Watch to Series 5 gps + cellular, however because of our vulnerable ages and the virus, we opted to purchase online, rather than drive 60km to our local Apple store and run the risk of catching the virus

Having purchased online previously, our orders have arrived within a couple of days. After making the online purchase 6 days ago, I received the usual purchase notifications from Apple and subsequent tracking details. This morning (6 days later) I received advice to the effect that my watch delivery by TNT was delayed from shipping FROM CHINA?????????

Call me “Billy not Silly” why is my watch being shipped from China to Australia. The watch is the current model with a common nylon type band, My Apple telephone enquiry this morning advised that my particular configuration requirement made it necessary to be sent from CHINA - what a lot of “bull cack”! This of course meant that Apple did not have either one such watch and/or watch band anywhere in Australia at any of their stores, or warehouses, so they had to send same from China. Like I said, “call me Billy, not Silly.”

Apple please don’t try to insult people’s intelligence, what’s the real reason, eg. much easier or cheaper to organise/send via China without organising via local stores? tax avoidance, or some other reason?

Your products are great, but your excuses suck, be honest with people and don’t insult our intelligence, ship deliveries ordered “from within Australia to Australian addresses” or from US to US, or UK to UK etc. etc.

 

[G.McGilli]

I'm in Canada and anything new I order from Apple comes from China.

If I order refurbished it comes from California USA.

For example - in the iPad thread - all of use who have recently ordered our iPads are all tracking the orders coming from China to our homes around the world. That's how it's always been done.

My Apple Watch I received a week ago came from China.

I guess though if you're not familiar with ordering Apple online then it can be confusing.

AS for reasons - I don't know - but have always figured it must be more expensive to ship it from China - than from the Apple store 1km from my house.

 

[Johnnydibo]

I'm in Canada and anything new I order from Apple comes from China.

If I order refurbished it comes from California USA.

For example - in the iPad thread - all of use who have recently ordered our iPads are all tracking the orders coming from China to our homes around the world. That's how it's always been done.

My Apple Watch I received a week ago came from China.

I guess though if you're not familiar with ordering Apple online then it can be confusing.

AS for reasons - I don't know - but have always figured it must be more expensive to ship it from China - than from the Apple store 1km from my house.

Thank you for your comments - FYI my previous online purchases have all been local shipping, albeit it has been some time been those purchases. Shipping costs would certainly be an issue, however I cannot understand why they are shipping from China when they and their stores and warehouse are firmly entrenched in Australia. Again though, thank you for your input.

 

[acorntoy]

Apple sends from China when they don’t have available supply in your country, basically you got a device hot of the line, before it even had a chance to be shipped and stored somewhere, if your pre-order a device for instance it will always come from China as they haven’t been stocked in the country yet. . Availability for pre-existing products is low because of corona so more devices are being shipped directly from the factory. It’s very common practice, when new devices come out people make whole threads about tracking UPS planes from China etc.


I ordered my iPad on 5/14 and looking up the serial information it was made 5/15 it then shipped and took about a week to clear customs etc. If you looked up the same for your device you would probably find something similar. I dont understand why you think it’s shadier for Apple to send directly to you (China-aus), then china-aus (Hold it in a shop for months)-ship to you.

 

[Johnnydibo]

Thank you for your input, my comment after speaking with Apple this morning, is that they are available, however I would have had to attend their retail outlet to take possession. I find it difficult to believe that shipping from China is more convenient and expedient than from their local store or warehouse. Thank you again for your input, for it seems as though I'm not the only person experiencing this issue.

 

[akash.nu]

Thank you for your input, my comment after speaking with Apple this morning, is that they are available, however I would have had to attend their retail outlet to take possession. I find it difficult to believe that shipping from China is more convenient and expedient than from their local store or warehouse. Thank you again for your input, for it seems as though I'm not the only person experiencing this issue.

The store sector of the business is completely separate to the online purchase sector. There’s nobody at the store sitting and packing things to deliver to customers. The channels to customer are different for these two sectors. That’s why they can’t just randomly pick a random device from a store and ship to a customer.

Apple have some stock in warehouses for delivery as mentioned before but these stocks are generally either holdings for already bought items to be delivered or returned / refurbished items.

Delivery of fresh items are generally always from China and its cheaper because they don’t pay for individual items. For e.g a flight / ship full of Apple containers will go to Australia no matter what, and an extra Apple Watch added there doesn’t change Apple’s cost for the shipment. Once it reaches Australia then the cost to deliver is exactly the same for a new item or refurbished item.

Hope that makes sense.

 

[Johnnydibo]

The store sector of the business is completely separate to the online purchase sector. There’s nobody at the store sitting and packing things to deliver to customers. The channels to customer are different for these two sectors. That’s why they can’t just randomly pick a random device from a store and ship to a customer.

Apple have some stock in warehouses for delivery as mentioned before but these stocks are generally either holdings for already bought items to be delivered or returned / refurbished items.

Delivery of fresh items are generally always from China and its cheaper because they don’t pay for individual items. For e.g a flight / ship full of Apple containers will go to Australia no matter what, and an extra Apple Watch added there doesn’t change Apple’s cost for the shipment. Once it reaches Australia then the cost to deliver is exactly the same for a new item or refurbished item.

Hope that makes sense.

Thank you again for your explanation, it’s appreciated ?

 

[FenC]

What I have found in New Zealand is that Watches come from China unless they are “standard” configurations. For example I bought a stainless steel S5 in December with a Stone Sport Band and it came from China. In April I bought a Space Black S5 with a black Sport Band and it came from Sydney. When I ordered it it had 2 day shipping whereas all other bands were several days away, or entirely unavailable.

My guess is you ordered a Watch and band combination that isn’t among the most common so it isn’t kept in stock for online ordering in Aus.

That said I don’t know how it works in Apple Stores (we don’t have any), but I’m pretty sure the Sydney fulfillment comes from a warehouse / logistics centre rather than a retail store.

Accessories like bands and adaptors come from Sydney to NZ, but Macs come from China. Also it’s quite common for items ordered together to be shipped separately. Recently I ordered 3 bands together and they shipped as a box with 2 and a box with 1 inside, arriving at the same time and all coming from Sydney. I assume their deal with DHL is not based on cost per individual box. It’s been different recently, but they also used to ship in huge boxes. I bought something tiny - a phone case I think - that arrived in a box big enough to easily fit a shoe box inside.

 

[44267547]

Turning 76 years old, my wife decided as a birthday gift to update my Apple Watch to Series 5 gps + cellular, however because of our vulnerable ages and the virus, we opted to purchase online, rather than drive 60km to our local Apple store and run the risk of catching the virus

Having purchased online previously, our orders have arrived within a couple of days. After making the online purchase 6 days ago, I received the usual purchase notifications from Apple and subsequent tracking details. This morning (6 days later) I received advice to the effect that my watch delivery by TNT was delayed from shipping FROM CHINA?????????

Call me “Billy not Silly” why is my watch being shipped from China to Australia. The watch is the current model with a common nylon type band, My Apple telephone enquiry this morning advised that my particular configuration requirement made it necessary to be sent from CHINA - what a lot of “bull cack”! This of course meant that Apple did not have either one such watch and/or watch band anywhere in Australia at any of their stores, or warehouses, so they had to send same from China. Like I said, “call me Billy, not Silly.”

Apple please don’t try to insult people’s intelligence, what’s the real reason, eg. much easier or cheaper to organise/send via China without organising via local stores? tax avoidance, or some other reason?

Your products are great, but your excuses suck, be honest with people and don’t insult our intelligence, ship deliveries ordered “from within Australia to Australian addresses” or from US to US, or UK to UK etc. etc.

You’re over exaggerating Apples logistics perhaps beyond your own understanding. Their stock allocations change on the hour, and even if one item ships were you have it in ‘2 to 3 business‘ days and something else takes longer than that, you suspect that Apple’s making excuses for possible tax avoidance? You don’t have a full understanding yourself of how their operations are coordinated through from being shipped direct from warehouses, factories, local depots, etc. and I guarantee you whatever employee that you complainEd to about Apples shipping Process, a ‘Phone rep’ certainly doesn’t have a full understanding of Apples logistics/internal operations.

You live in a totally different country, that will vary from everybody else’s experience, because of your location across the world, I don’t think that qualifies as Apple making excuses because you receive a product considerably later than other products you would receive earlier. Again, this is such a dynamic situation given Apples operations, I don’t truly think you know what you’re complaining about, because you don’t fully understand it.

Just as an example, I’ve ordered hundreds of Apple products, and dozens of Apple Apple Watch accessories and over six different Apple Watches, all of which my orders have shipped from different parts of the world, some of which I’ve received in ‘two business days‘ and others where it was a week or longer direct from a factory out of Shenzhen-China.

as another member alluded to, online ordering v.s. store/local warehouse shipping are totally different type configurations, and I don’t think your complaint warrants to blame Apple for anything, but your frustration sounds like it’s more because you’re confused versus something that you Have full understanding of.

 

[ericwn]

Many of the products I ordered not just from Apple ship directly from China either because they’re out of stock locally or because certain shops and retail stores don’t send stock around via courier inside the country.

 

[TiggrToo]

Turning 76 years old, my wife decided as a birthday gift to update my Apple Watch to Series 5 gps + cellular, however because of our vulnerable ages and the virus, we opted to purchase online, rather than drive 60km to our local Apple store and run the risk of catching the virus

Having purchased online previously, our orders have arrived within a couple of days. After making the online purchase 6 days ago, I received the usual purchase notifications from Apple and subsequent tracking details. This morning (6 days later) I received advice to the effect that my watch delivery by TNT was delayed from shipping FROM CHINA?????????

Call me “Billy not Silly” why is my watch being shipped from China to Australia. The watch is the current model with a common nylon type band, My Apple telephone enquiry this morning advised that my particular configuration requirement made it necessary to be sent from CHINA - what a lot of “bull cack”! This of course meant that Apple did not have either one such watch and/or watch band anywhere in Australia at any of their stores, or warehouses, so they had to send same from China. Like I said, “call me Billy, not Silly.”

Apple please don’t try to insult people’s intelligence, what’s the real reason, eg. much easier or cheaper to organise/send via China without organising via local stores? tax avoidance, or some other reason?

Your products are great, but your excuses suck, be honest with people and don’t insult our intelligence, ship deliveries ordered “from within Australia to Australian addresses” or from US to US, or UK to UK etc. etc.

Appreciating that you're in Oz, here's an example from here on the US from Amazon’s Vice President of Global Policy Paul Misener:

“The cost to ship a [domestic] one-pound package from South Carolina to New York City would run nearly $6; [to ship an international one pound package] from Beijing to NYC: $3.66.”

Amazon Calls for Renegotiating ePacket Deal with China

Members of Congress turned their attention this week to an issue that's long been a source of frustration for online sellers. They heard from a panel of experts, including Amazon's top policy official, about the

www.ecommercebytes.com

 

[Johnnydibo]

You’re over exaggerating Apples logistics perhaps beyond your own understanding. Their stock allocations change on the hour, and even if one item ships were you have it in ‘2 to 3 business‘ days and something else takes longer than that, you suspect that Apple’s making excuses for possible tax avoidance? You don’t have a full understanding yourself of how their operations are coordinated through from being shipped direct from warehouses, factories, local depots, etc. and I guarantee you whatever employee that you complainEd to about Apples shipping Process, a ‘Phone rep’ certainly doesn’t have a full understanding of Apples logistics/internal operations.

You live in a totally different country, that will vary from everybody else’s experience, because of your location across the world, I don’t think that qualifies as Apple making excuses because you receive a product considerably later than other products you would receive earlier. Again, this is such a dynamic situation given Apples operations, I don’t truly think you know what you’re complaining about, because you don’t fully understand it.

Just as an example, I’ve ordered hundreds of Apple products, and dozens of Apple Apple Watch accessories and over six different Apple Watches, all of which my orders have shipped from different parts of the world, some of which I’ve received in ‘two business days‘ and others where it was a week or longer direct from a factory out of Shenzhen-China.

as another member alluded to, online ordering v.s. store/local warehouse shipping are totally different type configurations, and I don’t think your complaint warrants to blame Apple for anything, but your frustration sounds like it’s more because you’re confused versus something that you Have full understanding of.

Thank you for your input.
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Appreciating that you're in Oz, here's an example from here on the US from Amazon’s Vice President of Global Policy Paul Misener:

“The cost to ship a [domestic] one-pound package from South Carolina to New York City would run nearly $6; [to ship an international one pound package] from Beijing to NYC: $3.66.”

Amazon Calls for Renegotiating ePacket Deal with China

Members of Congress turned their attention this week to an issue that's long been a source of frustration for online sellers. They heard from a panel of experts, including Amazon's top policy official, about the

www.ecommercebytes.com

Thank you for your comment and pricing comparison.

 

[Johnnydibo]

What I have found in New Zealand is that Watches come from China unless they are “standard” configurations. For example I bought a stainless steel S5 in December with a Stone Sport Band and it came from China. In April I bought a Space Black S5 with a black Sport Band and it came from Sydney. When I ordered it it had 2 day shipping whereas all other bands were several days away, or entirely unavailable.

My guess is you ordered a Watch and band combination that isn’t among the most common so it isn’t kept in stock for online ordering in Aus.

That said I don’t know how it works in Apple Stores (we don’t have any), but I’m pretty sure the Sydney fulfillment comes from a warehouse / logistics centre rather than a retail store.

Accessories like bands and adaptors come from Sydney to NZ, but Macs come from China. Also it’s quite common for items ordered together to be shipped separately. Recently I ordered 3 bands together and they shipped as a box with 2 and a box with 1 inside, arriving at the same time and all coming from Sydney. I assume their deal with DHL is not based on cost per individual box. It’s been different recently, but they also used to ship in huge boxes. I bought something tiny - a phone case I think - that arrived in a box big enough to easily fit a shoe box inside.

Thank you for your comments. Not unlike yourself, all my previous purchases have come from Sydney and arrived within a couple of days they being local deliveries.

 

[G.McGilli]

I ordered my iPad on 5/14 and looking up the serial information it was made 5/15

I just ordered an iPad 2 days ago. I had the choice of picking it up at the store 5 minutes down the road that same day - or wait ~3weeks for one from China. Since the order page said it would need 7-10 days to ship I figured they're still putting the glue in mine right now LOL and I want a fresh one ? I'm in no rush.

 

[Johnnydibo]

What I have found in New Zealand is that Watches come from China unless they are “standard” configurations. For example I bought a stainless steel S5 in December with a Stone Sport Band and it came from China. In April I bought a Space Black S5 with a black Sport Band and it came from Sydney. When I ordered it it had 2 day shipping whereas all other bands were several days away, or entirely unavailable.

My guess is you ordered a Watch and band combination that isn’t among the most common so it isn’t kept in stock for online ordering in Aus.

That said I don’t know how it works in Apple Stores (we don’t have any), but I’m pretty sure the Sydney fulfillment comes from a warehouse / logistics centre rather than a retail store.

Accessories like bands and adaptors come from Sydney to NZ, but Macs come from China. Also it’s quite common for items ordered together to be shipped separately. Recently I ordered 3 bands together and they shipped as a box with 2 and a box with 1 inside, arriving at the same time and all coming from Sydney. I assume their deal with DHL is not based on cost per individual box. It’s been different recently, but they also used to ship in huge boxes. I bought something tiny - a phone case I think - that arrived in a box big enough to easily fit a shoe box inside.

Thank you for your comments, all my previous online orders have come from Sydney, their warehouse I suspect and have arrived in a couple of days.
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I just ordered an iPad 2 days ago. I had the choice of picking it up at the store 5 minutes down the road that same day - or wait ~3weeks for one from China. Since the order page said it would need 7-10 days to ship I figured they're still putting the glue in mine right now LOL and I want a fresh one ? I'm in no rush.

Thank you for your input, in my case I without a watch as I sent my early series in for a discount. Didn't realise just how much I relied on the watch each day.
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Many of the products I ordered not just from Apple ship directly from China either because they’re out of stock locally or because certain shops and retail stores don’t send stock around via courier inside the country.

Thank you for your input. I don't have a watch at present, sent my early model into Apple for a discount. Didn't realise just how much I relied on my watch each day until I didn't have one.

 

[The-Real-Deal82]

My Apple Watch was shipped from China too. It is where they are manufactured so makes sense to me in new online orders.

 

[G.McGilli]

I just ordered a Refurb Apple Pencil 2 2 days ago and shipped from Ontario, California (and arrived in2 days). So again for me in Canada all new items from China, all refurb from USA.

 

[TimothyL]

The iPhone 11 I bought last September also came from China. Unless you buy new at a Apple store or retail store, new items from Apple will come from China