Christmas is almost upon us and as we all know gift shopping is part of the tradition. Unfortunately I have noticed that a lot Zimbabwean tech retailers are still suffering from the Zim-dollar-days hangover where people increased prices towards holidays seasons instead of offering deals and discounts. So over the course of the remaining weeks yours truly will be informing you about any hot deals you might want to partake in and all the leech shops you might want to avoid without any fear or favour.
Today we will look at Everbuying.com which is a Chinese based wholesaler/retailer that allows merchants to create store fronts just like Amazon.com which offers great deals on tech gadgets. Unlike the later however every product on the site can be delivered internationally (Zimbabwe) either via Express couriers like DHL or for free using SingPost. Although we have looked at the free shipping option before today we will look at it in detail and proffer some tips and hints from our experience to some of the frequently asked questions you might have.
How long does it take for products to arrive to Zimbabwe using the free shipping option?This varies a lot, expect your product to take anywhere between 14-42 days from the date of placing the order until your receive it. DHL takes roughly two weeks. If you intend to buy a Christmas gift the earlier your place the order the better otherwise it will turn into a belated gift.
How to track your product.
These days registered articles can be tracked online. (Yeah the Post Office uses computers too!) The system is known as the International Postal System (IPS.) Whenever a registered article is sent you are issued with a tracking number in the form RCXXXXXXXXXCC where the first C can be any letter from A-Z and the last two CCs correspond to the ISO 3166-1 country code of the package’s origin for example ZW for Zimbabwe and SG for Singapore.
In theory you could just enter the tracking code into Zimpost’s IPS tracking webpage-after all the system is supposed to be international. Reality it is a little different however. There are three stages in the shipping process and you should track your package at each stage.
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As soon as you are informed that your package has been shipped try tracking it here using the tracking number you were issued with. During this stage the package is sent from China to Singapore/Hong Kong by Quantium Shipping and subsidiary of SingPost.
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You can keep using the first website to track the package but you will be best advised to keep trying the SingPost website to track the item until it starts showing in their tracker. It might take a while (days/week) to appear this is normal. Once the item appears in the tracker keep using this site to track the package until you get the messages that the package has been sent to overseas country (ZA) South Africa and it has been been received overseas.
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Now try tracking the package using ZimPost’s tracker. Once the package has reached Zimbabwe wait until you get the message that says “Package has been sent to domestic location.” This means the package is now ready for collection.
Tips.
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It might take a while for the package to appear in the tracking system there is nothing unusual about this. It does not mean that you were duped/scammed.
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The guys at the local Post Office can be quite clueless about these things so you might want to try reading this guide thoroughly before wasting time by going there to make enquiries about the package’s location. They also use the ZimPost tracking website which as we have said can be quite useless in the early days of the shipping process.
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Zimpost does not charge a handling fee for delivering the package. We received our packages for free! We were not even charged VAT, maybe this was a fluke.
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To get a feel of the above tracking process you can use the tracking number RQ153149386SG. This is one of our delivered packages. You can view the actual tracking information at each stage.
Happy shopping.
If you have any information about any hot sizzling tech deals just post them on the Techzim answers platform and I will respond there.
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24 comments
Try IPMART.COM
Our country is struggling financially and you encouraging people to buy from outside the country . Not a very good way to keep money in the country from my point of view!
Its not good to rip people off either. These retailers should know better than to overcharge. Seriously dude you sound like one of those retailers. In my experience patriotism is usually a smokescreen for something…
I agree fully with you but how many people actually understand what a retailer goes through. How many people understand the duty etc that a retailer deals with on products that they import in ? Then to actual make a living with the minimal profits while people still bring in the products under the radar and undercut the market ? Instead of just commenting why not show me how we as retailers are ripping it off ?
How does duty etc come into it when a retailer adds 200 to 300% to the price of a LOCALLY manufactured item?
That is a different segment and I cannot answer that because I do not deal with local products. I am talking about importing things like electronics etc. I cannot answer for people selling local products with ridiculous margins , that i agree with as being wrong . What I am defending is the retail of electronics and how people accuse us of ripping it off when they don’t understand the channels you have to go through when you are selling through the proper channels and not going under the radar . For example a 32 ” LED TV people say we rip it off , Look at the south african price of a 32″ ( say about 350 US ) now tell me how you going to get that with the cost of transport , duty and profit at under what a reputable retailer is doing them in this country?
From my understanding of the article, the writer said that local retailers increase prices of goods towards the festive season. Duty and overheads have nothing to do with increaing prices of goods towards christmas instead of offering discounts.
Tell me which company manufacture I-phones and I-pads in zim
Everybody is free to import, the fun part is the look on their face when the item stops working and there is no local warranty/service in Zimbabwe. I have seen it so many times hahaha, good luck!!
We are not bitter now? Are we?
Cool
Everbuying my foot!! They sell fake ass phones. Y dont u go ahead and buy their s4 mini? Even samsung cost is way above what they offering. Nxa. Wake up
sumvision.com
Hey guys has anyone bought from Everbuying.net and received his product(plz genuine ansaz)
Yes I did, about two years ago before this Tax nosense changed after the election.
Whats the tax issue Mr Garikai
The government now levies 25% tax on ICT equipment, the folks at Gulf knw their way around this somehow and their equipment lands here cheaper than when you do it yourself.
Below is an email l sent to Tips@techzim almost a week ago and am surprised no one bothered to attent to it!
Hi There
I am an ardent follower of your articles on tech developments and one such article about buying online from Everbuying convinced me to buy a cellphone from them. I made my payment for the phone which came up to $150 and was provided with a tracking number for tracking after shipping. As l write to you its now close to 60 days after the order was shipped and l haven’t received it, tracking is still static and has never changed since the first day.
I made my payment through Paypal using my Ecocash debit card. I contacted Paypal with a a view of getting a refund and they advised me that 45 days had since lapsed since the day l had made the payment and they could not help. Everbuying had asked me to be patient as my order was being shipped (They were buying time so that the Paypal protection lapses, I assume)
Efforts to have my order reshipped or for me to get a refund have fallen of deaf ears as they insist that they shipped the order and it might have been lost and as a result they are not accountable as l did not pay for shipping insurance! They are now offering to make a refund of $50 or I pay another $75 for them to reship the order. For avoidance of doubt l have attached my communication with them.
What l need to know is is there a way or ways that l can use to recover my money? I will be grateful if you can offer suggestions
Secondly l humbly request that you do another article to warn the general populace on how they can easily get milked by these online stores esp Everbuying. I bought 4 other items from Ali Express 2 weeks after the Everbuying transaction and received all my orders well on time.
Having been convinced by your article to buy from these guys l feel that you owe it to fellow Zimbos to highlight the risk associated with dealing with Everbuying!
Sory for yu mr victor am forewarned how about ali express yu talked abt is it reliable
From my experiences they are good and protect customers as it is a store front where sellers sell their products. Ali protects their customers as they are separate from sellers, Everbuying on the other hand are the actual sellers and should be doing better
I am sorry to hear it.Where is the package according to the tracking code you were given? The items usually go through SA when you choose free shipping. If so it may be that the item got stuck due to the Post Office strike that went on down there end of last year.
Its said to be at their sorting center in Netherlands. I am not sure about the strike, I guess that’s the same route that was used for other items that l bought from Aliexpress and received on time. see link below
https://www.internationalparceltracking.com/Main.aspx#/track/RS186566725NL/ZW/
The way I see it, you have only a couple options if we can call them that: either give them a little time may be the package really is in the Netherlands as a result still on its way. Depending on the method being used to ship the product this might mean the product is still on its way. Consider the possibility that the product is actually being shipped to Johannesburg on an actual ship; that might take a while. To be honest when they shipped my packages they were sent through Singapore so I don’t know much about your package’s route. That said it has been my experience that these tracking numbers don’t usually lie.
You could also in the meantime contact your bank (the one that issued the card that you used) and tell them about your problem and include documentation to support your story. Depending on how techsavy the bank is and their own policies on such matters they might be even able to effect a bareback via Visa.
It might not really be Everybuying’s fault per se, a small percentage of packages do end up lost on the way hence the insurance thingie but lets be honest we Zimbabweans hardly ever consider insurance most of the time. But this should not be about finger pointing, Everybuying should really be doing more to help you. I have contacted them and with questions so that I can see whether I can write an article on the issue or not.
ah so this whole issue of buying online is still expensive for us zimbabweans but unfortunately those guys at Gulf import cheap devices for resell. This makes it impossible for us to get hold of better quality devices directly from China because of tax bla bla ah am a so concerned citizen…….