# Postal Experience Buying From Russia?



## Pee Dee (Jul 21, 2011)

last month I purchased 2 bronze buckles and straps from a strap-maker in Moscow and he sent the items through russian registered service on September 6...after tracking in a few days on their postal site, it took them 1 week to get it out of Russia. last update was 'export to Australia"
on September 12 and there has been no more updates ever since.

It is now September 23, 17 days after dispatch and 11 days after it left Russia...still no sign of it even reaching our post office. 

Can anyone please share their delivery time experience buying from Russia...is this an ordinary thing or should I be concerned?

Your inputs are greatly appreciated.

Thaks in advance!

Adam


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## nsmike (Jun 21, 2009)

I've only bought from the Ukraine, and I'm located in the USA, but as a general rule of thumb I add 10 to 14 days for Customs. I obviously don't have any experience with Australian Customs but I'll bet it's similar.


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## Sekondtime (Sep 19, 2010)

My experience of different postal services to the UK shows how efficient some postal services are and how lethargic others can be.

Things do tend to take longer from Russia. Typically its around three weeks to the UK but sometimes longer. So to Australia, a month doesn't sound out of place. I bet your parcel arrives in the next few days.

The best postal systems appear to be Germany and Poland. I get mail from both regularly and they can beat items posted in the UK on the same day! Often, things arrive in the same time as UK 2nd Class items, typically 2 to 3 days.

The next best is Czech followed by Bulgaria and the Ukraine. Items from the Czech Republic typically take about four days to a week to reach the UK and Bulgaria slightly longer. Ukraine is about 10 - 15 days but sometimes better.

Items from the East Coast in the US take about a week but from further afield in the US it can take longer. The only place where an item has failed to arrive from is a package sent from the US. All the countries I have listed above have been 100% reliable over a period of several years.

Anyone else have other experiences?


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## aviator3133 (Sep 15, 2011)

Adam, I don't have any direct experience ordering out of Russia but from what I've read by people in numerous forums is that Russia is very hit and miss. Looking at even what some Russian busineses talk about sometimes it can take a couple of days to have an item picked up, sometimes it can take a week or two to get it out of Russia. Apparently it's quite normal in Russia as their postal service is pretty poor. 

I've used other countries like Germany that as others have mentioned are very good efficient. I suspect in your case it sounds like it's at customs.Customs in most countries can hold up packages if they have a backlog to look through or if they're being extra special in scrutinising packages.


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## timanthes (Feb 16, 2010)

I have not yet ordered from Russia cause honestly i am impatient and i just cannot wait long....i feel that eventually i will begin ordering though....

However i sent a mail sometime ago to meranom asking them about shipping and this is what they answered : "Usually we ship in 2-3 days from day of payment, but some models in 1-2 weeks due to producing on factory Delivery time 2-3 weeks usually (sometimes 4 week due to delaying on customs)".
...could be that your items got stuck in Australian customs?

I once ordered a nato strap from natostrap.com(Australia) and it arrived in Italy in less than 10 days(weekend included)!


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## aviator3133 (Sep 15, 2011)

Ha ha, me too, way too impatient! Although I did try to order something from Denissov's internet shop, and after adding a watch I suddenly had 3x zero priced items in the cart, but they wanted to charge me 100 RUR for 3x nothing and giving me a 10% discount to 90 RUR. I thankfully gave up in the end.


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## pwalsh21 (Jan 13, 2009)

I've ordered from Russia several times; let's take the 4 or 5 times I've ordered from Zenitar to limit the number of variables in this case study, though other shipments from Russia, Ukraine, and Moldova function similarly.

Zenitar posts quickly. In general, he posts his items within 24 hours of my ordering them. In the southeastern US, I have received his items with varying speed--12 to 21 days. I can tell you that the 12 day shipment occurred in the middle of summer, and the 21 day shipment was in the middle of winter. I think weather and season definitely play a part. I can also tell you that Russian Post tracking numbers stop working the second they leave customs.

So do not despair--I agree, it is likely that your item will arrive within the next few days. Try to be patient.


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## abay78 (Sep 21, 2011)

I don't know about the Australian postal system but I have been able to track a package from Russia by entering the Russian tracking number into the US postal service's website. This particular package required a signature, and was sent registered mail, so that probably has something to do with it.


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## CCCP (Jul 1, 2006)

I recently bought three watches... I had to wait more than 30 days for the watches and also had to pay custom fee (10 eur) on one of the watches. Definitely not good experience, but the seller was fast, the mail service is not good.


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## Mister Mike (Nov 11, 2009)

I've ordered many watches from Russia. Usually I get them within two weeks, but my latest experience was the worst ever (though still tolerable to me). I ordered 2 watches from Meranom -- one was special order, so it took about a week to ship out (Don't limit yourself to what's on their website -- if Vostok makes it, Meranom can get it).

The watches left Chistopol on 8/26, went through Kazan on the 27th, and then there was silence until they passed through Moscow on 9/16. They left Moscow on a plane on 9/17, so I expected the USPS to start tracking it a day or so later (as is usually the case). Days went by, and earlier today, there was still no sign of it on the USPS site. Finally, when I got home from work, there was a slip in my mailbox. The USPS didn't scan it until after delivery! I'll be picking up the watches tomorrow morning.

In this case, Russian Post was the chief offender -- the USPS wasn't as slow, but their tracking was subpar. I've had other experiences where Russian Post was quick, but the package sat in US customs for a couple of weeks. All in all, though, ordering watches from Russia is safe. Be patient -- they'll get there.


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## Pee Dee (Jul 21, 2011)

thanks for sharing your experiences guys...I guess I am just being impatient


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## Karamazov (Aug 19, 2011)

Pee Dee said:


> thanks for sharing your experiences guys...I guess I am just being impatient


Aren't we all, Comrade, aren't we all? 

Fingers crossed for your parcel!

Peace!


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## AAWATCHES (May 2, 2009)

I have a 3 Russian watches The first took a couple of weeks from Russia, the second came from California and took a couple of weeks?, the third from Russia and I was primed to wait at least a couple of weeks arrived in about 4 days????Go figure?


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