In case anyone is considering ordering from these guys, 0shippingzone.com I'd figured post my experience. I'm in no way affiliated with guys. I decided to try them out as an alternative to dealextreme, and decided to post my criticism/thoughts, both negative and postive here.
note: I ordered some stuff and it's on its way so I'll keep updating my impressions here until I get it.
background
0shippingzone.com is a relatively new vendor selling gaming stuff (at least I think they are new). There was a little flack on the boards here caused by someone (or someones) spamming posts about them advertising their site. That put me off a bit, but I saw someone from 0shippingzone.com post and apologize. I also read a review for a flashcart and they recommended them (I thought it was an EZ flash review but I can't find it, I'll post a link if I find the review again).
I've been ordering lots of stuff from the US store, gamebygame.com, lately as I liked the shipping times (1 or 2 days to me), but I wanted to get a flashcart as gifts so I don't mind the wait from ordering from overseas and taking advantage of cheaper prices. I've used dealextreme before, and despite a lot of the negative comments you sometimes see, they've been good to me, although I've never had to deal with customer support so maybe they suck in that department (I don't know). 0shippingzone says they are better than their competitors, offering faster communication and offer better customer service so I figured I'd try them.
Their prices seem competitive with dealextreme, but maybe not as low. I was looking at the acekard2i and m3izero. But the difference was only a couple bucks. If they get stuff to me faster than dealextreme, I may use them more than dealextreme when ordering form China. update: I forgot to add that I used the 7% off coupon code "opening" so it made the price dfference less of an issue. No idea how long this coupon code will work for.
store exprience
Site seemed ok and straightforward. Standard e-commerce layout and design. The side-menu seemed a little wonky however, as I tried to see all their Nintendo DSi flashcarts, and it's only if you mouse hover over the DSi flashcart categories, do the DSi flashcart listing appears. You can't keep that category open by clicking on the Nintendo DSi category link, only by hovering. I'm a web developer, so I notice this stuff, so it's probably a minor issue to most people.
buying experience
As usual with most stores, you have to login and create an account. I don't consider that a negative as the majority of the stores require you to do so, but one of the things I liked about gamebygame was that they also supported Google Checkout, which I find is way more convenient than Paypal. With gamebygame.com, using the google checkout option, I didn't need to create an account (you may need to create an account for other payment methods though with gamebygame however). I just pressed the google checkout button, logged into my gmail account (which is already tied to my google checkout account) and then hit buy. I hate having to continually create member accounts with every online store, so I hope more places support Google Checkout. It could be that Chinese online stores can't get Google Checkout to work for US customers, I don't know, but if they can, I hope 0shippingzone offers Google Checkout in the future.
Anyway, I registered with 0shippingzone, placed stuff in my shopping cart, used the paypal payment option, logged into to paypal and was done. No problems.
email confirmations and order processing
I placed my order on Nov2nd Monday, around 6:30pm PST, so it was late at night. I don't know what time it was in China so no clue if it was during their regular operating hours. After placing the order, I got 2 emails, one a confirmation email of my order and the second saying the status of my order.
Next day, I received another update email, and this one surprised me, in a good way. They told me it shipped out, which is good and they receive plus marks for promptness, but in an unexpected move, they also included a photo of my actual package.. A nice touch. It was a photo of the package, with the shipping label, before it was sent to the post office. I guess they normally do this on every order (do any other other places do this too?)
Also in the same email they gave the tracking number for http://www.hongkongpost.com/ I've never used that site, but I went there, clicked on "English" link and entered my tracking number. It said it was shipped out and then said I could track the progress further (outside of hong kong) with shipping services that are registered with hongkongpost. Since I live in the US, I picked the US option and it sent me to the US Postal site. I entered the exact same tracking number I used before, and to my surprise, it took it and gave me a status update. It said my item was accepted from Hong Kong on Nov 4.
shipped time/speed
Unknown as I'm awaiting the package. I ordered on Nov 2nd at night in the US, they shipped it out several hours later around 4am. HK post said they got it on the 3rd. US postal, via tracking number, said they accepted the package on their end on the 4th.
short summary: Overall, they seem better than dealextreme in terms of buying experience, mainly because of that package photo and the fact they responded to my questions on the scdev.org board (I also entered into their flashcart giveaway contest). I feel more comfortable that my package is on it's way because of the photo and the tracking number. In terms of price, dealextreme is better, but only by a dollar or three, at least at the items I looked at. If the overall experience is good, the slightly higher price may be justified.
I'll update this more once I receive my package.
pros: fast order processing, email update including package photo, shipping speed to destination (unknown - to be updated), more communicative than dealextreme, gave tracking number that worked both in HK and the US.
cons: sidemenu on site I thought could be better, wished they had google checkout payment option instead of just paypal, prices slightly higher than dealextreme.
Update: Nov.17.2009
I received my package today so here's my update:
packaging: Since they already email me a pic of the package, I knew what to expect. I ordered two flashcarts and these were packaged very well, with lots of padding in the envelope and taped multiple times on the outside to prevent the package from opening. The two items came in good condition, no dents on the flashcart packages themselves, and the flashcarts were in working order (I tested the two flashcarts on my NDS and they worked).
Shipping to destination time: about two weeks plus one day (15 days), from China to California. Of course this will be dependent on your location, and is outside of 0shippingzone's control. I actually expecting it to arrive sooner, but looking at the tracking info, it looks like there was it was stuck somewhere in Hong Kong for awhile, so maybe it was a fluke. Also I don't know if the recent holiday, Veteran's Day, also added the shipping time. Despite that, I find still two weeks delivery absolutely fine because the speed of ordering processing from order placed to shipping out the door, was very speedy on 0shippingzone's part. In any case your experience may vary, as another person in this thread said his package arrived in just 8 days.
Based on their replies to this thread (as I had thought, google checkout isn't an option for them and they said they are working on improving the site interface), and from my satisfied purchase experience, I'd consider buying from them again.
note: I ordered some stuff and it's on its way so I'll keep updating my impressions here until I get it.
background
0shippingzone.com is a relatively new vendor selling gaming stuff (at least I think they are new). There was a little flack on the boards here caused by someone (or someones) spamming posts about them advertising their site. That put me off a bit, but I saw someone from 0shippingzone.com post and apologize. I also read a review for a flashcart and they recommended them (I thought it was an EZ flash review but I can't find it, I'll post a link if I find the review again).
I've been ordering lots of stuff from the US store, gamebygame.com, lately as I liked the shipping times (1 or 2 days to me), but I wanted to get a flashcart as gifts so I don't mind the wait from ordering from overseas and taking advantage of cheaper prices. I've used dealextreme before, and despite a lot of the negative comments you sometimes see, they've been good to me, although I've never had to deal with customer support so maybe they suck in that department (I don't know). 0shippingzone says they are better than their competitors, offering faster communication and offer better customer service so I figured I'd try them.
Their prices seem competitive with dealextreme, but maybe not as low. I was looking at the acekard2i and m3izero. But the difference was only a couple bucks. If they get stuff to me faster than dealextreme, I may use them more than dealextreme when ordering form China. update: I forgot to add that I used the 7% off coupon code "opening" so it made the price dfference less of an issue. No idea how long this coupon code will work for.
store exprience
Site seemed ok and straightforward. Standard e-commerce layout and design. The side-menu seemed a little wonky however, as I tried to see all their Nintendo DSi flashcarts, and it's only if you mouse hover over the DSi flashcart categories, do the DSi flashcart listing appears. You can't keep that category open by clicking on the Nintendo DSi category link, only by hovering. I'm a web developer, so I notice this stuff, so it's probably a minor issue to most people.
buying experience
As usual with most stores, you have to login and create an account. I don't consider that a negative as the majority of the stores require you to do so, but one of the things I liked about gamebygame was that they also supported Google Checkout, which I find is way more convenient than Paypal. With gamebygame.com, using the google checkout option, I didn't need to create an account (you may need to create an account for other payment methods though with gamebygame however). I just pressed the google checkout button, logged into my gmail account (which is already tied to my google checkout account) and then hit buy. I hate having to continually create member accounts with every online store, so I hope more places support Google Checkout. It could be that Chinese online stores can't get Google Checkout to work for US customers, I don't know, but if they can, I hope 0shippingzone offers Google Checkout in the future.
Anyway, I registered with 0shippingzone, placed stuff in my shopping cart, used the paypal payment option, logged into to paypal and was done. No problems.
email confirmations and order processing
I placed my order on Nov2nd Monday, around 6:30pm PST, so it was late at night. I don't know what time it was in China so no clue if it was during their regular operating hours. After placing the order, I got 2 emails, one a confirmation email of my order and the second saying the status of my order.
Next day, I received another update email, and this one surprised me, in a good way. They told me it shipped out, which is good and they receive plus marks for promptness, but in an unexpected move, they also included a photo of my actual package.. A nice touch. It was a photo of the package, with the shipping label, before it was sent to the post office. I guess they normally do this on every order (do any other other places do this too?)
Also in the same email they gave the tracking number for http://www.hongkongpost.com/ I've never used that site, but I went there, clicked on "English" link and entered my tracking number. It said it was shipped out and then said I could track the progress further (outside of hong kong) with shipping services that are registered with hongkongpost. Since I live in the US, I picked the US option and it sent me to the US Postal site. I entered the exact same tracking number I used before, and to my surprise, it took it and gave me a status update. It said my item was accepted from Hong Kong on Nov 4.
shipped time/speed
Unknown as I'm awaiting the package. I ordered on Nov 2nd at night in the US, they shipped it out several hours later around 4am. HK post said they got it on the 3rd. US postal, via tracking number, said they accepted the package on their end on the 4th.
short summary: Overall, they seem better than dealextreme in terms of buying experience, mainly because of that package photo and the fact they responded to my questions on the scdev.org board (I also entered into their flashcart giveaway contest). I feel more comfortable that my package is on it's way because of the photo and the tracking number. In terms of price, dealextreme is better, but only by a dollar or three, at least at the items I looked at. If the overall experience is good, the slightly higher price may be justified.
I'll update this more once I receive my package.
pros: fast order processing, email update including package photo, shipping speed to destination (unknown - to be updated), more communicative than dealextreme, gave tracking number that worked both in HK and the US.
cons: sidemenu on site I thought could be better, wished they had google checkout payment option instead of just paypal, prices slightly higher than dealextreme.
Update: Nov.17.2009
I received my package today so here's my update:
packaging: Since they already email me a pic of the package, I knew what to expect. I ordered two flashcarts and these were packaged very well, with lots of padding in the envelope and taped multiple times on the outside to prevent the package from opening. The two items came in good condition, no dents on the flashcart packages themselves, and the flashcarts were in working order (I tested the two flashcarts on my NDS and they worked).
Shipping to destination time: about two weeks plus one day (15 days), from China to California. Of course this will be dependent on your location, and is outside of 0shippingzone's control. I actually expecting it to arrive sooner, but looking at the tracking info, it looks like there was it was stuck somewhere in Hong Kong for awhile, so maybe it was a fluke. Also I don't know if the recent holiday, Veteran's Day, also added the shipping time. Despite that, I find still two weeks delivery absolutely fine because the speed of ordering processing from order placed to shipping out the door, was very speedy on 0shippingzone's part. In any case your experience may vary, as another person in this thread said his package arrived in just 8 days.
Based on their replies to this thread (as I had thought, google checkout isn't an option for them and they said they are working on improving the site interface), and from my satisfied purchase experience, I'd consider buying from them again.
