has anyone here bought from Gearbest

I ordered a flashlight from them awhile back. So far no light.
If it is on its way, it is super slow and tracking is the pits.
Starting to wonder if this is a bogus outfit?.

no they are for real they are just in China. I am still waiting for my Convoy L6 which is likely on a ship somewhere even though I paid for air express shipping and tracking. Last track was inside China a couple weeks ago. GB gets you on the shipping every time. I know I will get my light likely within the next couple of weeks. Thing about GB is that they are one of only a couple sources for certain brands. Avoid Fasttech they will get you. Ive tried to assist more than one CPFer that got more or less robbed by them. Banggood is hit or miss as well. Kai Domain and Extreme Deals although much smaller Chinese retailers have always gotten my product to me within the time period I paid for it to be. Aliexpress is well known for being another word for "counterfeit". They sell so much fake product its unbelievable.

I have bought from them a few times. Shipping time is similar to other Chinese sellers' -- 2 to 4 weeks. I bought two DQG AAA clicky lights from them. Both died in less than a year. I probably got some fake lights, as it's not unusual for some Chinese sellers to sell fake stuff. Fake or not, I did got the stuff in a reasonable amount time. Not sure what I think of them.

from what I understand GB has official CPF legit status so I am not going to rail on them just stating it has been over a month now. Kai Domain and Deal Extreme always get to me in a week if I am up for paying that much for shipping or two. I paid GB for air express shipping and tracking. 100% the light is on some cargo ship somewhere nice and cheap. Just need to pay attention to what it is your are buying from them or one of the other sites. Officially from what I have read Convoy sells through Aliexpress for some unknown reason. I also collect knives and Aliexpress is just rife with counterfeit knives, batteries you name it. Not much there is legit. Ordering from Armytek China was the worst man. I love my 9 AT's but getting them all correct was a pain. I ordered the 2x18650 body tube from the Barracuda v2 it vanished for a month and a half suddenly one day a few days ago it appears at my post office a bit more than 2 months after I ordered it having paid for express shipping and tracking. Thankfully they are now shipping out of Canada. My L6 will get here. Had 2 new King Kong high amp 25550's that I chose quite carefully charged and ready to go for a couple weeks now.

I have been buying from both Gearbest and Banggood, and have had no problems. The shipping takes about a month for the free shipping, but I can live with that. Both sellers have participated in some group buys that were real good deals. I think the thing with the fake stuff is just like they say, "If it looks too good to be true, it probably is."

In several orders from both BG and GB, they are slow as expected, but they come through. Tracking is hit or miss. Sometimes things just show up with no tracking updates. Gotta love the prices though.

still...pay for express air shipping and tracking and insurance then the last scan is in China and it vanishes for over a month. Odd that Kai Doman and Deal Extreme are the ones that actually DHL air freight it to the states and its at my door in a week....

Not ordered anything for a while, certainly nothing this year....guess that says it all . They are 50/50, depending on which warehouse . If more local(your side) then within a week=good. If China then 2weeks to......well 3 or 4+ .

Only order if you need to save and don't mind a wait, in other words you don't really need what your ordering quickly.

I have come to the conclusion I would rather pay $20 or so more and get it quickly, if it's on the more expensive side ,I just would not order from them(items over $100 or so.

Chances are though it will turn up, which month is anyone's guess!

As CC states, tracking and insurance are pretty much vital to safe guard you a bit better. Even then it can be hit and miss tracking it. I waited weeks and weeks for a Fenix bike mount, only for it to get returned before delivered. Probably 3 months from order to refund. Even then tracking showed returned and it took weeks after for refund. That was the final straw after a few previous issues. Will say it's not always GB fault, sometimes it's the other end of the delivery.

There are some things no one else offers, but for the most part I use them because of the free shipping. I am on a fixed budget, and I don't always have enough available to make up a $50 order from Amazon or Walmart to get the free shipping from them.

CelticCross74 said:

still...pay for express air shipping and tracking and insurance then the last scan is in China and it vanishes for over a month. Odd that Kai Doman and Deal Extreme are the ones that actually DHL air freight it to the states and its at my door in a week....

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Once it leaves China it won't get scanned again till it clears customs. The fast air shipping that the Chinese sites is China EMS which really isnt fast at all. The average time I wait is generally 3 weeks. Ive waited 5-6 before but that is rare. Hopefully you get your items.

First time I ordered from GB was one of those color-adjustable Bluetooth lightbulbs. It took so long to get here (over a month) that I legitimately forgot that I had something on order when it got here. I could never do any kind of tracking/tracing on the shipment; it just showed up one day several weeks later. The Bluetooth never worked; I contacted their customer service and was asked to take and send several pictures documenting how it didn't work. How do you take pictures of Bluetooth not working? I said forget about it and figured I wasted a few bucks on a "regular" LED lightbulb; it wasn't worth spending a bunch of time trying to get a few buck refund.

I rolled the dice again earlier this month with a cheaper flashlight order placed on the 5th. I was given a tracking number and shipment notice on the 6th, but the tracking number didn't work until it had a traceable event on the 16th. It shows leaving China on the 18th for the US. We'll see what happens from here... but 12 days to get out of China isn't too impressive. If I have any issues with it, I'm on the fence whether I'll go back through GB customer service or if I'll just be done. Seeing some of the good responses others on CPF have had with GB - and how it is regarded as a reputable enough retailer here - is what made me give them another shot after the first deal.


Edit: light arrived today the 22nd. No tracking events since it left China but 4 days since then isn't bad at all. All looks good and legit.

boo said:

I ordered a flashlight from them awhile back. So far no light.
If it is on its way, it is super slow and tracking is the pits.
Starting to wonder if this is a bogus outfit?.

Click to expand...

Hello Boo
I can assure you they are legit and sell "real", not fake flashlights,
There are a few tips I have learned:
For less than $2 you can opt for their "direct" shipping option and insurance. It is a small price to pay since you are already saving 30-50%. I have placed over 18 orders in the last two years-there was a mistake on one order(wrong item), and I sent a photo of package and item. They promptly shipped the correct item and let me keep the other. They have a continuous thread with their current specials and the rep is named "Kathy", let her know your order number and she can update you on the status. "Free shipping" takes 3-5 weeks, "direct" shipping at less than $2 usually 2-3 weeks. Once the item is shipped they have no control over how long it sits in customs(I have had 2 days to 6 weeks), and because of the number of shipping options, some have better tracking than others.
I have never had a "fake" item, and of all the lights I have purchased, I have no regrets-their prices are great, but you pay in time. I am ok with that-if you want your light in 2-3 days, buy local. If you want a great product at a highly competitive price and can be patient, they are great.
One other piece of advice-when dealing with vendors from China, pay attention to the Chinese New Year-nothing is shipped for 7-14 days. Some of my favorite lights and other products have been purchased from Gear Best. I usually place an order every few weeks so I am always looking forward to a new delivery....

Gearbest is legit.

Just takes patience.

I bought the convoy L6 from them and I received the parcel within 1 week. I added extra of $5.xx for EMS shipping.
Of course Malaysia is closer to China.

Since then I have made 2 more orders with normal shipping method.

I agree, I've been ordering from GearBest for several years now I've always got what I ordered
The hardest part Is getting use to the wait time "normal" wait for me Is 2-3wks.

Legit company. Dozens of successful orders. I plan ahead. I have had items arrive to the US in 1.5 weeks, and others over 4 weeks. So, for me, it is a mixed bag. Tracking is worthless. Don't ever pay extra for tracking from any China website.

Like others mention, I've ordered multiple times and always got my items from Gearbest (and Banggood). I used to do the free shipping for Gearbest but sounds like they've added an option for slightly faster shipping. Basically just have to be really patient.

I usually don't order expensive stuff from these sites, and I usually break down larger orders to just a few items per order just in case something happens.

Today I ordered a few inexpensive items from GearBest (my first time ordering from them).
In the past I've had an order from China (not GearBest) take 10 weeks to arrive (from the date it was shipped, not ordered) but shipments to Canada seem to take longer than to the USA. It takes at least 6 weeks from China to Canada (in my experience).
So, I just marked on my calendar expected delivery date is the first week of September (10 weeks from now). If it arrives sooner, great.

Update: 6 hours after I paid for my order at GearBest, I received an email that the items had been shipped! Wow, that was fast!
Now the wait for them to arrive in the mail.

Gearbest, Banggood, Fasttech.. I order from all of them. I always pay the few extra pennies for insured delivery though, it usually adds less than a pound to the total price. The stuff always turns up to the UK within 2 weeks.

Just remember if you order from Banggood, you explain to your wife what it is before she sees the bank statment.