Fasttech ordering tips...

[PugLady]

I have purchased from fasttech multiple times and the best advice I can give those of you considering taking on this long shipping wait is to NOT purchase any types of batteries for your mods.. this seems to be the largest most common cause for customs to snatch up your package. I ordered my items on May 15th and my pkg. Just reached New Jersey foreign center. It has been there for about a week now and im assuming my battery for my new mod was taken by customs. Of course fasttech has been of absolutely zero help throughout this ordeal and has the worst customer service known to the business world. Good luck to my fellow fasttech patrons if you can get the item you want in the US for $4.00 more then buy it here.. I cant get the mod I ordered in the US yet nobody is carrying it yet. I'll let everyone know when the usps fasttech fairy drops off my illusive pkg.. Good night all.. K. Henning

 

[crxess]

Only Battery shipping issue is On the Exit side of Customs(Their end) as Shipping batteries by air is frowned upon by the world as a safety issue.
If your package is in the U.S. now, you should receive it intact.........unless a customs agent Vapes.

I've placed dozens of orders from Fasttech and 100+ from China - Time is the only issue I have had.

 

[Emmanuel G.]

yep, better get your batteries locally (I wouldn't order a battery from FT anyway, too much of a security issue)

I found the customer service at FT to be absolutely stellar, I've had fitment issues or damaged items, they were very professional about said issues.

if you're in Europe, the $1 swisspost upgrade takes down the wait for about 1/3

 

[Shootist]

My ordering tip is IF you live in the USA STOP buying directly from a Chinese company and buy your vapor products from a USA based company, store.

So what if it costs a few cents/dollars more. At least you are now supporting a USA company.

If Fasttech opened a USA distribution center along with stocking the product they sell in the USA I'd say sure buy from them. But they don't.

 

[sonicdsl]

Moved to FastTech

 

[Aesop]

In general, I would say buy batteries domestically where possible. There is just too much hassle with shipping them internationally at the moment. There are some reputable vendors you can buy from domestically at pretty good prices, though you may have to buy 2-4 batteries to get the best price.

As for buying clones domestically...only if your need for instant gratification outweighs your cheapness (usually doesn't for me). In general, I see US vendors charge at least twice as much sometimes more for the clones they buy on FT. It's not pennies or even dollars, sometimes its 10's of dollars. If you ask them about the discrepancy, they will tell you FT will take 8 wks or more to get to you; which is generally a crock.

---

The best advice I can give about ordering from FT is to always get upgraded shipping with a tracking number. Any order over $20 USD is eligible for free upgraded shipping. You can have your order broken into multiple shipments and for every $20 in the order each of those shipments gets free upgraded shipping to the address of your choice. I've split an order into 4 shipments to 2 different addresses using 3 shipping methods.

For example, a $65 order can be split into 3 shipments with each using epacket/china post at no cost. It doesn't matter what the cost of each shipment is, it could be $50, $14, and $1. Each shipment will get the free upgraded shipment. When you submit the ticket, make sure to indicate which items go into the split shipment, which shipping method, and which shipping address. Even if its the same as the original order, it saves time to specify it. Most my tickets look like:

Hi FT CS,

Please split:
XXX mod SKU ######
YYY RDA SKU ######
ZZZ drip tip SKU ######
To a separate shipment using the same shipping method and address.

Thanks,
-Aesop

So I generally make larger orders and put in a ticket to split it into multiple shipments based on estimated shipping date. It takes up to 14 hrs for them to answer the ticket on week days, but it beats waiting an extra week for that one item holding up your order. If an item goes to restocking, they usually automatically split the order to send out items ready to ship.

If you are in the US, chances are epacket/china post is your best shipping option. All but 3 of my orders this year have taken 5-7 days from acceptance to delivery in Los Angeles. For other countries, check the forums and ask what is the best at the moment. It seems to change frequently for some regions.

Good luck and happy vaping all

 

[Emmanuel G.]

well, most shops don't buy from FT.
Now if you get a faulty mod on FT, what can you do? either you fix it, you send it back, wait for a couple months until you can get a replacement.
if you get a faulty mod from a shop, you return it and get instant refund or replacement.
but the shop has paid for that faulty mod and most likely won't go through the hassle of sending it back (but even if they do, it does have a cost, labor time, shipping cost, actually going to the post office etc...)
this is what part of the price difference goes.
then you have salaries, rent, taxes etc...

 

[charly1954]

My ordering tip is IF you live in the USA STOP buying directly from a Chinese company and buy your vapor products from a USA based company, store.

So what if it costs a few cents/dollars more. At least you are now supporting a USA company.

If Fasttech opened a USA distribution center along with stocking the product they sell in the USA I'd say sure buy from them. But they don't.

I'm not positive but like walmart, k-mart, and other US stores. Vaping stores in the US get their supplies mainly from CHINA don't they?

Shootist, the cloths on ur back, the shoes on your feet, alot of the items you use everyday come from ASIAN countries. U can't survive in the US without using something everyday thats made in some foreign country.

As for supporting US stores/compaines. Ur government and US compaines could care less about you, thats why US Politicains support big business haveing factories outside the USA. I feel if any US based companies builds factories out side the USA, they should NOT BE ABLE TO SELL THOSE GOODS IN THE USA.....So I DO NOT feel sorry for USA Compaines!

 

[Squigly]

I'm not positive but like walmart, k-mart, and other US stores. Vaping stores in the US get their supplies mainly from CHINA don't they?

Shootist, the cloths on ur back, the shoes on your feet, alot of the items you use everyday come from ASIAN countries. U can't survive in the US without using something everyday thats made in some foreign country.

As for supporting US stores/compaines. Ur government and US compaines could care less about you, thats why US Politicains support big business haveing factories outside the USA. I feel if any US based companies builds factories out side the USA, they should NOT BE ABLE TO SELL THOSE GOODS IN THE USA.....So I DO NOT feel sorry for USA Compaines!

I don't support the over priced mark up these US company's do, so I buy direct. I have been able to get ALL of the prices DIRECTLY from the manufacture of these big companies (innokin, smok, kanger etc) and these US stores charge more then %300!!! insane! I'd rather wait 2 weeks and get direct from the factory and not pay %200 over price to some criminal store owner trying to profit off smokers converting to vaping/vapers. It's CRIMINAL I TELL YOU!!

And yes, a big pharmacudical plant here (father worked 30+ years there) are moving the plant to puerto rico because they can cut production cost's down %600 for fatter pockets... This isn't America! This is a criminally ran country!

 

[madpiano]

Yeah, his tax, insurance, utility and business rate bill probably feels criminal to the shop owner as well.

 

[rlockwich]

My ordering tip is IF you live in the USA STOP buying directly from a Chinese company and buy your vapor products from a USA based company, store.

So what if it costs a few cents/dollars more. At least you are now supporting a USA company.

If Fasttech opened a USA distribution center along with stocking the product they sell in the USA I'd say sure buy from them. But they don't.

I would say the same thing, if those local stores selling you a clone nemesis for $70 weren't already buying it from FastTech (or some other like vendor) for $18.

 

[Davey59]

Good thread. I have been browsing the FT site and thinking about an order. Great tip on not shipping the batteries.

I finally put an order in through dhgate for 20 AeroTank coils. Got shipping confirmation and tracking number today. We'll see how that goes.

Seams other than high end mod gear most everything is made in China, designed in China and ripped of in China. I have always been a made in USA guy, support the USA worker blah blah blah. Basically it is like shaking your fist at the moon and other than a false sense of superiority you get nothing for it.