So I am ordering a few ESP32 boards for ESPHome projects for myself and several other people like friends, family and clients, from the top brands and the experience is night and day difference. Boards like Waveshare S3 ETH an RP2040 mini. And then from SeeedStudio C6 mini
The Waveshare order arrived quickly in 11days around the world to South Africa with express customs after I paid only the lowest Standard shipping fee. So now suprise fee when it arrived in South Africa.
SeeedStudio experience is the opposite. I paid for Aliexpress Standard shipping, but then the bait & switch they send it the super economy free shipping route through the slowest option with postal services.
That is not even biggest issue. They now claim that this has nothing to do with them an they are not responisble. Its been 35 days in shipping so far, which is posibble if you send it this route, but the package dropped of the system more then a month ago on the 26 May 2026. No update since so package is missing. Poor responses from them and cannot claim a refund as yet. No offering or trying to assist me.
Pricing from both is good but I cannot move forward with SeeedStudio as a supplier, no longer. And really the only reason to choose the SeeedStudio over the Waveshare C6 is the u.fl port. I already have the antennes which I had to order from another supplier but would problably never use is now, since this will never arrive.
So if you order just go straight to Waveshare website, great with pricing and fast shipping. Great industrial qaulity that we have tested already. Dont know about Seeedstudio since I have never received anything from them , soo cannot test the board anyways
Is the delivery going via the Straight of Hormuz, the old Marco Polo overland route, on the back of camels, or inside a shipping container marked with a trefoil on the side? You should have bought an iTag in the bundle for tracking purposes.
Wow!!! Did not expect a backlash. Clearly this forum is not as friendly as expected.
I really thought that this might help ESPHome builders trying to decide which brand can service them best.
Maybe I should just delete the whole post and move on
It just seems like you are calling out SeeedStudio for an AliExpress and/or courier problem...
I have personally ordered from SeeedStudio (both the China and US-based warehouses) and never had any shipping or communication issues. I've also had Aliexpress orders that just never showed up. But, I've always gotten a refund after waiting for the obligatory time to pass.
Its not a China to US shipping issue its an international shipping issue.
Seeedstudio themselves admitted to issues with a lots of international shipping routes and assured Reddit users they are working on fixing these issues. That was 2yrs ago and still nothing
I bought from the Official Seeedstudio store, but would have been better off if I bought from a third party store
I paid for standard shipping but got downgraded to super economy and then the package went missing. I can't claim my money back because of the downgrade
I have also bought from Aliexpress, and direct from Waveshare, DFRobot and Seeed ... so far with my only real complaint being the courier Aliexpress uses in Australia failing to "deliver" any package, and just leaving it somewhere in the vicinity. So far, none have been stolen
TLDR; Please check your emails and "My orders" on AliExpress, to check all the details. This will be required for your non-delivery claim.
If you paid for AliExpress Shipping then I believe that you bought from a third party seller on AliExpress, possibly calling itself "Official Seeedstudio store". If you did buy off aliexpress (from a seller who is in fact not SeeedStudio), the real SeeedStudio cannot take responsibility for them
A quick check on AliExpress I didn't find "Official Seeedstudio store", but did find "Seeedstudio AI Hardware Store" (which may or may not have any relationship with SeeedStudio) and a heap of other stores selling SeeedStudio products.
For me in Australia, AliExpress shipping for "choice" items (from aliExpress warehouse) is AU$3.02 (or free for >AU$15 purchase); but "global sellers" set their own shipping cost. Obviously price and shipping to South Africa is different ... though I would guess that their "standard" shipping is likely the least expensive method.
These details at least should be in the emails you received when you placed the order, and in AliExpress' "My Orders". Please check to confirm what shipping method, cost and estimated delivery AliExpress understood that you agreed to. You can also use their tracking, though I have found this isn't always very helpful. Possibly a shipping for 35 days might be on a container ship which has been making many stops.
