This Asian art
item is
pre-positioned in the USA
for faster delivery
In an effort to offer faster delivery to all of our customers in the USA, we've begun to pre-position much of our artwork inventory in the states.
The item that you were just looking at is one of the items now located in the USA, waiting to be forwarded to you in days (instead of weeks).
NOT ALL ITEMS ARE CURRENTLY IN THE USA
Many items are still shipped directly from our studio in Beijing.
Look for the note in the upper left corner of our listings to know where an item will be shipped from.
If you are not in the USA, don't worry.
Delivery is also faster worldwide for this item.
Here are some examples...
This item will be delivered in 5-8 days to Canada
This item will be delivered in 7-10 days to
The UK, most of Western Europe, and Australia
Why are we doing this?
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (which absorbed U.S. Customs a few years ago) has been increasing delays in international mail deliveries.
Although they do not officially state the reason for the delays, we believe it's due to increased security inspections (running packages through x-ray and bomb-sniffing machines).
Before 9/11 packages bound for the USA would take about 9 days from Beijing. In the following years, this increased to almost 2 weeks. And lately, more and more packages (about 1 in 10) are taking closer to three weeks).
Even though this effort is very expensive, we had to take action because half of our customers are in the USA.
The USA (where I was born) is the land where everybody wants things quickly. After all, we invented fast food restaurants, drive-thru banking, and TV dinners.
The USA was also the best choice because these postal or security delays do not exist in Canada, The UK, Western Europe, or Australia (where the other half of our customers live).
-Gary.