What happens between your checkout and your doorstep

We quote 5 to 8 business days from order to doorstep. That is longer than a domestic retailer and we would rather explain it than let it look like vagueness. Here is the whole chain.

Day 0 – the order lands

Payment is authorised and captured in full – merchandise, shipping and the 10% US import duty. You get a confirmation email straight away. At the same moment the order drops into the queue at our fulfilment warehouse in Kwai Chung, Hong Kong.

Nothing physical has happened yet. If you need to cancel or change the delivery address, this is the easiest moment to do it: email us and it costs nothing.

Days 1-2 – handling

Handling is the part most retailers hide inside “shipping”. It covers:

• Picking the item from its bin
• Checking the stock code against the order – this is the check that catches a wrong-item error before it becomes your problem
• A quick condition check: tags attached, no marks, no damage from storage
• Folding, bagging, boxing
• Printing the label and the customs declaration
• Handing the parcel to the FedEx pickup

An order placed on a Friday afternoon starts this on the following Monday. Hong Kong public holidays pause it too, which is why the estimate is in business days rather than calendar days.

The tracking number is emailed the moment the parcel is scanned out. This is usually the same afternoon it is packed.

Days 2-3 – the quiet bit

Your parcel is consolidated with others, trucked to Hong Kong International, and loaded. During this stretch the tracking page often shows nothing new for 24 to 48 hours.

This is the single most common reason people email us, and it is almost always fine. A parcel airside is not being scanned; there is nothing to report. Silence here is not a lost parcel.

Days 3-5 – flight and US arrival

Air freight to a US gateway – typically Memphis, Newark or Los Angeles depending on routing. On arrival the tracking picks up again with an arrival scan and then a customs entry.

Days 4-6 – customs clearance

US Customs and Border Protection reviews the declaration. Most parcels clear in hours. Some are selected for inspection, which adds one to three days, and there is no way to predict or accelerate it.

Because we collected the duty at checkout and paid it on your behalf, nothing is owed at this stage. FedEx will not ask you for money. If a courier ever does on a BGalz parcel, do not pay – photograph the request and send it to us.

Days 5-8 – domestic delivery

Once cleared, the parcel joins the ordinary domestic FedEx network: sorting facility, local station, delivery van. Tracking becomes granular again here – you will usually see an out-for-delivery scan on the morning it arrives.

We cannot deliver to PO boxes, APO/FPO addresses or freight forwarders. Those are network limitations, not policy preferences.

Why not just hold stock in the US?

Honestly: because one warehouse is the only way a catalogue this wide stays affordable. Splitting stock across two continents means holding two of everything, and that cost would land on the price of every item. We took the trade: slower delivery, an honest estimate, and prices that do not carry a second warehouse.

What we will not do is quote a domestic-sounding delivery window and then explain later. The 5 to 8 business days on the product page, on the checkout, on the Shipping & Delivery page and in our Merchant Center feed are the same numbers.

If it goes wrong

Tracking frozen for seven days, a “delivered” scan with no parcel, or visible damage on arrival – email support@bgalz.com with the order number. We open the carrier trace ourselves. You should not have to argue with FedEx on our behalf.