Actually, in a lot of cases, the Chinky sellers are quicker.
I ordered something chavtastic from a chinky egayer, item in China, arrived today, less than 10 days, or 6 business days.
I ordered some ratchet spanners from the well known Chinky knocking shop, Banggood, at the same time, that also turned up today (buy courier - how do they do it for what I paid ).
The pack of nuts I ordered from a UK company based up North at the same time is still not here.
Various reasons. the Chinese Gov subsidizes or pays in full a lot of the Shipping cost for Export Merchindise to promote there Export Economy, Chinese and Hong Kong Post also have some excellent shipping deals with the big Courier Players, in Particular USA, Europe and the rest of Asia, they will fill a Cargo or Air Freight Container, once full it sits outside the Airports or Shipyards and then gets sold onto the Shipping or Airlines as a cheapest Bucket Seat type option when available, that in turn get handled by the Courier or gets sent directly to UK Warehouses (normally just outside Heathrow, Hayes or Uxbridge) and is then Couriered or Posted on for peanuts.
Sometimes you see on some of these Bigger Chinese Sellers an option on which Warehouse Ship from, ie, Hong Kong, Chinese or USA, Europe Warehouses, but in actual fact its all from the same Warehouse but just shipped differently or on different time scales dependent on which Chinese or HK Gov is footing the bill, Customs and which Courier is being used.
I had occasions where Ive ordered some tat from China, with say a week difference on the items and the both turn up on the same day, or same day but different couriers
, down side is whilst we'll getting all this cheap tat from China with almost Free Delivery, if its the wrong item or doesnt work then its starts to get expensive to return it.