News

19.11.2023. Delivery time is still unsteady. It seems that some mail is traveling by surface while other mail is traviling by air. Unfortunately, it is impossible to choose, and this may cause weird results - expensive EMS may travel 6-8 weeks, and much cheaper Priority mail may travel 2 weeks only. Pure lottery that is beyond our control. Our advice is to not waste money on EMS. On the other hand, if you see that requred adapter is available in the USA, you may pay for Express delivery, and we will ship from the USA with FedEx then.

01.11.2023. We closed our warehouse in Russia.

27.10.2023. It seems Gmail increased its requirements to email senders, and consider messages from some domains 'not verified' blocking their delivery and bouncing them back. If this happen to your message to rafcamera@gmail.com, please reach us at sales@rafcamera.com. Also, you may whitelist our mentioned email addresses at your mail server to not miss messages from us. We don't send spam - only messages related to your orders (order confirmation, shipment notes, review requests). In rare cases we may contact you with questions about purchased items, or with personal offers. No regular newsletters sent.

18.07.2023. Native tracking system of our store has many glitches, so we decided to use a 3rd party solution from Aftership. All tracking emails will be sent by them automatically for the following seven events. We decided to send them all since International shipping takes some time and costs some money, and it is better to be informed about how it is going on. Three events below require your immediate attention, so please do not ignore them.

INFO RECEIVED - this event means that a shipping label is created, and a tracking number is assigned, but a package is not with the courier yet. Not very important, but you will know early that your order is prepared already.

IN TRANSIT - the package is physically accepted by the courier.

OUT FOR DELIVERY - you know that you can expect delivery today.

AVAILABLE FOR PICKUP - our packages require signature, and if it was impossible to deliver to an authorised person or safe place, the package will be stored at your local post office for a limited time (1-2 weeks usually). Please act as soon as possible to claim it before it is sent back to sender.

DELIVERED - you now know that it is delivered. If you did not receive it in person, please check your mailbox or ask your family member and neighbours. Sometimes a postman leaves  a package with someone else by mistake or for a good reasons. Also, sometimes USPS may mark a package delivered couple days before actual delivery attempt causing mess and panic. You should contact your local post office in such case since we can't help with this remotely.

EXCEPTION - something went supposedly wrong. Maybe customs clearance is extended, for example. Please check details to learn more. Quite often this means that you need to do something - arrange redelivery, claim the package from a local post office, etc. 

FAILED ATTEMPT - not always true. Quite often this event happens just upon arriving a package at your local post office. But sometimes this actually means what it  says. Please contact your local post office to arrange re-delivery then.

10.06.2023. Delivery time to may countries became better again (2-3 weeks). The bad news is from Germany and Austria - their customs return even properly declared packages from Russia now. Looks like they just refuse most packages from Russia without any official notice. We will not ship to these countries from Russia anymore therefore. If necessary item is available in Russia only, we'll offer some workarounds (waiting for restock in Belarus, forwarding via Lithuania etc.), but all of them will require some extra waiting. We keep adding items to our warehouse in Austria meantime.

19.04.2023. Delivery time became slow again after a temporary improvement in January-February, unfortunately. Estimated delivery time is 6-10 weeks again. We can't affect this, unfortunately.

Good news is that we found a small local anodizing facility, and will be able to make special adapters faster now - within a week in most cases.

28.03.2023. We experience very high rate of returned packages from Austria and Germany. After a few months of uncertain situation, we got an answer from Austria finally - the reason is "inplausible customs value". Therefore, we will declare true customs value for packages to Austria and Germany now. This will cause necessity to pay customs fee and import duty in these countries in many cases, but this is better than have packages returned to us.

28.02.2023. Due to very high load at anodizing facility we work with, it takes longer to finish special orders currently. Estimated availability time is about 4 weeks since payment is made. Sorry for delays, but this is beyond of our control.

02.02.2023. Good news is that we observe faster delivery in 2023. Many packages are delivered in about 3 weeks instead of couple months. Not all, but many.

Bad news is that Russian Post charges for delivery of unclaimed packages now. If you paid $15 for shipping, they will charge $15 for delivery it back (if unclaimed), and another $15 for shipping it again (if you still need it). So, we urge all customers once again - please track your packages to avoid this issue and waste of time and money. Thank you.

19.12.2022. We tuned different shipping carriers for different warehouses. Now, you will see more accurate shipping charge for your order during checkout. In most cases, shipping change will be lower than before. But if the whole order can not be shipped from a single warehouse, you will see the order split into 2 or more shipments with choice of suitable shipping method for each package.

13.12.2022. Our anodizing facility will be closed till approximately January 15th. Specials order requiring anodizing (received since December 12th) will be finished by end of January 2023 therefore. Sorry about possible invonvenience.

10.11.2022. Sweden and Denmark accept packages from Bealrus again, so delivery time to these countries will reduce, I hope.

7.10.2022. We have warehouses in few countries now. Main of them are still in Belarus and Russia since all our adapters are manufactured in Belarus. But we have small warehouses in USA already, and going to setup one in Austria soon (the first batch of items is on the way already). You can see more detailed info on the each product page now - how many items are stored at each warehouse. I hope this will help you to make purchase decisions knowing where the item will be shipped from.

31.08.2022. Delays of package processing in Belgium. As far as I can see, our packages from Russia to Belgium experience long delays within Belgium. They may be delivered to the country in a week, and spend 4-6 weeks there without movement. Then, after presentation to customs, this may take another 10-15 days for final delivery. Take this timeframe into account, please. Meantime, we'll try to ship our next package to Belgium from Lithuania to see if this route is faster.

9.08.2022. We see increased number of unclaimed packages that returns to us. This is a difficult time, and delivery may be long. It is very sad to see such a package spent a month near its addressee and sent back.

PLEASE, track your packages with your national postal system tools (they have more info than Belpost or Russian Post) and take your packages on time. Postal offices in most countries don't even leave a note about a package available for pickup. You need to track your package yourself not relying on your postal office. They just don't care in most cases, and prefer to return a package over half of the world instead of making a short call to the recipient. Also, if you did not receive your package after a month since shipping date, it is worth to check at your PO once a week. The reason is the same - they may just not scan the package and keep it on a shelf without any notice.

We do not refund unclaimed packages automatically. Also, if refund is requested, we will deduct shipping cost and 20% restock fee since we bear quite high level of non-refundable expenses related to each order processing. Thank you for understanding.

21.07.2022. Germany continues to introduce strange new rules. We can not ship to PO boxes and business addresses in Germany anymore. Make sure to specify your residential address if you live in Germany. Thank you.

2.07.2022. We are going to setup a small distribution network to serve customers faster.

Main shipping sources are still Belarus (since our manufacturing facility is here) and Russia (since Russian Post seems to work better than Belpost even under sanctions somehow).

We have partners in USA already (California and Florida currently, but only Florida will remain in the future). They work fine for USA, but don't ship abroad, unfortunately. And shipping from USA to other countries is not cheap anyway.

Due to this, we are looking for a country with cheaper International shipping, and quite obvious choice is China. The first batch of items to China fulfillment center is on the way already. There are some delays are possible due to Covid lockdowns and quarantine in China, but I hope these are temporary issues.

If it proves to work well, next fulfillment center will be in Germany, most probably.

The only problem is that storage at those fufillment centers is paid, and we can't afford to store low-demand items there. We will try to stock items at different storehouses based on number of buyers from corresponding regions therefore (USA, Europe, Asia).

24.06.2022. We can ship to Denmark, Finland and Sweden from Lithuania. But this will be with some delays since our fellows visit Lithuania 1-2 times a month only. So, all orders from these 3 countries will be accumalated till the next visit and shipped in a batch. Delivery from Lithuania takes about 8-10 days then.

30.05.2022. Russian Post raised its shipping charges. The site settings adjusted accordingly.

Denmark doesn't process mail from Belarus and Russia as far as I can see. We trying to establish alternative routes via Lithuania. First results expected by middle of June. In case of success, we will accept orders from Finland, Denmark and Sweden again, but order processing will be longer due to necessity to forward batches of orders to Lithuania.

Delivery to USA is still unsteady, but we see 6-7 days delivery for some priority mail packages that is a good sign.

13.05.2022. A bunch of bad news today.

We can not deliver to Finland, Sweden and Ukraine currently.

Belarus restricted export of optics and camera related items. We still can ship adapters declaring them as 'aluminium connector', but if you buy optics, we will have to forward it to Moscow to be shipped from there. This will cause about 7-10 days delay with shipping.

Also, Belarus customs started to stop my packages from Belarus again since they think I'm sending too many items. That is why I'm restocking our Moscow storehouse urgently, and most packages will be sent from there. Our USA storehouses ship within USA only, so no much help from them, and we don't have many items there.

Will try to setup a storehouse in Lithuania to see how shipping works from this country.

Generally, we are still in business, but with some extra delays added to COVID and sanctions delays. Delivery time is completely unpredictable now - from 10 days to 3 months.

30.03.2022. Based on tracking history, I see that in many cases packages sent to the same country arriving there in batches. Looks like packages are stored somewhere till suitable route is available, and shipped all together. Delivery time is unpredictable therefore and depends on how soon next batch will be forwarded. That is why we see  6 weeks delivery for Express or 1 week delivery for much cheaper Priority mail sometime. Or vice versa.

Bad news is that NordPost Sweden decided to stop postal exchange with Russia. They still work with Belarus, but not all our adapters are available here. So, some orders from Sweden may be cancelled if necessary items are in stock in Moscow only.

28.03.2022. Both EMS packages sent to South Africa were lost or stolen. We used to ship only with FedEx/UPS there before, but these couriers do not work in Belarus/Russia currently. We can't ship to South Africa therefore. Sorry.

Some packages to USA started to show movement in the USA. Now we can estimate delivery time for EMS as 3-4 weeks. Priority mail will travel longer, probably. But there is a chance that both priority and EMS will travel at the same speed by the same routes.

24.03.2022. Initial info about quick delivery to some countries was correct, but did not became thumb of rule, unfortunately. Many packages experience delays. These delays are not worse than before yet, but we ask you to be patient. Our current estimation is 2 months since shipping date, deadline is 3 months. If package is not delivered in 3 months, we will consider it lost, and refund it. Just let us know since tracking info is not reliable, and we see that some packages are delivered even if tracking info did not update. Thank you.

21.03.2022. Quite strange situation. We started receiving reports of packages delivered to USA, but their tracking numbers show no any progrees after export clearance from Russia or Belarus. Looks like some glitch at USPS or intentional cancellation of tracking service at USA territory for packages from our countries. Let's wait a week or two to see if those were occasional events, or common issue now.

16.03.2022. Priority Mail package reached Malaysia in 18 days. EMS shipment reached USA in 14 days. Now we know that Russian Post found a way for air transportation somehow. I see no much need to continue detailed monitoring furher since is seems that postal system is fully operational. There will be some delays, and average delivery time will be longer than before, but if you are ready to wait, there is nothing to worry about. As to urgent orders, we never accepted them anyway since we just have no any shipping option with guaranteed delivery time.

15.03.2022. Package from Moscow to Japan delivered in 11 days. To Germany in 4 days. To Italy in 6 days. This time is delivery to the country border, not to customer yet. This is not a guaranteed or reference time, just some info on current situation. General impression confirms official info. Air flights are allowed within Russia. From Russia border to neighbor countries delivery proceeds by surface transport, but this does not take longer than usual. Delivery time to distant countries is unknown yet. This will depend on possibility of Russian post and Belpost to use services of foreign airlines.

Also, quite inetersting is that processing within destination country may take longer than International dlivery. For example, mentioned package to Germany was posted in Moscow on March 3rd, reached Germany border on March 7th, but processing by Germany service started only on March 15th.

Therefore we can see that Russian Post does its best currently, and does this much better than some other postal/customs services.

13.03.2022. It seems delivery to Europe works more or less well. Package from Moscow reached Switzerland in 6 days. No packages reached overseas locations like USA or Australia yet. Hope to have more good news within a week.

10.03.2022. Good news. Priority Mail sent from  Russia to Germany on March 3rd reached destination country today. We know now that postal system is operational. I'll post info about other countries as soon as I have delivery updates.

05.03.2022. Some EMS packages sent after February 24th arrived to destination countries already that is good sign. I'll have more info about deliveries in a week, I think. So far the postal system continue to accept International mail.

The only country with potentional issue is Sweden - package addressed to it returned from Russian customs with mark 'there is no delivery to specified country', but neither Russian Post nor PostNord informed about this restriction. Maybe just a mistake. Will try again.

We can not ship to Ukraine and Moldova currently due to closed borders.

01.03.2022. As most people in the world, we are shocked with events related to Russia, Belarus and Ukraine. Hope this war will end soon. We are getting many questions about our job and postal operation in the current circumstances. We are safe physically so far since we are situated at the Belarus north, about 550 km from Ukraine border. Postal systems of Belarus and Russia work as usually, but warn about possible delays due to sanctions related to airflights. We dont have any statistic for delivery of packages sent after February 24th yet. Will see in 1-2 weeks how things are going. Really sorry that the reason for this news topic is so tragical...

25.02.2022. We a bit overwhelmed with current job, so we stop accepting special orders for a while. Trying to hire more staff, but no luck yet. Sorry about this.

21.01.2022. Adapter customization form is launched. Please feel free to use it and report any bugs found. Thank you.

29.11.2021. Ireland is excluded from the list of countries we ship to. The reason is Irish customs where stuff can not recognize HS code as valid TARIC code and return packages to sender. If you live in Ireland, please ask a friend in EU to buy an item for you and forward it to Ireland from one of EU countries. This trick works so far.