Ali has no knowledge of shipping delay (or pretend to)?
I have used Alibaba for last 3-4 years. It was very good. Even for the supplier I have find myself, I will ask them to use the Ali site with the Ali-Assurance - I thought it is a very helpful mechanism to prevent the most common problem in trading with Chinese suppliers (excellent and fraudster co-mingle in the same town - and it is so hard to distinguish one from another, even for the insider). But my last transaction fall in crack - Ali removed Ali-Assurance and unfreezed the fund as the shipment still wait for the berth near the port. For over a year, it appears Ali has no knowledge on the global shipping delay at all. That renders the Ali-Assurance not as effective as it advertise - buy be aware!