I just received my Chuwi Vi8 Plus from Gearbest after having ordered it over 2 months ago. I regretfully opted for the free shipping.
However the bulk of the time wasted seemed to be in the processing of my order, once paid it took over 3 weeks to be handed over to the courier (PostNL), and there it sat for nearly a month. After several inquiries regarding its status it finally left the country, it took about 2 weeks to reach Canada, then another 9 days to get through customs and delivered by Canada Post.
I have read others having better experiences with paid shipping, and even for free shipping. I haven’y seen anything close to my experience yet so hopefully for your sake it was just my case.