Q – How long should my parcel take to arrive?
China Post’s tracking service documents the average arrival times of all parcels for some frequent countries as follows. If your haul has not arrived and the “longest” number of days has not elapsed, you should not be concerned.
Country – Average Delivery Time – Longest Time – Shortest Time
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Australia / New Zealand : 12 – 15 – 9
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Canada : 30 – 60 – 10
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EU : 17 – 44 – 7
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United Kingdom : 12 – 40 – 6
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United States : 16 – 62 – 4
As you can see, a delivery time of 40+ days for Europe and North America is frequent. (source: China Post)
Q – What does “shipping notice received” (or similar) mean?
This means the agent has put a tracking number from China Post on your parcel (i.e. a sticker with a barcode and scanned it), but has not shipped the goods yet. It can take two to three business days for the goods to be shipped as the agent will be waiting for China Post to collect the goods. In most cases, sellers will take immediate action to ship the goods to avoid disputes and reputational damage.
Q – It’s been a couple of days since I finalized my haul, why hasn’t anything happened?
In general, to avoid disappointment you should start counting days from when the parcel is collected (it says this specifically on your agent’s site and on 17track) rather than the date you submitted the parcel.
Paying for your parcel today doesn’t mean it will be in the hands of China Post tomorrow – it takes time to physically bundle up the parcel, allocate a tracking number and get China Post to physically collect at the warehouse. It can often take two to three business days for this to happen and your haul to update that the tracking number has been activated.
Agents and (more frequently) direct sellers will tell you “the item has shipped, but the shipping company hasn’t given the tracking information yet” when in reality your parcel is still in the warehouse
Q – There seem to be a lot of delays, should I ship my parcel now or wait?
This is similar to driving to a friend’s house cross-country when the traffic is awful all the time – the sooner you leave, the sooner you’ll get there. Things won’t be any faster by delaying your haul.
Q – Has my haul been seized?!
In all likelihood, no. Your parcel status will update saying it is being inspected by customs at the point of seizure. A lack of status updates is probably a good thing in that sense.
Q – Is my parcel lost?
In all likelihood, no. These things are very rare and if you are worried about this happening you should purchase the relevant insurance protection from your agent before finalizing your shipment.
Q – My parcel has been scanned by customs but it hasn’t been updated to say customs has been cleared. Has my haul been seized?
In all likelihood, no. The scan to confirm the parcel has cleared customs doesn’t necessarily take place in the warehouse and often takes place while the parcel is being loaded into a lorry or when it arrives at your local sorting office.
Q – What can I do to hurry things up?
Literally nothing. This is how international shipping works, so get comfortable with it.
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