A data event
Someone created or updated an electronic record. The parcel may not have moved at all, and may not even exist yet as a packed box.
What your tracking status actually means
Most tracking pages describe a parcel in the carrier's internal vocabulary, not the customer's. This page translates the events you actually see on China-origin parcels — what each one proves, what it does not prove, and what is worth doing about it. Wording differs between carriers and even between services from the same carrier, so read each event for the class of thing it records rather than its exact label.
For a live parcel: send the safe order reference and current tracking on WhatsApp, or start from the Order Issue Centre. Do not post a full address, telephone number or store login in a broad group.
Every scan is one of four things
Before reading any specific status, work out which of these it is. Nearly every argument about a parcel comes from mistaking the first kind for the second.
A custody event
The parcel physically changed hands — warehouse to carrier, carrier to airline, carrier to local post. This is what "shipped" should mean.
A location event
The parcel was scanned at a named facility. It confirms where the parcel was at that moment, not where it is now or when it will move next.
An exception event
Something stopped the normal path: clearance, address, damage, a failed attempt, or a code the carrier uses internally. These need a decision, not patience.
Before the parcel moves
| What you see | What it actually means | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Label created, Shipment information received, Info received, Pre-advice received, Order data received | A data event. Shipment data exists. The goods may still be unpurchased, unpicked, packed or waiting for collection. | Do not tell a customer the order has shipped. A cancellation or address correction may still be possible — ask immediately. Why this stage is misread → |
| Processing, In processing, Awaiting dispatch, Preparing for shipment | Usually still pre-custody. The parcel is inside the warehouse or in a batch waiting to be manifested. | Ask for the account's cut-off hour and weekend rule in writing, so you can publish it in your own store policy. What each stage still allows → |
| Collected, Picked up, Accepted by carrier, Received by carrier | A custody event — the first one that genuinely supports the word "dispatched". | This is the safe moment to send the customer a shipping notification. |
| No movement for several days after a label | Ambiguous. A warehouse delay, a missed collection, or a scan that simply was not recorded. | Compare the warehouse release record against the carrier manifest rather than refreshing the tracking page. Handle the handoff gap → |
Leaving China
| What you see | What it actually means | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Arrived at facility, Arrived at sorting centre, Departed from facility | Location events inside the origin network. Normal, and often repeated several times. | Nothing. Repetition here is routine consolidation, not a problem. |
| Arrived at the port of origin, Handed over to airline, Departed from country of origin | The parcel has reached or left the export gateway. Export clearance and a flight or vessel booking sit around this point. | This is the last realistic point for any recall. Treat the destination as fixed from here. |
| Export customs cleared or held | China-side export formalities. A hold here is usually documentation or a restricted-goods question, not a destination-country tax matter. | Check the declared description and category against what is actually in the box. What does and does not get accepted → |
| One order showing two tracking numbers | The order was split across parcels — usually weight, size, or restricted items travelling on a different line. | Tell the customer before they see a partial delivery and assume something is missing. When one order becomes two parcels → |
Crossing the border
| What you see | What it actually means | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| In transit to destination country, Flight departed, Linehaul in progress | The parcel is moving between countries. This is normally the longest silent stretch of the whole journey. | Set the customer's expectation before the silence starts, not after they email. What transit ranges really describe → |
| Customs clearance in progress, Held by customs, Awaiting clearance | The destination authority is assessing the parcel. Duration is set by the authority and the declaration, not by the carrier. | Confirm who is the importer and whether duties are prepaid or collected on delivery — that decides who gets asked for money. DDP against DDU → |
| Charges due, Duty or tax payment required, Handling fee outstanding | Clearance produced a bill. Some of it is duty and tax; some is the broker's own per-declaration or per-code handling charge. | Expect the handling component to be charged per declaration or per commodity code, which is why small parcels can carry a disproportionate fee. How per-code charging works → |
| Tracking stops updating after arrival in the destination country | Very often the handoff to the local carrier happened and the events moved to a different tracking number. | Look for the local number before opening an investigation. Original against local tracking numbers → |
In the destination country
| What you see | What it actually means | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Handed to local carrier, Local carrier on the way, Transferred to delivery partner, Electronically announced, Pre-advised to carrier | The China-side carrier's job is finishing. Delivery now belongs to a domestic postal or courier network. | Give the customer the local carrier's name and number — the original number may stop moving entirely. |
| Out for delivery | On a vehicle for a delivery attempt today. It is an intention, not a guarantee. | Nothing, unless it repeats for several days without an attempt event. |
| Awaiting collection, Available for pickup, Held at post office or access point, Collect from depot | An attempt failed, or the service delivers to a collection point by design. There is normally a holding deadline of one to three weeks. | Act on this immediately — missing the deadline sends the parcel back or, on some routes, to disposal. Get the exact location and deadline to the customer the day it appears. |
| Delivery attempted, Recipient not available, Address incomplete | The courier reached the address and could not complete. Address, access, or a missing telephone number are the usual causes. | Fix the underlying data rather than only rebooking. Checkout fields that prevent this → |
Statuses that get misread most often
Defective in transit
This reads like a judgement on your product, and it usually is not one. Wording of this shape is normally a carrier exception code — an unreadable or damaged label, a parcel the automated sorter rejected, or a record the system could not process — rather than an inspection of the goods. Ask the carrier what the code maps to before telling a customer anything about the item's condition.
Separate product, packing and transit damage →Delivered at an impossible time
A delivered scan at 3am, on a Sunday, or on a public holiday is usually a batch upload or a depot device syncing late — not a courier at the door. The scan is evidence of a record, not proof of handover.
Why the timestamp lies →Delivered, but nothing arrived
Check the neighbours, the building reception, a safe place, and whether the local carrier scanned on arrival at the round rather than at the door. Then ask for the delivery certificate or GPS point before escalating. A repeat of this status on the same store or route is the trigger for an investigation, not another copy of the generic post-office reply.
What an investigation actually involves →The tracking number changed
Not an error and not a sign the parcel was lost. Cross-border services routinely issue an origin number and a destination number, and only one of them keeps moving after the handoff.
How the numbers relate →Returning to sender
Triggered by an expired collection deadline, a refused parcel, an undeliverable address or a clearance failure. The reason decides whether a second attempt is possible and who pays for it. A redelivery of an overseas exception runs on the original tracking number; no new number exists until a fresh parcel is created.
What happens next, step by step →Damaged, wrong or incomplete on arrival
Keep the packaging and photograph it on receipt. A claim usually fails on missing evidence rather than on merit, and the outer box is often the thing that proves where the damage happened. Who pays then follows the cause.
Who pays, and when you can still claim →Weekends, holidays and the clock behind processing
Quoted transit ranges are written in working days, and the working calendar is not the same at both ends of the route. A parcel released on a Friday evening in Guangzhou may not receive a collection scan until Monday; a parcel that clears customs on a Saturday may wait for a local carrier that does not sort at weekends. Chinese public holidays — Chinese New Year above all — compress or halt origin-side processing for days at a time, and the queue that builds behind them takes longer to clear than the holiday itself.
None of that is visible on a tracking page, which is why a parcel can look stalled while behaving completely normally. The practical control is to publish a dispatch window rather than a delivery date, and to state the cut-off and the weekend rule in your own store policy. Compare working transit ranges by destination →
Whose problem is it
| Status class | Usually resolved by | Realistic timeframe |
|---|---|---|
| Pre-dispatch data and processing events | The seller or fulfilment partner | Same or next working day |
| Missing first scan after collection | Fulfilment partner, against the carrier manifest | One to three working days |
| Customs holds and charges | The importer, with the broker | Set by the authority, not the carrier |
| Collection deadlines and failed attempts | The customer, with the local carrier | Act within days — the deadline is real |
| Delivered but not received | Carrier investigation, on evidence | Often several weeks |
A status is a starting point, not a remedy. What can still be done depends on the parcel's physical stage, the evidence available and the next carrier deadline — which is the question the Order Issue Centre is built around.