How do I track a parcel from China?
A parcel from China is tracked with the number the Chinese sending operator generated, which the seller passes on after dispatch and which in the postal network takes the form of 13 characters: two letters, eight digits, a check digit and the country code CN. One number normally covers the whole journey, because two operators scan the same barcode: a Chinese operator such as China Post, Cainiao or 4PX moves the item to the airport, and the destination country's postal operator handles the last mile.
Nearly all of the confusion sits in the middle of that journey. Between the export scan in China and the first scan in the destination country, a postal parcel commonly records nothing at all for 5 to 20 days, because no operator holds the item under a scanning contract while it is consolidated, flown and queued for customs.
Where the tracking number comes from, and who issued it
The tracking number on a China-origin parcel is generated by the Chinese sending operator, not by the marketplace and not by the destination post. U.S. Customs and Border Protection names the field explicitly in its list of data elements for inbound mail, describing it as the "Tracking Number (generated by the foreign post operator)" (U.S. Customs and Border Protection interim final rule, 24 June 2026, cited in full below).
The number reaches the buyer through the order record rather than from the carrier. On a marketplace order it appears against the shipment once the seller marks the item dispatched, usually 1 to 5 days after payment; on a direct purchase it arrives in the dispatch email. Because the number is created when the label is printed, it exists before the parcel physically exists in the network, which is why a freshly issued number returns nothing for the first few days.
An order split across several packages produces several numbers, one per package, and a marketplace will list them separately rather than merging them. AliExpress orders follow the same pattern under the order's logistics view.
Reading the number: what a China tracking code says about the service
Any tracking number ending in CN follows Universal Postal Union standard S10, which defines a 13-character identifier built from a two-letter service indicator, an eight-digit serial, one check digit and the two-letter ISO country code (UPU standard S10). The two opening letters are the single most informative part of the number, because they say which postal class the seller paid for and therefore how much tracking detail to expect.
| Prefix range | Postal class | Example | What it implies |
|---|---|---|---|
| EA-EZ | EMS express | EA473124829CN | Fastest postal option, scanned at both ends |
| RA-RZ | Registered mail, including registered small packets | RB987654326CN | Carries a delivery scan or signature |
| LA-LZ | Tracked letter post | LS300374156CN | The class most low-value e-commerce uses |
| CA-CZ | Parcel post | CP612450391CN | Heavier items, air or surface |
| VA-VZ | Insured letter post | VS209187440CN | Declared value, compensation on loss |
| UA-UZ | Letter post, general range | UA473124829CN | No registration implied, scan depth varies |
| HA-HZ | E-commerce parcels | HE300374156CN | Newer class, scan depth varies by operator |
The ninth digit is a checksum and can be verified by hand. The eight serial digits are multiplied by the weights 8, 6, 4, 2, 3, 5, 9 and 7, the products are summed, and the check digit is 11 minus the remainder of that sum divided by 11, with a result of 10 written as 0 and 11 written as 5. In EA473124829CN the serial 47312482 produces 9, which is the digit shown. A CN number whose ninth digit fails that test has been mistyped or was never issued.
A number that does not end in CN and does not fit the 2-9-2 pattern was issued by a commercial Chinese operator rather than by the postal network, and it will only resolve on that operator's own system or on an aggregator.
Which operators actually carry parcels out of China
China Post is the designated postal operator of the People's Republic of China, has been a Universal Postal Union member since 1972 and ran 373,600 offices and branches as of 2019, but it has not been the only route out of the country for more than a decade. China-origin e-commerce moves along two distinct lanes, and which lane a parcel took determines where its number resolves.
The postal lane covers China Post small packet, parcel post and China EMS. Items carry S10 numbers, travel as mail, and are handed to the destination country's designated postal operator, one of 192 UPU member countries (Universal Postal Union).
The commercial lane covers logistics companies that buy air capacity directly and inject parcels into a destination network in bulk. Cainiao, founded on 28 May 2013 as an Alibaba joint venture, is the largest of them; 4PX, Yanwen, YunExpress, SF Express and J&T operate the same model. These issue their own number formats, and the parcel may finish with the destination post, a local courier, or the operator's own last-mile arm. Integrators such as DHL, FedEx and UPS form a third, more expensive lane where one company scans the item end to end.
The stages of a parcel from China, from seller to doorstep
A China-origin postal parcel passes through six distinct stages, and only five of them produce an event a buyer can see. The elapsed times below are estimates drawn from typical postal lanes, not service guarantees; a single customs referral can add two weeks to any of them.
| Stage | Typical event wording | Who records it | Elapsed time (estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Label created | Shipment information received, electronic data received | Seller or Chinese operator | Day 0 |
| Collection and consolidation | Picked up, arrived at sorting centre | Chinese operator | Day 1 to 4 |
| Export processing | Departed from country of origin, handed over to airline | Chinese office of exchange | Day 3 to 8 |
| Line haul | No event recorded | Nobody | 5 to 20 days |
| Arrival and clearance | Arrived at destination, customs clearance | Destination operator and customs | Day 8 to 28 |
| Final delivery | Out for delivery, delivered | Destination operator | Day 10 to 35 |
The export scan is the most misread event on the list, because it looks like a departure and often precedes the flight by several days. What it means in detail is covered on departed from country of origin.
The handover to the destination operator, and the second number
In the postal lane the Chinese number keeps working after the handover, because the destination operator scans the same S10 barcode and reports the event back through the same exchange. That is the whole point of a 13-character identifier issued under a shared standard: one code, 192 possible destination operators, no re-labelling.
The commercial lane behaves differently. An operator that buys its own air capacity presents the parcel to the destination network as a new item and receives a fresh destination-side number, so the Chinese number stops updating on the day of injection while a number nobody sent to the buyer carries on. Where the two records overlap, the tracking page shows scans from an operator the buyer never chose, a pattern explained in why tracking shows events from a different postal service.
When a Chinese number goes quiet at exactly the point the parcel should have landed, the destination-side number is the thing to ask the seller for. It is the only field that will resolve on the destination operator's own site.
How long the silent stretch lasts, and when it stops being normal
Between the export scan in China and the first destination scan, 5 to 20 days without an event is normal for postal classes and 2 to 6 days for commercial express. Reference figures for China to the United States put average end-to-end mail transit at roughly 19 days regardless of service class, which is an estimate rather than a committed standard and moves with air capacity and customs load.
Three things stretch the gap without anything being wrong. Consolidation holds a parcel until a container fills, which on low-volume lanes takes days. Air capacity out of Chinese hubs is bought on the spot market, so a cheap postal class waits for space. Customs queues at the destination are cleared in arrival order rather than by service class.
Past 30 days from the export scan, the balance shifts: silence is no longer a normal line-haul gap and is more likely a mis-sort, a customs hold or a failed data transfer between operators. Past 60 days a postal item is treated as a candidate for a formal inquiry rather than a delayed one.
What customs does now that de minimis is suspended
The United States has suspended the 800 USD de minimis exemption for goods arriving through the international postal network, and CBP's replacement postal informal entry process took effect on 24 July 2026. Describing China-origin parcels under 800 USD as duty-free is out of date by roughly a year.
"This document amends the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) regulations to implement an indefinite suspension of the de minimis administrative exemption for imports valued at $800 or less arriving through the international postal network. This document also establishes a new postal informal entry process for certain merchandise entering the United States through the mail environment." (U.S. Customs and Border Protection, interim final rule, 24 June 2026.)
The scale behind the change is in the same rule: CBP processed over 1.36 billion de minimis shipments in fiscal year 2024, against 139 million in 2015, and estimates a two-thirds reduction in mail shipments since the exemption was suspended under Executive Order 14324, effective 29 August 2025. Legislation terminates the exemption outright on 1 July 2027. For tracking, the practical effect is a longer and more visible clearance stage: duty is assessed on the parcel rather than waved through, and a qualified party files entry data keyed to the operator's tracking number.
The United Kingdom applies a value threshold to duty rather than to VAT. Customs Duty is not charged on non-excise goods worth 135 GBP or less, while VAT is charged on imported goods regardless of value apart from one narrow gift relief.
"VAT is not charged on goods that are gifts worth £39 or less." (GOV.UK, Tax and customs for goods sent from abroad, accessed 27 July 2026.)
In every jurisdiction the parcel stops moving until the charge is settled, and the tracking event that marks it is the one described on customs clearance.
Tracking after the parcel reaches the destination country
Once a China-origin parcel lands, the destination operator's own site is the more accurate source, because that operator physically scans the item while the Chinese operator only republishes what it is sent. In the United States inbound mail is sorted at a USPS International Service Center before onward handling, and CBP's rule describes the sequence directly: shipments "were processed initially at one of the U.S. Postal Service's (USPS) International Service Centers (ISCs) that sort international mail, before being transferred to a CBP facility for further examination".
That is why the first US-side event on a China parcel is usually an ISC processing scan naming a city rather than a delivery office. The equivalent first event elsewhere is an inward office of exchange or an international hub scan.
Service availability is worth checking before assuming a fault. As of the 24 July 2026 update, USPS lists 14 destinations with suspended mail service, and China is not among them (USPS international service alerts), so a stalled China parcel is an individual problem rather than a lane-wide one.
Why tracking stops, and what each dead end means
Five stopping points account for the large majority of China tracking failures, and each has a different remedy.
- No event after the label was created. The number exists but the parcel has not been handed over. Normal for 2 to 5 days after the number appears; past 10 days the seller has printed a label without shipping.
- Frozen on the export scan. The item is consolidated or waiting for air capacity. Normal within the 5 to 20 day line-haul window.
- Last event is arrival in the destination country. The parcel is in customs or in an inward sorting backlog. Duty or a data request is the usual blocker.
- The number resolves in China but not on the destination operator's site. The parcel was injected commercially and carries a second, destination-side number.
- The number resolves nowhere. Check the ninth digit against the S10 checksum first; a number that fails it was mistyped or fabricated.
What tracking from China does not tell you
A tracking page reports where an item was last scanned, not where it is now, and on a China lane those two facts can be 20 days apart. Nothing in the record is a position report.
It does not promise a delivery date. Postal classes out of China carry no delivery commitment at all, and an arrival scan says the parcel is in the destination country, not that it is on a van.
It does not describe the contents. The declared description on the customs form is the seller's text, and it is what customs assesses against, so a mismatch between the description and the goods is a common cause of a clearance hold.
A commercial operator's record also ends where its contract ends. When such an operator marks an item complete on its own portal, that reflects handover to the next party, not arrival at the buyer's address.
When to act, and who to contact
The seller is the counterparty for a China-origin parcel, because the buyer has no contract with either postal operator. In the postal system an inquiry can only be raised by the sender's post at the sender's request, so a buyer asking a destination operator to trace an inbound item will be redirected.
Inside 30 days from the export scan, silence is a transit gap and contacting anyone produces nothing. Between 30 and 60 days, the seller is the right first contact and the specific ask is the destination-side tracking number, since that is what makes the parcel visible again. Past 60 days, the marketplace dispute or buyer-protection process is the mechanism that actually recovers money, and it runs on the seller rather than on the carrier.
Customs charges are a separate track. Those are settled with the destination operator or the customs authority, never with the Chinese sender, and the parcel is normally held for a limited period before being returned.
What tracking from China gets confused with
Four pairings account for most misidentified China numbers, and three of them can be settled from the 13-character number alone.
| Confused with | What it actually is | How to tell them apart |
|---|---|---|
| China Post and China EMS | EMS is China Post's express product, not a separate company | An EMS item's number begins with E |
| China Post and Cainiao | Cainiao is Alibaba's logistics arm and is not a designated postal operator | Cainiao numbers do not end in CN |
| Registered and ordinary small packet | Two different postal classes at different prices | The R prefix denotes registered mail with a delivery record, the U range does not |
| The Chinese number and the destination number | One parcel with two identifiers across two contracts | The second one resolves on the destination operator's site, the first does not |
Entering the CN number in the search field at the top of this page resolves the operator automatically and returns the full event history from both ends of the journey. If it stops resolving at the border, the destination-side number from the seller is the field that picks the parcel back up.