You bought something, you're waiting for your parcel — and suddenly tracking stops. The status doesn't change for a day, two days, a week. It's alarming, but in most cases everything is fine. Let's look at the 6 main reasons this happens.
Reason 1: International transit
The most common reason. When a parcel flies from China to Europe or elsewhere, it may be at an intermediate warehouse or on a plane with no ability to update its status.
Tip: Normal for China Post / ePacket: 10–21 days without updates during international transit. For Cainiao Premium — 3–7 days.
Reason 2: Carrier handover
Many parcels from China are delivered by two carriers: a Chinese one (China Post, Cainiao) to your country, and a national one (Royal Mail, DPD, Omniva, etc.) from the border to your door. Tracking may 'freeze' for a few days during the handover.
- Check the tracking number on your national postal operator's website separately
- In Trackora, tracking from both carriers is merged automatically
Reason 3: Customs
Customs clearance is one of the quietest stages. A parcel can sit at customs for 3–15 days with no status changes.
Note: If your parcel has been at customs for more than 20 days — that's an unusual situation. Contact the customs helpline or request information via registered mail.
Reason 4: Weekends and public holidays
Postal services and customs offices work on a schedule. Long public holidays in China (Chinese New Year in February, Golden Week in October) can halt parcel processing for 1–2 weeks.
Reason 5: Tracking system issues
Sometimes tracking data simply isn't transmitted correctly due to failures on the carrier's or tracking service's side. The parcel may be moving fine, but the status doesn't update.
- Try checking tracking through a few different services
- Click 'Refresh data' — a forced refresh sometimes helps
- Wait 24–48 hours and check again
Reason 6: Parcel is lost or delayed
Unfortunately, parcels do sometimes get lost. Signs: status hasn't updated in over 45 days, tracking number isn't found on any service, last event was 'Left country of sender'.
- Open a dispute with the seller under buyer protection (don't wait until the deadline!)
- File a search request with your national postal operator
- Ask the seller for shipping confirmation (receipt with post office stamp)
What to do first
- Check how many days have passed since the last update
- Compare with normal timeframes for your carrier
- Try finding the parcel on the local postal operator's website
- If 40+ days have passed — contact the seller
- If 60+ days with no movement — open a dispute