Ever since I first read about the cooperation amongst China Post, Hong Kong Post and the USPS to make the ePacket service possible a couple of years ago, I’ve been trying, whenever possible, to buy from eBay and Aliexpress sellers who use ePacket for customers in the United States.
Prior to ePacket I would get lots of parcels from China, Hong Kong, and Singapore sent by ordinary air mail, which would take between 2 and 3 weeks to arrive. Of course, even back then it was a bit faster to the U.S. than to many other countries, but 2 to 3 weeks is still enough of a wait to make it so that, price being equal, I used to buy from U.S. sellers because it was faster.
With ePacket though, as long as price is equal, there’s absolutely no reason for me to buy from a U.S. seller rather than a seller in China or Hong Kong. If I get an item sent by first class mail from, say, California it would take about 3 to 4 business days to arrive here in New York. That’s assuming the seller ships immediately. Now let’s compare with this parcel sent by ePacket that I ordered just recently:
ePacket to the U.S. is at least as fast as EMS.
ePacket is not always this quick, but it’s not at all unusual for the item to make it here to NY in just a few days. I remember the first time I ever had something sent to me by ePacket it wasn’t much better than ordinary air mail. But over the past year or so it seems to have gotten much faster, at least to my location.
Two neat things I’ve noticed by tracking ePacket parcels is that, at least according to the tracking info, they seem to get sorted at the EMS sort facilities. The other thing, which may or may not be mere coincidence, is that I’ve never had ePacket parcels held up at customs. With ordinary air mail it’s rare for my packages to be held up at U.S. customs for more than a few days, but I’ve had items shipped to me occasionally that have been stuck for up to 14 days yet never opened or inspected in any way that I could detect. With ePacket I never even see a scan at customs. The first scan I see after the origin sort facility is always a local sort facility, rather than ISC New York. I guess ePacket must still get processed through customs like any other package, but it sure is a lot faster.
Yeah, I’ve had the same experience with epacket, its really cool, takes a little long sometimes when sending from china to texas thoug.
These are the most positive postings I have read. They give me hope my packages will make it before the October wedding
I purchased a camera, not knowing that the source was in China, with “FREE” shipping. Problem is when a product turns out to be defective, they require return shipment to CHINA at a return shipping cost that is substantially higher than the value of the product.
So, their warranty and guarantee policy is worthless.
DO NOT TAKE A CHANCE ON BUYING ANYTHING FROM CHINA THAT YOU ARE NOT PREPARED TO DISCARD IF DISSATISFIED OR DEFECTIVE.
I send out twenty packages or a week and use epacket for more of them. Most the time they are great but I just had two packages that took over 3 weeks in transit from China to the US, hope this doesn’t keep up for the holiday season..
I ordered a small camera item from China on March 23, 2015 via EMS epacket. It got posted in Nanchang on April. Was dispatched from Shanghai on April 4. Today is April 9 (the 10th in China at the moment) and it still has not arrived in the US. This is consistent with what I’ve read where it takes about 3 weeks via epacket.
hi.. it is my firts time order something online and Im from Guatemala so I do not know who epacket works.. do I need to go somewhere to get my stuff?? I live in Illinois so I need to know if they are going to leave my stuff to my house of I have to go somewhere.. also I need to know how to trakc the things becuase in Aliexpress does not show me anything so I do not know anything about my things.. PLEASE HELP ME
Usually there’s no need for a signature with ePacket. Your mail carrier will probably just leave the item in your mailbox. From my limited understanding, I think ePacket is treated the same as First Class Mail once it reaches the U.S.
If there’s no tracking number in Aliexpress though it might mean the seller used ordinary China Post airmail, rather than ePacket. In my experience, I only have to go to the post office to pick up items sent via registered airmail. If the package is not registered, then my mail carrier usually leaves it in my mailbox with no need for a signature.
Registered airmail tracking numbers begin with R. eg. RR999931494CN
ePacket tracking numbers begin with L. eg. LN827919195CN
I ordered my hair two days ago and it’s shut the day after and I’m trying to track my package and it keeps saying the number isn’t verified and to try again later some one please help me
Tracking number LN122616667CN
Shipped *
It’s best to track using the website of the postal service in your own country, but you can try tracking the item on the China Post website after waiting a few days: http://intmail.183.com.cn/zdxt/yjcx/ Unless the seller actually told you that they shipped the item already, you don’t know whether or not China Post has the item yet. It could be that the seller generated the shipping label but has not yet physically shipped the parcel itself.
In my experience though there aren’t usually any results on the China Post website, even when USPS does have results. Other times USPS doesn’t have any results until after the item is delivered, at which point all the results suddenly become visible at https://tools.usps.com/go/TrackConfirmAction.action
Thank you I will tell my cousin Jaden
Great Post!. Ive been looking for Epacket information but its a little bit hard to find where we have to register to ship products from China or Hong Kong. Do you know if its a service that must be requests to EMS, Hong Kong Post or USPS?, im talking from a seller side. Thank you so much!
Sorry, I don’t really know much about it. But it does look like you can pay for ePacket labels directly in eBay and AliExpress though:
http://shipping.ebay.cn/express/e-packet/2684.html
http://seller.aliexpress.com/education/freight/recommend/epacket.html
I don’t know Chinese, so I can’t actually read the search results, but I did try Googling “e邮宝” or “e-youbao” and it looks like you can pay for ePacket labels on the Hong Kong Post and China Post websites if you have accounts with them:
http://www.hongkongpost.hk/chi/sme/news/2010/20100503a/
http://shippingtool.11183.com.cn/login.jsp
thank you so much!.
I need serious help here i orderd some from aliexpress on november 29 2015 i got email today as of november 30 sayin my order had been shipped. im trying to see is this a scam idk anything about epacket and they gave me a trackin number and told me to track it at epacket cuz something about my other trackin number isnt available yet. Do yall think this is a scam or i have to be more patient. im gettjn very ticked off
Unless I’m missing something, it doesn’t sound like there’s anything suspicious going on. Not all postal systems in all countries can track these items. But regardless, November 30th is today’s date. You shouldn’t expect to see any results if you try to track it the same day it was shipped, even if the postal system in your country does support tracking for ePacket.
If the item is being sent to the United States though you should be able to track the item with the USPS once it arrives in the U.S. Often you can track it while it’s still in China, but the results often don’t show up in the tracking until several days later. So even if you don’t see any acceptance scan, it doesn’t necessarily mean the item wasn’t yet shipped. In any case, there’s no reason to suspect anything is wrong. From what you’re saying, it sounds like you bought an item on November 29th (a Sunday) and then it shipped today (November 30th), which is the very next business day. Sounds like good service to me.
Yeah, it was recently just my first time ordering from China and I read all those horror stories about packages sometimes taking 1 or even 2 months to arrive! But when I ordered something from China on eBay and it was shipped with epacket, it only took 12 DAYS to arrive.
I guess for now on if I buy from Chinese sellers I will make sure they use epacket.
ok, so I have this tracking number that I received as soon as I paid for my package on Aliexpress. I was wondering if that tracking number can be put into USPS website to track my package still? or do I have to still use the China post mail?
Yes, you should be able to track it at the USPS website. But there might not be any results for a few days. It doesn’t necessarily mean the item wasn’t shipped. It’s just that there can sometimes be a delay before the results show up on the USPS site.
I’ve been ordered many stuffs fr Aliexnpress all items arrived within 2 weeks some only took 4 days to California I was surprised because I heard that many complaining about taking too long
My order was shipped feb 16 2016 do you think it will reach me by the 27 of feb
It’s tough to say. Sometimes I get items in about 1 week or even as quickly as just a few business days. But other times it might take 2 weeks or so. Usually after arriving in the US my items get delivered no more than 2 or 3 business days later.
I ordered from aliexpress and it was shipped via epacket. The last update says it was processed through sort facility ISC in NY on 2/27 at 3:00pm. Nothing since. I had another package ship after that and go in and out of NY on the same day. I received that one on Wednesday. Will I receive my package or is is lost?
You’ll probably receive it. Usually my packages get through customs within just one to three days, but several times I’ve had packages arrive at ISC New York and then there wasn’t any update for as much as two whole weeks. I still got them and they hadn’t even been opened for inspection or anything like that. It just seems that sometimes they get delayed there.
Thank you!
Don’t know if you know this or not but is there a way to sort products on Aliexpress by shipping? I want to find out for a particular search, which items are offered with ePacket shipping.
Hmm… That’s a good question. It doesn’t look it to me, but I don’t shop there much so I’m not that experienced with the search feature.
Does epacket sends to montreal Canada? Because I’ve ordered something today and I have selected epacket…
I’m not 100% sure, but yes, I think so. Canada is on the list of countries that support it. But some sellers or websites may only offer the option when shipping to the U.S., so it may be that even if you chose ePacket the item may end up being shipped by ordinary airmail instead.
Hey Citrus! I’ve just made an order from Aliexpress. The order number begins with LX however when I check up at the USPS site it doesn’t seem to be valid. I ordered on the 8th and now order has been shipped apparently. Any idea why it’s not appearing? Instead I was linked to EMS to input the code
That’s pretty normal. There may not be any results on USPS.com until the item arrives in the US. Sometimes the acceptance scan in China shows up on USPS.com a few days after the fact, but sometimes it never does. I wouldn’t worry about it.
Oh alright many thanks! I live in the UK do you have any predictions on a time frame by any chance? Also with epacket is the parcel transported via aircraft?
I live in Perth, Western Australia… I’ve ordered stuff from Ali Express and it has taken anything up to a month to receive it, but I have never had a product not arrive.
I have now come to expect items to take a long time to arrive and if it arrives within a week or less it’s a bonus. I did have one product that didn’t arrive, but they explained why I didn’t get it and put the cost my purchase back into my account. I have never experienced any issues where I paid for a product and did not receive it.
They have too much to lose should they not deliver your goods, it is a business they are running and the last thing they want and need is a bad reputation.
I’m so sorry for the very late response. I must have missed the notification email about your comment.
Yes, ePacket is sent via aircraft. Very few sellers ship via sea since it’s so slow. It’s usually only worth shipping by sea for large or heavy items that are too expensive to ship via airmail.
Hey,
I currently live in Hong Kong and ship packages with E-Express ( if i understand correctly it`s the same as E-Packet, but the last one is only in China ) and if i want to ship i just go to webpage ec-ship.com.hk and choose the way i want to send, E-Express, Registered, Parcel or Speedpost, depends which country what supports. Entering all details, printing with my printer, sticking it to the box going to the Hong Kong Post branch where they have this service EC-Ship and just give them parcel and pay.
Do you guys know how E-Packet works in china? Is there any webpage i can do the same?
Thanks,
Ruslan
Sorry, I’m not really sure, since I don’t know Chinese. I know that you can pay for and print shipping labels using the eBay shipping tool at http://shippingtool.ebay.cn/ but I don’t know if you can use it if the sale wasn’t on eBay.
I am waiting for an ePacket, but the seller gave me no tracking number. The packet should be arriving today through August 10. If I don’t receive my packet by then, what should I do?
I’d wait about a month from the time it was shipped before contacting the seller to ask about it. While it’s true ePacket can be almost as fast as EMS, it can also sometimes be just as slow as regular airmail, so it’s not unusual for it to take 4 or 5 weeks to reach the U.S. It’s also possible the item could take some time to make it through customs, so I wouldn’t worry about it if I were you.
Well i dont really know whats going on its been 9 days or aug.12 since my package was sent from china using this service the tracking number is LT069222554CN but ive never seen a tracking number like this before so i typed the format into google and it led me here . But the usps tracking last states origin is preparing shipment.. can anyone help what gives
Also before or the last thing it said before this was processsed through facility shanghai EMS and it was shipped on the 12th
It doesn’t look like there’s anything to worry about from the tracking. It sometimes takes a few weeks. If you don’t see any update after a month or so, maybe then you might want to contact the seller.
A freaking month really. Yeah uhm the compsmy saod it eould take 10-15days
I want to order some stuff from aliexpress to israel, with AliExpress Standard Shipping it will take 29-45 days, but with ePacket it takes 24-37 days, I need this stuff before 1 october, can you tell me how many days exactly it may take? can I get it before 1 october?? & if ePacket delivere it to my home or to my country post office?
sorry for my bad English
I ordered a item from china on 10/02/2016 and today is 10/21/2016, it shows it shipped out of china or supposedly did on 10/07/2016________there has been ZERO updates since, im thinking i was scammed, im thinking the seller just created a label and for some reason on usps it shows accepted and moving its route to usa, while the china ems site just says last info as “posting” >>> http://www.ems.com.cn/english.html
I think they can create a label and it shows as its into the system in china, im sure they found a way to make it look like it moving in transit on usps, but on their end it paints a diffrent picture, it just says “posting”, to me that means nothing other than, creating a label and then doing nothing.
Anyway I hope I get it, because its something I really wanted and spent over $50 on, I anyone can tell the dipshits who maybe at fault to get their head out of you know where that’d be cool, tracking # LT243044225CN
Thanks!
It would be impressive for the seller to be able to get item scanned in “Guangzhou EMS” sort facility if they didn’t actually ship anything. I don’t think you’re being scammed. But I do agree that the the item is taking a long time to arrive. But sometimes that happens. International shipping can be a gamble. I’ve been lucky sometimes and received items shipped by ePacket in just three or four days. But other times it can take several weeks. You also have to consider that even when it arrives in the US it might take a while to get through customs, which is neither the fault of the seller nor the USPS.
Of course, there are some scams out there in which a seller might ship an empty envelope or an envelope with something worthless inside (like one paperclip) instead of the item you ordered, but I’ve never heard of any seller with the ability to get false tracking results. They’d have to have an inside man at the sort facility working with them. So I think you’re giving the seller too much credit 😉
well i just filed with my bank to get my money back im not playing games with this guy, 8 days has been the norm for a epacket, this isn’t my first rodeo, plus i got a video that will give you a different perspective to china ems service, enjoy, and you might learn why your items are never gotten or smashed
link>>> https://youtu.be/0ztBF9NuaSY
such nice people they are, yeh right! i wouldn’t pay them more than a penny a day with this service either
I received my tracking number on 10/18/16 and its still saying no records found. This is ridiculous and I need to know where my item is. Someone please help
What’s the tracking number? If it’s headed to the U.S. you might not get any results on USPS.com until it gets through customs and into the mailstream.
Whilst looking up information on epacket from China mainly because an Item I ordered from a Chinese seller through Ali Express arrived to me in Australia in 7 days.
What a shock after being used to around 15 to sometimes 30 days.
The ePacket service allows tracking via a barcode and that barcode confirms delivery without a signature being required.
In future I will seek sellers that use this service or request it.