It is increasingly common for us to decide on imports. Often, we end up buying in stores like GearBest, AliExpress and similar retail import specialists to acquire our consumer electronics products. The reason usually varies between two options: That the product / brand that we want to acquire is not available in the European market; That the product / brand that we want to acquire is considerably cheaper acquired from these Asian intermediaries and avoiding European intermediaries. Whatever the reason, these shipments tend to be quite slow, especially if we do not intend to suffer a significant extra cost due to the administrative fees imposed by companies such as DHL. Today we are going to give you some tips on how to follow the shipments of products purchased in China.
Let's start with the most basic, why these shipments suffer such slow transport. Many times the cost of shipping is negligible despite the distance, this is because these products usually come loaded on large cargo ships or planes with the same use, for this they use large containers, a specific product is not sent with a specific company, which makes the time between delivery very flexible. Generally, these shipments are made through the public postal companies of each country, and ends up being delivered by Correos España. In addition, the cost of this product rises considerably when it is sent by private companies, since they ensure the product passes through customs, which will influence the payment of the corresponding VAT and the equivalent administrative handling and management fee, generally abusive in companies such as DHL. In short, these shipments usually range between 14 and 30 working days. We are going to offer you a couple of alternatives to follow up on these very peculiar shipments, which usually keep us in suspense.
Track orders from China via web
The first method that we are going to contemplate is tracking via the web, that is, the web pages that we must go to if what we want is to track a shipment. These companies from which we have made the purchase, generally they will provide us with a "Tracking Number" so that we can know when the device has been sent and thus be more or less aware during the journey, although it is usually worse for our patience to be excessively attentive, we will save it more than anything as a good weekly file.
I am going to leave a list of pages specialized in tracking shipments and why I choose them, to access it click on the name and it will redirect you:
- 17Track: This is for me the best one, it includes the majority of specialized companies, in general we will obtain the follow-up regardless of the shipping method, it does not always work, but it is the one that fails the least and we must take into account the most according to me. experience.
- Post: The Correos website will only offer us information once the package has arrived in Spain, this means that when it appears on the Correos website, the package will be delivered approximately within a maximum of 4 working days.
- Shipments with China Post
- Shipments with Hong Kong Post
- Shipments with Singapore Post
- DHL: If unfortunately we have chosen to ship with DHL, we must prepare ourselves for the cost of going through customs, unless the package has been sent as a gift for less than € 20.
Mobile apps to track shipments from China
Today there is no service that lacks its own application for mobile devices, so tracking shipments for import packages could not be left out of the app bubble. Therefore, we are going to show you several of the best alternatives in terms of apps for iOS and Android with which to track our shipments from China or from anywhere in the world:
- Parcel: The most complete and popular, unfortunately it is available only for iOS devices, but it is the best alternative. It also includes an application for the Apple Watch and shipping labels. DOWNLOAD LINK.
- AfterShip: The most popular in the Android environment, free shipment tracking with automatic detection of the company in charge and labeling system, highly recommended. DOWNLOAD LINK.
- 17Track: It sounds familiar, we talked about it a few minutes ago, this application is run by the owners of the previous website and it is just as efficient, download by clicking on the link: ANDROID - iOS
We hope that now it is easier for you to track your shipments from China. Leave your advice in the comments.