ePacket delivery is one of the most popular shipping methods offered by merchants from China and Hong Kong. For good reason – it’s one of the fastest delivery options for international shipping with the ability to monitor your ePacket tracking numbers through China Post.
Products purchased from China were previously shipped by sea. This meant delivery could be expected to take over eight weeks. Now, ePacket tracking shows that most orders are delivered within 30 days. Your ePacket tracker will likely reveal that many packages arrive sooner.
There are several considerations to make the most of ePacket delivery, including ePacket regulations, the location of your customer base, and how to track ePacket deliveries. This guide will cover these topics and more.
What Is ePacket?
ePacketis a shipping option offered by merchants in China and Hong Kong. It originated as an agreement between the US Postal Service (USPS) and Hong Kong Post, and has now expanded to include dozens of countries. It allows for faster delivery of products coming from China and Hong Kong to a number of countries.
How Does ePacket Work?
ePacket shipping allows your customers to receive their package in a reasonable period, while enabling them to track their order in real-time during the wait. The delivery process starts with the carrier in Hong Kong or China bringing the package to the border. From there, it’s shipped to the customer’s destination through an international carrier. After crossing the destination border, the package is picked by a local carrier in the destination country, which is then responsible for delivering it to the customer’s address. The ePacket shipping time varies based on the location and the delivery method.
What Is ePacket Shipping?
You’ll often see Chinese suppliers offering ePacket shipping on AliExpress. As the name indicates, ePacket shipping was designed to serve ecommerce customers, letting them receive their orders faster and at a lower cost from online stores that source items from China and Hong Kong. Any supplier can offer ePacket shipping as long as their package fulfills the requirements for ePacket delivery.
What Is ePacket Delivery?
ePacket delivery started as a quick and low-cost shipping solution for conventional and dropshipping companies shipping items to the US. With time, ePacket has expanded into more than 40 global destinations, such as the UK, Canada, and Australia. A local carrier handles the ePacket delivery to the final destination. By local, we mean carriers operating within the package destination country — USPS, Royal Mail, Canada Post, Australia Post, etc. Each carrier has its own fees, package dimensions, and delivery processes.
What Are the Requirements to Use the ePacket Delivery Method?
Based on information provided by USPS, there are several requirements that need to be met when it comes to the package or parcel being sent using ePacket delivery. These requirements have to do with the weight and dimensions of the product, along with the price of the product.
Weight
The weight of the package being shipped cannot exceed 2 kg (4.4 lbs). This weight includes the product, the filler material, the shipping box, and any other packaging material. The only exception to this weight rule is when shipping to Israel, where packages can weigh up to 3 kg (6.6 lbs).
Value
The value of any product being shipped cannot be more than $400 (US Dollars), and must be shipped from China or Hong Kong to one of the countries eligible for ePacket delivery. These countries are covered further down.
Minimum Package Size
A regular packet should not have a length less than 14 cm and width less than 11 cm.
A rolled up packet should have a minimum length of 11 cm. Additionally, twice the diameter plus the length should be more than 17 cm. For packages smaller than this, merchants often use a larger box and add in filler material to take advantage of this ecommerce shipping method.
Maximum Package Size
The longest side of a regular package should not be more than 60 cm. Additionally, the sum of the length, width and height should not be greater than 90 cm. The longest side of a rolled up package should not be more than 90 cm. Additionally, twice the diameter plus the length should not be more than 104 cm.
What Are the Benefits of Using ePacket?
The list of countries that have access to ePacket is constantly growing. This is not surprising considering the many advantages of using ePacket delivery.
1. Faster: Standard methods of shipping from China to other parts of the world usually take months. ePacket delivery gives you much faster delivery times. Of course, you’re still no match to Amazon’s delivery times, but you can reasonably expect your delivery to reach your customer within three weeks.
2. Cheaper: ePacket has lower shipping rates so you can price your products more competitively.
3. Door-to-door China ePacket tracking: ePacket delivery provides customers the option of end-to-end tracking without additional costs. Being able to track the ePacket easily on official websites such as EMS and USPS offers a huge benefit.
4. Free returns on any undeliverable items: Another benefit to customers is the sense of security from knowing that any undeliverable item is returned, without any additional expense. This in turn improves the customer-merchant relationship, as the online merchants will be able to provide refunds on any packages that were not successfully delivered to customers.
5. Payment of postal customs: Any customs, duties, and/or taxes must be paid by the recipient of the shipment. As the ePacket delivery goes through regular custom clearance, customers might be required to pay any applicable taxes and duties.
Prior to the introduction of ePacket, the China EMS was the major alternative relied on for affordable delivery of customer products. The downside of this was that it would often take more than a month for customers to receive their orders. Other options were far too expensive, particularly compared to the price of the product.
Keep in mind that it’s not possible to offer free shipping on all products. Some don’t fit in the ePacket size or weight requirements. ePacket delivery method must be shipped from either China or Hong Kong, meaning that if certain dropshipping vendors have products shipping within the US, customers cannot benefit from ePacket shipping in that specific case.
ePacket Countries 2021: Which Countries Have ePacket Shipping?
As of April 2021, countries that are able to benefit from the affordable China Post’s ePacket service include:
- Austria
- Australia
- Brazil
- Belgium
- Canada
- Croatia
- Denmark
- Finland
- France
- Estonia
- Germany
- Greece
- Gibraltar
- Great Britain
- Hungary
- Hong Kong
- Italy
- Ireland
- Israel
- Latvia
- Lithuania
- Luxembourg
- Japan
- Mexico
- Malta
- Malaysia
- New Zealand
- Norway
- Netherlands
- Portugal
- Poland
- Saudi Arabia
- Singapore
- Russia
- South Korea
- Sweden
- Switzerland
- Spain
- Turkey
- Thailand
- United Kingdom
- Ukraine
- United States
- Vietnam
Packages can be shipped to all states, territories and military addresses within the United States.
Average ePacket Shipping Times
A package shipped to the United States takes an average of 10-20 days to arrive from the date of shipment. Other destinations may see slightly longer or similar shipping times based on customs, holidays, and other delays. However, ePacket shipping is still a more efficient option than other shipping solutions out of Hong Kong and China. Considering the volume of parcels processed in bulk along the route to their destination and the number of stops a parcel goes through, ePacket is still pretty fast. Plus, most ePacket deliveries include ePacket shipping tracking, which allows customers to gain peace of mind by monitoring their packages while they are on the way.
ePacket Tracking: How to Track ePacket from China
One of the greatest benefits of using China Post’s ePacket shipping service is the ePacket tracking facility. It can be tricky to keep track of all your parcels, especially when shipping a large amount at once. Customs, foreign postal services, and other barriers might hinder the tracking of any single item, let alone a large number. Tracking information can be valuable to customers wanting to know the location of their delivery.
Tracking also helps prevent any customer concerns regarding scams, if say, their package is not delivered within the given time frame. ePacket shipping also features ePacket tracking and delivery confirmation in the US Postal Service network.
The ePacket tracking USA codes must be obtained through your supplier. You can track ePacket shipments by using USPS , ePacket China Post, or sites like 17track.net.
ePacket and Dropshipping
When it comes to dropshipping, most products are manufactured in China or Hong Kong, meaning many suppliers are also based in this part of the world.The ePacket shipping option is one of the reasons why dropshipping products are relatively inexpensive to source.
The benefits of buying a cheap item can be negated if faced with expensive shipping and long wait times. These factors can cause online shoppers to reconsider their purchase at the checkout. ePacket delivery drastically cuts down the shipping time for dropshipping orders. Fast shipping helps maintain your business’ positive relationship with your customers, both new and returning.
People want instant gratification so reducing shipping times will only help you to make more sales. A core reason behind Amazon’s domination over other retailers is the ease of purchasing a product with low shipping times. ePacket shipping means you can meet the needs of your customers with the benefits of tracking the delivery.
With the undeniable benefits that ePacket shipping offers your business, it should be one of the main considerations for you when deciding which products to dropship. ePacket is a very reliable option for both merchants and customers. If the majority of your customers are based locally, you will have the speed of delivery to use as an advantage. Reliable and timely delivery is an essential factor when starting a dropshipping business.
The ePacket delivery is offered by merchants as a shipping option from China on websites such as eBay, AliExpress, and JD.com. However, the ePacket shipment is not limited to just these.
Pro Tip: Using DSers, you can quickly find products that have an ePacket delivery option available using an overlay filter.
Using China ePacket tracking and delivery changes the game for ecommerce entrepreneurs who want to buy products from dropshipping suppliers at a low cost, while maintaining quick shipping times for their customers.
Customs With ePacket Shipping
Customers may have to pay for customs or taxes on their products. This isn’t an ePacket shipping issue but an international shipping one. The ePacket delivery goes through regular custom clearances, which is the reason why the customers might require to pay any applicable taxes and duties. For best-selling items, you may want to contact your suppliers to find out about customs fees.
Additionally, it may also be beneficial to ask the shipping merchant if they are aware of any duties or taxes owed on arrival to the destination. They might have an idea beforehand of the regular shipping taxes/duties that may incur.
Notably, products with ePacket to Canada, or other international countries, may have slightly higher shipping fees and lengthier delivery times. Often, free ePacket shipping is only for the US. You need to look up the countries you serve manually to ensure that ePacket tracking and delivery is available internationally.
Hence, if you always target the same countries, you might want to check if they have ePacket before importing them into your store. This helps to ensure that every customer benefits from the ePacket China post delivery option.
You now have a strong understanding of ePacket — congratulations! Now, you’re ready to incorporate this delivery option onto your ecommerce store. Doing so is likely to improve customer satisfaction and boost your conversion rate.
Summary: ePacket Shipping in 2021
You now have a strong understanding of ePacket and— congratulations! Now, you’re ready to incorporate this delivery option onto your ecommerce store. For more tips and tricks on how to improve your ecommerce customer experience feel free to have a look around our blog.
Want to Learn More?
- The Value of Facebook Ads and Target Markets for Ecommerce [Podcast]
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- The 65 Most Inspiring and Successful Shopify Stores
- 35 Small Business Ideas That’ll Make You Money in 2021
How do you plan to use ePacket delivery in your dropshipping business? Leave your answer in the comments below. We read every response.
