Track Every Parcel in Great Britain with Parcel Monitor

This status means the courier knows about your package but hasn't physically touched it yet — the shop printed the label and booked the collection, and the first real scan is still to come. A day or two of this is completely normal; small shops often print labels in the evening and hand packages over in batches, and international sellers can take longer between label and first scan. It becomes worth acting on after about three or four days of no movement: at that point, the package may genuinely not have been handed over, and only the seller can check that. Message them and ask when the courier actually collected it — "label created, never shipped" is a seller-side problem with a seller-side fix. Once the first scan lands, your timeline here comes alive and stays that way.

That fee is the price of the customs paperwork being done for you. When a package from outside the UK arrives owing import VAT or duty, the carrier fronts the assessment work and collects the taxes — and charges for the service: £8 on Royal Mail deliveries, £12 on Parcelforce, and £25 for high-value items over £900 needing a full customs declaration. The fee only appears when there's actually something to collect, which is the useful loophole: shops that handle UK VAT at checkout (most big platforms do, for orders up to £135) send packages that clear with nothing owed — no tax bill at the door, no handling fee. So the same £30 order arrives free from one shop and with £8-plus-VAT attached from another. Check the checkout before you buy; the VAT line is the tell.

It means your package is between scanning points — and some gaps between scans are simply long. On international routes, the stretch between leaving the origin country and arriving in the UK can run a week or more with zero updates, because nobody scans packages mid-flight or mid-Channel. Within the UK, a static location usually means the package is queued at a sorting hub rather than lost; peak season makes those queues visibly slower. The status is unhelpfully vague, but the pattern is reliable: silence, then a burst of scans once the package hits the next facility. We keep checking automatically, so there's nothing to refresh. If the freeze runs well past the seller's delivery estimate, that's your cue — ask the seller to raise an enquiry with the carrier, which works better from their side than yours.

Royal Mail makes this a two-minute job. You'll receive a grey "Fee to Pay" card (or a digital notification) when a package arrives owing charges — go to royalmail.com's Pay a fee page, enter the reference from the card, and pay by card or PayPal; delivery then resumes. Parcelforce works the same way through the customs-charge page on parcelforce.com, and both also accept payment at a Post Office if you prefer a counter. Two warnings born of experience: don't dawdle, because held packages have a return clock ticking; and be paranoid about texts and emails demanding small customs fees via odd links — the real fee has a real card or letter behind it, and the real payment page lives on the carrier's own domain, reached by typing the address yourself. When unsure, check the tracking here first: a genuine fee shows as a held-for-payment status.

Your package changed hands at the border, and the new team issued its own paperwork. International sellers ship with a cross-border carrier or a platform network; once the package clears UK customs, Royal Mail, Evri or another domestic courier takes over the final leg under a fresh number. The original number often goes quiet at that exact moment — which looks like a dead end and is actually a relay handover. Both numbers work here: paste in either and we follow the whole journey, and if the seller or the courier's app surfaces the new UK number, add it and we'll keep the two linked. Practical tip: the UK number is the one Royal Mail's redelivery tools and Evri's app recognise, so it's the one to use for rearranging a delivery.

The full doorstep rotation. Royal Mail and Parcelforce for the classics, Evri and InPost carrying a huge share of online orders (InPost now also handles the parcels that used to go with Yodel), DPD and DHL eCommerce for timed deliveries, plus Amazon Logistics and the international names, FedEx and UPS, flying orders in. Your ASOS order by Evri, your Amazon package, your Vinted find via an InPost locker and an AliExpress parcel clearing Heathrow all live in one timeline here. In total we track more than 1,000 carriers worldwide, recognising each number format automatically. And when an international parcel switches to a UK courier at the border, we follow it through the hand-off, new tracking number and all.

Both are ways to collect on your own schedule instead of gambling on being home. InPost lockers are 24/7 machines outside supermarkets and stations: when your package lands, you get a QR code or PIN by email and app — scan or type at the locker, the door opens, done, even at midnight. Evri ParcelShops are counters inside local shops: bring the code from your notification (plus ID for some packages) and collect during shop hours; many double as drop-off points for returns. Shops increasingly offer both at checkout, usually cheaper than home delivery. The single rule both share: collection windows are short — typically a few days, with lockers strictest — and uncollected packages get rerouted or returned. The code message tells you your deadline; treat it as firm.

You'll find a red "Something for you" card (or an app notification) telling you where your package went — usually your local Customer Service Point or Post Office — and from there you've got easy options. Collect in person with the card and photo ID, send someone else with the card plus their ID and a note from you, or rearrange: royalmail.com lets you book a free redelivery to your address on a day you choose, or to a different local address or Post Office. Redelivery is often the laziest good option — book it for Saturday and stay in bed. The deadline to respect: Royal Mail holds items for a couple of weeks or so before returning them to the sender, and the card states your exact date. Your timeline here shows the attempted-delivery scan, so you'll know to look for the card even if it blew off the doormat.

That arrival scan usually marks the start of the quietest phase: your package is at the international gateway — most postal packages funnel through Royal Mail's hub at Langley — queueing for customs checks and re-entry into the domestic network, and those steps barely produce public scans. A few days of silence is standard; peak season and packages needing a VAT assessment take longer. Two checks worth making while you wait: look for a Fee to Pay notification (an unpaid customs charge silently parks packages at exactly this stage), and see whether your seller used a service that hands over to Evri or Yodel — the action may have moved to a new UK tracking number you haven't been sent yet. Ask the seller for it, add it here, and the story usually resumes. Past two weeks of nothing, have the seller raise a formal enquiry.

Work the checklist before assuming the worst — it resolves most cases by evening. Read the delivery detail on the scan: UK couriers photograph deliveries, and the photo in the carrier's app usually shows exactly which doorstep, porch or "safe place" was used — sometimes a neighbour's. Check behind bins, in the porch, with the household, and knock next door; "left with neighbour" is routine and not always well-labelled. Evri and Yodel scans sometimes land minutes early, so give it a few hours. Still missing next day? Report it to the carrier with your tracking number, then tell the seller — under UK consumer rules the seller is responsible for getting the order to you, so they're the ones who must refund, replace or claim. Your timeline here gives the exact scan time and wording to quote.

You probably paid them at checkout. For goods sent to Great Britain in a consignment worth £135 or less, the overseas seller or online marketplace charges UK VAT when you buy, so nothing is due when the parcel lands. Above £135, VAT isn't added at checkout. Instead, import VAT, and possibly customs duty, is collected before delivery, usually by Royal Mail, Parcelforce or the courier, along with its own fee. Northern Ireland has different rules, so import VAT there can be charged on arrival. Keep your order receipt in case anyone asks for proof of what you paid.

It depends on the value. A genuine gift worth £39 or less comes in free of import VAT. Over £39, import VAT is due, and on gifts worth more than £135, customs duty may be added, at a rate that depends on the item and where it came from. Alcohol and tobacco are taxed differently, even when the gift is small. The carrier collects whatever is owed, usually with a fee, before delivering. To count as a gift, it must go from one private person to another, for an occasion like a birthday or anniversary, with nothing paid in return.

They can apply. Since Brexit, Great Britain is outside the EU customs area, so a parcel from France or Germany is an import, just like one from the US. On orders up to £135, the shop should add UK VAT at checkout. Above that, import VAT is due before delivery, and customs duty may be too, unless the goods count as made in the EU under the UK–EU trade deal. Some EU shops no longer ship to the UK at all. If a price shows VAT included, check whether that's UK VAT or the shop's own country's VAT before you buy.

Royal Mail uses short, plain phrases. “We're expecting it” means the sender has bought postage but hasn't handed the item over yet. “We've got it” is the first scan in Royal Mail's network, and “On its way” or “In transit” covers the trip between mail centres. Items from abroad can show “In customs” and “Fee to pay”: the second means VAT, duty or a handling fee must be paid before delivery. “Ready for delivery” means it's at your local delivery office. “Your item was delivered” or “Ready for collection” tells you how it ended.

On delivery day, DPD texts and emails you a one-hour slot, then narrows it to a 15-minute window as the driver gets close. You can also watch the van's progress on a map. If the slot doesn't suit you, you can change the delivery while it's on its way: pick another day, send it to a neighbour, choose a safe place or redirect it to a DPD Pickup shop. On some deliveries you can upgrade to a morning or weekend slot. The link in DPD's message, or the DPD app, is the quickest way to make the change.

Often, yes. Many UK carriers, including Royal Mail and DPD, let you set a preference in their app or account, or from the notification they send when your parcel is on its way. The driver will then try to leave it there. The usual choices are a safe place, a named neighbour or a nearby parcel shop. Pick somewhere out of sight from the road, like a porch, a shed or behind the bins. Bear in mind that a parcel left in a safe place you chose is normally treated as delivered. Items that need a signature, such as Royal Mail Special Delivery, can't be left this way.

Both get a signature on delivery, but only one comes with a guarantee. Special Delivery Guaranteed promises delivery by 1pm the next working day or your money back. It includes a photo and signature on delivery and covers the contents up to £750 as standard, or more if the sender pays extra. Signed For 1st Class also gets a signature, but next-day delivery is only an aim, and cover is up to £20. That's why Special Delivery is the usual choice for passports, jewellery and other valuables, while Signed For suits items where proof of delivery matters more than speed.

Mostly geography. Many addresses rely on ferry and long-distance road schedules, so deliveries can run on fewer days, and bad weather can disrupt crossings. Some couriers also add a surcharge for Highlands and Islands postcodes, or don't deliver there at all. That's why a few shops show higher postage or longer delivery times at checkout for these addresses. If an order seems slow, check which carrier the shop used. A pause in your tracking often just means the parcel is waiting for the next scheduled crossing or delivery run.

Use the reference on your Post Office receipt, or on the label you bought online from Royal Mail, Parcelforce Worldwide or a courier, and paste it here. You'll see export, the flight, then import customs in the destination country, where a local carrier takes over and may add its own number. We follow that hand-off, so the person you're sending to can track the same number. Remember the customs declaration: since Brexit, goods going to the EU need one too. A vague description, like “gift” or “clothes”, can hold a parcel up at customs.

For most online purchases, you can cancel within 14 days of receiving the goods, without giving a reason, under the Consumer Contracts Regulations. If your order arrives in several deliveries, the 14 days start from the last one. You then have another 14 days to send the goods back. The shop must refund you within 14 days of getting them back, or of you showing proof that you sent them. Some items are excluded, like personalised or perishable goods. Keep the tracking number of your return until the refund lands.

For UK delivery, Royal Mail recommends posting 2nd Class by Friday 18 December, Tracked 48 by Saturday 19 December, 1st Class and Tracked 24 by Monday 21 December, and Special Delivery Guaranteed by Wednesday 23 December. Parcelforce's express48 runs to 21 December and express24 to 22 December. International dates are earlier and vary by country, so check Royal Mail's list before you send. These dates can change, and other couriers set their own.

Probably not. With Black Friday landing on 27 November this year and Cyber Monday three days later, Royal Mail, Evri, DPD and InPost are handling their heaviest weeks. Many shops print labels on the day of the sale and only hand parcels over once they've packed the backlog, so “We're expecting it” can linger, and hubs run slower too. Give it up to a week from your order date. After that, message the shop: it booked the courier and can chase it.

Expect a pause. In 2026, Christmas Day falls on a Friday, and because 26 December is a Saturday, the Boxing Day bank holiday moves to Monday 28 December. New Year's Day is Friday 1 January 2027. Most carriers stop or run a reduced service on bank holidays, so tracking can go quiet and pick up again on the next working day. Post Offices and parcel shops may open shorter hours too, so check before you head out to collect.

Many do, but that's their own policy. The legal minimum stays the same: the Consumer Contracts Regulations give you 14 days after delivery to cancel, then another 14 to send the item back, so a present ordered in early November could fall outside it before it's even wrapped. Look for a festive returns date on the shop's site, ask for a gift receipt if the present is for someone else, and keep proof of postage when it goes back.