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 tracking data will likely show 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 Delivery?
ePacket delivery is 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 included dozens of countries. It allows for faster ePacket delivery of products coming from China and Hong Kong to a number of countries.
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?
As the name “ePacket” suggests, the shipping service was formed for ecommerce purposes, to make it both faster and more affordable for customers to receive their purchases from online stores and marketplaces shipping from China and Hong Kong.
ePacket became so successful within the US that they began expanding internationally. The list of countries that have access to ePacket is constantly growing. This is not surprising considering the many advantages of using ePacket delivery.
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.
Cheaper: ePacket has lower shipping rates so you can price your products more competitively.
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.
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.
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.
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