Tracking and statuses
What statuses mean
The statuses TrackParcel shows for every shipment, how they relate to what couriers say, and which ones end tracking.
Updated
Every courier words its updates differently: one says “Dispatched”, another “In-scan at hub”, a third writes in Hindi. TrackParcel reads each courier's latest update and shows one of the statuses below, so a list that mixes couriers still reads the same way. The courier's own words are always kept too: the latest one appears beside the status, and the full timeline is on the shipment.
For what individual courier scans mean, such as “manifested”, “arrived at hub” or “in-scan”, see the tracking status glossary.
The statuses
| Status | What it means | Do we keep checking? |
|---|---|---|
| Waiting for courier data | The number is new and the courier hasn't published it yet. Couriers often take a while to add new bookings, so this can last up to 48 hours. | Yes |
| Booked, not picked up | The courier has the booking (booked, manifested, pickup scheduled) but no pickup scan yet. | Yes |
| In transit | The parcel is moving through the courier's network. | Yes |
| Out for delivery | A delivery agent has the parcel and is due to deliver it. | Yes |
| Delivery attempt failed | The courier tried to deliver and couldn't. | Yes |
| Delivered | The courier records the parcel as delivered. | No: tracking is finished |
| Returning to sender | The parcel is on its way back to you (RTO). | Yes |
| Returned to sender | The return is complete. | No |
| Problem reported | The courier reports the parcel lost, damaged, missing, misrouted, seized, held by customs or destroyed, or reports a shortage. | Yes |
| Cancelled | The booking was cancelled. We wait for two results 12 hours apart before showing it. | No |
| Not found | The courier has no record of the number after repeated checks over at least 48 hours. | No |
| Status unclear | We couldn't tell what the courier's latest update means. | Yes |
Two more labels are not courier statuses:
- “Waiting: plan limit reached”: the shipment is saved but not checked until your plan has room (see Adding shipments).
- “Sample”: a pretend shipment from setup. Samples never contact a courier and don't count towards your plan.
Every status is shown with its name and an icon as well as a colour, so it never depends on colour alone. Problems on top of a status, such as a parcel that has stopped moving, are shown as separate labels: see Exceptions explained.
Delivered, returned and changes of mind
- The delivery date and time come from the courier's delivery details where it gives them, otherwise from the time of its delivered update.
- A partial reply from a courier never ends tracking on its own.
- Couriers sometimes go back on an update, for example from delivered to in transit. We only follow when two results at least 30 minutes apart agree.
Expected delivery dates
- When the courier gives an expected delivery date that is still ahead, we show it: “ETA 14 Oct”.
- Otherwise, if at least 30 parcels have recently gone by the same courier on the same route (origin state to destination state), we estimate a range from how long they took: “Est. 14–15 Oct”, marked “Estimated”. Hover over or tap it to see what the estimate is based on.
- If neither is available, no date is shown rather than a guess.