One-line definition: Tracked shipping gives the sender and recipient a unique reference number to follow a parcel's journey in real time; untracked shipping moves the parcel through the postal network with no visibility once it has been handed over.
What they mean
Tracked shipping When you book a tracked shipment, the carrier assigns a unique tracking number to the parcel. Every time the parcel is scanned at a key point in the network — collection, sorting hub, departure, arrival, out for delivery, delivered — that event is recorded and linked to the tracking number. The merchant and the recipient can check the parcel's status at any point during transit by entering that number on the carrier's tracking page or app.
Untracked shipping Untracked shipments enter the postal network without a unique reference that links to scan events. The carrier accepts the parcel and delivers it, but there is no way to query where it is during transit. You know when you handed it over. You know when it arrives — because the customer tells you. Everything in between is invisible.
Why it matters for e-commerce merchants
The choice between tracked and untracked shipping affects four things that matter directly to how you run your store: cost, customer experience, dispute resolution, and carrier liability.
Cost. Untracked services are cheaper — sometimes significantly so. Deutsche Post's standard international packet services, Royal Mail's untracked international options, and basic postal services in many countries are priced below their tracked equivalents by a meaningful margin. For very low-value items where the shipping cost is a large proportion of the total order value, untracked can make the unit economics work in a way that tracked cannot.
Customer experience. Tracked shipments give customers something to do while they wait — they can follow the parcel's progress, anticipate the delivery day, and feel in control of the experience. Untracked shipments offer no such reassurance. For most consumer e-commerce, tracking is now an expected part of the post-purchase experience. Its absence is noticed and generates "where is my order" contacts at a significantly higher rate than tracked shipments.
Dispute resolution. If a customer claims their parcel never arrived, tracking data is your evidence. A delivered scan at the address, a locker deposit scan, a customs clearance event — these are concrete reference points that help resolve disputes fairly. Without tracking, you have no evidence either way. Untracked shipments that go missing typically result in the merchant absorbing the cost, because there is no data to confirm delivery or disprove the claim.
Carrier liability. Most carriers limit or eliminate their liability for lost untracked shipments. If the carrier cannot see what happened to the parcel, they cannot accept responsibility for it. Tracked services carry at least basic liability — typically a fixed amount per shipment — because the scan history provides a basis for investigating and confirming a loss.
What tracking actually covers
Not all tracked services are equal. Tracking quality varies considerably across carriers and service tiers.
Basic tracking provides a small number of scan events — typically collection, arrival at destination country, and delivery. Enough to confirm a parcel is moving and when it arrived, but without granular visibility of the journey in between. Common with postal carrier international tracked services and economy courier tiers.
Full tracking provides scan events at every major point in the carrier network — collection, each hub transit, customs clearance, loading onto the delivery vehicle, delivery or attempted delivery. Common with premium courier services like DHL Express, FedEx International Priority, and UPS Express. This level of visibility allows proactive intervention if something goes wrong mid-journey.
Real-time tracking adds GPS-level visibility in the final delivery stage — a live map showing the driver's position relative to the delivery address, with an accurate delivery window down to a specific time slot. Common with last-mile specialists like Budbee and Helthjem. This is the tracking experience that sets the highest consumer expectations and drives the strongest delivery satisfaction scores.
| Tracking level | What you can see | Typical service type |
|---|---|---|
| No tracking | Nothing after handover | Standard postal, untracked packets |
| Basic tracking | Key milestones only | Postal tracked, economy courier |
| Full tracking | Every hub scan | Express courier (DHL, FedEx, UPS) |
| Real-time tracking | Live driver location | Last-mile specialists (Budbee, Helthjem) |
When untracked shipping makes sense
Untracked is not always the wrong choice. There are specific situations where the cost saving justifies the reduced visibility.
Very low-value items. If you are shipping a product worth €3 and the tracked service costs €6 while the untracked service costs €2, the economics of tracked shipping are difficult to justify. The expected loss rate from untracked shipments is low enough that the cost saving outweighs the occasional absorbed refund.
Documents and non-physical goods confirmations. Shipping a document that has a digital backup and no monetary value does not need the liability protection that tracked shipping provides.
Markets with very reliable postal infrastructure. Domestic postal services in Finland, Germany, and the Netherlands have very low loss rates. The risk premium embedded in choosing tracked over untracked is smaller in these markets than in destinations with less reliable postal infrastructure.
Supplementary low-cost tier. Some merchants offer untracked as the cheapest checkout option for customers who explicitly choose it over a tracked alternative. This gives price-sensitive customers a choice while making the trade-off clear at the point of selection.
In most other situations — anything with meaningful value, any international shipment, any market where your customer base has high post-purchase engagement expectations — tracked shipping is the right default.
Common misconceptions and mistakes
"Tracked means insured." Tracking and insurance are separate things. A tracked shipment is visible — you can see where it is and confirm delivery. An insured shipment is covered financially if it is lost or damaged. Most tracked services include basic carrier liability, but that liability ceiling is often low. For high-value items, additional insurance is separate from tracking and needs to be purchased explicitly.
"Untracked is fine for international shipments." International shipments cross customs borders, change carrier hands, and travel longer distances through more complex networks. The combination of higher loss risk, longer transit time, and no visibility if something goes wrong makes untracked a significantly higher-risk choice on international routes than on domestic ones.
"If it's tracked, I can always find it." Tracking provides visibility at scan points in the network. If a parcel is lost between scan points — in a sorting hub, in a customs facility, in a vehicle — tracking shows you the last confirmed location but cannot tell you where it is now. Tracking narrows down where a problem occurred; it does not guarantee you can recover the parcel.
"All tracking numbers work on all tracking websites." Tracking numbers are carrier-specific. A Posti tracking number works on Posti's website. An Omniva tracking number works on Omniva's. Some third-party aggregator sites (such as 17track or Parcel Monitor) can query multiple carrier systems from one interface, but the underlying data source is still the individual carrier's scan network.
How this connects to your Shopify store
Packrooster connects tracked carrier services directly to Shopify — shipping labels generated through Packrooster automatically include the carrier tracking number, which is written back to the Shopify order. This means your customer receives their tracking number as part of Shopify's standard order notification flow without you needing to manually copy tracking numbers between systems.
Packrooster's tracking features surface scan events from the carrier network and keep customers informed at key milestones — departure from origin, arrival in destination country, out for delivery. This reduces "where is my order" contacts by keeping customers oriented through the transit journey without requiring them to actively monitor the carrier's tracking page.
For merchants who offer multiple shipping tiers at checkout — a lower-cost untracked option alongside a tracked standard service and a premium express option — Packrooster's checkout rate control lets you configure each tier with the correct carrier service, ensuring that the service the customer selects at checkout matches the label and tracking level they actually receive.
Learn more about Packrooster →
Frequently asked questions
Does tracked shipping actually reduce customer complaints? Consistently, yes. The majority of "where is my order" contacts come from customers who have no visibility of their parcel's progress and are anxious about whether it is coming. Tracked shipments with proactive notification at key milestones — particularly the "out for delivery" event — reduce inbound contacts significantly because customers have the information they need without having to ask for it.
What tracking does Deutsche Post offer? Deutsche Post's Packet Tracked service provides basic end-to-end tracking with scan events at key milestones. Their standard Packet and Business Mail services are untracked or provide only limited visibility. If you use Deutsche Post for lightweight international shipments — a common choice for low-value items shipped economy — selecting Packet Tracked rather than standard Packet adds tracking at a small additional cost per shipment that is typically worth it for the dispute resolution protection alone.
How long is tracking data available after delivery? This varies by carrier. Most major carriers retain tracking data for 90 to 180 days after delivery. Some retain it for up to a year. For dispute resolution purposes, if a customer raises a claim about non-delivery several months after the event, tracking data may still be available to reference — but checking quickly after any flagged issue is advisable rather than assuming data will be available indefinitely.
Can I add tracking to an untracked service after booking? No. Tracking is determined at the point of booking and encoded in the label. You cannot retrospectively add tracking visibility to an untracked shipment once it has entered the carrier network. If tracking matters for a given shipment, it needs to be selected before the label is created.
What is the difference between a tracking number and a reference number? A tracking number is a carrier-assigned identifier linked to scan events in the carrier's network — entering it on the carrier's website returns the parcel's transit history. A reference number is a merchant-assigned or booking-assigned identifier used for internal record-keeping — it identifies the shipment in your system but does not necessarily correspond to a carrier scan record. Confusing the two leads to frustration when customers try to track a "reference number" on the carrier's website and get no results.
