People take it for granted that you can ship anything anywhere in the world. That simply is not so. There are some bans on products that are not allowed in other countries, and there has to be arrangements with foreign shippers to accept shipments and distribute them to the correct recipients. To get a better idea of how your packages and shipments may be received and handled by shipping services on foreign soil, here is a closer look. 

Packages Coming From China and Going to China 

If you have ever ordered something from a third-party seller on an online-only seller of goods, you might have discovered that the item is coming from China. The difficult part is that you may or may not get a tracking number, and even if you do get a tracking number, it cannot be tracked through American postal or shipping companies. Even after it arrives on American soil, you will not be able to track your Chinese package without going to a Chinese package tracking site. As such, you can enter the tracking number only if it applies to a specific Chinese shipping company. Trying to figure out which company you need to use is half the battle, but then you should be able to find out just where your package is from there. 

If you have packages going to China, you can put tracking on it yourself if you want to make sure the package ends up where it is supposed to go. The recipient will have less luck tracking your package on his/her end in China. The package may also be held up for weeks in customs because of the socialist regime of China. Things have become more relaxed, but your package may still be heavily scrutinized because it came from the United States. 

Air Mail to Europe

While most packages to and from China go by boat still, most packages and other mail heading to Great Britain and Europe go by air mail. It is much faster and less risky than going by boat. The postage may surprise you, considering the necessary conversion from U.S. dollars to British pounds or Euros. You will have to pay more because the Euro and the pound are both valued higher than the dollar. There are very few restrictions, however, in what you can and cannot ship over there, and how the recipients can track things.