topic Re: Royal Mail tracking number starting IW in Postage

Royal Mail tracking number starting IW

18catsrfurryfriends — Fri, 05 Sep 2025 04:33:50 GMT

Have justed tried to track a parcel and it says it has gone to Abbey Wood in error and it will be re routed immediately. So not sure when that will arrive. But just wondering if anyone has seen a RM tracking number starting IW before it is a new one on me.

Re: Royal Mail tracking number starting IW

style_wise — Fri, 05 Sep 2025 21:16:51 GMT

I searched for Royal Mail details and they don't assign any particular meaning to IW tracking numbers.

Re: Royal Mail tracking number starting IW

dansvan1 — Fri, 05 Sep 2025 23:27:34 GMT

My last few parcels were IV, so I'm assuming IW is just next in line.

Re: Royal Mail tracking number starting IW

18catsrfurryfriends — Sat, 06 Sep 2025 07:42:09 GMT

Well so far this 48hr tracked parcel has taken 6 days and It is still not out for delivery so I would assume it will be delivered Monday which means it has taken 8 days to get here.

Re: Royal Mail tracking number starting IW

boris-the-spider63 — Mon, 24 Nov 2025 13:58:06 GMT

I have had a few recent IW prefix tracking numbers recently, they take up to 10 days ! My belief is that they are remotely generated in China from some eBay sellers !

Re: Royal Mail tracking number starting IW

thesmokingrunner — Mon, 24 Nov 2025 14:32:37 GMT

I followed a thread a couple of weeks ago concerning a Tracked 48 parcel which had seemingly gone AWOL in the system. It was posted on a Wednesday and was recorded as being at Jubilee MC in Hounslow the following day. Nothing happened for a week, then it was recorded as being at the Midlands Super Hub the following Wednesday, went back to Jubilee MC the next day and was eventually delivered the day after that - 10 days after it had been posted.

These days Tracked 48 is about as accurate as eBay's 'Estimated Delivery Date'.

Re: Royal Mail tracking number starting IW

g7iqjuk_2 — Thu, 15 Jan 2026 18:58:18 GMT

WONDER if it came from china ????? hounslow south west london, , DEPOT collects parcels from heatrow freight terminals ??. 8- 10 about wright from china .

Re: Royal Mail tracking number starting IW

thesmokingrunner — Fri, 16 Jan 2026 07:07:10 GMT

Highly unlikely, @g7iqjuk_2 - an item sent from China would be sent using Speedpak or a similar international shipping method and any Tracking Number would be in a different format.

The Tracking Number of a Royal Mail Tracked 48 parcel would be in the format xxnnnnnnnnnxx and the last two characters would be GB, indicating that the label was purchased in this country. If a seller in China purchased a label and attached it to a parcel I doubt very much that the label would be accepted as valid when the item was posted in China.

Re: Royal Mail tracking number starting IW

rwaterston — Mon, 09 Mar 2026 18:36:19 GMT

I think this is done with warehouse forwarding at UK part of the delivery

Re: Royal Mail tracking number starting IW

humblefantastic — Sun, 29 Mar 2026 00:39:50 GMT

Not seen it on ebay (although I haven't bought from a China-based ebay seller in some time) but when I purchase items from Banggood they are dispatched from China and often via Royal Mail. In which case I'm given an IW*********GB tracking number (normally on the same day as purchase) which is valid on the normal RM tracking website.