When a quiet ACBuy parcel to the UK officially counts as late or lost

ACBuy’s compensation tables open with a block of criteria that decide when a problem officially exists. This page reads those criteria for the UK lines and leaves the payouts to the tables themselves.

The three delay counts in ACBuy’s tables

ACBuy publishes two compensation tables as images, one for parcels with AC Care or Free Insurance and one without. Both carry the same criteria for problem determination, and we re-read those cells on the original images on 16 October 2026.

Packet lines, all countries: not delivered 45 days after shipment.
EMS lines: for the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Australia and New Zealand, not delivered 60 days after shipment (the United States 90).
Express lines: not delivered 30 days after shipment.

Cells from the Parcel Delay criteria column of ACBuy’s insured compensation table: 45 days for Packet, 60 days for EMS to the UK, 30 days for Express — ACBuy compensation table for insured parcels (uploaded 26 March 2026), Parcel Delay criteria, cropped. Watermark is ACBuy’s. View full-size image ↗

Every count starts at shipment from ACBuy’s warehouse, not at the last scan. The parcel page shows the shipment date.

Three exceptions that switch the delay count off

The delay criteria come with exceptions, and they are the ones a UK buyer is most likely to trip over:

Failed delivery because of incorrect recipient information: name, address, phone number, declared value and so on.
The customer did not pick up the parcel in time.
The tracking record shows the parcel as signed for or delivered.

The second one is the quiet killer. A Royal Mail card through the door, a parcel waiting at a delivery office or a UPS access point, and a tracking page that looks stalled from your side can all mean the count no longer runs. Check the carrier’s site with the UK number before you assume a parcel is late.

Three exception cards: wrong recipient details, parcel not collected in time, tracking shows delivered — The three exceptions attached to every delay criterion in ACBuy’s tables. View full-size image ↗

Loss is a separate and stricter test

Delay and loss are judged by different cells of the same table, and for EMS the loss bar is much higher. An EMS parcel counts as lost after more than 90 days from shipment without a pickup by the last-mile carrier (the United States 120), or more than 30 days unsigned after that pickup, except during customs inspection, and then only with the carrier’s confirmation or a loss certificate.

For Express, loss is simply what the carrier determines. On every line, if tracking later updates to signed, ACBuy deducts the compensation it paid from your account.

Parcel Loss cell for EMS lines from ACBuy’s insured compensation table, with the 90-day and 30-day conditions — ACBuy compensation table for insured parcels, EMS row, Parcel Loss criteria, cropped. Re-read on the original image, 16 October 2026. View full-size image ↗

For Packet lines, the provisional comparison used here for the two Royal Mail routes, a parcel counts as lost when the carrier says so, including loss in the warehouse or on the first leg; or when it has gone more than 45 days after shipment without a pickup by the last-mile carrier, at which point you can open a case asking for the carrier’s confirmation or a loss certificate; or when the last-mile courier picked it up more than 30 days ago, it is still unsigned, and you have that courier’s loss certificate. In other words, on a Royal Mail line day 45 is both the delay threshold and the point at which a loss case can be opened.

EUB-HN has no count to wait for

EUB-HN is not named in the Packet, EMS or Express groups, carried no insurance option on 16 October 2026 and states in its own line note that it offers no enquiry service for loss, delay, damage or inspection. There is therefore no day after which ACBuy has said it will treat an EUB-HN parcel as late or lost.

You can still ask ACBuy support or the UK post office about it, and the postal statuses still describe where it probably is. What you should not expect is a formal case at day 45 or day 60. The price difference does not establish why the operator set the rate; compare the stated service limits before choosing.

Card showing EUB-HN outside the three compensation groups with its no-enquiry clause quoted — EUB-HN against the criteria: no group, no count. View full-size image ↗

Raising it once the count has passed

When the delay count for your line has passed, write to ACBuy online support with the AP parcel number, the line, the shipment date, the last tracking entry and, if the UK carrier has a record, its reference. ACBuy’s AC Care instruction warns that there is no compensation if no inquiry is made within 14 days of signing or of reaching the claim time-frame, so do not sit on it.

What the delay or loss is worth depends on the line group and on whether the parcel had AC Care, Free Insurance or nothing. Those cells are in the two tables, which are worth reading in full before you choose a line rather than after. Delay refunds in particular are not offered on every group.

Message card raising a late parcel with ACBuy support after the delay count has passed, listing the details to include — What to include when the count has passed. The 14-day inquiry clock comes from ACBuy’s AC Care instruction. View full-size image ↗

What the delivery breakdown cannot tell you

The estimator attaches a delivery breakdown to each line, splitting delivered parcels into bands from 0 to 7 days up to over 40 days. ACBuy does not define the period or the basis, so we read the bands as a rough guide, not a promise. On 16 October 2026 the over-40-day band was 0 for Royal Mail EC-M, 0.12% for UPS(HK)-5000, and highest at 2.56% for Royal Mail (Special)-S.

Because the period and sample are undefined, these percentages cannot establish how unusual your parcel is or the chance that it is lost. Use the actual tracking, quoted service window and carrier requests to decide what to ask next.