How long does KakoBuy take to ship to the UK?
How the 10 days break down
Delivering in the UK
Royal Mail finishes 270 of the 330 parcels here, and it is the likeliest of the carriers we track to turn up on a Saturday: 61 of 347 Royal Mail deliveries we logged were Saturdays. Nothing arrived on a Sunday.
Coming up, public holidays with no delivery in the UK: Dec 25, Dec 28, Jan 1 and Apr 2.
Customs in the UK
British customs is quick with agent parcels: 92 of the 111 UK parcels in our customs data cleared on a normal scan and 8 were sent back. VAT on low-value parcels is meant to be charged at checkout under the £135 rule; when it has not been, Royal Mail asks for it before delivery. /shipping/china-agent-to-uk has the detail.
What the spread looks like
Of the 10 countries we track, 2 get KakoBuy parcels faster than the UK and 7 slower. 47% of parcels here arrived within 10 days and 4% took 20 days or more. Each bar is a five-day bucket across all 330 parcels.
By shipping line
Royal Mail was the quickest line to the UK, a median 10 days over 270 parcels; China Ems the slowest at 12.
| Line | Parcels | Middle half | Typical |
|---|---|---|---|
| Royal Mail | 270 | 3-12 d | 10 d |
| China Ems | 49 | 8-14 d | 12 d |
Not until day 17 since the first scan. UK parcels go quiet mostly between leaving China and Royal Mail's first scan at the sorting hub; after that the gaps are short. Past day 17, paste the number into the tracker for the China-side scans Royal Mail doesn't show.
Other countries
Questions people ask
How long does KakoBuy take to ship to the UK?
About 10 days from the first carrier scan to your door, measured on 330 delivered parcels. Most arrive in 3 to 13 days and nine in ten within 17 days. Add 1 to 3 days before that for packing.
Does Royal Mail deliver on weekends?
Royal Mail delivers Monday to Saturday. Sundays and bank holidays don't count. The RepTools tracker's delivery window already skips those days.
Which KakoBuy line is fastest to the UK?
In our data, Royal Mail: a median 10 days over 270 parcels, against 12 days for China Ems. You choose the line when you submit the parcel, and the quicker lines usually cost more.
Is KakoBuy faster to the UK than to the EU?
Yes, in our data: a median of 10 days to the UK against 13 for Germany and Sweden and 11 for the Netherlands. UK parcels go straight to Royal Mail, while the EU countries' parcels are routed through DHL in Germany first.
Does the clock include the days KakoBuy takes to pack?
No. These numbers start at the first carrier scan, which is when the parcel has actually left the warehouse. Packing and QC after you submit the parcel usually add 1 to 3 days on top, longer around Chinese New Year and Golden Week.
Source: 330 KakoBuy parcels to the UK tracked on rep.tools and confirmed delivered, updated 2026-09-04; how it is measured.
Shipping with another agent? Rep shipping time by country covers every agent we track, and reps seized by customs covers what happens at the border.