The two numbers everyone confuses: order ID vs tracking number
Most India Post order tracking failures have nothing to do with India Post. They fail because people try to track with the wrong number. Every online purchase gives you two different numbers, and they are not interchangeable:
- Order ID: the number the shop assigns to your purchase. Flipkart order IDs, for example, start with “OD” followed by 18 digits. It identifies the transaction — the payment, the items, the invoice.
- Tracking number: the number the carrier assigns to the physical parcel, created when the seller actually ships it. For India Post it is always 13 characters: two letters, nine digits, two letters (ending in IN).
The tracking number is the only one a courier tracker can understand. Carriers have no visibility of your order number — paste an Amazon or Flipkart order ID into a parcel tracker and it will return nothing, every time. India Post order tracking only starts when you have the tracking number.
This confusion is why many conclude that “India Post order tracking doesn’t work” when the tracker itself is fine.
Amazon orders: exactly where the tracking number hides
On Amazon, the tracking number does not exist until your item ships — before that, only the order number exists and any tracking attempt will fail. Once shipped, the number appears in three places:
- Your Orders → Track Package: open Your Orders in the Amazon app or website, select the shipped order, and open Track Package. The tracking number sits alongside the carrier name.
- The shipping confirmation email: Amazon sends an email when the item leaves the warehouse. The tracking number is listed inside, next to the carrier.
- Seller messages: for marketplace orders fulfilled by third-party sellers, the number may arrive via a seller message instead of the standard email.
Watch out for split shipments: one order can carry several tracking numbers when items ship from different fulfilment centres. Also note that tracking-number formats vary by carrier: an Amazon Logistics number starts with TBA, while an India Post number follows the 13-character format above. If the carrier listed is not India Post, its number will not work on the India Post tracker.
Flipkart orders: My Orders → Track Order, and OD is not the number
Flipkart’s layout is simpler, but the same confusion applies. Your Flipkart Order ID — “OD” plus 18 digits — is visible from the moment you pay, but it is not trackable on any courier system. Order tracking becomes active only once the seller dispatches the parcel, and Flipkart confirms the dispatch by email and SMS with the tracking details.
To find the tracking number itself: go to My Orders, open the order, and use Track Order. The courier tracking ID shown there is the number you paste into the India Post tracker. If the page shows only the OD order ID and no courier details yet, the seller has not dispatched — India Post order tracking cannot begin before that.
Other sellers and marketplaces: what to ask for, word for word
Bought from a small website, an Instagram seller, or a marketplace you do not recognise? The rule does not change: you still need the carrier tracking number, not the order number. Message the seller with this exact wording:
“Please share the courier tracking number (not the order ID) for my order, along with the name of the courier company.”
Ask for both pieces — the number and the carrier name. A legitimate seller will have both within a day of shipping. If a seller stalls, repeats only the order ID, or claims “tracking is not available” after supposedly shipping, treat it as a red flag: genuine India Post bookings always generate a trackable 13-character number.
You found a number — is it actually an India Post number?
Before tracking, run the 13-character check. A genuine India Post tracking number:
- is exactly 13 characters long,
- starts with two letters,
- has nine digits in the middle,
- ends with two letters — IN for articles originating in India.
If the number you found matches, it is an India Post number and can be tracked on the official site. This format check is the gatekeeper step of India Post order tracking: match the pattern, then track. If it does not match — different length, different pattern — it belongs to another courier. Go back to the order page or shipping email, check the named carrier, and track there. For a full breakdown of formats, see our India Post tracking number guide.
Now track it: official website vs SMS in 30 seconds
With the real tracking number in hand, India Post order tracking takes under a minute through two official channels. On the web, open indiapost.gov.in, use the Track Consignment tool, enter the number, and complete the captcha. On a phone without data, send POST TRACK <number> as an SMS to 166 or 51969.
Both pull from the same scan system: you will see the booking event, scans at each transit office, and the delivery event. If the result says “not found,” the usual cause on marketplace orders is impatience — the seller shared the number before the booking scan appeared. Wait a few hours and try again. Our track consignment guide covers all six official tracking methods in detail.
The seller won’t share the number — or the number doesn’t work
If the seller ignores your request, escalate inside the marketplace first: both Amazon and Flipkart let you raise “where is my order” and “seller not responding” cases against the specific order. A platform complaint usually produces the tracking number within a day or two, because sellers are rated on it.
If you have a number but it never returns results on the official tracker after 48 hours, it was never booked into the India Post system. Do not keep retrying the tracker — that cannot fix an un-booked parcel. Instead: confirm the carrier name with the seller again (it may be a different courier), request a refund through the marketplace’s claim process, and if the purchase was direct from a small seller’s site, call the India Post helpline 1800 266 6868 with the order details to check whether any such article was booked under your name.
And if you are trying to follow the parcel without any number at all, your best route for starting India Post order tracking later is our homepage tracker walkthrough at indiaposttrackings.com, which covers every way to track once a number exists.
Frequently asked questions
How do I find my India Post tracking number?
It depends where you ordered. On Amazon, check Your Orders → Track Package, the shipping confirmation email, or seller messages — after the item ships. On Flipkart, go to My Orders → Track Order once dispatch is confirmed. For other sellers, ask the seller directly. It will be 13 characters (two letters, nine digits, two letters).
Can I track my parcel with my Amazon order number?
No. The Amazon order number identifies your purchase; the carrier never sees it and cannot track it. India Post order tracking requires the separate tracking number, which appears only after the item ships — check Track Package or your shipping email.
Why is my tracking number showing “not found”?
The most common reason on marketplace orders is timing: the seller shared the number before the booking scan entered the system — wait a few hours and retry on the official tracker. Other causes: a typing error, tracking an order ID instead of the tracking number, or the parcel actually travelling with a different courier.
How long does India Post order tracking take to activate?
The first scan (“booked”) usually appears within a few hours of acceptance at the post office. If a number shared by a seller still shows nothing after 24–48 hours on indiapost.gov.in, the article was likely never booked — follow up with the seller or raise a marketplace case.
The order page shows the order is shipped but there is no tracking number. What now?
Ask the seller for the courier tracking number and carrier name using the wording above. “Shipped” on the order page only means the seller marked it shipped; India Post order tracking is impossible until a real tracking number exists in the carrier’s system.