Summary

An older tracking number can come back as invalid or show nothing on the carrier's website, and the proof of delivery can be gone, even though the package shipped. Carriers delete tracking data after a set amount of time. Separately, Shipstore keeps shipment records for about one year, so a shipment older than that is no longer in Shipstore either. For anything past those windows, contact the carrier with the tracking number.

Problem

You look up a tracking number for a shipment that already went out and the carrier's site shows no results, or shows the number as invalid:

INVALID

That is the wording UPS uses. Other carriers word it a little differently. Sometimes the proof of delivery is gone as well, and sometimes Shipstore has no record of the shipment either.

Cause

Two separate retention windows, and neither one extends the other.

  • The carrier's window. Carriers delete tracking data once it is old enough. UPS keeps detailed tracking and proof of delivery for about 120 days and drops older tracking numbers after several months, so an old number comes back invalid or empty on their site.
  • Shipstore's window. Shipstore keeps shipment and tracking records for about one year. A shipment older than that is no longer in the database, so it cannot be found in Shipment History. Inside that year the shipment stays and can still be reported on, but after 30 days the recipient's name and street address are removed, so an older record shows only the city, state, and ZIP.

How to check: find the ship date. If the shipment is only a few months old, the carrier should still have it. If it is more than about a year old, expect it to be gone from Shipstore too.

Fix

  1. Confirm the ship date and how old the shipment is.
  2. If it is inside the roughly one-year window, look it up in Shipment History by order number or reference number to confirm it shipped and to see the stored details.
  3. If the carrier's site shows the number as invalid, or the proof of delivery is gone, contact the carrier directly with the tracking number and the ship date and ask for their archived record.
  4. Do not expect Shipstore to show tracking the carrier has already deleted. Shipstore shows what the carrier reports, inside its own one-year window.

What you should see

Shipments inside the roughly one-year window are found in Shipment History. For older ones, the carrier tells you whether the tracking number is still in their system.

Related articles

See also: "Build a shipment report: station filter, LTL counts, blank ship-to" for what is kept on older shipments, and "Tracking does not post back to your host after you ship".