Track orders and parcels separately
"Processing", "dispatched" and "out for delivery" live in three different systems. Mixing them into one status cell is how a parcel gets recorded as delivered before anyone has opened the door.
Three statuses, three sources
Order status is the seller's record of a transaction: paid, accepted, cancelled, refunded. Warehouse status describes handling: awaiting stock, picked, packed. Parcel status is the carrier's scan history: collected, in transit, at a depot, out for delivery, delivered.
Only the last one is evidence about a physical parcel, and even then it describes a scan — not your doorstep. Keep three columns rather than one, because they update on different clocks and one can move backwards while the others do not.
Building the timeline
A timeline row is a date, a source, a verbatim status and your own short note. One row per update, appended, never rewritten. The table below is an invented example that shows the structure.
| Date | Layer | Status as shown | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| 14 Oct 2026 | Order | Payment accepted | Reference saved |
| 16 Oct 2026 | Warehouse | Packed | Second item still pending |
| 18 Oct 2026 | Parcel | Collected by carrier | Tracking reference recorded |
| 20 Oct 2026 | Parcel | In transit | Expected window shown: 22–24 Oct |
| — | Parcel | Not yet delivered | Leave blank until a scan appears |
The final row is deliberate. An empty cell with "not yet delivered" is a true record. Copying the expected window into the delivered column is not.
Copy the original wording
Status labels are written by whoever built the system. "Handed to carrier" and "dispatched" can mean the same thing, or can be days apart. Copy the label and the timestamp exactly as shown, then add your interpretation in a separate note column. If the tracking page shows a local time zone, record which one.
Recording dates honestly
Two date columns prevent most confusion: expected and actual. Expected is what a seller or carrier stated, with its source. Actual is what happened, with the scan that proves it. Where you have no scan, the actual cell stays empty — a blank is information, and an invented delivery date destroys the value of the whole record.
Keep the timeline next to the address record from checking delivery details, because address errors show up as unusual tracking events. If a tracking page says a parcel is being returned to sender, start with the address fields and the restricted-items rules in transport restrictions. For delivery charges that change while a parcel is in transit, revisit estimating shipping from a quote, then update the totals on the hipobuy spreadsheet home page.
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