Golden Week 2025: How It Impacts Amazon Deliveries and How to Plan Ahead
Understanding China’s biggest national holiday — and how thoughtful logistics planning keeps your shipments moving
Every year, during the first week of October, China comes to a pause. Factories close, ports slow down, and millions of workers travel home to celebrate Golden Week, one of the country’s longest national holidays.
For e-commerce sellers sourcing from China, this week (and the days around it) can disrupt even the best logistics plan. If your inventory isn’t collected before the holiday, it might sit idle for two to three weeks — long enough to miss Amazon’s inbound deadlines or key Q4 sales windows.
In this blog, we’ll explain how Golden Week 2025 affects supply chains, what Amazon sellers should do to prepare, and how Proboxx helps clients keep their shipments on schedule despite the nationwide shutdown.
1. What Is Golden Week?
Golden Week is China’s National Day holiday, celebrated annually from October 1 to October 7. It commemorates the founding of the People’s Republic of China and is one of the country’s largest travel and vacation periods.
During this week, most factories, shipping agents, customs offices, and trucking companies close or operate with limited capacity.
Although the official break lasts seven days, the operational slowdown often lasts 10–12 days, as workers take extra time off before and after.
For logistics, this means:
No factory production or cargo pickup
Limited trucking availability for export shipments
Port congestion before and after the holiday
Customs offices are operating at minimal staffing
These disruptions make late September and mid-October particularly sensitive periods for sellers relying on consistent production and shipping schedules.
2. Why Golden Week Matters for Amazon Sellers
Amazon’s inbound timelines for Q4 are already tight. When Golden Week overlaps with the final weeks before Black Friday and Cyber Monday, it significantly amplifies the risk.
Here’s how it can impact your operations:
Missed FBA cutoffs: If your supplier doesn’t release cargo before September 25–27, it’s unlikely to depart China before the holiday.
Shipment bottlenecks: Factories and freight forwarders rush to push out all cargo before October 1, creating congestion at warehouses and ports.
Rising costs: Carriers raise rates as space becomes scarce, especially for air freight.
Supplier silence: Communication slows down, making it difficult to confirm production status or get updates.
In short, Golden Week creates a “perfect storm” of delays just as sellers need stability the most.
3. How Long the Delays Really Last
While the official closure is one week, the true disruption lasts longer:
Pre-holiday rush (Sept 20–30): Factories operate at full capacity to ship as much as possible before the break. Booking space during this window becomes competitive.
Golden Week shutdown (Oct 1–7): No pickups, minimal trucking, and customs activity nearly stops.
Post-holiday recovery (Oct 8–15): Ports reopen, but backlog processing can take 5–7 additional days.
That means total impact can easily reach two to three weeks — enough to delay your FBA inventory well past early November.
4. The Real Cost of Missing Pre-Holiday Deadlines
For Amazon sellers, missing Golden Week deadlines doesn’t just mean slower shipping — it can directly affect revenue.
Example scenario:
A shipment that leaves China on October 15 instead of September 25 can arrive in the U.S. 3–4 weeks later than planned due to port congestion, customs delays, and limited trucking.
That means your stock may arrive at Amazon’s warehouse in mid-November, leaving little time before Black Friday.
In 2024, several sellers we worked with missed their October sailings and ended up paying 2–3 times higher rates for last-minute air freight to restock.
Planning early could have saved both time and money.
5. Smart Strategies to Prepare for Golden Week
Preparation is everything.
Here’s what we recommend for Amazon and eCommerce sellers sourcing from China in 2025:
1. Finalize Production by Mid-September
Push your suppliers to complete production by September 15–20.
Don’t assume they’ll prioritize your order — confirm in writing that your goods will be ready for pickup before September 25.
2. Confirm Trucking and Space Early
Truckers and consolidators get fully booked 7–10 days before the holiday.
Book your freight space early and share your freight-ready date with your forwarder as soon as production finishes.
3. Double-Check Documentation
Missing paperwork is one of the top reasons cargo fails to meet cutoff dates.
Ensure your commercial invoice, packing list, and HS codes are correct and approved before pickup.
4. Consider Air or Express Shipping for Urgent Goods
For high-priority SKUs, use Proboxx’s Super Express Service, which provides:
Priority handling and customs clearance
Direct routing to Amazon FCs
Shorter transit times (typically 7–10 days)
5. Keep Backup Inventory in the U.S. or Hong Kong
If you run regular shipments, maintaining a small buffer stock near your sales region can prevent stockouts when shipping lanes freeze.
6. The Role of Freight Forwarders During Golden Week
A reliable logistics partner becomes essential during this period.
Here’s what a professional forwarder like Proboxx does differently:
Early slot reservations: We reserve carrier space several weeks in advance of the rush.
Flexible consolidation: Combining shipments from multiple suppliers to maximize container efficiency.
Priority clearance: Working with customs brokers to minimize post-holiday delays.
Real-time visibility: Continuous tracking and updates ensure you always know your shipment's status.
Alternative routing: Utilising less congested ports when major terminals experience congestion.
This proactive coordination is the difference between delivering on time and losing weeks of sales.
7. How Proboxx Helps Sellers Manage Golden Week
At Proboxx, we specialize in managing these complex timelines for Amazon and eCommerce sellers.
Our team monitors factory schedules, carrier availability, and customs workloads before and after the holiday to ensure every shipment moves on time.
Here’s how we handle it:
Timeline Alignment:
We align supplier production and freight booking schedules to guarantee pickup before closures.
Dual-Mode Strategy:
Combining ocean + express shipping for flexible delivery options.
Regional Warehousing:
Using our U.S. East and West Coast facilities for fast inbound processing and FBA deliveries.
Post-Holiday Support:
Coordinating immediately after Golden Week to get your cargo prioritized in the backlog queue.
Dedicated Customer Support:
A single point of contact provides updates throughout your shipment’s journey.
This approach allows sellers to maintain their sales momentum even when the rest of the industry is slowing down.
8. Case Study: Preventing Delays Through Early Planning
One of our long-term clients, a seven-figure Amazon brand in the home improvement category, used to struggle every year with Golden Week.
In 2023, they missed pickup deadlines twice and had to airfreight 40% of their stock to make it in time for Cyber Monday.
In 2024, we worked with them to implement an early shipment plan:
Production completed by September 15
Consolidation finished by September 20
The container sailed on September 25 and arrived in Oakland by October 15
Result:
They were fully stocked in Amazon’s network by early November — at 60% lower logistics cost compared to the previous year.
9. What to Expect After the Holiday
Even after October 7, it takes several days for operations to normalize:
Trucking companies face backlogs of pickups.
Factories may reopen gradually, depending on labor availability.
Carriers prioritise pre-booked shipments first.
This means new bookings in mid-October often wait 7–10 extra days before actual sailing.
If your Q4 strategy depends on fast turnaround, build these extra days into your forecast.
10. Final Takeaway
Golden Week is predictable — but that doesn’t make it harmless.
Sellers who prepare early avoid last-minute panic, high freight costs, and missed FBA deadlines. Those who wait risk losing the most profitable weeks of the year.
To summarize:
Finalize production by mid-September.
Ship no later than September 25.
Keep backup inventory where possible.
Use express solutions for urgent stock.
Work with a logistics partner that plans ahead — not one that reacts after the fact.
At Proboxx, we help sellers build resilient supply chains that run smoothly even when the world takes a break.
📞 Need help planning your pre-Golden Week shipments?
Book a free consultation with our team and we’ll review your timelines, routing options, and backup strategies.