Short answer
Singles Day is 11 November — Wednesday 11 November 2026 — and it is the largest online shopping event in the world. It started as an informal students' joke about being single and was turned into a commercial festival by Chinese e-commerce platforms in 2009.
It is not a public holiday. Nothing closes, no transport changes, and no attraction shuts. The season runs about four weeks, with deposits and the first wave opening in the second half of October, the deepest discounts landing on 11 November, and leftovers cleared on 12 and 13 November.
Buying from outside China is possible through the platforms' cross-border stores, but expect smaller discounts, one to three weeks of shipping plus customs, and returns that are effectively impossible. Buying while you are in China is straightforward — a delivery address inside the country and a phone that receives SMS are the two things that matter.
What Singles Day actually is
The date comes from the numeral: 11 November is 11.11, four bare sticks, and the Chinese slang for a single man is bare sticks. University students in the 1990s claimed the day as an anti-Valentine's occasion for people without partners, with cheap gifts and group dinners.
In 2009 an online shopping platform borrowed the date, put a limited number of brands on discount, and found that people would buy in extraordinary volume on a day with no tradition behind it. Every large platform now runs its own version of the event, and the discounting has spread to physical stores, food delivery, hotels and travel bookings.
For a visitor, the honest framing is this: it is a retail season with a supply-chain side effect. The discounts are sometimes excellent and sometimes theatre, and the reliably true part is that the country's parcel network goes into overdrive for about ten days.
When the sale actually happens in 2026
The date is fixed, the format is not. Each platform publishes its own schedule in October, and the phases, deposit windows and coupon rules have changed every year. This is the shape the season has taken recently.
| Stage | Typical timing | What happens |
|---|---|---|
| Warm-up | Second half of October | Listings switch to event layout, coupons are released, live-stream previews start |
| Deposit window | Late October | Small deposits hold the event price on chosen items; deposits are normally non-refundable |
| First wave | Around 1 November | First batch of discounted stock goes on sale and ships immediately |
| Main event | 11 November | Coupons stack, hourly windows and limited-quantity offers, deepest prices of the year |
| Clear-up | 12–13 November | Leftover stock, extended offers, delayed parcels |
The exact 2026 schedule had not been published when this page was written. The platform's own announcement for the current year is the version to trust, and its dates differ from platform to platform by a few days.
How the discounts are built
A Chinese sale price is usually the product of four or five reductions applied in a fixed order, which is why two buyers can pay different amounts for the same item on the same afternoon.
- The event price. The headline cut against a listed price. Platforms require a reference price and restrict raising prices immediately before the event, but the reference is a list price, not what the item actually sold for a month earlier. Price-tracking the item for two or three weeks is the only reliable check.
- Cross-store thresholds. Spend 300, save 50, across a single store's catalogue. These push you towards adding one more item you did not plan to buy; the discount only beats the threshold if you wanted the extra item anyway.
- Stacked coupons. Platform vouchers, store coupons and brand coupons apply in sequence, and each has a minimum spend and an eligible category. The checkout total, not the advertised percentage, is the number that matters.
- The deposit. Pay a small deposit in late October to lock the event price, pay the balance on 11 November, and the deposit comes off the total. Skip the balance and the deposit is gone. Two payments also means two chances for a foreign card to be declined.
- Limited-quantity prices. First 1,000 buyers, or the first five minutes after midnight. These are real and they are gone in seconds; if the listing later refunds the difference, the refund may be calculated on the higher price.
- Live-stream prices. Some of the deepest discounts exist only inside a livestream broadcast window, with a separate order link. Screenshots of the price you saw are worth keeping.
- Price protection. A platform promise to compensate you if the same listing drops further within a set window. It applies to formal event prices, not to coupons you failed to collect.
How a foreigner can actually buy
There are four routes, and they suit different situations. The one thing they share: the account, the payment method and the address all have to be set up before the sale, not during it.
| Route | Who it suits | Delivery reality |
|---|---|---|
| Cross-border storefronts on the big platforms (imported goods, global stores) | Buyers outside China with an overseas address | Ships internationally or to a Chinese address; one to three weeks plus customs |
| Domestic stores on the same platforms, delivered inside China | Visitors in China, or anyone with a friend or hotel to receive it | Two to four days normally; a week or more during the sale |
| Consolidation and forwarding | Several packages from different sellers going to one overseas address | Parcels reach a Chinese warehouse, then ship onward by actual or volumetric weight |
| The platforms' international sites and apps | Overseas shoppers who want local payment and local returns | Cross-border shipping; discounts usually smaller than the domestic event |
Domestic-store orders hinge on the address. Sellers ship inside mainland China only, notifications arrive as Chinese SMS, and delivery often ends at a parcel locker or a neighbourhood pickup point rather than your door. If you are using a hotel, tell the front desk that a parcel is coming and put your room number in the address line.
Consolidation is the cheapest way to move several parcels abroad, and the least forgiving. The forwarder weighs the shipment on arrival, charges you then, and applies a list of prohibited goods — batteries, aerosols, liquids and magnets get refused at the warehouse, and the seller will not take them back.
Paying as a foreigner
Alipay and WeChat Pay both accept international Visa and Mastercard cards, and both need identity verification before the first payment. Alipay waives its fee on transactions of ¥200 or less and charges a percentage above that, with the current rate shown at checkout. The two wallets behave differently enough that having both installed is worth the ten minutes.
A few things decide whether the payment goes through on the night:
- Bind and verify the card in advance. On 11 November the payment gateways are busiest between midnight and 02:00, and a first-time verification failure then costs you the item.
- Tell your bank you are buying from China. A bank-side overseas block looks exactly like a platform failure, and it is the usual reason a card will not bind.
- Do not pay over a VPN. Mixing a foreign network with payment traffic invites a risk check on the wallet itself. The pre-trip setup checklist covers the phone and app side of this.
- Expect small-amount friction. Many small payments in a short window can trigger fraud rules at your own bank, which is a poor moment to lose access to the card you were going to pay the balance with.
- Keep a second method ready. A second card, or a balance already inside the wallet, covers the gap.
Shipping, customs and returns
Courier networks in China move several times their normal daily volume during the sale. Sellers are contractually timed on dispatch, not on arrival, which is why the tracking can sit still for three days in a sorting hub and still be considered on schedule.
| Stage | Normal | During 11.11 |
|---|---|---|
| Dispatch after order | Within 24–48 hours | Frequently the full five days allowed |
| Delivery inside China | 2–4 days | 5–15 days through mid-November |
| International shipping | 1–3 weeks | Longer, plus customs backlogs |
| Customs and duties | Collected on arrival in most countries | Same rules; the platform may or may not prepay them |
| Returns | Seven-day no-reason right inside China | Unchanged domestically; cross-border returns rarely practical |
If you are a tourist in China during 11.11
Nothing about your trip changes on the transport side. Trains, flights, museums and restaurants run as they always do, and the weather in mid-November is one of the better windows of the year: Beijing around 3–12°C and crisp, Shanghai and Hangzhou around 10–18°C, the south still mild.
What does change is the parcel network. If you want to buy and carry it home, buy in a physical store — the malls run their own promotions in the same period, the price is often within a few per cent of the online event price, and you avoid the delivery queue entirely. If you buy online to a hotel, order early in the month and check the tracking daily, because a parcel that misses your checkout date is a parcel that sits in a pickup point until your next visit.
Frequently asked questions
When is Singles Day 2026?
The date itself is Wednesday 11 November 2026, and 11 November 2027 is a Thursday. The sale starts long before the date: pre-sale deposits and the first promotional wave normally open in the second half of October, so the shopping season runs for around four weeks.
Is Singles Day a public holiday in China?
No. It is a commercial event, not a rest day. Offices, banks, restaurants and tourist attractions run on a completely normal schedule, and nothing closes for it. The visible effect on a visitor is slower parcel delivery and heavier mall promotions, not a changed calendar.
Can I shop Singles Day deals from outside China?
Yes, through the cross-border storefronts of the big platforms and through their international sites. Cross-border prices are usually discounted less deeply than the domestic event, and delivery to an overseas address normally takes one to three weeks plus customs clearance. Local duties and taxes may be charged on arrival.
Do I need a Chinese phone number or ID to buy?
For domestic store orders the practical requirements are a delivery address inside mainland China and a phone number that can receive SMS, because delivery notifications arrive by text in Chinese. Cross-border orders to an overseas address are less demanding. A passport number is accepted for identity verification where a platform asks for one.
How do foreigners pay during Singles Day?
Alipay and WeChat Pay both accept international Visa and Mastercard cards, and Alipay waives its fee on transactions of 200 yuan or less and charges a percentage above that, shown at checkout. When a deposit is used the order is paid in two stages, and both stages need a working card. Bind and verify the card before the sale rather than at midnight on 11 November, when payment gateways are at peak load.
Are the Singles Day discounts real?
Some are real, some are arithmetic on a listed price. Chinese platforms require sellers to show a reference price and restrict last-minute price rises before the event, but that reference is a list price rather than the market price. Track a product for two to three weeks before buying, and compare unit prices per 100 grams or per litre rather than the headline percentage.
What is the non-refundable deposit on 11.11 listings?
It is the deposit mechanism. A small payment reserves the event price, is deducted from the balance you pay later, and is normally not refundable if you change your mind. Miss the balance payment window and the deposit is forfeited along with the order.
How long does shipping take during Singles Day?
Domestic delivery inside China, normally two to four days, can stretch to a week or more between roughly 11 and 20 November, when courier networks run at several times their usual volume. Cross-border parcels typically take one to three weeks and pass through customs separately. Sellers offering pre-sale goods may state a ship-by date three or four weeks after the order.
Can I return something bought on Singles Day?
Domestic purchases generally carry the seven-day no-reason return right for unworn goods with the packaging intact, though some sale categories are excluded. Cross-border returns are usually at your own cost and often not worth the freight. Open the parcel as soon as it arrives and photograph any problem.
Does Singles Day affect travel in China?
Trains, flights and attractions are unaffected. What changes is retail logistics: courier delivery slows, pickup points fill up, and a parcel sent to a hotel may arrive later than promised. Malls and physical stores run their own promotions during the same weeks, which is the low-effort way to buy while travelling.
Related reading
One scheduling note: 11 November sits between the two big travel peaks of the Chinese year. Golden Week is six weeks earlier, and the Spring Festival rush is three months later, so the sale coincides with one of the cheapest and quietest stretches for hotels and rail seats. If the discounts are what brings you here, the tourism side of the trip will be easy.
Compiled from platform promotional-schedule reporting for recent 11.11 seasons, platform help documentation on deposits, coupon stacking, price protection and return rights, and international card payment guidance for Alipay and WeChat Pay, cross-checked 30 September 2026. The sale format, coupon rules, deposit windows and shipping cut-offs are published fresh each year and differ between platforms — the platform's own announcement for the current season is the authoritative version. Nothing on this page is financial or legal advice.