After an AliExpress package has arrived in a sorting center, one of the most common tracking statuses after AliExpress tells you, “Processing delay at sorting center” is “Restricted item – battery item”.
What could that mean? Won’t my item make it to me? Let’s get to it.
What Does, “Restricted Item – Battery Item” Mean On AliExpress?
This tracking status indicates that yours is an electronic product and will need further inspection before it can continue with its journey or get sent back to the sender.
While you might see this status, it doesn’t necessarily mean your product has a battery.
When I first saw this update, I wondered what that meant as I had ordered a Car radio that was supposed to use the car battery. AliExpress classifies most of the electronics to have batteries before sorting such packages further.
This is why this status lingers longer after seeing AliExpress tell you, “Processing delay at the sorting center.”
Why Doesn’t My Package Move From “Restricted Item – Battery Item” For Days?
Your Product Requires Further Inspection
When AliExpress finds that yours is an electronic package, they mostly keep it aside as they work on the items that don’t require as much inspection.
The time it takes before they get back to it depends on how many other items they will work on before clearing the backlogs. The situation is worse during the peak shopping times such as around Black Friday, 11.11, Chinese New Year, and Black Friday.
Again, it takes longer for the package to move from this status when the package is getting sorted in the major processing centers such as Shatian Town and Fenggang Town.
If they determine that yours is an electronic product that lacks a battery, they allow it to continue with its journey toward the departure transport hub.
If your item has a Lithium battery past the allowed mAh capacity in planes or your country, they will send such an item back to the sender.
Again, if the package has a battery but is within the airplane’s mA capacity and it’s also illegal in your country, they will allow it to proceed with its journey.
The only problem you can face when the package is within the right battery capacity is that it takes longer for the inspection to go through. Sometimes, calls to airlines and your country have to be made before anything progresses.
The Item Can’t Come To Your Country
Sometimes, your package might not need any further inspection owing to it containing a battery past the legal import battery rules in your country.
When AliExpress determines so, the item is immediately sent to back to the sender’s warehouse as there is no need to try to ship it when it can’t go through the linehaul office in your country.
If it takes a few more days before AliExpress tells you that they have sent back your item to the seller, you won’t see anything new past “Restricted item – battery item.”
What Do I Do When AliExpress Decides To Send Back My Package To The Sender?
If your item indeed contained a battery and AliExpress determined that it has to go back to the seller, they will process a refund for you.
However, the AliExpress systems don’t always capture when a refund should automatically be done.
When you don’t get an automatic refund shortly after AliExpress tells you that your item has gone back to the seller, we recommend that you ask for a refund after two weeks.
You need to note that in such a situation where AliExpress hasn’t captured the automatic refund, you can’t ask for the refund right away. They will tell you to wait for two weeks from when you receive that update.
We also noticed that some sellers who receive back such packages create new tracking numbers and hand over the packages to AliExpress with the hope that this time around, they will get to you.
By so doing, such sellers refrain you from asking for refunds 14 days later. What they normally do in this instance is that they include several resistors in the package to bypass the screening at the sorting facilities.
So, while your item might have been said that it was restricted the first time, it can end up getting to you the second time after the seller creates a new tracking number and packages it in such a way that it’s safe to go in a plane.
Yes, your sender has to know how to ship electronic packages for them to go through the different inspection processes. Otherwise, refunds will be the order of the day.
