When your AliExpress package gets to a sorting facility and fails to move after a day or two, you can see, “Processing delay at sorting center.”
The problem at this point is that AliExpress doesn’t provide more details about the cause of the delay in the default tracking page.
Since it is a commonly asked question among our audience, we will explain what it means and if there is anything you could do about it.
Let’s get started.
What Does, “Processing Delay At Sorting Center” Mean On AliExpress?
When AliExpress says there is a processing delay at a sorting center, it means that your package needs further inspection and has taken more time than expected to go through.
Why Does AliExpress Say, “Processing Delay At Sorting Center?”
Your Product Contains A Battery
Under most circumstances, it’s electronic products that get this tag.
In fact, under this status, you can see “Processing delay at sorting center. Restricted item – Battery item”.
When an item has a battery, it needs further inspection to determine if it will be allowed in an airline or the recipient’s country.
Now, if the sorting center handling that item is overwhelmed with packages, they keep apart such items and come to inspect them later after clearing the backlogs.
Depending on how long it takes for them to come back to your product, several days might have passed, which now triggers the processing delay at the sorting center update.
Depending on what they determine after the inspection, the parcel might be cleared to continue with its journey or get sent back to the seller’s warehouse.
At this point, we also need to mention that AliExpress doesn’t always use this update when dealing with items consisting of actual batteries. We have seen car stereos, mechanical watches, or even wired headphones getting put aside for further inspection.
The Sorting Facility Is Backed Up
During peak shopping times such as around 11.11, Black Friday, Christmas, and Chinese New Year, most of the AliExpress sorting centers are overwhelmed with packages.
In such moments, the processing doesn’t happen as fast as expected, which then triggers the Processing delay update.
Since this is on AliExpress’s side, there is no point in contacting the seller. We noticed that it doesn’t take as long to clear such backlogs, which means the item will be on its way a few days later.
Bugged Tracking
Due to bugged tracking during peak shopping times, we have had incidents where the tracking status doesn’t update.
While you might be waking up daily to the dreaded “Processing delay at sorting center,” it could be that your package moved but due to the tracking page not getting updated as expected, end up not getting any new updates for days or weeks.
We always recommend to our readers to use Third-party tracking sites such as Parcelsapp and 17Track to get finer updates about their packages as the default AliExpress tracking isn’t as effective.
Is There Anything To Do If My Package Stays On This Status For Long?
To begin with, we recommend using third-party tracking sites such as Parcelsapp and 17Track to know the real status of your item as AliExpress tracking isn’t such great.
If you find that the item moved and it’s on its way to you but AliExpress didn’t capture that due to bugged tracking, we recommend waiting for the item.
If you determine that AliExpress sent back the parcel to the seller’s warehouse, we recommend asking for a refund 14 days after that happened.
If the package is just sitting in the said sorting facility, you will need to order for a refund. But for this one, you will have to go to the Order details and wait until the system confirms automatic delivery, which is mostly between 60 and 90 days depending on where the item will get shipped to.
From there, ask for a refund and if AliExpress asks for proof that you didn’t receive your item, send them a screenshot of the tracking page showing, “Processing delay at sorting center.”
