When you buy an international Aliexpress good, you expect to get regular updates about the status of your package.
One of the most common statuses we see is, “Departed from sorting center,” preceded by the sorting facility that processed it. For example, ‘[Shatian Town] departed from sorting center]’
What does this AliExpress tracking update mean? Why is my package stuck on that update for so long?
For those and other finer details, buckle up for this.
What Does Departed From Sorting Center Mean?
This AliExpress tracking status means that a package has left one of the sorting facilities, and it’s on the way to the departure transport hub for continuation with its cross-border journey.
AliExpress usually states the sorting center where the package is, to make the recipient more informed. The format they use begins with the name of the sorting facility, accompanied by the tracking status. For instance, “[Fenggang Town] Departed from sorting center.”
How Long Does “Departed From Sorting Center” Take?
On average, it takes between an hour to two days for a package that has departed the sorting center to arrive at the departure transport hub.
However, we have had incidents where a package that had been described to have departed from the sorting center taking longer than expected to move.
This now brings us to answering…
Why Is My Package Stuck On, “Departed The Sorting Center” For Days?
Missed Scan
AliExpress usually misses some scans as a measure to save time, especially when there are high volumes of packages at the departure transport hubs.
While your package might be stuck on “departed the sorting center,” it might be in reality closer to you than you might think.
Due to a missed scan, we have had incidents where a package ended up showing up while the tracking page never even updated.
The funny bit is that whenever such a package gets delivered, AliExpress ends up filling out the other scans until when the delivery happened.
Instead of relying on chance and waiting for such a package while assuming it was an issue to do with a missed scan, we usually recommend that recipients use Third-party tracking sites such as 17Track to get the finest status details.
Transit Delays
Trucks carrying packages from the sorting facilities to international package hubs can get involved in accidents.
Depending on the nature of the accident and the availability of rescue trucks, it might take longer for a solution to be found. See, the accident scene has to be processed first and where applicable, packages get loaded into a rescue vehicle to proceed with the journey.
In such a scenario, it might end up taking several days to get everything back on track. As such, there won’t be any relevant update on the status of your package until everything is back to normal.
Another issue that can be described under transit delays is bad weather. When facing inclement weather conditions, it means that vehicles have to wait until it’s clearer for journeys to resume.
Besides, it might be impossible to offload packages to the international departure transport hubs until it gets clearer and safer to do so.
In such a scenario, it will take longer for packages to be scanned, leading to you seeing the same status for days.
Backlogs
While your package might have seamlessly departed the sorting center, the departure transport hub might be dealing with high volumes of packages, making everything stay at a standstill.
In such a scenario, the backlogs have to be cleared first before you can be updated about your package.
While at that, it depends on how far in the queue your package is and how overwhelmed the staff is. Due to backlogs, it might take a couple of days or even weeks before your package moves.
What Do I Do When My Package Is Stuck On, “Departed From Sorting Center?”
Use A Third-party Tracking Service
Since AliExpress doesn’t update packages as frequently, using free Third-party tracking services such as Parcelsapp can help you get to know the exact status of your package.
That way, you would be in a position to know if it was an issue of a missed scan from AliExpress’s side, or if there is a hindrance making it impossible for that parcel to proceed with its journey.
Contact The Seller
We recommend that you get in touch with the seller when you don’t get updated and it’s past the guaranteed delivery date. That way, the seller can send you a replacement package or a refund.
Also Read: What Does Leaving From Departure Country Mean On AliExpress?
