Before your AliExpress international package moves out of China, one of the most common tracking statuses you will see is, “Export customs clearance complete.”
Now that you are here, you could be wondering what this means and why the item is stuck for days.
Let’s get to it right away.
What Does Export Customs Clearance Complete Mean On AliExpress?
This AliExpress tracking status means that the customs office in China is through with processing your package, and the item will be proceeding with its journey toward the destination.
Why Is My Package Stuck On “Export Customs Clearance Complete” For Days?
There Are No Available Planes
Depending on the destination country, it could be that there are no available cargo planes coming to your country just yet.
We had instances where it took several days for planes to be available to pick up packages coming out of China.
Until there comes a plane and it gets loaded with your package, the tracking status will still show “Export customs clearance complete.”
The next update you will see after this status is “Leaving from departure country” which will be sent after a plane picks up the package.
Backlogs
During the peak times such as 11.11, Black Friday, Christmas, and New Year, there are tons of backlogs to be cleared.
While the customs office in China might have successfully cleared your package, it could have taken longer for you to receive any new status.
See, once such a package has been cleared, it gets put aside as they keep clearing others. The newer ones end up getting heaped together and whenever there is an available flight, only the accessible packages get loaded until the plane is full.
Due to backlogs, it could end up taking days or even weeks before your package can be loaded onto a plane.
In all these instances, the tracking status will always show, “Export customs clearance completed.”
Missed Scans
AliExpress doesn’t scan packages every other time, which might be the reason why there is nothing new for you to see.
One of the reasons why AliExpress stops scanning packages across each journey they make is to save time.
Another reason why AliExpress might skip a scan is that they have problems with their electronic scanners.
We have had many instances where packages that were stuck on the ‘export customs process completed’ ended up getting delivered without anything new on the tracking page.
In all these instances pertaining to missed scans, the packages are always still on their way. Just that it leaves the recipients to rely on chance instead of getting updated as expected.
Bugged Tracking
Whenever there are millions of packages more to be tracked, it’s possible for the AliExpress tracking page to not update as expected.
In that case, it could be that the package is on the way, but due to technical glitches with the tracking, there are no updates for you to see.
Depending on the cause of the hitch, it might take several days or weeks until you can see anything new. We noticed that AliExpress fills up the missed scans shortly after rectifying the tracking.
Transit Delays
While the export customs might have cleared your package, transit delays might have prevented your package from leaving China.
For instance, due to inclement weather, it’d mean that the plane won’t leave as fast as expected until it is clear enough.
Again, due to bad weather, it might be impossible for the staff to load the packages onto the plane, making it impossible for the package status to move.
What Do I Do When My Package Is Stuck On “Export Customs Clearance Complete?”
Re-track The Item
Since AliExpress doesn’t provide finer tracking, we recommend that you use third-party tracking sites such as 17Track and Parcelsapp to get the correct status of your package before panicking.
From there, you could know what made the package get stuck and know if there is anything you could do from there.
File A Dispute
For this to apply, it happens when the tracking system automatically confirms that the package was delivered when it was not.
The typical time when you can file a non-delivery dispute is between 60 and 90 days, depending on your country.
To see if the system automatically confirmed your delivery, just access the “Order Details” section and you will find everything there.
For AliExpress to honor such a dispute, you will need to provide proof that you didn’t receive your package, which in this case is to send them a screenshot from the tracking page showing “Export Customs Clearance Complete” past the confirmed delivery date. From there, AliExpress will process your refund right away.
Also Read: Airline Handover Problem
