Is the tracking number not working for you? This is a problem that occurs more often than you might think. It’s possible that the order indicates that it “Doesn’t exist” or “Is wrong”.
What can this be due to? Well, it’s not something to worry about in a way, since AliExpress is a reliable website. Now we’ll tell you the most common causes.
Most likely causes of the tracking not working
It’s an order of fewer than 5 dollars/euros
For orders with such a low value, it’s normal that they’re treated in an ordinary way. This means that your tracking number will stop working once it arrives in your country. To distinguish these orders, note that they usually start with R and end with CN.
Tracking is in Chinese format
In case your order is more than 5 euros or dollars, but the tracking number starts with R and ends in CN, once it arrives in the destination country the tracking number will change. This is because each company has its own tracking numbers.
Error when entering it
Are you sure you’re entering the tracking number correctly? It’s possible that you may have copied some characters that don’t belong to the tracking number, for example, spaces at the beginning or at the end.
There’s a delay
By this, we mean that the correct tracking numbers can take a little time to appear, so we recommend you be patient. It can take up to 15 days to display the information. One of the reasons for such a delay is the Chinese holidays which delay the whole country.
It’s a provisional number
Provisional numbers are given by sellers in case they don’t have stock of the product and thus gain time until the stock has been replenished.
To check the provisional number you can ask the seller directly. Ask them for a deadline by which they will have stock and will ship your order. If you’re not satisfied with their response, we recommend that you cancel the order and request it again from another seller.
If you trust the seller’s word and the date they’ve given comes around, you can only assume that they’re a fake seller, and we recommend that you cancel the order.
The seller has not shipped the product yet
As in the previous case, we suggest you talk to the seller and ask for answers.
The number is fake and/or copied from another buyer
This is a slightly less frequent case, but usually occurs with new sellers when they try to deceive the buyer. To find out if this is the case, when you track the tracking number you’ll usually see that the order has already been delivered in a city that is not yours.
When you check this, we recommend that you take a screenshot of the tracking number, as this will be the best evidence to open a dispute.
What do I do if I don’t trust the seller, or they don’t respond?
Don’t worry, if you don’t get an answer from the seller, and you can’t track your package, the solution is to open a dispute and provide all the evidence you have. Once the tracking number is proven to be false, your money will be refunded within 3 to 15 days.
If you’ve won the dispute, but after that time you haven’t received the money, we invite you to contact the bank, as they may have withheld your money.
