You’ve ordered a product online from China, and you have received an “Arrived at Destination Country” tracking update.
What does this mean exactly? How long will your item take to arrive and what should you do if the status becomes stuck?
Let’s take a look…
SUMMARY: Arrived at Destination Country
The “Arrived at Destination Country” tracking status is used by multiple carriers to communicate that the shipment has arrived in the country where the recipient is located.
Arrived at Destination Country – The Process
Now that we understand what “arrived at destination country” means, let’s explore exactly where your package is when you receive this update and what happens next.
Essentially, if you are the recipient of the item, the shipment has just landed at the airport or reached the cargo port (depending on the shipping service used) of the country where you are located.
At this point, the item will still be with the linehaul carrier. In other words, the air or sea cargo service responsible for shipping the item from the origin country will have scanned the shipment upon arrival in the destination country.
From here it will be handed over to the carrier service responsible for the next section of the journey.
In some cases this is the local postal service such as USPS, it could also be a third-party carrier such as DHL or FedEx.
However, before the item can be released from the arrival point at the destination country, it will have to pass customs clearance.
We will discuss this process in more detail later in the article.
- Related Content: Arrived at Delivery Office: Tracking Status Guide
Arrived at Destination Country – My Package is Stuck
There is a very good chance that you have reached this page because your package is stuck on the “arrived at destination country” status alert.
There are a number of common issues that can cause your item to be stuck here.
The first is actually dependent on the destination country.
Arrived at Destination Country – the USA
Any mail item or package arriving in the U.S will pass through a USPS International Service Center before it can be dispatched toward its final destination.
There are a number of these centers located throughout the country, (New York, Miami, and LA for example).
It is here where mail arriving and leaving the U.S goes through customs clearance with the US Customs and Border Control and be sorted for onward transit.
However, in recent years due to increased mail volumes and the pandemic causing staff shortages, bottlenecks have occurred within these distribution and clearance centers.
Packages have been known to be held up for multiple weeks. With items scanned upon arrival into the ISC (and triggering the “Arrived at destination country” update) and then seemingly stuck in limbo until they are either put forward for customs clearance or customs issues are solved.
The situation has gotten so bad that the United States Postal Service, Inspector General’s Office has recommended an enquiry into the problems taking place in the Chicago ISC.
AliExpress, Wish, and Shein orders from Asia have been especially susceptible to delays due to the economy carriers used and the lack of track making it difficult for customers to actually locate their shipments.
- Related Content: Arrived at Airport of Destination – What Does it Mean?
Arrived at Destination Country – Europe
Mail items and packages from AliExpress and other China-based eCommerce platforms have a similar issue arriving in European-based destination countries.
The bottleneck here is Liege Linehaul. In 2018 Alibaba (owner of AliExpress) entered a business arrangement with the Belgium government to utilize Liege as its main gateway for delivering products into Europe.
While a lot of money has been spent increasing capacity in Liege, it has not been enough.
The Liege linehaul blackhole is a similar situation to that experienced by AliExpress customers in America and the ISCs.
Your package will arrive in Liege Belgium and this will trigger the “arrived at destination country update”. (The fact the destination address is France or some other European country is irrelevant in terms of the alert).
It will then remain inside the warehouse at Liege awaiting clearance.
The huge number of packages passing through this distribution center each day has continued to cause backlogs.
AliExpress & Wish orders being stuck for weeks in Liege is unfortunately not uncommon.
- Related Content: What Does “Parcel Outbound From Transit Facility” Mean? (AliExpress)
Arrived at Destination Country – Other Reasons for Delays
So far we have explored how the international service centers (and European equivalent) are a bottleneck for the swift delivery of your package.
Unfortunately, even when these facilities are running efficiently there is still scope for delay.
The obvious issue is customs clearance. Missing paperwork, incorrect documentation, and prohibited items, (even fake goods can be held up at customs if checked by border control) will all cause your shipment to be held.
Fortunately, many of these problems can be solved by communicating with the seller and/or the carrier responsible for delivering the item.
Also, if tax or duties are owed, you should be notified so that payment can be made and the package released.
- Related Content: The Plane Entered the Port – Tracking Alert Guide
Stuck on “Arrived at the Destination Country” – What to Do?
The steps you should take vary slightly depending on whether you have ordered from AliExpress or some other platform, and which type of shipping service you opted for.
AliExpress Order
If your AliExpress order is stuck on “arrived at destination country” your first step is to check your tracking with a Universal tracking service.
This is because economy shipping services such as Yanwen and Sunyou used by AliExpress vendors do not offer tracking once the item leaves China.
To gain more details of the location of your package once it arrives in the destination country, 17Track and Parcelsapp will be able to tell you more.
If after this newer updates cannot be found and it seems the package is stuck, you should take a look at your AliExpress buyer protection period to ensure that it hasn’t run out.
If it is drawing to a close, (you have 60 days) you will have grounds to either open a dispute about the unsuccessful delivery or contact the seller to inform them of the issue.
Either way, you will be entitled to a refund or a replacement item sent upon non-arrival.
Wish Order
Wish is another e-commerce platform where customers can claim a refund if an item is not delivered.
Here, the wish website states that you should wait for a week past the estimated delivery date before submitting a refund request via customer support.
Shein Order
Shein is another platform that offers buyer guarantee periods in case of non-delivery.
If your order does not arrive within this time frame you will be able to contact the support service in order to initiate the refund process.
You will also need to take a screenshot of your tracking status chain to show that the item has not been delivered and that a reasonable amount of time has passed.
After contacting Shein, most of the claims process will be made through the automated chat service, so do not be discouraged if you end up talking to a chatbot.
Final Words
Essentially, the “arrived at destination country” is a good update to receive.
It means that the package has arrived in the country in which you are located (or in to Europe if living there), and will be dispatched to you soon.
However, problems can occur with the customs clearance process or bottlenecks at the arrival point, which will cause delays.
I’m a 25 year veteran of USPS. I’m retired now, but as the editor of Mailbox Master, I can’t quite remove myself from the carrier industry just yet. 🙂