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What Does “Overseas Transit Delay” Mean? (Yun Express Tracking)

You’ve ordered an item from China and you have received an “Overseas transit delay” tracking update.

What does this mean exactly? How long will the delay be and is there anything you can do?

Let’s take a look…

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Summary: Overseas Transit Delay

The “Overseas transit delay” tracking alert means that the shipment has experienced a delay in the overseas transit section of the package journey. 

Overseas Transit Delay – Guide

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The “Overseas transit delay” is a tracking update used by Yun Express, an economy air cargo carrier based in China.

If you have ordered an item from a Chinese eCommerce platform such as AliExpress, Wish, or Shein, and have chosen economy delivery, Yun Express could well be the carrier responsible for the shipment.

This particular update is triggered when an unforeseen delay impacts progress during the overseas transit stage of the shipment.

This can occur as the package waits to depart from the origin country or an intermediate country en route to the destination country.

Why Has There Been an “Overseas Transit Delay”?

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There is a number of reasons your shipment has experienced an “Overseas transit delay”.

Common logistical issues include:

  • Lack of space on the designated aircraft for the shipment, (meaning your package is being bounced onto a later flight)
  • Adverse weather or technical issues preventing normal air transit
  • Delays in the loading or unloading at the origin or intermediate airport
  • Mis scan meaning the shipment missed its designated flight
  • Issues with consignments on the same flight causing take-off delays

Note, that the above problems are connected to Yun Express and its economy air carrier service.

The company also offers logistical services using cargo ships, which can also present myriad issues in terms of delays.

What to do When You Receive an “Overseas Transit Delay” Tracking Update?

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My personal recommendation is to not stress if you receive an update of this nature.

Remember, Yun Express is an economy air carrier service for shipments from China. Essentially, delays should be expected.

In fact, delays are so common with Yun Express, (and reliable tracking updates on the scarce side), that some customers have questioned whether the company/tracking system is fake.

As we explored in the linked article, Yun Express is definitely a legitimate company, it’s just as it is an economy service you kind of get what you pay for.

So with that in mind, it is almost always futile to try to contact Yun Express in the event of an “Overseas transit delay” update.

Your best move is to sit back, ignore the tracking updates for a while longer and only revisit the package progress as you start to reach the end of your buyer protection period.

Buyer Protection? What’s That?

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Buyer protection periods are what platforms such as AliExpress offer their customers to cover for when packages go missing.

Don’t get me wrong, just because you have received an “Overseas transit delay” update doesn’t mean your package is gone.

However, if the item is still not delivered within your protection period (with AliExpress it is 60 days), you will want to open a dispute with the platform as well as contact the seller.

This will provide you with the means for a refund or a replacement item sent should the original not arrive.

Alternative Tracking Methods

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Another issue to bear in mind is that economy carriers such as Yun Express will only provide tracking details for your item while it is still in the origin country (I.e China).

So while your item may be delayed at the origin airport while it awaits overseas transit, there is a chance that it did in fact leave the origin country and the departure was not tracked.

To check this, you should use a universal tracking app such as 17Track or Parcelsapp to see if any further scans have been completed, (these tracking apps will search through hundreds of carrier databases for your package details).

If your shipment has made further progress that wasn’t tracked by Yun Express, a universal tracking app will be able to find it.

Final Words

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The “Overseas transit delay” tracking alert simply means that the shipment has been delayed while awaiting overseas transit.

This can occur during export from the origin country, or while awaiting departure from an immediate country.

However, the fact that Yun Express is an economy air carrier delays are common and to an extent should be expected.

Our advice is to hang tight, be patient, check other tracking apps for details, and only start making inquiries with the sender once your buyer protection draws to a close.


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