When an AliExpress order is not received on time, what you do next doesn't depend on a number of days. It depends on the Buyer Protection countdown on your order details page. Until the delivery estimate passes, a slow parcel is usually just slow. Once it passes, you message the seller. And well before the countdown hits zero, you either get the protection extended or open a "not received" dispute. Skip that last step and the seller keeps the money, whether the parcel ever turns up or not.
Why your countdown beats every "60 days" rule
Search for how long you have and you'll find confident numbers that don't agree. One guide says 30 to 60 days, "sometimes even 90". Another summary says 60 days, with 90 for Russia and 120 for Brazil. A dropshipping blog says 60 days as standard and up to 100 for expedited shipping. Each may have been right for the orders its author looked at. None of them is your order.
AliExpress's own Buyer Protection page says where the real limit lives: you're covered if "your item didn't arrive or was lost in transit within the guaranteed delivery window in order detailed page". So open the order details, find the countdown, and note the date it ends. Every step below is timed against that date. Not against a figure from a blog, this one included.
Is it late, or just slow?
A parcel past its estimate is late, which isn't the same as lost. These signals tell them apart:
| What you see | What it usually means | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Tracking is quiet, estimate not yet passed | Normal transit | Wait, don't confirm receipt |
| Estimate passed, tracking still moving | Late, not lost | Message the seller |
| Tracking stalled for weeks | Possibly lost | Message the seller, then plan the dispute |
| "Delivered", but nothing arrived | A different claim | Collect evidence, then dispute |
| "Order completed" with no parcel | Money may already be released | Check the countdown today |
How long each shipping method normally takes, by country, is in our shipping times guide. What each tracking line means, including the ones that stick for days, is in the tracking status guide. If the tracking number itself shows as invalid, start with how to track an AliExpress order.
AliExpress order not received: what to do at each point on the countdown
Before the delivery estimate: wait, and confirm nothing
A parcel that hasn't reached its estimated date isn't late, however long it feels. The only way to hurt yourself at this stage is to confirm receipt. Confirming tells AliExpress the order is complete and releases the payment to the seller, and the Buyer Protection guide explains why that's one of the three ways buyers void their own cover. If anyone asks you to confirm before the parcel is in your hands, say no.
The estimate has passed: message the seller once
Send one short message with the order number. Ask what the tracking shows on their side and whether they'll resend or refund. Then give it a day or two. Plenty of these end here, because many sellers offer a resend or a refund before anyone opens a dispute.
Don't chase with a second and third message. The countdown decides this, not the chat.
Well past the estimate: ask for an extension, once
If tracking is still moving but the countdown is getting short, you can ask the seller to extend the protection period. The path described in one third-party guide is the order page, then order details, then "Request to Extend Purchase Protection", where you choose how long and confirm. That guide is a few years old, so the button's wording or position may have changed, and not every order shows it. If you can't find it, go straight to the dispute step below.
The catch: the seller has to accept, and they can refuse. So don't leave the request to the last few days on the clock. If the seller says no, you need enough time left to open a dispute.
About two weeks before zero: open the dispute
This is our advice, not an AliExpress rule: if the parcel isn't in your hands with about two weeks left on the countdown, open a "not received" dispute.
The buffer comes from two figures. Sellers get 5 days to reply to a dispute, which both guides we checked agree on. An older guide says to open the dispute before protection expires, as it needs "at least 10 days" to be considered. We couldn't confirm from AliExpress whether an open dispute pauses the countdown, so plan as if it doesn't. Two weeks covers the seller's reply and one round of back and forth.
When you open it, choose the not-received reason, ask for the full amount, and attach a screenshot of the stalled tracking. The button-by-button steps and the evidence that works are in how to open an AliExpress dispute. If the parcel arrives while the dispute is open, you can close it.
Extension or dispute: which one first?
Ask for an extension when tracking shows the parcel moving and the only problem is time. That parcel is probably late, not lost, and an extension buys it room to arrive.
Skip the extension and dispute when the evidence says it isn't coming: tracking frozen for weeks, "delivered" with nothing at your door, or a seller who has stopped replying. An extension there only moves your deadline further from the problem.
Either way, don't let a seller's promise replace the countdown. "Please wait, it will arrive" and "close the dispute and I'll refund you" both ask you to give up the one thing that forces a refund. Keep the dispute open; you can close it yourself once the parcel or the money arrives. A partial refund on a parcel that never came gets the same answer: no.
What happens after you open the dispute
The seller has 5 days to respond. According to the older guide, if they don't reply at all, the dispute goes your way; if they reply with something you won't accept, you can escalate it to AliExpress. The 2024 DSers guide puts most disputes at about two weeks from start to finish and complicated ones at up to a month. It also names non-receipt as the most common reason for a dispute.
If you win, the refund goes back to your original payment method, and how quickly it shows up depends on your bank. How long an AliExpress refund takes covers that by payment method.
If the parcel does arrive but it's broken or not what the listing showed, that's no longer a not-received case. How to return an AliExpress order picks it up from there.
What if the countdown has already run out?
Then you're in a weak position. Once the protection window ends without a dispute, the seller is paid and there's no automatic route back.
One third-party guide claims a short grace period after the timer during which a dispute can still be filed. We couldn't confirm that from AliExpress, so don't plan around it. What you can do: open the order page and see whether a dispute option still shows. If it doesn't, contact AliExpress support with the order number and a screenshot of the tracking. Asking costs you nothing.
The same goes for the order that flips to "completed" before anything arrives, a situation buyers describe in almost those words: "my order status says order completed but I have not received the product". Check whether the countdown is still running before you assume the worst. Our guide to why an AliExpress order was closed or cancelled explains what those statuses mean.
Picking sellers who actually ship
Nothing here makes a lost parcel appear. What you control is the seller you pick next time: stores that ship late or not at all tend to show it in their feedback, and buyers mention slow or missing parcels in the reviews. The seller rating checks cover doing that by hand.
AliScore speeds up that check. It can't help with the rest of this post: it doesn't track parcels, predict delivery dates or file disputes. On an AliExpress product page, the free Chrome extension shows a seller trust score built from the store's positive feedback, read on a strict 85 to 100% scale, plus its follower count, next to a 0 to 10 score for the listing and a plain verdict. The score is a heuristic over public data, not a promise, so still read the recent negatives yourself. The formula is on how it works.
Add AliScore to Chrome. It's free and needs no account.
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