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Metrics type: Key MetricsCategory: Fulfilment

At a glance

Pending Shipment (WAITING_SELLER_SEND) is a fulfilment metric tracked from Alibaba data. It counts orders sitting in the WAITING_SELLER_SEND state, paid for and awaiting dispatch by the supplier. The card sits in the Fulfilment category and pairs with on-time-delivery and late-shipment siblings, because a backlog here puts the on-time delivery badge KPI at risk before any delivery is actually late. Cross-reference the related cards listed below for context.

Calculation

Vortex IQ counts the orders currently flagged in the WAITING_SELLER_SEND state in real time and compares that live count against the rolling 30-day average for the same state. The alert fires when the current backlog exceeds twice the 30-day average. See the At a glance summary above for what the metric tracks and the worked example below for a typical reading.

Worked example

A representative reading of Pending Shipment (WAITING_SELLER_SEND) for a typical Alibaba supplier. Suppose the 30-day average backlog sits around 6 orders awaiting dispatch at any given time. On the morning of 12 Mar 26 the live count reads 14, which is more than twice the average and crosses the alert. The operations owner opens the WAITING_SELLER_SEND queue, finds that a courier pickup was missed the day before, books a same-day collection, and clears the backlog before any order breaches its promised date. Acting on this card keeps the on-time delivery rate and the supplier badge KPI intact. For deeper investigation of which lanes or warehouses are stalling, use Vortex Mind to trace upstream causes; for natural-language exploration such as “which orders are stuck waiting to ship”, ask Ask Viq.

Sibling cards merchants should reference together

Reconciling against Alibaba Seller dashboard

Where to look in Alibaba’s own dashboard: Open the Alibaba Supplier workbench, go to Trade then Order Management, and filter orders by the awaiting-shipment or pending-dispatch status. The workbench shows the same queue of paid orders not yet marked as shipped. Confirm period boundaries and filter settings match the Vortex IQ profile to reconcile cleanly. Why the Vortex IQ value may legitimately differ: Cross-connector reconciliation: complement with sibling cards in the same category for the full diagnostic picture. For divergence investigations, use Vortex Mind.

Known limitations / merchant FAQs

Q: How often does Pending Shipment (WAITING_SELLER_SEND) update? The card refreshes on the standard data refresh (typically every 30-60 minutes for live integrations) and the time window is real time. After you mark orders shipped, force a manual refresh to see the backlog drop immediately. Q: Why does my Alibaba dashboard show a different number? The most common reasons are timing (Vortex IQ counts live while the workbench view may be cached or paged), time-zone alignment on overdue calculations, and filter scope (profile-level versus all-account view). Compare the same awaiting-shipment status filter before assuming a real divergence. Q: How does Pending Shipment (WAITING_SELLER_SEND) relate to other fulfilment metrics? It is the leading indicator. A spike here precedes drops in on-time delivery rate and rises in late shipments, all of which feed the supplier badge KPI, so clearing this queue protects the whole fulfilment chain. Q: Can I customise the alert threshold? Yes, alert thresholds are configurable per profile in the Alert Rules tab. The default fires when the live backlog exceeds twice the 30-day average; adjust it to match your dispatch capacity rather than relying on the generic default.

Tracked live in Vortex IQ Nerve Centre

Pending Shipment (WAITING_SELLER_SEND) is one of hundreds of KPI pulses Vortex IQ tracks across Alibaba and 70+ other ecommerce connectors. Nerve Centre runs the detection layer; Vortex Mind investigates the cause when something moves; Ask Viq lets you interrogate any number in plain English. Start for free or book a demo to see this metric running on your own data.