Online Sellers: 15 Reasons Your Parcel is Sitting in Customs and Not Leaving
Has the parcel you shipped been sitting... and sitting... and sitting in Customs? Let me guess, your buyer is demanding a refund or insisting that you tell them WHEN it will be delivered? Well here's the 15 reasons why you are in this nightmare... and surprisingly, most are not your fault!
- The buyer has not paid Duties / VAT / Taxes. Many countries will MAIL (snail mail / standard mail / a literal piece of paper sent by actual mail) a bill with the taxes due. If the recipient does not respond to the mail they will not be able to get their parcel. Therefore it will sit, and sit, and sit until it might be eventually returned
- Customs is just VERY, VERY, VERY slow. Yes, this absolutely happens. Specifically Mexico. It is not uncommon for a package to sit for weeks or even months
- Buyer purchased ILLEGAL IMPORTS. As a seller, it is impossible for us to know every importing regulation in all 195 countries in the world. Yes, your buyer *should* know what they are legally allowed to import however they rarely ever check and they care even less. So, unfortunately, when your buyer purchases stuff from you that is against THEIR LAWS for them to import, Customs siezes and destroys the parcel. Your buyer never receives their inventory and they want you to refund them, even though the issue is 100% their own fault. In most countries Customs will NOT contact the buyer to tell them the merchandise will never be delivered.
- Poor packaging = leaking. If you shipped ANYTHING that can leak, in any way, the parcel will be thrown out. The mail carriers and Customs have no way of knowing if the leaking ooze is body mist, lighter fluid or a dangerous drug. They cannot risk their safety or health opening the parcel to try to figure it out. 100% of these parcels never arrive.
- Your Good Packaging BUT Someone Else's Bad Packaging = Chaos. You may have packaged your order like gold, but the next seller packaged their shampoo terribly, which caused it to leak all over your parcel. Both boxes are marked as trash and discarded. Yes, this royally sucks. Trust me, we have dealt with this many times in the past 15 years.
- The buyer refuses to cooperate with Customs. Every country is different. Some countries have requirements that state the buyer must come pick up the parcel. Others require taxes / duties / VAT be paid via email. Some require paperwork be filed. Again, every country is different. If your buyer refuses to cooperate they will never get their parcel if their country requires some form of work on their end.
- FALSIFIED CUSTOMS FORMS!!!!!!! If the buyer asked you to mark their order as a “gift” when it is clearly an inventory purchase, YOU and the buyer have both committed FRAUD. However, most countries in the world do not prosecute Customs Fraud, but the USA does. So if you lied on Customs Forms to save your buyer a few bucks on importing, this is probably why it isn’t being delivered. It may be wise for you to contact a lawyer. This is a FEDERAL CRIME.
- ALSO FALSIFIED FORMS: If you outright lied on the Customs Forms and said there were only 10 items in the parcel and you know there were 30, this is a major problem. Or if you claimed the merchandise was 1-penny Calvin Klein Tees; Again, you are defrauding