Why is my shipment held in customs and what do I need to do to resolve the delay?

Most delays in customs clearance do not require you to take any action. Reasons for your parcel to be held in customs include:

  • Physical inspection - Normally, your paperwork is inspected, and your parcel cleared. However, sometimes the contents of your package are also inspected, which takes extra time. This can take a day or two longer than normal.
  • Customs backlog - Sometimes if customs are busy, clearance gets delayed and parcels are queued awaiting clearance.

When your parcel is shipped to another country, the contents of your parcel and the customs paperwork that you sent with the parcel will be checked to assess if duty or tax is payable.

Once your shipment has been inspected, customs may request further information from the shipper or receiver. This will be visible on your tracking page.

Note: If you do not see any updates to the scan information on our tracking page for over 48 hours, we recommend the receiver contacts the delivering courier in the destination country. However, keep in mind that customs are outside of the couriers control and there is no way for them to speed up the process.

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