Customs United Kingdom - Customs retention reason "No Invoice" wha?

I've had this happen with some doll sweaters I ordered. They were sloppily put back in the envelope and re-sealed with green "HOMELAND SECURITY" tape, but nothing was damaged and the bubblewrap was put back around them. It wasn't anything as fragile as a doll, but I don't think you have anything to worry about- customs doesn't want to have to pay for your damaged doll.

I have a doll body arriving today or tomorrow that had been retained by customs, so I'll let you know how she's repacked.

 

I think the Invoice is the paper that is usually slipped inside a plastic ziploc on the box saying what it is or if it passed customs regulations in the country of origin ( I think )

My packaged arrived today and it was opened, they usually tape the things back.

 

When there is no invoice, that means that the company that shipped it did not prepare a list on the outside of the box for customs declaring the value and contents of item.(Or it got torn off during the journey)
So customs opened it because they were suspcious that it might be contraband.

 

I haven't had this happen with a doll, but I have had it happen to some books I ordered from Japan. They opened the box with a BOX CUTTER and slashed one of the books. They then sloppily shoved everything back in and closed it with the green tape. I was SO pissed. D= Really, I wish the customs people were a bit more considerate with our packages.

 

Since all the replies here are from people in the US and Canada, it might be worth keeping in mind . . . UK customs might not treat packages in exactly the same way as US or Canadian customs. That's true for customs duty charges, so it seems like it could also be true for other parts of the customs process.

 

If you want to phone them it's fine don't worry.

My package was stuck to the USA custom for over 3 WEEKS and I don't even know WHY?!

The guy who answered my call was really nice and he tried to help me and guide me through the process. He told me how many days after I should call if I need to file a search or a refund.

I am sure yours will be fine : )

 

When packages are stopped in customs in our country, they usually aren't opened. I've had loads of EMS parcels hat have gone through without being opened. You would be incredibly unlucky! But it doesn't sound like she told you for sure they opened it. Unless she told you for definete that customs opened the box, then I would assume that they haven't.

However, since your doll is held in customs, be prepared to pay a customs charge. You should get a letter in the mail saying they are holding a package for you that you need to pay charges on, or you could ring them, say you've noticed that your parcel status on tracking says your package is being held in customs, and you would like to pay the charge to release it. Sometimes they say you have to wait for the letter to come through, but if you say you've done it before, you should have no problem! It's hit and miss...some people are willing to do it without asking, some not.

But if the person you spoke to told you for sure that they opened the box, then it I would ring again. Be prepared to provide evidence to show how much you paid for him, because I think that's probably what they're after, so they can calculate how much to charge you.

Hope that helps!

 

This has just happened to me too. I phoned parcel force but they said because the parcel is still in the International Hub it hasn't been released from customs yet. The man who was actually very helpful (which for parcelforce is very shocking) said that the parcel, even though the tracking says AWAITING CUSTOMS CHARGING could still come out of customs with no charges.

I have to wait for the parcel to arrive at my local depot first though to see if it has incurred charges or not. I'm hoping still it hasn't xD

So it seems even if your parcel stops in customs, you may actually not HAVE to pay fees. Its just hit and miss I guess.

 

I had my first item stopped by customs a month or two ago. I've ordered tons of pencil boards from Japan with no problems, but they suddenly decided to check my latest doujinshi. It was hard yaoi (fortunately involving obviously adult characters), and my roommate and I fell over laughing imagining the Homeland Security guys' reactions! They sealed it up again very nicely, but now I'm wondering if I'm going to be on (or off) any special lists...

 

I guess you'll know if you're on any lists when future packages start arriving. If *everything* suddenly has Homeland Security notices, well then, you're officially one of their special deliveries.

I think that's true in most cases, but since the shipper failed to include an invoice they're now required to open the box to figure out the contents.

Yay! Glad everything is ok. Btw, some UK people can answer this better than I can, but isn't there a way to find out your charges and pay them over the phone?

 

I never wait for the letter, I just phone parcelforce and tell them I want to pay my fees. I give my tracking number to them and pay by card,

Easy peasy and makes for less waiting.

 

Sorry for being OT...



Reading this makes me wonder if there's been some changes in U.S. Customs practices???

Or are you guys' experience just some really random isolated incident with U.S. Customs/Homeland Security.

I have not experienced my packages from Japan and Korea opened and I frequently have doll stuff--and BL manga sent to me from Japan especially.

Oh well... I guess because my aunt declares on the EMS label that my BL manga as "Books for Women Only!"

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I'm glad that it was resolved--but it's a bit scary when Customs officers open your doll box! You really don't know how they would handle him when they repack~

 

It's happened to me more often recently than in the past. But the incident I described was at least a year ago. I happen to order a lot of BL manga, too... o_o;;

Beckie-Blackout: I'm so glad things are working out for you! Hopefully all will be fine now that you know what's going on.

 

Customs/Homeland Security seems really random here in the US. In my experience, I've noticed that they tend to ignore large, doll boxes but tend to freak out about book boxes from Amazon.jp (which are clearly labeled on the sides just like their American counterparts). Makes no sense to me...

 

I think it's different in the UK, because every doll I've had that's been stopped by customs and charged have never been opened, and they didn't have invoices.

Beckie-Blackout, glad to hear you got the letter! Let us know if they opened the parcel or not, I'm really curious.

Aquila, I would expect the worst, because usually when a parcel is listed as "awaiting customs charging" on tracking, your wallet is about to hurt! Though it would be lovely to think that you still wouldn't get charged.

Unfortunately customs charging here is terrible. I once paid £120 on an SD sized doll! And then Parcelforce slap on that charge...I can't remember what it was called. It's like you've already paid postage, why do they need more money! XD Seriously, it would be great is someone knew why. I think I wouldn't begrudge it so much if there was a legitimate reason!

Beckie-Blackout, you are so lucky to only have been charged £30! XD

 

Ugh... UK customs is notorious for handling out extortionate charges. I got charged £50 for a MSD sized doll, it was £30-something for the actual charge and then another £13 or so for the Parcel Force handling fee.

My box never got opened by customs though. It just had that huge white and red sticker slapped on it saying that it'd been caught in customs.

I'm hoping my second doll won't get caught, but since it's going to be shipped in an even larger box than the first one, I'm not too optimistic about it

 

Personally I can see two sides of the story, since I have a job sort of like that >.>;;;
But if you where the person checking boxes of people's stuff day in and day out for a long time. (Like papers! A very common item and annoying item to check) You get kinda lazy with repackaging the items, let alone opening up the box. Unless the person is really new to the job or can tell (from the note/x-ray) that the item is fragile, then it should be treated good/ok, but otherwise I would cross my fingers.

 

Yeah, I wish you were kidding! Yanno, if they have to open my packages anyway, why can't they drop some stickers or a lollipop in them, the way Dollmore and Junkyspot do? It doesn't make up for having my privacy violated, but it'd at least make me feel better about the delayed delivery. On the other hand, would I actually eat a lollipop they sent me?

 

My Luts MSD doll just arrived in the UK this morning. When i tracked this evening i got the message from EMS:

17:52 05-Nov-2008 Handed over to Customs GBCVTA Customs retention reason : Invoice missing

That didn't happen last time I bought a 2nd hand doll from America. Does Luts not put an invoice in the outside of the package? o_o This is my 1st doll from a company so i'm quite worried.

Dunno what to do. When i track through parcel force it only says "
05-11-2008 17:52 International Hub AWAITING CUSTOMS CHARGING"

Has this happen to anyone? What should I do?

 

This has happened several times, if you search through DoA you will see other cases. You should get a demand next for customs fees, so don't panic, except about paying them of course, hope they're not too much

 

I've been reading the stories. But i wonder why it says 'invoice missing'. I didn't ask Luts to put prices down or anything like that, i would imagive the invoice to be equal to the insured parcel, right?

Last time my doll was caught it was released with charges within a day and all i had to do was call and pay.

 

It probably means that the invoice has gotten ripped off in transit or damaged in some way, at least they still have your adress.

 

i got this too on my fairyland order dont worry ull just get ur notice for the fees , hope theyr not too much

 

I got that a week ago too- Basically they've retained it for customs charging. I'm going to the parcelforce depot tomorrow to pay for fees and collect the parcel with the 'invoice missing' so I'll guess I'll see what it actually is.

 

it happened to me as reported in the thread i made about it - customs will be sat deciding how much to rip you off for your new dolly now (robbing..............grrrrrr) this sort of thing happens a lot to us poor brits........

 

It's actually parcel force that rip you off, not customs, they just take a % of the Item value as stated by the seller on the customs form.

It's Parcel Force who make sure every parcel they get their grubby hands on goes through customs and gets charged, because then Parcel Force can charge you an extra £13.50 (IIRC) 'handling fee'.

If they just delivered the parcel to you, they wouldn't get this extra 'fee'.

It's actually against the law to withhold someones post, I know of some people who are taking Parcel Force to court for this reason, because they are charging you for a service you didn't ask for, and then witholding your post illegally if you don't pay it.

 

Ugh, it seems so. I trekked to the PF depot yesterday and the parcel didn't seem to be 'missing' anything at all. >.> And that £13.50 fee... *shakes fist*

 

The same thing has also happened to me. I've been reading alot of posts and reading out comes. I haven't been charged yet but I hope it's not so bad.

In anycase I drew a picture about it happening to my doll: http://my-valium.deviantart.com/art/Dolls-Customs-In-a-nut-shell-117986490

Just for the lulz. Someone at DOA said something about taking dolls hostage... I'm sorry I couldn't resist! XD