Customs United States Customs Delay - packages being held for days!

; 3;
It sucks when a necessary becomes an inconvenience. *sigh*
Thank you anyway!

 

my luts kid delf almond was shipped earlier this week on the 5th (April 2011) & today he got to JFK airport which is only about 2 hours away from me, but now apparently he's stuck in customs. IDK what to do because I have read somewhere before (I forget where) that luts packages should be fine. I'm really worried that he's going to be damaged & not come while I'm home & that I'll have to go through some long & tedious process at my local post office to get him & I just don't want to do that at all. If anyone could help me understand it'd be great! he's my very first bjd ever. : )

 

So, I have been buying items from overseas, for years. And really, I don't know why customs is holding packages for 1+ months lately. I bought a LittleFee outfit from France over a month ago on Etsy, the lady shipped it a week later, which was exactly one month ago. I've bought many items for my Minifee from France and they usually got here in less than a week! But this outfit is going on over a month now! There was no tracking number, so I really don't know what to do. The seller said it must have gotten lost in the mail and offered to make me a new one, but I don't want to have to ask her to make a new one when it could just be stuck in customs.

If I have no tracking number or customs form number, can I still maybe call and ask US customs what's going on? Or will they just tell me I have to wait?

I mean, this is not the first time this has happened. I ordered a doll hat from Spain that took a month to get here, a doll skirt from the UK and it too over a month to get here and now this! Its making it so that I can't buy anything from outside the US anymore for fear that its going to take forever to get here! This is so frustrating!

 

I never have a problems with US customs before. Although, I know that packages do get lost sometimes but I never had mine lost before so it is a possibility that your package (coming from France) was lost or somehow was missed. I have many packages coming from outside of US and usually it takes about 1-3 days to be cleared of custom. I think it is best to give a call to the custom at JFK, since I know that most packages that I come across stop at JFK to be cleared (from the Eastern side that is). As much as I know...usually small packages (assuming yours was) shouldn't take more than a day in custom, whereas bigger ones takes about 1-3 days or more sometimes, but even if custom was extremely busy, it shouldn't have taken over a month, especially in the US that I know of.... I wish you the best!

Also, try calling USPS and see if you can get anything if you talk to a manager (or someone who knows info. about custom at JFK). It's worth a try as well but not sure if it will help much.

It's also best to give them as much information about the package as possible, if indeed, your package was lost or somehow missed and was misplaced somewhere, so that they could at least help you locate it at their best.

 

I talked to someone at the local PO, and they said that without the customs declaration number, there's nothing they can do. =/ I don't believe that the seller saved the customs forms, so, the only thing I can think of now is to call customs. I also wonder if the seller can put a trace on it? I'm not sure how French mail works and if they can do a trace, but I guess if all else fails, I can try that.

 

Ah, yes. If you have the custom numbers it'll definitely help. Have you ask the seller about it? Or if she already throw it away then it becomes a bit difficult and, perhaps, send a message to the seller and ask her if she can ask her PO if theres anything they could do to help trace the package. If that fails then, try calling custom to see if they can help you in any way or hope that someone notice your package and place it back where it should be.

It's also possible that after passing through custom that the package may have a chance of getting tossed somewhere in the sorting facility...Without tracking, it can be difficult to tell where it is since it's possible that the package have left custom already or it became one of those package that was misplaced at custom and let's hope if that's the case, then someone at custom may/can help you look for it. I wish you the best again!

 

I doubt it's a problem with Customs. Packages coming in from Europe are notoriously slow. I can get packages from Asia in less than half the time it takes to get something from Europe. 90% of it is on the European side of things. Once it hits the US, it's all but on my doorstep.

 

Any idea on why outgoing packages are taking ages? I had a parcel sent to me last Friday via Express Mail International and it appears to still be sitting in Chicago (or LAX by now?) according to the tracking...

This is pretty unusual...since it was processed through there on 23 July and the tracking hasn't updated since. It should have been in Auckland by now. I had a head shipped from China on the same day and it was delivered to me this morning. USPS shouldn't take this long.

 

You know, now that i think of it, the ones coming from European countires are the ones that are the problem. Only one package at the beginnning of the year coming from Hong Kong took a month, but the rest that take a month or more are from Europe.

On a positive note, I just got a package from the UK, it only took 4 days to get here! O.O So, maybe things are improving. I never got the Littlefee outfit, though, and the seller says it is most likely lost and that it never takes that long to get to the US, so, she's sending me a new one. I hope it gets here this time!

 

I'm not sure what is taking so long with your package. I have noticed lately, that USPS tracking numbers take forever to update or don't update at all. So, perhaps it is closer to the destination than you think and USPS just isn't updating. . again! >< If that isn't it, then perhaps customs is holding it, which is weird because I don't think they really hold outgoing items. I hope you get your package very soon!

 

Another member has her Ender sitting in customs for three weeks now. She's in the USA too...weird cause the day "my" Ender arrived in the US, he was in and out of customs in under 5 hours, along with the clothes I bought for him and my Shoshon.

 

I know, there seems to be no rhyme or reason why customs holds some items and others they don't. It doesn't seem to matter what size or shape the package is, seems totally random. >< Kinda wish they'd be more consistent.

 

Well I am not in US,but lately w/e item shipped to me through EMS is getting delayed for 1+ month ! O_O This all started since July, and now I have my dolls stuck somewhere in customs *I donno which customs* because the tracking number is dead since 18th July when it was shipped ! >___<

Totally a problem happening world wide actually . My other regular mail .. like 1st class + priority seems to come in with in 1 - 2 weeks while each EMS order is stuck to 1 month and more .

 

Its weird that outgoing mail is being held up, usually its incoming mail that is held. Did you ask your local postal office abour your package? Maybe they can figure out which countries' customs its stuck in at least. That's crazy that EMS is taking so long, EMS is supposed to be fast.

 

Ummm .. I think it is common to get dolls hold in customs somewhere . Well, it never came inside my country so they can't help. They always refer me to the country of origin or their air mail service which I can't contact unless I have full information of the package *seller only can contact them* .. I already talked to both the companies and they promised to keep me updated. Good thing is, one of the dolls is already screened getting off the plane, just on the west cost .. so it is 3 days until she reach me, if they didn't hold her more ..

 

Omg the same thing is happening to me right now. I ordered a PKF Bonnie Instock on DDE and was shipped July 3. Usually I get my stuff from DDE in like a week or so. But now it's already the middle of August and my Bonnie is still not here. Called all the P O and they told me that there must be a problem with customs. So I just told DDE to file the insurance for me.

 

I have one incoming from Russia. Not sure if it's still in Russia or if it's hit the states yet...

 

All of this makes me not want to order internationally as often as I usually do.

 

I have an international priority package coming for Singapore that was sent out August 30th and it still has not arrive to me. >.<

when i check the tracking number it apparently cleared customs on September 6th!!!
I've called the postal service numerous time to no avail... saying that it is with custom and not within their network and there is nothing they can do... >.<

I've never had a package stuck in custom this long before... but most of my stuff goes to the ISC in New York... but this one is stuck in ISC in San Francisco

has anyone have packages that been stuck in custom that long??? and can anyone advise me what to do?

 

Wow, so far I've been very lucky with customs! I guess with all of their financial woes, service is getting worse. Lately, items form Asia have been taking only a couple weeks (and that is with standard shipping). I have had things from/to Europe take a month to arrive though.

 

Ok, contact the sender of your items and ask them to check into it. Or for a refund, insurance, something like that. Only the sender can do anything since you're not the customer. The sender/seller is. I had Pacific Blue's Ender items sit in customs 12 days. Soom was going to take care of it. But it's the sender's job to check into it, since they gave the PO the money. Good luck!

 

I don't know if this is because of US customs but I have three packages that were coming in from China (from three individual sellers) and it's getting close to 3 months and... nothing.

I wanted to wait maybe a week more before contacting the sellers but I'm not sure if they could do much because there is no tracking no. on them. The weird thing is I'm getting packages from everywhere else on time; it's only from China that's not coming through.

This has never happened to me before..

 

Contact the senders. They might resent your things. ask for registered mail this time!

 

Okay, one of the packages have been returned to the seller because the carrier has failed to leave a note at my house. This isn't the first time, too.. I wouldn't have known that even for my EMS packages if I hadn't had a tracking no. for them. Now I'm thinking that's the case with all my packages.

The service is terrible.

Thank you for the advice; I have contacted all the sellers. But the fact that the only packages that I'm having trouble receiving are registered probably means that the ones who are goofing up are the carriers.