Parcel "held for clearance" by customs for a week for no reason.

Forums › Off topic › Parcel "held for clearance" by customs for a week for no reason.

moulinette

88 posts

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#202000 13-Sep-2016 11:56

I've had a parcel "held for clearance" by customs for a week now. It was a $90 clothing order, so there is no reason for it to be held. I opened a case with NZ Post and gave them the invoice, which they sent to the Mail Centre to investigate, but they have not responded and NZ Post say they can't help me further unless they get a response from them.

Customs aren't interested in dealing with it as I have not received a letter to pay the gst+duty for it's release, but I am not going to receive a letter as the items were only $90 value, so that's no help.

I've never had items held for more than a day before being released, so I am not sure what to do at this point. Does anyone have any ideas? I feel like a week considering there has been no public holidays or anything to create a hold up, is an unnecessary time to hold it.

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Vocus

#1628483 13-Sep-2016 11:58

It happens. Every so often a shipment gets flagged for a more thorough examination. There is nothing you can do but wait.

moulinette

88 posts

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#1628487 13-Sep-2016 12:06

Oh ok. I guess I will just have to keep waiting then. Getting impatient!

BTR

1527 posts

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#1628488 13-Sep-2016 12:07

Is the clothing a legit brand i.e. Nike or Adidas or cheaper versions from china? If they are counterfeit you might not get them at all.

timmmay

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#1628494 13-Sep-2016 12:18

Clothes are subject to both duty and GST. According to "What's my Duty" it's $9 duty and $14.85 GST, total $23.85. So you may get a bill, or you may just be unlucky.

wellygary

8335 posts

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#1628501 13-Sep-2016 12:24

timmmay:

Clothes are subject to both duty and GST. According to "What's my Duty" it's $9 duty and $14.85 GST, total $23.85. So you may get a bill, or you may just be unlucky.

But its under the De Minimis level of $60 so they will not charge the Duty or GST

timmmay

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#1628506 13-Sep-2016 12:55

They probably won't... I don't think there's anything that says they can't.

surfisup1000

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#1628512 13-Sep-2016 13:04

wellygary:

timmmay:

Clothes are subject to both duty and GST. According to "What's my Duty" it's $9 duty and $14.85 GST, total $23.85. So you may get a bill, or you may just be unlucky.

But its under the De Minimis level of $60 so they will not charge the Duty or GST

I had a feeling that certain items such as clothing were not exempt.

It could be possible that customs is waiting for the OP to pay the duty before releasing. I'd call the delivery agent.

This happened to me once. I had to register for a customs number and pay GST and/or duty.

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cr250bromo

222 posts

Master Geek

#1628513 13-Sep-2016 13:07

I was buying quite a few items from overseas with no problems, then suddenly one of my deliveries (containing only baseball caps) was held and inspected by customs and delayed for nearly 3 weeks. No idea why it took so long - when I finally received it was resealed with a message that customs had opened and inspected it. Never had any delays like this since so possibly they just selected the package at random.

moulinette

88 posts

Master Geek

#1628517 13-Sep-2016 13:12

BTR:

Is the clothing a legit brand i.e. Nike or Adidas or cheaper versions from china? If they are counterfeit you might not get them at all.

It's legit, it's an order from Boohoo, which I think is a UK clothing retailer. Quite weird though... I just found someone on twitter who has had their order from Boohoo held for clearance too since the exact same day and timestamp as my tracking.

moulinette

88 posts

Master Geek

#1628520 13-Sep-2016 13:15

surfisup1000:

wellygary:

timmmay:

Clothes are subject to both duty and GST. According to "What's my Duty" it's $9 duty and $14.85 GST, total $23.85. So you may get a bill, or you may just be unlucky.

But its under the De Minimis level of $60 so they will not charge the Duty or GST

I had a feeling that certain items such as clothing were not exempt.

It could be possible that customs is waiting for the OP to pay the duty before releasing. I'd call the delivery agent.

This happened to me once. I had to register for a customs number and pay GST and/or duty.

What's my duty says the amount due is $0 and NZ Post said I shouldn't have to pay anything and gave my invoice to them, but then I never heard anything again.

wellygary

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#1628534 13-Sep-2016 13:42

timmmay:

They probably won't... I don't think there's anything that says they can't.

Except NZ Customs have stated they will not collect under $60 as this is the De minimis level set under the Customs and Excise Regulations 1996., it cannot be changed on a whim of customs, only by the Minister after public consultation.

"Where the duty/GST liability is less than $60.00, these charges will not be collected except for alcohol and tobacco products."

http://www.customs.govt.nz/features/charges/fees/Pages/default.aspx

Deamo

159 posts

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#1628540 13-Sep-2016 13:53

I have the same thing happening at the moment with a pair of running socks coming from Amazon... cost all of NZ$40 incl shipping. The UPS tracking has been waiting for customs clearance since 11am last tuesday.

Strangely, a more expensive order of clothes from Wiggle.co.uk made last Monday arrived in NZ yesterday and was delivered today.

The combined total GST of both orders is still under $60.

sbiddle

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#1628584 13-Sep-2016 14:17

surfisup1000:

wellygary:

timmmay:

Clothes are subject to both duty and GST. According to "What's my Duty" it's $9 duty and $14.85 GST, total $23.85. So you may get a bill, or you may just be unlucky.

But its under the De Minimis level of $60 so they will not charge the Duty or GST

I had a feeling that certain items such as clothing were not exempt.

It could be possible that customs is waiting for the OP to pay the duty before releasing. I'd call the delivery agent.

This happened to me once. I had to register for a customs number and pay GST and/or duty.

Clothing isn't exempt but the duty levels are higher. The consequence of this is that you can get to the $60 level very quickly, and from memory it's around NZ$225 where this kicks in. Suddenly a $225 purchase ends up costing another $110 once MPI and EITF fees are added.

mattwnz

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#1631809 16-Sep-2016 14:48

Hold ups occur. All you can do is wait.

frankv

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#1631812 16-Sep-2016 14:56

They usually do this to give them time to organise Search Warrants and the Police and other people they need when they're going to raid a known drug importer.

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