eBay Global Shipping / "NZ Customs Import Entry required"

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kenkeniff

628 posts

Ultimate Geek

#270087 22-Apr-2020 21:20

I ordered some used computer hardware off eBay a week or so ago, shipped with eBay Global Shipping Program which included "Import Charges" equating to ~18% of total cost inc shipping or ~26% excl so I expect it covers any import duties & GST, all up total was <NZ$800.

After checking the local tracking number I see it arrived in NZ on Mon afternoon and since then has been showing "NZ Customs Import Entry required" with the following message on the tracking page;

NZ Customs Import Entry required

The parcel or shipment has been assessed by New Zealand Customs and they require an import entry before it is released from our facility.

Why does this happen?

Your parcel requires a Duties and / or GST assessment which will be undertaken by:

A Customs Broker as nominated by you (Personal use goods or commercial goods)
Yourself directly with the New Zealand Customs Service (Personal use goods only)
What happens next?

You will receive (or will have already received) a letter or email advising of the requirement for a customs clearance to be undertaken to enable the release of your parcel.

If you have nominated a Customs Broker to clear your parcel and therefore assess the Duties and / or GST, they will advise you of the charges required to be paid to them to enable the release of a customs delivery order to you.

If you have elected to use the New Zealand Customs Service to clear your parcel, and therefore assess the Duties and / or GST, the New Zealand Customs Service will advise you of the charges required to be paid to them to enable the release of the customs delivery order.

Once NZ Post receive a copy of that customs delivery order from you, within 1 working day we will release your parcel from our Freight Customs Controlled Facility into our Delivery Network. The tracking status for your parcel will be updated to reflect this. Once in our Delivery Network, our delivery target is up to 3 working days nationwide. Delivery to rural or remote areas may take longer.

If there are other reasons your parcel is being assessed by New Zealand border agencies, you may be contacted by New Zealand Post or one of the government border agencies. Please note New Zealand Post is unable to intervene or accelerate this process.

As I haven't received any email or letter from NZ Customs yet and supposedly duties should be paid by eBay GSP is it just a matter of disregarding the above and waiting until it's cleared?

Or do I need to chase it up?

dfnt

1443 posts

Uber Geek

Lifetime subscriber

#2468122 22-Apr-2020 21:49

I'd contact ebay GSP and ask them whats up

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Oblivian

6941 posts

Uber Geek

ID Verified

#2468139 22-Apr-2020 22:30

Whatever you do, try and bypass post. It's a $46 broker fee to find the code to flag the items as. And then any duty they think.

NZ Customs require consignments valued between NZD$400 to $1,000 to go through tariff classification for risk assessment purpose. NZ Post will carry out this classification at a fee of $46 (Inc. GST) that is charged through your YouShop account. A tariff classification is required on all items in a consignment.

Though Customs may start a tennis game with post

danfaulknor

859 posts

Ultimate Geek

Trusted

Prodigi

#2468162 23-Apr-2020 00:01

If it's > $1000, even with GSP they will want at least a customs client code from you.

In my case, they emailed the email address the seller put on the parcel (which was my eBay address) to ask for the code. They made it clear that no payment was required. I expect the NZ Post page is a more generic message that doesn't know the fees have already been paid.

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Prodigi - Optimised IT Solutions
WebOps/DevOps, Managed IT, Hosting and Internet/WAN.

kenkeniff

628 posts

Ultimate Geek

#2468414 23-Apr-2020 09:53

Although it's under $900 anyway I do have a client code / TSW so that's not a problem if I actually get asked for one...

The question is whether I wait an undetermined amount of time to see whether I either get an email from Customs or it eventually ends up getting processed anyway; or whether I should chase it up early to avoid wasting time in case they've posted a letter or sent to the wrong email....

The problem is NZ Post make it clear in the message it's basically "your problem with NZ Customs" whereas you call NZ Customs and their recording basically states it's "your problem with NZ Post"; so yes, looks like a game of tennis between the two.

@danielfaulknor what was the email address for NZ Post you sent you client code to so maybe I can productively follow up with them?

SirHumphreyAppleby

2506 posts

Uber Geek

#2468430 23-Apr-2020 10:10

kenkeniff:

I ordered some used computer hardware off eBay a week or so ago, shipped with eBay Global Shipping Program which included "Import Charges" equating to ~18% of total cost inc shipping or ~26% excl so I expect it covers any import duties & GST, all up total was <NZ$800.

After checking the local tracking number I see it arrived in NZ on Mon afternoon and since then has been showing "NZ Customs Import Entry required" with the following message on the tracking page;

If they send you a letter, it will be via post and may take over a week when things are running normally.

Contact NZ Post and request the Customs reference. I used to do this by calling the International Mail Centre repeatedly until someone answered the phone. Unfortunately, that number no longer seems to be in use so you may have to try your luck with customer service. Once you have the Customs reference, contact Customs to 'pay' the amount owed. In your case, there shouldn't be anything to pay, so they may want to see a copy of the receipt from the eBay transaction showing you paid the import charges. Once they have that, they'll instruct NZ Post to release the package.

kenkeniff

628 posts

Ultimate Geek

#2468630 23-Apr-2020 13:45

So I just realised I did actually get an email from NZ Post - 11 days ago / 7 days before the package arrived in the country asking for my client code which I provided straight away (I thought this was for another eBay package I ordered earlier and arrived soon after).

So I replied to that "ecommerceenquiries[at]nzpost.co.nz" email requesting an update and they tell me it's booked for customs inspection today so will have to wait and see.

Would be good and avoid confusion if they updated their online tracking to reflect this info as opposed to sitting for days on "NZ Customs Import Entry required" with no idea at what stage of the process or who's waiting on whom...

boosacnoodle

650 posts

Ultimate Geek

#2468695 23-Apr-2020 14:50

Glad to hear you (hopefully!) got it sorted. Seems very complicated & manual though in the current day and age where most things can be digitised.