“5 Tips for Avoiding Unnecessary Customs Delays”
Written by Phil Loynes
5 Tips for Avoiding Unnecessary Customs Delays
Sending parcels internationally can be difficult these days, with customers wanting their goods instantly or next day in most cases. When sending goods through customs, the last thing you want is for the goods to be held for days or even weeks with customs delays, causing your customer to complain, or even ask for a refund.
So what can you do to help avoid unnecessary custom delays? The following list are just a few things that you can do to help make your parcel’s transit a little smoother avoiding the anxiety of customs delays for both you and your customers.
1. Provide accurate and complete information on the customs declaration form. Customs want to know exactly what is entering their country, and they don’t like being made to guess. Making sure that your customs declaration/ commercial invoice paperwork is complete and accurate goes a very long way to making sure that your goods avoid unnecessary customs delays. This includes making sure to include all mandatory information such as the value of the goods, the purpose of the shipment, the country of origin, EORI registration numbers where applicable etc.
2. Make sure you have the correct documentation. Sometimes a complete commercial invoice is not enough for the goods that you are sending or the destination country may require additional documentation and/ or a licence for sending those goods to their country. Make sure that you have all applicable licences and documentation ready and completed correctly alongside your commercial invoice to ensure the goods are not held due to a lack of the proper documentation.
3. Declare all of the contents of your parcel. Even if you are shipping a gift, you must declare all of the contents of your parcel. An easy way to have your goods stuck is for the X-rays at customs to show goods that are not listed on your commercial invoice. This will very often cause customs officials to take your goods out of line and open them up for further physical inspection delaying the parcels flow through customs. Likewise, if the goods are not declared as part of the commercial value of the shipment, or the shipment is undervalued for customs purposes, this can cause customs delays as the destination country will, if they are feeling generous, allow you to send a new commercial invoice with the correct information on there and an accurate value of the goods.
4. Pack your parcel correctly. Make sure your parcel is properly sealed and labeled, and that it is not damaged. If the shipping label comes off in transit, this will not only cause issues with the couriers routing your parcel once again delaying the customs process to the correct destination, but can also cause issues and build ups at customs, with them not being able to attribute the correct airway bill information to the commercial invoice data. If the shipment packaging is damaged, this can also often cause customs to investigate further to ensure that nothing has been tampered with, and that the goods match the description on the accompanying documentation.
5. Send the good DDP (Delivered Duty Paid). One of the best things you can do to help speed up customs clearance is to remove the element where the receiver needs to pay duties and taxes. If the destination country allows it, sending shipments DDP will allow the courier to deliver the goods as soon as the goods have cleared customs, without needing to wait to receive monies owed for duties and taxes. Doing this will often incur additional admin fees from the couriers, but if the goods are very time sensitive, this can be a big time saver. A common misconception is that sending goods DDP means that the receiver will have absolutely no involvement with the shipment clearing customs, but this is not the case. They will still need to participate in the customs clearance actively and provide any necessary information asked of them by the destination country, but they will not be asked for any money in the process.
As customs have the ultimate decision on what comes and goes from their country, sometimes customs delays are simply unavoidable, but following the above tips will help remove some of the most common and avoidable delays that shippers face when sending shipments internationally.
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