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Please contact DHL
 

I placed 2 orders oversea and the first one dispatched were updated at customs to:
Processed for clearance at NEW YORK CITY GATEWAY - USA later, it had one more updated to: Please contact DHL.I called and confirmed my address No more update since Dec 21. The goods is original.
I have 2 questions:
1 - I know that when customs fees is applied, i am responsible for it. But in this case, If the item doesn't arrive who's at risk of losing the money, me or the seller?
2 - Does it helps if i ask the supplier to add my license No to the invoice next time i buy?
Thanks in advance!

Re: Please contact DHL
 

The responsibility of the shipping can be yours or the sellers depending on where you bought the items. If you bought it from a site that uses escrow and guaranteed delivery then it is the sellers. If you bought it directly from the sellers website or elsewhere, then you are probably out of luck if the seller wont work with you in good faith.

As for adding license, I would not think that that would benefit you considering it is an international shipment. All of the issues are going to be simply on declaration and content. Customs already has enough with your name, address, and phone number.

Re: Please contact DHL
 

I think you need to talk to your shipper about this and do it right away.
At the very least they should offer to give you 1/2 of what is ordered if it's lost.

So start there. And contact DHL again about the parcel and start putting pressure on them

No, the license number doesn't matter actually.

Re: Please contact DHL
 

It's the seller's responsibility to get the item to you. No item, no delivery confirmation, you get your money back.

I'm not clear why it's your job to contact DHL unless there's customs due or a bad address or some such, and it doesn't seem that's the case.

Tell the seller it hasn't arrived and they have to send another one or refund you in full, whichever you prefer.

That's the way the system works.

Re: Please contact DHL
 

Please contact dhl nornally means it's been stopped by dhl on request of custom or offer government officials they like to physical inspect item if it's not **** then nothing to worry

Re: Please contact DHL
 

Definitely not the way this system works. Your example is how US>US transactions paid by credit card or PP work.

That's very rarely the case with shipments coming from overseas. This is why 90% Ali/DH sellers will only accept either non-reversible payments (WU/MG/TT) or payments mediated by their platform where they know mods will side with them in case of dispute.

I'm not saying OP is screwed but I am saying there's no guaranteed protection when you're importing unless you paid with a CC (which most of those sellers won't accept).

@OP - "Please contact DHL" was a customs inspection. The fact that you still haven't received the shipment and your tracking hasn't updated in a month leads me to believe there was a problem with the shipment and customs still has it. You can call customs directly and find out.

Re: Please contact DHL
 

I think this is mostly false too....

If you pay with anything but a CC or Paypal either you deserve to lose your money or you dont deserve to be in business. Ive never met ONE SINGLE seller on ALI or DHgate that wont take either or both. Yes they always want some sort of non secure payment but dont kid yourself and think they will turn down a big enough sale if you will ONLY pay with CC or Paypal. IF they are a real seller and do real business...This isnt a problem.

Usually when they ask you to contact DHL....you are trying to import something into the country that has a tariff. Most likely they want your SSN and or CC so they can charge you the little customs tariff that is required.

All you need to do is call DHL international customer service and give them the tracking...they will likely forward the call to Ohio and you will pay some small fee to have your package clear customs. This is simple international business. Really this isnt difficult and if you think this is hard wait till you have to find a customs agent to import super large orders. LOL Good Luck

Re: Please contact DHL
 

I'm not saying your post is false but that's not been my experience. Suppliers in different niches handle things differently I guess. The supplier I've been working with for 5 years now will only accept Moneygram or WU, because in this particular category the buyer assumes the risk by ordering something they know could be taken. I've only ever had issues with one shipment and it was promptly reshipped. You can say I shouldn't be in business if you want but it's working out fine for me. There's two-way trust as there should be in any business relationship.

I can say for certain this isn't being held for taxes. The tax threshold for shipments coming into USA is $800. Anything less than $800 declared on the customs form is supposed to proceed to delivery without interruption. Even if the value is over $800 the shipment would not be held like this. We used to have to pay taxes on shipments all the time back before the threshold was raised from $400 to $800. DHL pays the taxes for you and sends you a bill for the taxes + a convenience fee. They would not hold the shipment until you call them. They certainly wouldn't hold the shipment for nearly a month without contacting either the shipper or the receiver.

This was a customs inspection.

Re: Please contact DHL
 

Have you tried calling DHL recently to see what the hold up is?

Re: Please contact DHL
 

My international suppliers all accept PP and CC's, as well as all the other non-refundable methods as well. Every supplier I've dealt with takes every imaginable method of payment.

Under no circumstances would I pay anyone via a method that can't be charged back if they don't perform.

Then again, I only spend 60-80K anually on overseas suppliers and get maybe 20 or so shipments a year... so what do I know... :)

Re: Please contact DHL
 

In uk 95% contact DHL means it's stoped by customs, ukba or trading standards

For taxes they say on tracking taxes due contact dhl it's totally different

Re: Please contact DHL
 

HAHA you know for certain. I find it hilarious that so many senior members here dont know how ebay, amazon, international business and shipping actually work. I guess you might know about ebay and amazon stealth but it also seems like you little about how customs and dhl really work.

Sounds like you never had a shipment held in customs that was under the $800 threshold. Try importing something like stainless steel where people fudge invoices all the time....they certainly will hold your package if the weight of the stainless is more than the current US rate for Stainless.

id also see you try to pay 30-50K in WU or Moneygram....LOL

And Yes Fedex will send you a bill for customs charges but DHL and UPS require you to pay for you to pay for their customs agents before the packages will leave their respected International Importation Cities....In this case DHL, Likely the package is still in Cincinnati Ohio.

Also, have you never had the shipping company not put your right contact information on the shipping invoice...they might have your address right but sometimes its missing the phone number or email or both. This is how DHL, UPS contact you for customs.....sometimes they have the wrong info or none at all.

As i said earlier....the OP should just call DHL....likely they want a SSN or CC for tariffs. The OP is from the US from his flag. This is how we do business in the US. Either your business is not large enough, you havent been in business long enough or dont buy from China or internationally frequent enough....but these are all examples of scenerios that can and do happen!

Keep your post count up! Its really helping!:heh:

Re: Please contact DHL
 

I know, these people are all idiots.....right.

Re: Please contact DHL
 

I never said that.....but sometimes i wonder if people just post to inflate their post count because none of what they say helps or is factual :lol:

Re: Please contact DHL
 

DHL and UPS require you to pay for you to pay for their customs agents before the packages will leave their respected International Importation Cities....

You may know how everything works, but I've had UPS and DHL both collect due customs fees upon delivery on the three times it's happened.

I've also had UPS send me an invoice for any deficiencies customs fees.

likely they want a SSN or CC for tariffs.

Why exactly would DHL need an SSN for tariffs? I've had several hundred substantial shipments from China over the past 8 years and never had to give anyone my SSN.

This is how we do business in the US

Not in my neck of the woods it isn't.

Re: Please contact DHL
 

"but I've had UPS and DHL both collect due customs fees upon delivery on the three times it's happened."

----A whole 3 times out of the 8 years of doing business in china....and several hundred shipments...what happens the other times....Do they require you to pay before :doh:


"Why exactly would DHL need an SSN for tariffs? I've had several hundred substantial shipments from China over the past 8 years and never had to give anyone my SSN."

---Have you ever ordered something that has importation regulations where your only allowed to import a certain $$$ amount of that product a year? If you have they might have asked for a SSN or EIN so they can put it on record. Like my example once again...Stainless Steel has regulations like this where only a certain amount is allowed to be imported without giving a SSN or EIN. And there are 100's of thousands if not millions of other products like this.

I understand from your answers why you dont do business like this in your neck of the woods! :lol::lol::lol::deadhorse:

Re: Please contact DHL
 

Other than those 3 times, I've never had any customs due.

I can't speak to the stainless steel example.

In the way-back good ol' days I imported steel and aluminum stock and finished goods and other products by the 40' container load, but I never had any issues then either. They'd crane the containers off the ship and stick them on a chassis and run them over the road to our warehouse. We had a certain number of days to offload them before we paid extra.

I don't recall ever having to give out my EIN, but I suppose it's possible that was part of the process at some point.

I guess I must just be doing something wrong...

Seriously, I don't have the time or energy to screw around with stupid stuff like under-declaring import value. I do it right the first time. A lost or delayed load costs more money in time and lost sales than paying the proper amount in the beginning.

That's how those of us who are successful business operators do it every time, everywhere we can.

Unlike in your neck of the woods, apparently, where customs holds and customs charges due are the norm.

Re: Please contact DHL
 

Oh yeah, because I really need to inflate my post count so I can get the Teddy Bear that is given out after you reach 14,000 post.

Re: Please contact DHL
 

Hey! I want a teddy bear too!

Re: Please contact DHL
 

Teddy bears are out of stock :( ...Held up at customs... :FF:

:focus:

Re: Please contact DHL
 

Are they panda bears in China?

FYI You know teddy bears were named after Teddy Roosevelt.

Re: Please contact DHL
 

DHL & UPS don't require it before hand... they let you pay it before hand, or at the time of delivery although that's for me as I'm in Canada. They did call me about it though the day of. They even let me pay it with PayPal (DHL)

Re: Please contact DHL
 

Big international business would never have real wholesale prices and accept CC or Paypal. You are paying much more for goods if they can afford the fees and accept the risk. Odds are you are buying from 3rd or 4th party sellers in small quantities. Nothing wrong with that, but that is really small business high costs of goods. I would NEVER accept paypal wholesale and my big buyers ONLY want to do Bank Transfers across borders.

Re: Please contact DHL
 

If you call DHL, they will tell you exactly what the issue is at hand. What do they say? What are they asking for?

When you say "original" what does that mean? Some one else trademarked goods? Or your own?

Re: Please contact DHL
 

Largely depends on what you're buying. I only deal in low risk items, and in the old days in basic commodities, no electronics or custom spec work.

Two way trust in overseas transactions is unheard of.

I wouldn't bank transfer funds to anyone in China. I doubt even a company like Apple bank transfers funds to Foxcon until they have the container in their hands and have confirmed the product is counted and correct and as specified.

That's what escrow is for.

Re: Please contact DHL
 

You are mistaken in many ways. If you say unheard of, then you simply have very limited or small quantity experience.

Trust is earned both ways over time. Paypal fees are far and away to big for true factory wholesale business. I dont accept it and non of my vendors do for large orders. Heck, you cant even send more than 10K at one time with paypal.

Now, for most people on this forum, credit card payment through paypal is the best option, but once you gain trust, save that insane exchange rate and paypal fees and knock 10-20% off your cost of goods. Start small and go from there. Keep payments small and never send more funds than you can afford to loose.

But to say you will ONLY pay vendors over seas paypal really keeps your business small and options smaller.

Re: Please contact DHL
 

Updating on this.
I received the letter from the trademark with customs letter attached saying that my product has been seized which bear marks which constitute counterfeit and copies and the trademark is notifying me.
trademark is now asking for seller info, who this type of product has been sold to and if there's inventory. Also wanna me to confirm that will not buy anymore which I won't do ever again.
The seller misspelled my first name, also I have like 5 pieces in stock that i bought after this happened.
My doubt is: Should I send an email to trademark saying that I will not buy anymore or just stop and ignore the letter? Any advice?
I don't wanna see feds knocking my door

Re: Please contact DHL
 

I'd just throw away whatever you have now and ignore the letter. Plain and simple.

Unless you imported a boatload of whatever you were buying, more than likely no one's gonna come after you.

Re: Please contact DHL
 

No one will knock on your door. They dont even know if the item is legit or not and have bigger fish to fry.They simply assume that the item may be counterfeit. Never reply to the letters, as that basically allows further digging. If the item is counterfeit, I am not condoning this activity, but dont push your luck. The Feds dont get involved until the container level, but they sure notify the trademark owners of their suspicions. Which those could lead to problems in legal battles. I'm not a lawyer, just use your common sense.

Re: Please contact DHL
 

Thanks for your reply.
It does make sense what you said, however, According to the manufacturer support info provide over the phone the products aren't counterfeit. So, I did not throw away the last 5 pieces I had.
Planning... In the feature, I will look to buy from the authorized distributor.

Re: Please contact DHL
 

Like I said earlier, According to the support over the phone, it's not counterfeit. That is something I have been checking since my first order, Less concern...
I am not taking your reply as legal advice but I don't doubt a lawyer answer the same thing you just said. As it's not a big order involved.
Thank you very much for your reply!