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Los Angeles Customs Holding 3 of my Packages!
 

This seems very odd to me but LA customs is currently holding 3 of my packages. All three packages are under different names and different addresses. And the addresses has only been used twice my whole life. They have been holding the 3 packages for about a week now. Should i wait?

And yes im not going to lie, they are replica fashion apparels. I know it has only been a week, but i am so worried what's going to happen. Each package only weigh about 6.5 kg. The three package have about 40 items TOTALED. What i don't get is that all three packages are under 3 different names, 3 different addresses. How much of a coincidence that the three they're holding happens to be all mine? Were they able to figure out that they are all belonging to me?

I am worried because they sent a legal notice to someone i know for importing 30 replica shirts. But the person ignored it, never responded and acted he didnt know what was going on. Can customs fines you if they only have a name and address? No ssn no DL# nothing? Can they still do something?

I know there are a lot of experts out there that have been doing this for years. I'm sure you might have ran into a situation like this before. Please let me know of some advice... ANYTHING is appreciated.

For Details:
Each Package was marked as gift with low value ..about $30

(Be nice GreenBean be nice GreenBean)

If it was a longer period than a week I'd start to worry a little. Given the number of parcels that land at LAX, it is not a long delay.
?strange that x3 parcels held: maybe. What may be happening is that your seller is being checked & all his items are under check. That's being a bit extreme, tbh. It is coming on to Chinese New Year, maybe an error was made with delivery address.
What can you do? Wait for a bit longer. If you are worried, contact the seller to see if he has had any notifications... It's a grey area,imho, at the moment. :peace:

UUGGH! I work for the post office and there are MANY scenarios on how/why this could have happened, but NONE of them are good for you or the person/people who sent the items! I hate to be the bearer of bad news. What more than likely happened since you state that the items are being held at customs and have for about a week now is that one of the packages came open upon arrival and the contents were exposed or they could have been picked as one of the random packages that get picked for inspection. In which case any USPS employee can view the insides. We are obligated to report anything of suspicion and that is probably what happened. The fact that the items are still at customs probably means they are waiting for a postal inspector to inspect the contents. If it is found to be illegal goods (⊗⊗⊗⊗ designer items are illegal) that is where the problems will begin or have begun. Most of the time the postal inspectors are well aware of who is doing this type of activity and will wait until they have HARD evidence to persue anyone legally. Postal inspectors dont give out "warnings" if they are involved than it is a federal offense and will persue that end of story. So either if this is a new discovery or one that the postal inspectors have been monitoring it isnt good either way. The post office is a federal agency and any type of illegal activity utilizing the post office is considered a federal offense! I have seen ebay sellers (and I did this too, before I knew of the severity) that utilize the post office I work at get HUGE fines for using the priority mail boxes turned inside out (before the post office started using the imprinted logos on the inside)! Now that is ridiculous in my opinion, but shows how serious the post office takes things. DO NOT pick up the items PERIOD! Consider it a loss. Hopefully you did not use any real name/real address info. But again, if they have been monitoring you for sometime, you might still be screwed (sorry dont know how else to put it). Only thing you can really do is wait and see what happens. And YES postal inspectors will knock on doors so I really hope you didnt use any real address info! Good Luck to you!

either customs are back up with packages because of the chinese new years coming feb,14, or your supplier has been black listed by customs.

chinese new year should have no effect on LA customs.

I personally have had my items VeRO items held in customs for well over a month now (since 12-31-09, believe it or not) in SF and am starting to sweat a little bit. Doesn't help that I've received a letter from customs before saying they've seized merchandise. Cut it at a loss and hoping for the best, but definitely sweating it out.

Only using different addresses from here on out. Had my connection delete this address from his list.

SF Customs is horrible!

All I can say is. JFK baby, JFK.

well the packages are not backed up..i know that for sure because another package arrived 5 days after and it cleared customs the next day while the others stay stuck in customs.

Just to clear this up for those who dont know. USPS mail does not "back up". Yes they do have larger days and lighter days, and sometimes they even slow down a bit. But there is a constant stream of packages, a backup means the whole operation could shut down. If you items are being held in customs for a few days they are looking into your packages, your supplier, or you! Be careful and make sure you supplier does not have you on any lists! Do not make any orders right now and change shipping addresses. If those 40 replica items are lost, charge it to the game. Its not a big loss, trust me.

I had 2 diff package 2 diff cities both get taken at Jfk .. i had one come open and though it was taken and it showed up 3 months later in a diff box.. I have told people that Customs is changing their system and within the next year or so you better have a backup plan .

I was going to start a new thread, but just ran across this one.

I am new to the whole VeRo term and I have been getting shipments in for about a month.

Today I come home to find that I just received the last package tht I ordered. I had purchased 25 pieces of a particular Vero item and 1 piece of another (TV series DVD for personal use).

I go to open the box and I think, "This is really lite, why?

All that was in the box was my 1 Piece TV series DVD. The 25 pieces of the other item were not in there. As I'm thinking to myself, "maybe they are coming in a different box", I notice a slip of paper from US Customs and Border Protection - addressed from San Francisco.

Basically my 25 pieces had been siezed due to "bearing counterfeit trademark". It wasn't till then that I noticed the green customs tape that they had used to seal it back up on the bottom.

In hind sight, I understand how this happened, I just didn't think about it happening.

I'm out $600. Crap.

Is this something that if you import you just roll the dice on? It happens every once in awhile? Is there certain times of the month or year that they do it more?

Can your shipper go through a different US City? I notice others have had issues with San Francisco.

My Neighbor is a Customs agent and warned me about a year. ago. He not knowing i buy from time to time overseas ..so i always hint around to him and he said they are working by 2011 to make it virtually impossible to import the bad stuff as they are getting threatened by lawsuits and are looking like they are no doing their jobs with bad Pub .Technology is constantly evolving for them , hence making it easier to spot .

its going to be impossible to stop bad stuff from coming in,maybe larger packages will be easier to stop,but customs can not and will not waste time on 5 kg or less,its impossible to stop and look at every package especially the really small ones,

this talk has been around for 8 years or so that ive been selling on the internet

They can stop it completly but they can make it more difficult by you ;losing more packages and giving up - its like Illegal Aliens , eventually no license and no job and you give up...,the talk was around going back 8 years also not to worry about ebay stopping you from selling vero on ebay ... funny how things have changed see how many Jerseys Lots you see getting sold now on ebay used to be 100's at a time now maybe one or two and they are usually pulled quickly.. you used to could just start a new account and they could not link you -dont think it is the same now... funny ,how paypal used to not 1099 you , looks like thats changing too .... funny ,when i renewed my drivers license last year i had to bring my SS card and birth certificate never had to do that before...My buddy sold Golf Clubs for years than they showed up one day with all his info going 4 years , he ended up giving up his supplier and got 12 mos probation ..the thing is technology is changing for customs and it will not be in the buyers favor .. Good Luck to all !

what's wrong with selling golf clubs?

Hahaha.

gibsonton was referring to non-genuine phony golf clubs, doh:rolleyes:

btw,nobody999, we are still waiting;)