Forum

Held by customs. In China?
 

Hi. I have a package sent from China to USA via EMS that's being held by customs in China for more than 4 days. Is that normal? What should I expect? TIA

It is normal.

Various issues may have occurred.

Two that I know can happen are incomplete paperwork and damaged packaging.

Other hold-ups can relate to a backlog with despatch or shipper issues.

Could you give more info ?

Chinese customs getting really strict. 4 days does seems like a long time but then again they have been really busy lately so maybe that has something to do with it.

Wait for few days and report back with news on your part.

You should give more info like how big - what category of items - etc.



EMs works quite nicely for North American shipments.

Apparently EMS are the worst possible shipping method to use when buying, what china website did you purchase from?

You need to be shipping from China via DHL.

EMS over Christmas period will only lead to further problems. When I used to buy from China and ship with EMS it used to sit in China for longer than 4 days. Total turnaround time could be as long as 10-12 days.

Also, if the goods are phakes, EMS will not let them out the country.

Not true at all from other people's experiences

It is true as this happened to a friend of mine, also the chinese will tell you the same thing.

also heard there are two types of DHL shipping from China, if you're dealing in phakes they ship via Special DHL which will clear customs. However, if you ship the same items via normal HK DHL they wont get out the country.

You know those are some bad phakes when they don't even make it through china customs. Good luck trying to get that garbage through US customs.