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Customs Import Officer calling you?
 

So little story first..

I import A LOT of stuff I mean a lot. thousands a month all through DHL.

Mostly generic stuff, gets inspected by customs once in awhile ( I know as I see green tape on the boxes )

So I decided to buy some new items from my supplier that they just got. They said genuine refurb. I buy a small sample order of 100 pcs. They are about 3x8x3 each, so not too big but not small either

They sent me 2 boxes, First came fine got it in 3 days. Second one was stopped by customs and it said the dreaded PLEASE CONTACT DHL.

So I called DHL ask them about it they said your package has been seized you should get a letter within 30 days.

Few hours later I get a call from DHL about the same issue I already called about which is they are letting me know my package has been seized by customs but someone at customs wanted to speak to me first...

So I give them ( DHL ) one of my forwarder numbers. Although they already have my 800 number but you have to numbers stuff to speak to a rep and they wanted to speak directly to me...

Next day I get a call from someone at customs letting me know that he has my box of items and its there for inspection. They want to make sure they are 100% legit and that I am not infringing any rights. He asked me what I bought I told him..

Guy is very nice we spoke for a good 15 minutes about importing stuff and other shipping related stuff. I asked a bunch of questions about properly importing stuff as he can see all records of my imports, so hes like you import a lot of items...

I asked has it been seized he said NO it hasnt ( contradicting what DHL imports specialist already told me ). Its here for inspection to make sure they are legit items. If they are they will be released. He said he will compare everything to trademarks.

So here I am today waiting to see what will happen to my package...

I just wanted to tell you guys the story as its weird for me to have actual customs officer contact me. Maybes its common but this is a first for me in 5 years ive been importing stuff. Ive only had stuff stopped seized once and that was due to stupid supplier mislabeling the package.

Anyone had similar experience b4?

lol if i dont know the number "me no speaky english"

I will give you a little insight on DHL as well. I work with several companies and have acquired many licenses to sell products. A few years back it got inspected and had to provide my license agreement. I gave them a call and talking with them for around an hour I gained plenty of information. This is probably more helpful for people selling phakes, but I will let you know that they know everything. They know how many packages get shipped to you, the weight, estimated value, where its from, etc. Basically anything and everything. Also other people buying from your supplier is linked to yourself in a good or bad way.

So if you are ordering large amounts of DVDs from Yung Ming, and the USA busts that operation, they will check every address they used, link it to the top importers from them and be on your tail.

any type of DVD is one thing I DO NOT even bother with... ALL ⊗⊗⊗⊗!

I am just pointing out that as stealth as you may be, or as "smart" as you think you are, there is always a way.