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What was the outcome? Did you receive the items ? Any additional charges paid?

Got the items. Duty paid was Rs. 650.

Cheers,
Raghuvir

So, one of my orders from AliExpress (touchscreen avn system for Verna) is seemingly stuck at customs.

The latest status says:

India, MUMBAI EMS, Record item customs information (Inb), Air, MUMBAI EMS SPEED POST CENTRE, Retention reason : Retained by customs for unspecified reason

I am pretty sure this means I will have to pay customs duty on this. My question is should I approach the customs (would it make me look desperate for my parcel and they will end up charging me more sensing that?) or should I wait for a few days to see how this goes?

Wait a few days.
I had this "unspecified reason" thing on an item from USA. I can't remember now how many days "few" was, maybe a week but it arrived.

This particular purchase was sent by an absurd combination of USA courier and India Post, devised by Mass drop probably to be cheap to them. It was expensive to me and decade-ago slow... But it did get here.

So it's been nearly 2 weeks since this happened and the status is still the same. I was wondering if I should reach out to them and get it cleared by customs. My query is whether I should reach out to customs directly or go via EMS?

In a similar sort of situation. I had a badminton racket (Victor Thruster TK9900 mk.3) coming to replace my Z Force II. The package is of just 10.9k and I'm wondering what could be the holdup? Never faced delays with anything else (strings, grommets, grips and whatnot which were small ems packet).



I'm wondering what could be the holdup? It never takes more than 2 days to change status after reaching the airport usually. Tried to contact anyone and everyone but either all lines are busy or I get redirected saying this isn't the right place.

Honestly just wish to pay the duty as soon as possible and try it out if they'd actually let me have the chance. Could anyone help me out with any phone number (here or pm) perhaps that I could check with? (Delhi)

Well, painful but I had to go manually to the customs office in my city (Mumbai) to get the item cleared. They asked me for proof of purchase (AliExpress) and charged nearly 40% customs duty. Well, not totally unexpected but I was expecting around 30%. Lessons learnt - if you are ordering expensive items from AliExpress, make sure you assume 40% as additional cost of purchase over the item price.

What was the declared value of the item?

I had ordered an item from AliExpress that was retained by customs for 6 days but the duty charged was 0.



Actual value as on AliExpress was $42 which is ₹2,800. Prior to shipping, I contacted the seller to declare a lower value on the package. Declared value was $15.

Did you try to contact the seller?

Some observations based on my friends' and my experience ordering climbing gear from abroad.

When a private courier is used end-to-end, they usually take care of customs clearance. This is pretty expensive and I've heard different reports of how the courier company handles the excess amount that they may charge you for customs.

When the package is handed to India Post for the domestic delivery, it may or may not get stuck at customs. It could be totally random, based on the whims and mood of the particular customs person at the post office. I think it's based on the weight and declared value of the package. I've never had small packages, with a value of 2k (INR) and below get stuck.

If your package gets stuck for a long time at customs, it probably makes sense to go to the post office personally and check. I had to do this for a package that was worth 10k. I had to first get the new (domestic) tracking number of the package, then go meet the person in charge of opening and inspecting the contents of the package.

Since it was climbing gear and the person had no clue what it was used for, I came prepared with pics on my phone showing similar equipment in usage. The tendency is to charge the highest customs rate applicable when they don't know what the gear is for! There is a detailed list of items and the customs rate applicable (as a percentage of the items, excluding shipping) for each online. But if your shipment does not exactly meet the definition of one of the line items, then the customs applicable is purely at the discretion of the person in charge. As always, speaking the local language helps! Carry ID and address proof, proof of purchase and value of the items - bill, invoice, etc.

But all in all, with the introduction of GST, budget for about 30-40% customs for most items for personal use (I don't know about electronics - have a different tax structure).

How does one go about getting the domestic tracking number for their parcel? And would I need to take a trip to the airport after that?

My item had been stuck since 11th September and din't look like they were in any hurry to release it by charging no or any arbitrary customs duty.

Seller by default undervalued the item and had it at $100. But the customs guys asked me for proof of purchase and I had to show them the actual value from AliExpress App. I was charged duty based on the actual value I paid.

You'll get the domestic tracking number from the post office. No, you won't need to go to the airport! From the airport the parcel will go to the 'foreign post office' division of the GPO. All the interactions I've described happened at the GPO itself.

Post office nearest to me from where the parcels are always out of delivery for or international post office (Patel chowk I think?)? As posted above I don't actually know of the location of my racket. It has been stuck on sending to customs since 22nd of this month.

Sorry for so many queries.

It'll be the post office that has a 'foreign post office' division. Sadly, this will not be listed on the tracking details. You'll have to Google or ask around for which of the POs has this division. It's usually only the bigger POs like a GPO that has these departments.

Go to the PO nearest to your home and ask them the address of the office which keeps the parcels for customs scanning. That is what I had done.