2018 Australian Customs Slowdown/Parcels Stuck in Customs For a Week or More

Gnostikos on 20/06/2018 - 13:54
Last edited 20/06/2018 - 13:55

Reaching out to all the OzBargainers who've had recent, trackable shipments and parcels sitting in customs for a week or more, especially post-May.

I'm hearing some similar stories on Whirlpool and wanted to gauge what the average customs clearing times are like lately, but since this topic largely falls outside of WP's sub-forum categories, I thought here would be a better place to ask.

My recent order is a DHL Shipment that left the UK on 04/06, arrived in Australia in a very respectable 5 days and has been at customs since 11/06. I can't remember any trackable order/shipment being at customs for more than week in probably 10 years of online shopping. DHL couldn't provide any information about the delay when queried and fobbed me off to their designated customs broker in Australia, who again couldn't provide any specifics and told me to check back with them later.

It did occur to me that perhaps there is some flow-on effect for customs efficiency and processing times as a result of the imminently-approaching July 1st GST changes for international transactions, and maybe Australian customs clearing houses are scrambling to try to implement all the compliance and regulatory requirements (hence their day-to-day work may fall behind); but general Australian, slow-as-molasses bureaucracy notwithstanding, it does seem out of whack for an order under $1000 AUD in value, that is not a dangerous/prohibited/restricted category of goods, to sit in customs for a week.

General Discussion Courier Customs Delivery GST Mail Parcel Parcel Delivery Post Postage

Comments

  • garetz on 20/06/2018 - 14:07
    +1

    There is a huge flow in effect, not just some, i have a relative who works for customs, and they are saying that the volume is unprecedented. There is a queuing system, just because volume has increased doesn't mean they are going to slack on their job. it just means whichever package has been chosen to be inspected will take much longer than normal.

    • HighAndDry on 21/06/2018 - 10:03

      Maybe someone should tell them that part of the job is also to actually get the parcels through within a reasonable amount of time. And that a scale of "months" is not it.

  • eug on 20/06/2018 - 14:28

    I ordered two lenses from B&H Photo last week. The order was placed on Thurs 14/6 and shipped later that day via DHL. On Monday 18/6 I got an email asking for payment of GST and customs fees (it looks like they counted shipping in the final price; it should have been just under the $1k threshold without). I paid it on Monday and it was delivered on Tuesday. So no holdup at all for me.

    • GG57 on 20/06/2018 - 14:47

      Out of interest, who was the email from?

      Freight and related shipping costs are always included in the value for imported goods. The declared value would normally be in the currency of the seller / transaction, and Customs use their own FX conversion rate, so that can vary to what you actually paid.

  • eug on 20/06/2018 - 15:20
    +3

    Out of interest, who was the email from?

    It was from "DHL Express <[email protected]>". They sent an SMS too.

    Freight and related shipping costs are always included in the value for imported goods.

    Freight is not included when determining whether or not an import is below the threshold as it does not form part of the good's "value". A $950 lens doesn't increase in value because I paid $51 in shipping. However if the item is valued at more than $1000, GST is applied to the whole amount paid - the item's value plus freight.

    https://www.ato.gov.au/Business/International-tax-for-busine…

    Low value goods are goods (except for tobacco products or alcoholic beverages) that have a customs value of A$1,000 or less when the price is first agreed with the customer.
    For a typical transaction where goods are sold in Australian dollars, the customs value is the price the goods are sold for, minus any amount included for freight and insurance from the place of export to Australia.
    Although you take out these amounts when determining whether the goods are low value goods, charges for freight and insurance will typically form part of the price when you are calculating the GST on the sale.

  • Gnostikos on 28/06/2018 - 14:18

    So a brief update (and a bump for the thread).

    The order referenced in my OP did eventually arrive yesterday, but the whole process was a dog's breakfast debacle I have not seen the likes of, with online purchases, for a long time.

    • Order placed on 04/06/18.
    • Shipment arrived in Australia on 11/06/18 (5 days).
    • Held in customs for 2 weeks + 2 days.
    • Playing phone tag with DHL/Customs Broker/Australia Post; being passed around like a joint at a hippy kumbaya and everyone playing responsibility dodgeball ("Yeah there's a problem with customs; we don't why or when it'll be resolved, it's been happening for months." Cool story guys, thanks.)
    • DHL Tracking Page stops loading/can't find shipment number and stops updating transit information.
    • Australia Post tracking page updates to notify of delivery only after shipment clears customs.
    • Australia Post leave package with $600 dollars worth of goods at front doorstep despite requiring a signature on delivery.
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