r/alibaba
Order stuck at custom for 45 days, is it "gone"?
User asks for advice on a consumer order stuck in customs for 45 days bought via Alibaba platform.
Hi, first experience with this situation so any insight would be appreciated.
Order a kitchen machine in months ago from a reputable seller, everything went fine from their part so I'm not blaming them, but my order got the first delivery exception on 08/04, and the second one on 17/04 (package inspection). The package is already in Europe so next step should be the last one, but at this point I'm wondering if it's just going to sit at custom forgotten for who knows how long.
Alibaba status is "completed", but support assured me that what matters is the delivery status. Sellers says they can't do much as it's up to custom to finish whatever they have to do.
From your experience, am I just better off refunding it? I always tell myself that it would be a shame to drop it now that the "worst" should be gone, but is it really?
Wish you good luck,I heard one bad story,hold by EU customs more than half a year.
Maybe you can look for a freight forwarder to help you arrange the shipping.
Might not be Belgium customs, depends which port the whole shipment is going to. Sometimes a container will be split to different cargo with different importers of record, with these DDP shipments usually one importer of record/IOR is named for the entire container.
It has likely been flagged.
It has arrived in Belgium I have the tracking of the port/city, the last mile is from Germany->Italy via UPS (I already have the tracking but it clearly says they still haven't received it)
A generated last mile tracking number means nothing - it could stay like that forever until it is actually picked up (which means once the container clears the entry country, it gets moved to the warehouse, where goods are then organised and picked-up by the last mile delivery company, in this case UPS.
What was Delivery terms ? Go check the invoice with seller what was it ? or ask them the payment terms again ? if its DDP them claim the delay days but since Sellers says they can't do much as it's up to custom that means it was DDU so you have to get all details and contact yourself and get the delivery cleared other wise more storage cost will incur
Is it flagged as DDP in Alibaba
communication is important. ask them to make sure
Already did, both Alibaba support (via email) and the seller stated that custom told them they still have to make their inspection (but it was two weeks ago) and refused to provide any ETA. I'm just wondering if it can happen that a package is just "lost"/"forgotten"
Suggest you read our post here: https://www.reddit.com/r/Alibaba/comments/1p8pnpx/ddp\_shipping\_do\_your\_own\_due\_diligence/
Thank you