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Customs holds & delivery issues

On international orders, a parcel can be held at customs or hit a delivery incident on the way to the collector. These are handled mostly for you — here's what happens and your (small) role.

Written by The Oblist

Customs holds

When a cross-border parcel is held at customs, it usually means the carrier needs the collector to pay import duties/taxes or confirm something before release.

  • Our Customer Care team handles this directly with the collector — we email them clear, carrier-specific instructions and follow up.

  • You generally don't need to do anything. The piece keeps moving once customs clears.

  • If the parcel is eventually returned to you instead of clearing, it becomes a returned-to-sender case — see Parcels returned to sender.

Other delivery incidents

  • Failed delivery attempts, address problems, delays in transit — these are tracked automatically. If they resolve, the order proceeds normally.

  • If a parcel is declared lost in transit, we open the right case and protect the collector; the cost sits with the party at fault (carrier), not silently with you.

Help us prevent customs friction

The smoother the customs paperwork, the fewer holds. You can help by keeping your products' customs details accurate in your catalogue — a correct description, material/HS information and country of origin make cross-border shipping and returns far smoother.

Good to know

You won't be asked to chase customs or carriers — that's our job. You'll only hear from us if we genuinely need something from you.

Where to find it

If a customs/delivery case needs your attention, it shows in After-sales; otherwise it's handled in the background by Customer Care.

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