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purchase from US held at customs, need advice


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A purchase I made at a US online store is being held at customs (I assume Mexican customs). The store sent a message to me about this saying I needed to hire a broker to get it out of customs. It was being shipped by FedEx. Does anyone have any advice as to how I can deal with this?  Thanks.

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Last week I ran into the same situation with a delivery. I contacted fedex and even though they wanted to fix the situation for me there's nothing they can do when a package is in the hand of Mexican customs. I wrote an email to the lead Mexican customs official and recieved a response in semi broken English I surmised I needed to update the customs form attached to the package with the amounts of items and value of the items. You also need to work fast as they'll only hold the package for four days before the return to sender. That was my experience. Others may differ....

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The story of my package ends here: after 4 days the package is with Aduana in some kind of warehouse. It will not be returned to sender. To retrieve it I would need a certificate of my status as an official importer, a certificate from the agency that OK`s the items in the package (after the fact since there was no indication upon ordering them that these items are suspicious  or not to be imported), and the hiring of a customs broker.  I have met the Red Queen in Alice In Wonderland.

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7 hours ago, Bajabrady said:

Last week I ran into the same situation with a delivery. I contacted fedex and even though they wanted to fix the situation for me there's nothing they can do when a package is in the hand of Mexican customs. I wrote an email to the lead Mexican customs official and recieved a response in semi broken English I surmised I needed to update the customs form attached to the

 

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7 hours ago, Bajabrady said:

 I wrote an email to the lead Mexican customs official and recieved a response in semi broken English 

Was the e-mail you sent in semi broken Spanish?

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4 hours ago, Bontekoe said:

The on line store and Fed Ex should have taken care of the clearance! very poor of them to send a package without the proper papers!

Well, firstly, none of the items in the package were on the Do Not Import List.  So the store, FedEx nor me knew not to send the items. Aduana decided to open the package and call into question one of the items.  At that point, the only thing that can be done is the purchaser must hire a broker and/or get papers for the item in question.  It is my understanding (and I`ve had a 48-hour crash course in these matters) that neither a store nor FedEx has responsibility for obtaining proper papers.  I am guessing at this point, that that is the purchaser`s responsibility.  It`s a crap shoot when you order something from the States and have it delivered here. It might get stopped by Mex customs (Aduana) or it might not. One can avoid much difficulty by looking carefully at the Do Not Import List and not ordering anything on the list. But other things are left to chance -  whether Aduana decides to hold something back from delivery or not. If they do, it seems it`s basically impossible to regain access to that item, indeed to the entire order as in my case.

In the future, I will be having things sent to a broker house in Texas like Sol y Luna and having them clear everything and send it on. The expense is only a little more than having something sent directly from the store in the US to my address, it turns out. And they can get things here faster as well.

 

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Something very obscure called thiourea dioxide, used for reducing oxygen in indigo dyeing. It is a white powder and I think that is why it caused a problem.

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I placed an order with Amazon a couple of weeks ago that actually earned free shipping to MX.  I was able to follow it through the DHL number provided by Amazon.  All went well until it got to customs and they wouldn't clear it.  I printed a copy of the email I got from the DHL agent in customs saying I needed a broker, etc. because something couldn't be identified.  I took the email to the DHL office in Ajijic.  They said it's pretty much impossible to get it past customs once it stops there and just let it go back to Amazon.  One of the items was a citrus based liquid and I asked if that might be the problem - the guy at DHL said probably so.  I placed a reorder minus the liquid and it arrived in 6 days.  DHL returned the suspicious order to amazon yesterday.

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9 hours ago, CHILLIN said:

That's a pretty scary MSDS sheet on that chemical.

http://www.runyoutech.com/pdf/thiourea-dioxide-msds.pdf

I wouldn't want it on my airplane or in my country.

Nah, pretty harmless stuff used as directed. Not on the Prohibited Items for Importation list.  Been using if for 30 years, no ill effects.

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9 hours ago, Yo1 said:

My thiourea dioxide made it through several years ago.  Maybe you just got a cranky customs officer.  Or an ignorant one.  Let me know if you need some before you manage to get any from the US.

That`s been my experience too. I`ve had it shipped from the US many times without problem.  Thanks much for your offer if you have extra. I`m getting pretty low.

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i had the same problem with some liquids i ordered, customs held it for 8 days then sent it to me with a hefty customs fee.

during those seven days the broker i spoke said there was nothing they could , and to have the shipment sent back to US.

all advice was wrong,, customs eventually processed my ordered with a fee.

 

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A friend had a recreational drone held on its shipment from the US to here. We went to FedEx at the Guadalajara Airport and after about 6 hours they brought it to the desk for us. It is always hit or miss. I ordered 6 computer parts and had them shipped to Mailboxes Etc., a couple years ago and when the box arrived, the only thing that was left in the box was the free 2GB USB stick that came with the order. Never got my parts. Never got a refund. It is always a crapshoot ordering anything from the States online.

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10 hours ago, Yo1 said:

Just send me a private message and I'll dig it out.  I haven't done any indigo dyeing for a few years.

I tried  leaving  a message but the system said "your message box is full", so I left a message on your "feed".

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2 hours ago, Yo1 said:

Okey, dokey, I will email you.  I cleaned my box out completely yesterday. 

Have you actually received messages in your box? I never have since the software changeover, as is true for so many others.

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