All international "Gift" packages now liable for customs duty @ 77%(?)

[JamesHolden25]

@varkey It's actually not mine. A friend's friends lol. the last tracking information was on 1st may, and China post tracking showed "Airline departure", but india post tracking says that it's dispatched from "Kolkata Foreign LCAO" back in March. 20th March to be specific.

Edit: Pic

 

[varkey]

@JamesHolden25 Yep, looks like it's stuck at your nearest FPO pending processing, hence the lack of updates

 

[JamesHolden25]

@varkey so how long do you think it will take? Whoever bought their stuff is getting impatient lol

 

[varkey]

@JamesHolden25 No clue, you could call up the nearest FPO and enquire. Since it's a registered package, they'd be able to give you a status update.

 

[varkey]

Finally it's moving

View attachment 1879

The package is in India, arrived on 25th May ie yesterday. Today got an email from Aramex asking for some clarification on the product and payment proof. Forwarded it to them an hour back, so most likely would get processed and released from customs tomorrow. I must add that I didn't really get any calls, just an email from Aramex, I do monitor my emails religiously, so not an issue for me, but just something to keep in mind.



Also, today I learned about a portal which you can use to track customs clearance details -- Express Cargo Clearance System (ECCS)
You can get to know whether the customs have actually raised a query or its the carrier just making us run around or whether they actually filed the BOE on the date they claimed to have etc.



It also shows the preliminary assessed value and duty.

 

[varkey]

Today the customs clearance status page is updated to Query Responded. I like this portal, improves transparency, and so far Aramex has done a good job and they charge only 1/5th of what FedEx charges as customs handling fee.

 

[vignesh_venkatesan]

Portals like these are very useful this goes to list of useful portals like urja mitra, NTES etc.

 

[varkey]

And it's out finally. The thing missing from this portal is the history which shows the different stages the package went through and the timestamps. Not sure where to send feature requests though.

 

[vignesh_venkatesan]

@varkey You're very lucky to get a international package clearing customs during a pandemic.
I wonder they would even consider adding anymore features as for these government baabus if anything works it works and they won't even touch unless it stops working.

 

[varkey]

Finally, the package is out for delivery. Looks like Aramex handed over the last mile delivery to Delhivery, which is kinda obvious since Delhivery had acquired Aramex's India operations. I was tracking the shipment progress on Aramex's site but all updates after getting customs clearance were fed from Delhivery. Sure enough, when I entered the Aramex AWB number as a ref number on Delhivery's site, I could see the real tracking updates.

Anyway, this is kind of good, cause Delhivery has great last-mile delivery coverage. But I don't really like how Delhivery handles packages, cause many of my packages which come through Delhivery from Amazon end up being damaged.