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The customs showed how the parcels are checked, and told why it is not worth importing them through Russia. Why are your parcels opened at customs?

06.09.18 41 789 0

Instruction from a person who goes to customs how to work

In July, I spent 12 hours at the Moscow customs, scratching my parcels from them from abroad.

Maxim Ilyakhov

I already know the local inspectors by sight, I come well-prepared and I can resolve issues, if not quickly, then at least the first time. Here's what I learned about getting packages through Russian customs: read this if you're ordering anything from abroad.

What will you learn

How are parcel and customs related

To get to Russia, parcels from abroad must overcome customs: this is a special service that monitors the import and export of goods across the border. There are customs offices at airports, seaports, post offices. When you arrive in Russia and walk along the "green corridor" at the airport, this is also customs.

When an international parcel arrives in Russia, it also goes through customs. This applies to all parcels without exception, even those sent by courier services. The customs officer checks the contents of the parcel (on an X-ray, according to documents, and sometimes even personally) and if everything is in order, he lets the parcel go further into the country. In most cases, this happens unnoticed by us: we simply receive the package in the form in which it was sent. We don't even know she went through customs.

Why customs hold up parcels

Customs has many reasons to delay the package, but in our case, most likely, it will be one of four:

  1. the customs officer has a suspicion that the product is commercial, although it is declared as a private purchase;
  2. the recipient has spent the monthly limit on duty-free purchases abroad - now it is 1000 € per month or 31 kg;
  3. the customs officer did not understand what was in the parcel, he needs an explanation;
  4. The customs officer decided that there was something forbidden in the parcel.

In these cases, the recipient will be invited to the local customs office to provide clarification and pay duties.

If you suspect that you have exceeded the limit, check if the store or courier knows your TIN. At the time of this writing, customs considers purchase limits only for those parcels for which it requests the recipient's TIN: usually these are parcels of courier services. If the courier service does not know your TIN, you will receive a letter from them: "Specify TIN". Courier services know these features of Russian legislation and no longer even send parcels without knowing the recipient's TIN.

If you are ordering something that comes by regular mail and does not require your TIN, it is likely that customs will not count this item as a limit. But it is now. Here they will introduce some kind of control system, and then they will count everything.

How to understand that the parcel was detained at customs

If customs holds your package, two things will happen:

  1. By the track number of your parcel, it will be clear that it is ready for delivery, but not where you usually receive it, but in some unfamiliar place. In Moscow, this is a branch of the international post office on Varshavskoye shosse, 37. But for now, you don’t need to go there, it will be a waste of time. Alternatively, the tracking package will say "Sent with customs notification."
  2. Customs will send you a registered letter at the place of delivery of the parcel. In the envelope there will be a template letter from customs, they say, come, my dear. The reasons for the delay, most likely, will not be indicated - the letter is template and vague, but it can be different in different customs departments. A notification of receipt of the parcel with its track, weight and shelf life will be attached to the letter.

If you receive a registered letter, collect the documents and get ready to take time off from work.


It's a bad thing: the track shows that the customs in St. Petersburg sent my package to Moscow with a notification. One of these days I will receive a letter...

Pay attention to the shelf life of the parcel: if it is about to expire, you need to come as soon as possible. There is a danger that 2-3 days will pass between the first arrival at customs and the actual release of the parcel - you will have to collect some additional documents or you will not be accepted on the first day. During this time, the storage period may expire, and the parcel will be sent back.

Do not receive a letter if you are not going to customs

By notification in your mailbox, you will understand that the letter came from the main post office.

If you understand that you will not go to customs for economic reasons (read about this below), you can simply ignore the letter. Then the parcel will go back in two weeks, and you will be able to order this product again after a while, for example, when the limit on duty-free import is reset.

What to take with you to customs

Since we don't yet know why customs delayed the package, we need to prepare for the worst. Here's what to take with you from the documents.

Letter and notice sent to you. This is the basis for the customs officer to talk to you. The letter will need to be given, and upon notification you will be given a package if everything is fine.

Passport copies: first page and registration. You'll need one copy, but it doesn't hurt to have a few on hand. When you order goods from the Internet, it can be difficult to stop. In Varshavka, there is a photocopier directly at the post office, 15 R per copy.

Copies of documents of relatives. If the parcel contains a lot of goods that you ordered for family members, copies of their passports will be required to prove that you ordered the goods not for sale, but for relatives. It should be clear from the copies that these are your relatives. If it is not clear - copies of documents that establish kinship: marriage certificates, birth certificates.

Purchase confirmation- an invoice from the online store and confirmation of payment. The invoice is usually downloaded on the store's website, and the check - in the Internet bank. According to the invoice and receipt, it should be clear that it was you who paid for the goods.

Descriptions of what is in the package. You need to be ready to explain to the customs officer what is in the parcel, with pictures. Photos of the goods from the site, printouts of the pages of the online store will do. If there are a lot of different things in the parcel, documents are needed for everything: the customs officer may have questions about a particular thing. Last time, when I went to customs, I had a dozen photos of the goods in the parcel, the customs officer studied them with great interest, asking, “What is this? But here? And how does it work?" The photos helped a lot.

14 days

period of storage of the parcel at customs

Cash to pay the fee: not less than a third of the cost of your goods, not less than 4 € per kilogram, all in terms of rubles. In Moscow, Varshavka does not accept cards, but there is one Post-Bank ATM. Whether it will work and whether there will be money in it is unknown.

From household items it is worth taking one more thing.

Thermos of tea and a snack. It's easy to spend 5-7 hours in line to the inspector. You can go out, at the post office you can drink coffee from the machine, but I prefer to take my own.

A set of bright Post-its stickers and an unusual marker. You will be surprised why they are useful. For now, just toss it in your bag.

On Varshavka, according to my observations, mobile Internet catches badly. If you planned to watch TV shows via the Internet, it is better to download them to your tablet in advance. If you are working with google docs, install the extension for "Chrome"to work without the Internet.

Pay attention to customs days and opening hours. In Moscow, on Varshavka, individuals are not accepted on Monday, and on Saturday there is a short day. It is better to come from Tuesday to Friday right at nine in the morning, or even at half past eight.


What to do in line

Different customs work differently: somewhere it's a complete hell, somewhere it's a civilized place. I'll tell you about the customs at 37 Varshavskoye Shosse, where parcels are received by those who ordered them to Moscow. It was my best years.

Customs on Varshavka is a dozen windows, of which at best two worked with me - they say there are not enough staff. The queue moves slowly. The electronic queue boards hang but don't work, so every time I was there, I had to stand in a live queue.

The peculiarity of the live queue at this customs office is that it moves terribly slowly (with me, 3-4 people per hour passed through two windows), and people often leave without waiting. Decent people leave, having previously introduced those who are behind them to those who are in front of them. But it happens that 2-3 people from the middle of the line silently give up, and then you can’t find the ends, who was behind whom. Start screaming, tantrums and waving hands.

1000 €

limit on duty-free purchases abroad per month

Advice. Bring along a set of colorful Post-its and a bright marker. If there is a live queue at your customs office, write the numbers on these brightly colored pieces of paper and distribute to everyone as if it were an electronic queue.

You are not obliged to do this, but with this gesture you will greatly simplify life for everyone, first of all for yourself. When a person has a bright piece of paper with a number in his hands, he calmly feels in line, no one asks: “Girl, who are you after?”, There is no problem that “A young man was following me, but he left, but you hold on here are the women in red. Be the person who put things in order in the queue. You will not be thanked, but you will spend the next 3-4 hours in peace. If not you, then who?

If stuffy. If you are in Varshavka and you feel stuffy - find an air conditioner panel near the information stand. She works. Press the button - it will be easier for everyone.


What to do with the inspector

When it's your turn, give the inspector a notice. He finds your case and starts working with you. He will ask questions and ask for clarification about the things in the package. Show him all the documents that you have prepared in advance.

The inspector has no parcels; he has never seen them and never will. He only looks at documents. Therefore, to offer the inspector to open the package and make sure of something for yourself will not work. The parcel itself is somewhere in the warehouse two floors below, completely different people will give it to you.

All the inspectors I came across were calm, methodical and friendly. They worked slowly but carefully. If there was something I did not understand, everything was explained to me. When they were rude and snapped because of the long wait, they doomedly shrugged their hands. I did not meet any hellish scoop and rudeness, although people in the queue constantly complained about changes in the rules and inaccurate instructions.

Here you need to understand that we are dealing with people who, in turn, deal with papers and regulations. They must comply with all the formalities and rules, this is their task. If the inspector violates something or makes a mistake with the papers, he will be sent for it. However, he is human and can make mistakes. But in the end, we do not need him to do everything right - we need to understand what specific actions this particular inspector expects from us in order to release our specific package.

Advice. Try to do everything to the maximum on the spot, without transferring work to the next day. For example, the inspector may ask you to write some kind of explanation. Agree that you will come back without a queue in 10 minutes.

If you postpone the case until tomorrow, then you may come across another inspector, and instead of an explanation, he may ask for another document or even send you to some mysterious department that no one has ever heard of. All the people who returned with me the next day always started the proceedings from the beginning and were very annoyed that each new inspector demanded some new things from them.

What not to do at customs

Don't mention the words "for sale". The inspector will decide that this is a commercial shipment, and you do not pay duties.

You should not say the words "surveillance", "tracker", "hidden audio recording", "encryption". All encryption tools must undergo a special check in the authorities. If, for example, you ordered a computer or microcontroller from abroad, keep quiet that you can encrypt something on it or monitor something.

Don't joke about guns and drugs. Imagine how many times the inspector has heard this joke.

Do not freak out and hysteria. The inspector works according to the regulations and sits behind the glass. He is all our psychos to the bulb. But if your proceedings with the inspector drag on, your colleagues will see in turn that you are slowing down the whole process - they can arrange a people's court.

Payment of duty

The likely course of events is if you ordered something expensive from the Internet and exceeded the limit on duty-free import, which is now 31 kg and 1000 € per month. In case of excess, you will have to pay an additional duty of 30% of the value of the goods, but not less than 4 € per kilogram. Most likely, even with this surcharge, the purchase will be cheaper than in Russia.

The fee is paid by postal money order, which can be issued right there at the post office. They take a commission.

For payment, you will need a passport and an invoice for the fee, which will be issued by the inspector. The post office operator will accept the money and issue a check, with the check you need to return to the inspector and get his blessing to release the parcel.

What if you don't go

If you do not go to customs before the expiration date of the parcel, most likely it will be sent back to the store. Most often, the store will refund you the cost of the goods, but keep the shipping cost. It may make economic sense, see.

Let's say you ordered a product for 990 €, but it so happened that this month you exceeded the duty-free threshold. You will need to pay an additional fee of 300 € (including commission) and spend time at customs.

Five hours at customs costs you some money. Let's say you earn $500 an hour. A trip to customs, not counting transport and overhead costs, will cost you 2-3 thousand rubles. But the goods will be immediately.

On the other hand, you can ignore the product, wait for it to return to the store, get a refund and order it again when the limits are reset. The goods will be in 1.5-2 months, but they will immediately be at the post office near the house.

Two savings options

Go to customs, pay the fee:

  • −300 € of duty;
  • −2500 Р for time;
  • -5 hours of life.

Total:−24 400 Р, −5 hours of life, goods immediately.

Do not go to customs, reorder the goods:

  • −60 € for delivery;
  • −60 € for redelivery;
  • +5 hours of life.

Total:−8760 Р, goods in two months.

How to keep your mind at customs

  1. If you are waiting for an expensive package from abroad, add its track to your personal account on the Russian Post website to be aware of the fate of that package. So you do not miss the moment when she gets stuck at customs.
  2. Don't hesitate until you receive an official letter from customs. Go there without a letter only if the parcel is about to expire. Now the shelf life is 14 days.
  3. Take a copy of your passport, cash and all conceivable documents for the purchase, including a bank statement for the purchase. Product photos, screenshots from the site - print everything.
  4. Collect as many documents as possible to resolve issues with the package in one trip. Better to print ten extra pages than spend ten extra days going to the inspectors.
  5. Get ready for 5 hours in line. Organize a live queue yourself so that no one freaks out.
  6. First study what is prohibited for import into Russia, and if possible do not provoke the customs officer with these words.
  7. If the problem is duties, consider what is more profitable: pick up the goods at customs now or re-order it in a month or two.

In what cases is it possible to open international mail.

Recently, my package from abroad showed damage to the packaging, carelessly sealed with tape, and a slight discrepancy in weight. Everything pointed to the fact that someone tried to profit from the goods addressed to me.

At my request to check the attachment and fill out the form, 51 employees of the Russian Post fired the assumption that the package was most likely opened at customs. They say it's a common procedure. Taking into account the fact that the act of conducting customs inspection was not attached to the parcel, I let her arguments fall on deaf ears. Next, we proceeded to open the package.

An opened package is an unpleasant event, but sometimes justified. Who has the right to open shipments and when can this happen?

Our friends from the Banderolka service helped us to sort out difficult customs issues, as well as customs officers of the Russian Federation, whose passwords and appearances we will not hand over.

customs control

Customs clearance of international mail is handled by special customs posts. Now there are more than 20 points of international postal exchange located in various parts of our vast Motherland. But most of them are in Moscow - at three airports and at the Main Post Office. All other customs can only arrange transit to places of international mail exchange.

Although the clearance of international mail is carried out at separate customs posts, the procedure is generally similar to the customs clearance of ordinary goods: customs control - payment of duties and fees - decision on release.

All overseas shipments are accompanied by a completed declaration in the form CN22 or CN23. By the way, for parcels sent from Russia, you will also need to fill out forms CN22 / CN23, which must indicate the description of the investment and its cost.

By default, all incoming parcels undergo documentary control, after which they are tested for radioactivity and the “ inspection»on x-ray. Postal correspondence is often scanned en masse.

If there is suspicion

If the customs inspector suspects that the contents do not correspond to those declared or are included in the list of goods prohibited for shipment, the parcel is sent to inspection. Inspection is the only opportunity for customs to open the parcels.

According to statistics, no more than 3% departures, and for the vast majority of sufficient standard control.

How is the opening

The opening and inspection of the contents takes place in the presence of two postal employees. If the inspector's suspicions are not confirmed, then the shipment is packed, and on the outside it is attached The act of customs inspection, certified by the participants in the process.

If the parcel declares goods prohibited for transportation, then it will simply be returned back to the sender. If the presence of prohibited goods is detected during the inspection procedure, the parcel is subject to seizure and disposal. The goods will no longer be received by either the addressee or the sender.

In addition, customs control zones are equipped with video surveillance systems, so it is rather problematic to seize the goods you like during customs clearance.

By the way!

List of Sanctioned Products.

The current list of goods prohibited for sending by mail can always be found on the website of the Russian Post. It includes:

  • tobacco products, alcoholic and alcoholic products;
    perishable products;
  • weapons (including cold weapons), explosives, their components and components;
  • drugs and similar substances;
  • poisons, hazardous wastes and ozone depleting substances
  • but most importantly: it is forbidden to import goods from the sanctions list into Russia, including by mail.

Packaging damage

Parcels are not always opened with malicious intent. Sometimes damage to the outer layer of a shipment can occur accidentally during transport or postal processing.

If postal employees discover the integrity of the package of the item is broken, they are required to inspect the attachment, if necessary, open the package and compare the contents with the inventory. At the same time, postmen must make Autopsy report and attach a copy of it to the shipment after repackaging.

Based on personal experience, I can add that the package must be re-sealed using Russian Post branded tape.

By the way. If you bought something in the USA, then you can protect your parcel from damage using the Banderolkin insurance system and additional parcel protection -.

Who opens

And yet, at what point do they try to get into the package?

During customs control, it is almost impossible to do this. In addition, in recent years I have never heard that any customs inspector was caught stealing from mail.

However, the inspectors have a hypothetical opportunity to safely pass "half-empty" parcels with a discrepancy in weight through the inspection. Collusion between the Postal operator and the customs officer is theoretically possible, although it seems difficult to me.

Who can get into the parcel

But that's where dishonest individuals seem to have room for action, so this is during multiple sortings at railway stations and post offices.

According to the leadership of the Russian Post, now employees are losing one package out of a hundred thousand. Unfortunately, it does not provide statistics on opened and ruined shipments. But for some reason it seems to me that this happens much more often than loss. Judging by the messages on thematic forums, the number of problematic parcels has decreased over the past two years, but has not completely disappeared.

In my case, everything went well. After opening the package in the presence of a Postal employee, the attachment turned out to be intact and complete. Probably, some postman was too lazy to make an Autopsy Report, patching up the damaged package "as best he could."

Limits on goods purchased abroad. Will the scheme for estimating the cost of goods change? Is it possible to use the services of Russian intermediaries? Customs officers told the site how Belarusians will receive parcels under the new rules.

Now 11 specialists of Belpochta are working around the clock at the customs control point for international postal items "Minsk-2". Mostly women, but there are also men. They are engaged in the registration of international parcels - they enter information into the electronic system.

“All workplaces are automated and equipped with video surveillance. Video recording can be useful in controversial situations. For example, if one of the recipients complains about the work of Belpochta specialists or customs, - says the Deputy General Director for Development of the Republican Unitary Enterprise "Belpochta" Yuri Izyumov. He clarifies that the term for the passage of the “package” is from one to two days.


Belpochta specialists who register parcels

The tables of Belpochta employees are neatly arranged along the wall, on the other side there is a conveyor with an X-ray machine through which parcels are passed - solid bags and boxes, as a rule, with Chinese inscriptions. After the customs officers have passed the mail receipts through the X-ray machine, those parcels that raise questions are sent for manual inspection.

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“If at this stage customs officers detect violations, for example, a prohibited product or a purchase not for personal use, then the parcel will be sent for manual inspection, where customs control operations are carried out in more depth”, - introduces the chief inspector of customs "Minsk-2" Pavel Radevich.


Those parcels that raise questions are sent for manual inspection.

A collection of parcels that the customs officers "wrapped"

Customs officers have already accumulated a whole collection of parcels with prohibited purchases. So, one of the “packages” that was sent to Belarus from Germany was not allowed through because of banned cigarettes. They were neatly arranged among candies and nuts.


In a parcel from Germany, customs officers found cigarettes among the sweets. "Panderol" was not missed.

In another “rejected” package with a declared value of the goods of $ 5, they found jewelry - several dozen units of each of the products. Experts decided that the same type of jewelry is not imported for personal use. “Bought a few copies in case they lose”- joked someone from those present. "Here you can lose your whole life", - the customs officers were not at a loss.


Jewelry that was not allowed through customs

16 bottles of liquid for electronic cigarettes were sent from Poland to Belarus. "This is clearly not for personal use"- said Pavel Radevich.

By the way, the full list of goods that cannot be imported into Belarus, including parcels, can be found on the website of the State Customs Committee.

Customs officers are aware that some Belarusians have limits on international parcels, including through Russia. “Firms that offer their services do not conduct legal business activities on the territory of Belarus. We strongly do not recommend pecking at these dubious schemes and using such non-transparent services., - says the head of the customs "Minsk-2" Andrei Mikhalkevich.

According to him, the legislation of the Customs Union provides that "legally, the release of a shipment without the presence of a citizen who lives in the territory of another state cannot be carried out by mail, but only by an express carrier with the placement of goods under certain customs procedures."

Andrei Mikhalkevich noted that mobile groups are working on the main transport routes near the Belarusian-Russian border.

“While our import standards were not so seriously different from Russia, this work was not a serious priority. But since a decision was made to introduce new limits in Belarus, the issue will be taken under control,” the head of the Minsk-2 customs office is convinced. - Tracking such shipments will not be difficult. Ultimately, what the buyer risks by contacting such a company is that the goods will be delayed, there will be no one to file a claim.

Meanwhile, Russian customs officers are also considering tightening limits on international parcels, Andrey Mikhalkevich says. As previously reported, Russian customs is now also considering reducing the duty-free limit of postal items to 22 euros and introducing a flat tax of 10-15 euros on parcels worth 22-150 euros, otherwise the risk of goods and smuggling within the EAEU will increase. In addition, Russia is proposing to oblige foreign Internet sites - AliExpress, JD, eBay and others - to become tax residents of Russia and pay contributions to the state budget.

This year, customs officers are preparing for the influx of parcels. Already now they state that Belarusians have become much more active in receiving international “packages”. So, if in the second half of last year almost a million postal items were processed at the Minsk-2 customs control point, since the beginning of this year there have been about 500,000.

“With such rates, by the end of the year we can reach the figure of 4 million postal items” Andrey Mikhalkevich predicts.

And these are only those parcels that will arrive in Belarus by air. On Vokzalnaya Street, there is another customs control point for international postal items that arrive by land.

The new limits should not reduce the flow of parcels, the specialist believes. “Using the services of online stores is convenient: I placed an order, paid for it and received it after a while. This convenience remains Andrey Mikhalkevich notes. — In addition, foreign sellers have the resources to set prices that, even with the payment of customs duties, will look attractive.”.

According to Andrei Mikhalkevich, about 80% of parcels are those whose value does not exceed 22 euros. And if today, according to statistics, customs payments are paid from every 10,000th parcel, then with the introduction of new limits, as expected, the fee will be paid from every tenth "package".

Because of this, both Belpochta and customs intend to increase the number of employees involved in the processing of international parcels. Now a building is being built for technical control and processing of all international postal items that will arrive in Belarus by all modes of transport.


Service dogs are involved in checking the parcels, who are looking for drugs

Experts are confident that the restriction on international parcels will support domestic trade, including online stores, which are in unequal conditions compared to foreign ones.

“We estimate that 70-80% of moving correspondence is related to online sales, and these are consumer goods, then, of course, we are talking about a significant channel for goods to enter the domestic market of Belarus. And today, these goods are actually exempt from any economic policy measures, payments to the budget are practically not paid from them, which puts Belarusian trade organizations in unequal conditions,” says the head of the Minsk-2 customs.

Customs officers take into account that some things were bought at sales

Customs experts admit that it is sometimes difficult to assess the value of goods. According to them, it is not always possible to rely on the information provided by sellers. Sometimes foreign online stores do Belarusians a disservice.

“In order to promote their products to foreign markets, many online sellers go to the fact that they indicate clearly false information about the goods being moved. They indicate a clearly underestimated cost of the goods, sometimes dozens of times, they indicate the wrong names of the goods, ”says Andrei Mikhalkevich.

In one of the parcels, which was not allowed through customs right in front of our eyes, there was a telephone. The box was labeled $22. Customs officers questioned the accuracy of the information. As it turned out, the parcel contained a Lenovo phone, the price of which was significantly underestimated. “How can such a phone cost $22? the customs officers ask. — Of course not. In general, the example of technology clearly shows how Belarusians underestimate the cost of parcels. Almost everything is valued at $20.”.

As a result, the recipient of the phone will have to pay a customs fee.

“We recommend not to deal with dubious sellers- advises Andrei Mikhalkevich. — In some cases, it is better to deal with online stores registered in Belarus, which can provide a quality guarantee".

Customs officers remind that a sales receipt and an invoice signed by the seller are accepted to confirm payment for goods. An extract from the card account can also become a confirmation of payment, but only if it shows for which particular product the payment was made.

“Customs officers can go, for example, to the same AliExpress website if they are in doubt about the value of the goods and check the information. This helps in cases where Belarusians buy things on sale”, Pavel Radevich clarifies.

Many people met with the customs service in their lives. After all, it is through customs that all commercial goods, parcels from abroad go to our country. But not always the cargo passes without problems. It often happens that the goods at customs are detained by employees. What to do if the cargo was delayed, how to “win back” your package?

All goods, parcels, commercial cargoes, before entering, undergo preliminary control and inspection at the Federal Customs Service, in other words, customs or the border. But quite often people are faced with a situation of cargo delays at the initiative of service employees. If the shipment is delayed, this does not mean that it cannot be received. It is quite possible to pick it up if there are no goods and products prohibited for import in the cargo. The main thing is to be patient and find out the reason for the cargo delay.

What to do when the cargo is detained?

Often, delays are encountered by individuals who order goods for their personal use from different countries, including China. Their transportation is carried out by various services and organizations. The most famous is EMS. It differs from regular mail in that with the arrival of the parcel at the post office at the address of departure, the customer receives a notification letter or SMS on a mobile phone that the parcel has been delivered, and the customer can pick it up.

If the parcel was sent via this delivery channel, then the situation is somewhat simplified. The customer will receive a delay email. If the parcel was sent by regular mail, then the customer himself will have to find out where it went. It takes a lot of time, because initially you need to visit the post office, then contact the sender, apply to customs to find out the delay in the cargo.

If the cargo was sent via systems such as Regular Air Mai or EMS or regular mail, then you can check if it is delayed by following the link. When accessing this site, you will need to enter the number of the declaration and parcel. If “transferred to customs” is displayed, then you should call the company to confirm the delay and go to the customs service.

After it turned out that the cargo was indeed delayed, and not on the road, it is worth visiting the customs service in your city.

When you go to the customs service, you need to have the following documents with you:

  1. An invoice from a store proving that the purchase was made at that store.
  2. An extract or form from the bank confirming payment for the ordered goods.
  3. Civil passport (original and copy).
  4. Copies of civil passports of relatives. They are required only if the shipment was delayed due to the presence of the same type of goods. The customs service will need to explain that these goods were purchased for friends, relatives, acquaintances, etc.
  5. A photo of the goods that are in the parcel.

After presenting all these documents, you will need to fill out an explanatory form, which describes in detail the name and purpose of all the goods that are in the parcel.

If the goods were delayed due to exceeding the weight limit and the total value, then you will need to pay a duty on it. The amount of the duty directly depends on the estimated value of the transported goods and the country. The customer is obliged to pay 30 percent of the total cost of the products if the goods came from China. But it should be borne in mind that the cost of one kilogram of goods cannot be less than four euros.

Customs delayed a parcel from China


If the goods, for example, came from the United States of America, then the amount of duty will range from 10 to 30 percent, depending on the goods that are in the parcel.

Customs duties are paid in banks with a TIN code (citizen identification code) and a passport. After payment, a receipt is issued to the person. By providing a receipt at the customs service, a person will be able to pick up his parcel.

However, before the parcel is returned, it is opened by customs officers for additional verification. The customer must check the availability of all goods according to the declaration.

Storage periods for delayed goods

According to the current legislation, the goods can be missed in the customs service for no more than 14 days from the date of notification of the potential owner of the parcel. It is worth considering that the first five days are free. But for the next days of storage you will have to pay. If the parcel was sent by airmail, then the storage period increases to 30 days.


On December 7, the Federal Customs Service of Russia introduced new rules for processing parcels from foreign online stores for delivery operators. The problems started immediately.

Now, to receive the parcel, you will need to specify the TIN and links to the purchased goods. In social networks, users complain about parcels stuck at customs, and in delivery services they say that until the FCS signs an addition to the order on the list of those to whom it acts, the parcels will remain in a “hanging” state.

Delivery services have already sent warnings to their users that when shopping in foreign online stores, along with passport data, it is necessary to indicate the TIN (the requirement applies only to Russian citizens) and links to the pages of the online store with a description of each product. This innovation will not affect parcels, the delivery of which from the sender to the recipient is made through the Russian Post.

Anastasia Solopeko writes on Facebook that her order from the English online store, issued on November 29, has been “hanging” at customs since December 1, and only by calling the delivery company did she find out that now it is impossible to receive the parcel without a TIN.

“So if you ordered something and this “something” is not coming to you, call and sort it out. For some reason, they themselves do not send messages demanding to fill out the customs form again,” she warns.

The Boxberry delivery service told the BBC Russian Service that the parcels would remain in a “hanging” state until the FCS signed an addition to the order on the list of services for which it applies.
When asked when it will be signed, COO Yaroslav Polishchuk found it difficult to answer. “We have no understanding, they don’t tell us anything,” he said.
Polishchuk said that about 25-28 thousand Boxberry orders are now at customs without a TIN. “It piled up in three days,” he says.

The Russian service of the BBC failed to promptly contact the FCS with the question of when the additions would be signed - the telephones of the press service were unavailable all day.

At the same time, DPD services in Russia and SPSR Express have no delays with parcels from foreign online stores, Evgeny Privalov, head of the international transportation department, told the BBC Russian Service.
The Pony Express delivery service reported that on December 4 they began to notify customers about the need to provide a TIN, so they received a “rather high response”. The company found it difficult to provide exact data on the “stuck” parcels.

Experiment for seven months
Letters from delivery services say that new data is needed to "confirm the declared value of the goods." Operators refer to the order of the Federal Customs Service of November 24. The requirements apply only to orders of individuals for personal use.
The press service of the Federal Customs Service told Kommersant that the TIN and references to goods are needed to determine their value and weight, as well as to reduce the risk of importing goods to nominees. So the customs will check the excess of the duty-free threshold. Now it is no more than 1000 euros and 31 kg per month.
The Russian service of the BBC was unable to find the order published by the FCS. A copy of it was posted on its website by the Boxberry delivery service.

According to the document, innovations will be valid until July 1, 2018, the initiative is called "experiment".

It follows from the text of the order that this experiment is being introduced to strengthen control over the reliability of the documents provided in the customs declaration. The order establishes the need for the FCS's main anti-smuggling department to conduct a quarterly analysis of passport data. Information about invalid passports must be transferred to the analytical department of the customs service.

So, no matter how sad it may sound, "we stock up on popcorn" ...

08.12.2017 20:15:43 / 59282

To track your package, you need to follow a few simple steps.
1. Go to the main page
2. Enter the track code in the field with the heading "Track the postal item"
3. Click on the "Track package" button located to the right of the field.
4. After a few seconds, the tracking result will be displayed.
5. Study the result, and especially carefully the last status.
6. Estimated delivery period, displayed in the track code information.

Try it, it's not hard ;)

If you do not understand the movements between postal companies, click on the link with the text "Group by companies", which is located under the tracking statuses.

If you have any difficulties with the statuses in English, click on the link with the text "Translate to Russian", which is located under the tracking statuses.

Carefully read the "Track code information" block, where you will find estimated delivery times and other useful information.

If, when tracking, a block is displayed in a red frame, with the heading "Pay Attention!", Carefully read everything that is written in it.

In these information blocks, you will find 90% of the answers to all your questions.

If in the block "Pay Attention!" it is written that the track code is not tracked in the country of destination, in this case, tracking parcels becomes impossible after the parcel is sent to the country of destination / after arriving at the Moscow Distribution Center / Item Arrived at Pulkovo / Arrived at Pulkovo / Left Luxembourg / Left Helsinki / Sending to the Russian Federation or after a long pause of 1 - 2 weeks, it is impossible to track the location of the parcel. No, and nowhere. Not at all =)
In this case, you need to wait for a notification from your post office.

To calculate delivery times in Russia (for example, after export, from Moscow to your city), use the "Delivery deadlines calculator"

If the seller promised that the parcel would arrive in two weeks, and the parcel travels for more than two weeks, this is normal, the sellers are interested in sales, and therefore they are misleading.

If less than 7 - 14 days have passed since the receipt of the track code, and the package is not tracked, or the seller claims that he sent the package, and the status of the package "the item pre-advised" / "Email notification received" does not change for several days, this is normal, You can read more by clicking on the link:.

If the status of the mail item does not change for 7 - 20 days, do not worry, this is normal for international mail.

If your previous orders arrived in 2-3 weeks, and the new package takes more than a month, this is normal, because. parcels go by different routes, in different ways, they can wait for dispatch by plane for 1 day, or maybe a week.

If the parcel left the sorting center, customs, intermediate point and there are no new statuses within 7 - 20 days, do not worry, the parcel is not a courier who carries a parcel from one city to your home. In order for a new status to appear, the parcel must arrive, unload, be scanned, etc. at the next sorting point or post office, and this takes much more time than just getting from one city to another.

If you do not understand the meaning of such statuses as Acceptance / Export / Import / Arrived at the place of delivery, etc., you can see the transcript of the main statuses of international mail:

If the parcel is not delivered to your post office 5 days before the end of the protection period, you have the right to open a dispute.

If, based on the above, you did not understand anything, read this instruction again, and again, until complete enlightenment;)

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