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What should an importer do if the seller said the ordered goods are being held up by Customs and Border Protection (CBP)?
When purchasing goods from an overseas supplier, it is imperative that you ensure that your order was actually sent by the seller. To ensure this was done, you should do the following: 1. Get the name of the foreign carrier (freight company, courier service etc.) the seller hired. 2. Ask the shipper / seller for the bill of lading. If the seller provides you with the above, your next step would be to contact the carrier's representative in the U.S. to inquire about the goods arrival into the U.S. When goods arrive in the U.S., they are either cleared by a broker and forwarded to you, or - if the terms of delivery did not entail delivery to your door - the carrier is suppose to notify you of the goods arrival so you can file an entry with CBP to obtain clearance. CBP will not notify you of their arrival. If the carrier fails to contact you and a period of 15 days lapses after the goods arrival, the goods will be transferred to a general order warehouse (GO). If the carrier is aware of your goods being sent to the GO warehouse, you should request the notice of consignment from the carrier and get your goods as soon as possible. Otherwise, if they are in the GO warehouse for 6 months they will be sold at a public auction. Storage charges for goods in a GO warehouse can be very high. Legal action may be your only alternative to obtain reimbursement of those charges from the carrier - assuming you can prove that you were not notified of the goods arrival in the U.S. If an express ccourier service was used, they would have used a CBP broker to file an entry with CBP on your behalf and your entry would have been assigned a number. If this is the case, you should request the entry number assigned by CBP and contact the port of arrival to find out the status of your entry. In some cases, a courier service claims that goods are being held in CBP, when, in fact, their broker has not yet filed an entry. If the courier service cannot give you an entry number for your shipment, this is probably what has happened. There are many reasons for a broker to delay filing an entry, the most common one being that they know the paperwork accompanying the shipment does not have sufficient information for them to file an entry. Another reason is that the broker suspects there will be a problem with the entry because it may contain goods that require another agency's approval for entry. Prescription medications and food stuffs are frequently held up for this reason. If this is the case, you may need to contact whatever agency has jurisdiction over your goods in order to coordinate communication with the broker about that agency's willingness to release the goods in question. If it turns out that your goods have been detained or seized by CBP, you will receive either a detention or seizure notice from CBP. Any questions after receipt of the notice, should be addressed to the Fines Penalties and Forfeitures Office at the port the goods are being held.
Customs & Border Protection (CBP), Department of Homeland Security
http://www.cbp.gov/
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