Can any Indian explain two things here: India customs and common sense

[toddly6666]

I just sold a bunch of old action figure toys (gi joes, star wars, etc) from my childhood on Ebay to a buyer in Madhya Pradesh, India. The packages were insured, trackable and got to India but they are now stuck in India customs so this guy sends me an Ebay message:


Hello,
Hey there are these 2 consignments i got through you.

Now my countrys custom department had holded the item and they need the safety declaration for these toys as under :

i) A certificate that the toys being imported conform to the standards prescribed in ASTM F963 or standards prescribed in ISO 8124 (Parts I-III) or IS 9873 [Parts I-III] or standards prescribed in EN 71;

ii) A Certificate of Conformance from the manufacturer that representative sample of the toys being imported have been tested by an independent laboratory which is accredited under ILAC, MRA and found to meet the specifications indicated above. The certificate would also link the toys in the consignment to the period of manufacture indicated in the Certificate of Conformity.

Please send me these required information at the earliest.

Thank you.



These are my old toys from childhood - Im not an Ebay seller representing myself as a toy company. Either way, this has got to be the most ridiculous thing I have ever read. Is he really that stupid and clueless or is India Customs doing something sneaky here? Is the buyer trying to do something fraudulent? This will be the last time I ship anything to India.

Can someone translate this nonsense? Im not talking about the certificates - Im talking about translating this totally unrealistic impossible request that makes no sense. Why would he even request that from me? What if I was his American friend sending him old stuff? Does India Customs pull this crap all the time with natives? Is India post corrupt or want bribes to get one's package?

[crossbow]

Many times Indian Customs can be pain in the back. There are high chances that whatever the buyer has requested from you in message, may be requested by customs dept. (again, I am speculating)

Can you ask buyer (Or can you know from tracking number), at which customs office parcel is being held presently ?

This most likely happened because
1) Customs officer was in bad mood, and decided to go haywire on your parcel ?
2) Parcel contained high cost items and unusual items, and no invoice was found ?
3) You declared the parcel as "Sample" on CN22/CN23 form ? If it's "Sample", there are some weird-a@@ rules to follow. (depending on type of stuff parcel is carrying)

One solution is, track the parcel yourself, and find out where it is. Contact that particular customs office, and inform that parcel contains items for personal use, and they are gifts for a fellow friend. And that you are not seller of any sort. This may help clear it.

IIRC some other member here had ordered Bond 22 movies Blu-ray collection, from amazon, and his parcel was held by Indian customs with some amazingly weird reason. He had a unique experience as well. I do not remember his name, but there was a thread as well.

[nishant786]

Im so sorry to hear this but its not unheard off. I had this problem with legos a couple of months back. It was so idiotic, but all I did was cajoled him a little bit and he overlooked it. Ofcourse a little palm greasing also works because officers usually bring up these technicalities when they want a bribe. In any case what has happened is that in the customs manual for every import there are certain requirements (certificates, standards etc). Now in the practical world these have to be overlooked or no one would be able to send anything. And that's what happens almsot every single time except ofcourse when the officer has his period.
In any case im sorry for your troubles. Best of luck.

Ps. I don't know if it was a genuine mistake but you used the words 'common sense' in the context of customs officers. What's up with that??

[toddly6666]

thanks for all your help! The buyer responded again and said he will try to figure it out on his end and not expect me to do anything (obviously).

So regular Indian Post has officials wanting bribes? What if someone sends something with more expensive post like Fedex or DHL - does that service pass corrupt Customs officers easier or no? Anything sent to India can be intercepted by officials who want bribes?

Living in a county where govt workers or officials wanting bribes is a nightmare. I remember how this was when I used to live in Russia.

[jbloggs]

Indian Customs and common sense is an oxymoron, but Indian customs and bribes makes perfect sense

[nrD]

Originally Posted by toddly6666

thanks for all your help! The buyer responded again and said he will try to figure it out on his end and not expect me to do anything (obviously).

So regular Indian Post has officials wanting bribes? What if someone sends something with more expensive post like Fedex or DHL - does that service pass corrupt Customs officers easier or no? Anything sent to India can be intercepted by officials who want bribes?

Living in a county where govt workers or officials wanting bribes is a nightmare. I remember how this was when I used to live in Russia.

No problem with bribes in HK?

[nishant786]

Originally Posted by toddly6666

thanks for all your help! The buyer responded again and said he will try to figure it out on his end and not expect me to do anything (obviously).

So regular Indian Post has officials wanting bribes? What if someone sends something with more expensive post like Fedex or DHL - does that service pass corrupt Customs officers easier or no? Anything sent to India can be intercepted by officials who want bribes?

Living in a county where govt workers or officials wanting bribes is a nightmare. I remember how this was when I used to live in Russia.

DHL and FEDEX usually sails through. Infact 98% of all parcels also get through fine. Its just sometimes that freaks come up from the cracks. Hopefully you have a better experience next time.

[toddly6666]

Originally Posted by nrD

No problem with bribes in HK?

yup, the idea of bribes would be bizarre here - HK is a first-world city that follows all the rules of society. And the HK post is the greatest, most efficient and inexpensive post ive ever used in my life.

[srinivas1015]

I'd avoid DHL for the time being. There was an incident in April 2014 where DHL was caught smuggling gold into the country and ever since then, the customs dept has been thoroughly checking every parcel that comes in via DHL. This not only means extensive paperwork for every item but the parcels themselves get stuck in the airport for a long period of time due to the customs's backlog. My recent copy of 300:Rise Of An Empire took 2 days to travel from the U.S to Bangalore and then ended up sitting for 3 weeks in the customs office. I also had to pay a duty of R.S 900 on the R.S 1600 product.

[toddly6666]

Thanks to this one little incident, with Ebay Im only going to ship to first-world countries (north america, western europe, HK, Japan, Taiwan, korea, singapore, australia, NZ). Before I would have shipped to anywhere including Africa, Peru, or the Middle East but Im not gonna take the chance now.

[lgans316]

Originally Posted by toddly6666

Thanks to this one little incident, with Ebay Im only going to ship to first-world countries (north america, western europe, HK, Japan, Taiwan, korea, singapore, australia, NZ). Before I would have shipped to anywhere including Africa, Peru, or the Middle East but Im not gonna take the chance now.

Good decision but there was no need to imply that India is a third world country.
Here in the UK, anything above £15 attracts customs. The West rips its folks via exorbitant taxes which is collected via bribes in some countries.

[toddly6666]

Originally Posted by lgans316

Good decision but there was no need to imply that India is a third world country.
Here in the UK, anything above £15 attracts customs. The West rips its folks via exorbitant taxes which is collected via bribes in some countries.

Ha, not quite third world - but definitely "developing" country - im not going to ship to any developing or third world countries where basic society services are sketchy. I dont care about high shipping costs or taxes in usa or uk but at least there are no surprises with bribery to get a basic service.