German customs - how backlogged is it?

Emporiosa

I was hoping someone from Germany who has been recently ordering from abroad could assist. I've just had a buyer for the first time with a big warning from BrickOwl about having 4 disputed chargebacks and 5 ONRs (only 20 feedback too). My concern is they're perhaps leaving items at customs and not wanting to pay, and they're being returned (I can't see the reason for the chargebacks so I don't know if they were all on fully untracked items, or the customs return issue).

Does anyone from Germany know about how long customs is taking to process incoming packages these days? I'm trying to see if it's at risk of getting stuck in customs as I know traditionally Germany (as well as Canada here too) are often very slow for processing at the border. Thank-you!

Geert Middelman

I've had a similar order last month from a buyer in Germany with the same massive warnings on top (pm me if you want to share details), and luckily I received a second order from her on Bricklink. I combined them, and the combined shipping charged allowed me to ship both together with UPS two-day. I know UPS does take care of the customs side, and goes through a lot quicker.

Ever since that order I doubled shipping costs to Germany, and I will only use UPS for now. Result is a lot less orders internationally, but better than taking unneccesary risks.

Emporiosa

@Geert Middelman Thank-you; I suspect this might be the same person as I've never come across a single person with a chargeback or ONR, let alone one with a massive warning (very high chargeback to positive feedback ratio too). I'll have to see what kind of options I can do from Canada since the rate they paid definitely isn't near what UPS would charge, but I'll scope around to see if I can find a good alternative to the domestic carriers.

Bricks-Shop

Hello Emporiosa,
At the moment the most negative influence is the world wide shipping time caused by Covid-19.
Depending on the size and value of the items our customs is quite quickly. All parcels arriving as a letter, goods post or a small parcel are typicalle cleared directly at the port of entrance (airport, harbor). If you have filled out the CN22 / CN23 and signed it, hey just check it and forward it. There might be only an intensive check of the content if it's for example very heavy for a small parcel or if they identify some other features like very small amount for a big parcel. In these cases, the customer will get a letter that he has to come to a customs office next to him (will be shipped from airport to the local office). This can take up to two weeks until it shows up for inspection. Than it's the task of the customer to pick it up quickly.
If there is nothing the customs inspectors have to claim they forward it within 1 or 3 working days (no official number, my experience).
If some customs fee is required the forwarding company typically collect it when they bring the parcel to the customer.

In your case, it's another situation with a customer with such a big amount of negative feedback. Here you should be carefully.

Hope these information help you.

Best regards,
Oliver from Bricks-Shop, Germany.

Emporiosa

@Bricks-Shop That's great information, thank-you so much Oliver! I've shipped using a UPS service as Geert recommended to have it process more quickly. Here's to hoping I don't have a bad story to report about after *fingers crossed*