Parcel Lost, Delayed or Stuck in Customs: What Is Actually Happening

What a customs hold actually is

Customs does not hold parcels. It processes entries, and an entry with a question attached waits until someone answers it.

The entry says what the item is, what it is worth and who is importing it. An officer reads that against the box. Value matches the invoice, description matches the contents, the parcel moves. Something does not line up, it waits. What it is waiting for is an answer from the sender, not a decision at the border.

So a few days is routine. The queue, the paperwork check and any request for more information come one after another rather than at once. What drags it out is a loose description, a declared value the invoice does not support, a random inspection pull, or a backlog in a busy week.

No customs authority publishes a turnaround time, so a day count quoted online as a rule is somebody's average.

There is one exception on our own route. Delays are extremely rare, we are generally able to clear customs same day its presented. We clear it ourselves, door to door, instead of handing the shipment to a broker partway through, which is why a case gets answered from one place.

The rule change that lengthened every queue

Parcels worth 800 dollars or less used to enter the United States under a de minimis exemption, with barely any paperwork and no duty. That exemption has been suspended. The Federal Register notice puts it plainly: "all entries of merchandise valued at $800 or less arriving through all modes other than the international postal network must utilize formal or informal entry procedures."

The duty is the visible half. The other half is the queue: small parcels that used to skip the entry process now go through it, in front of the same officers. A 40 dollar box waits where only commercial shipments used to wait.

Read the tracking first

We have door to door tracking which we provide on export day. Yes, you are able to share the tracking provided with the recipient.

The status label is the least useful part of that page. The last scan and its date are the useful part. A parcel that scanned yesterday at a transit hub is moving normally whatever the label says, because scans happen at handovers and there can be a day or two of flight between two of them. A parcel whose last scan is eleven days old at the same hub is not in transit. On screen they look nearly identical.

Then check the address exactly as it was entered at booking. A wrong digit in a postcode produces the same silence a customs hold does. No, we cannot change an address after export.

If customs has asked for a document, that request is the hold, and nothing else releases the parcel until it is answered.

If it is late, lost or damaged

We will check for the reason and do our best to expedite the package. Customs, weather, an incorrect address or a third party all change what can be done about it, and how each case is handled is set out in the refund and cancellation policy — that is the page to check.

We offer insurance which covers loss.

Damage is a different cover, set out in the same policy. Whatever it turns out to be, we investigate how it occurred to avoid it happening again. Live plants are not insured at all.

Where the damage started decides the conversation: packaging that was not built for the trip, handling in transit, or a customs inspection that opened the box and closed it again. That last one is worth packing for, because a box sealed once by the person who packed it does not always survive a second sealing by an inspector who did not.

Yes, we recommend to wrap fragile items very carefully and purchase insurance. We also have our own Dragon Courier boxes and bags, built stronger for international delivery, and a shipment that needs re-packing before export gets re-packed.

Please message our team and we will take care for you.

Delivery day

No, we intentionally don't get signatures on delivery as often it can delay delivery.

If the package can't be kept in a safe and secure environment the delivery driver may take it back to the hub for a next day attempt, or leave it at a nearby pick up point. If the address is awkward, a condo with no reception or a gated office, say so when you book.

We will update a file to show proof of delivery and send it to you once delivery is complete. Keep it. It is what settles the argument when a buyer says nothing arrived.

What we are liable for

Liability is limited to the value of the shipment, as permitted by Thai law. The full terms, including what sits outside that, are in the refund and cancellation policy.

That last one is worth a second look before pickup. An address entered wrong, contents described loosely, a value that does not match the invoice: each moves responsibility toward whoever supplied the information.

Shipments not yet dispatched may be cancelled. Once exported, they cannot.

Tell us early and we will chase it

A parcel that missed a scan yesterday is easier to chase than one that went quiet ten days ago. Office +66 2656 9019, Justin is on LINE and WhatsApp at +66 6-5937-0812, or info@dragoncourier.com. Drop-off runs until 17:00, Monday to Saturday, Bangkok office on Sukhumvit Soi 4 or Chiang Mai on Viangbua Road. Or give us a pickup date and time and we come to you.