Chinese Customs

[Squonk]

I sent a package (candy, chips, gum) to my wife and son who are on vacation in China.

I sent it via one of the low cost shipping services that specialize in shipping items to China.

Accoriinding to this shipping service, the package has been in Chinese Customs since 7/11.

How long does it usually take to clear Chinese Customs?

I really hope that they get the package before they come back to the States.

-Sqounk

[RobertH]

can be more then 30 days I have heard. I hope they get it before they return.....

[Doug]

Thanks, now I know to ferry items as I travel, rather than ship.

[Randy W]

My stuff has always come through in a week or two - drugs, coffee, and all the clothes and electronic stuff that I couldn't ship on the container.

 

The container took an extra week or two or three - ( a ) it went to the wrong city, and ( b ) we had to get permission from our port authority, and then get our agent to pull it through

 

If it takes a month to get a package of gifts through, you're doing something wrong.

[dnoblett]

When I would send gifts to my wife and even now when sending stuff over to Mum and Sister-In-Law we have simply stuffed into one of those international Priority mail Boxes, and mailed, tended to take 10 days or so.

[Doug]

So how does this container thing work? They bring it to you and you pack it? Is it on semi wheels or on ship so not much of a slope when moving around?

[Randy W]

So how does this container thing work? They bring it to you and you pack it? Is it on semi wheels or on ship so not much of a slope when moving around?

 

I wrote up the experience here - http://www.chinafamilyvisa.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=2735

 

I went with a company that dropped it off in my driveway (yes, on wheels) and left it for "three" days - with the "three in quotes, since the first day was mostly spent by them getting it out of the port of Houston, and then picked it up fairly early on the third day. It was sent by ship first to the wrong port - Zhenjiang, near Shanghai - and then to the correct port Zhanjiang under the Guangzhou Port Authority. It was eventually shipped to our address at the time in Yulin.

 

Everything was pretty well intact, except for a table that I had stacked things on top of - the lateral forces took care of it.

 

I definitely recommend contacting your own agent in China to bring it through customs and deliver it to your destination. Our shipping agent in the U.S. simply loaded it on the ship, and dropped it off at the port in China.

 

"Used household goods" may be imported on a one-time basis by a "returning overseas Chinese", or by an employed ex-pat. Check with your "inward settling authorities" - ours were in Guigang, which has a shipping port of its own.