International Shipping Problem
 

Need a little help here with my first international order. I ordered some Fader ND filters from Singapore. I had them ship to my UPS Store account like I do for everything. The tracking shows it's here in the USA (at my destination in Henderson, NV), but the guy at the store says he's hasn't seen it (trustworthy person). He says no note was left or anything of the kind by USPS.

Here's my tracking info. Can someone tell me what I should do? Is there a customs duty? How would I pay if so?

Detailed Results:

Notice Left, January 09, 2010, 10:49 am, HENDERSON, NV XXXXX
Out for Delivery or Available at PO Box, January 09, 2010, 9:51 am, HENDERSON, NV
Sorting Complete, January 09, 2010, 9:21 am, HENDERSON, NV XXXXXX
Arrival at Post Office, January 09, 2010, 8:24 am, HENDERSON, NV XXXXX
Processed through Sort Facility, January 09, 2010, 5:04 am, HENDERSON, NV 89199
Inbound Out of Customs, January 08, 2010, 8:04 am
Inbound Into Customs
Inbound International Arrival, January 08, 2010, 8:02 am, ISC SAN FRANCISCO (USPS)
Foreign International Dispatch, January 07, 2010, 8:26 pm, HONG KONG AIR MAIL CENTRE, HONG KONG
Foreign Acceptance, January 07, 2010, 3:21 pm, HONG KONG
Origin Post is Preparing Shipment

Check with your postmaster (USPS) - looks like perhaps a note was left, and if you've got a private post box, it might have ended up getting mixed up somehow -perhaps got mixed up with the local PO Boxes? It's out of customs from the tracking info.

Well, it seems to say "notice left" instead of "delivered" and that usually means that the signature of the addressee is required before they can hand it over, so they just left a form asking for a signature. I don't think the UPS store guys can sign for something that needs the actual addressee signature.

You may have to go and get it at the actual UPS location.

Why not call your local UPS office?

UPS and USPS are two separate providers. If it has been caught up in one or another of the accounting systems it may represent a monkey puzzle the average worker under pressure will put aside for the next shift.

It may require you to enquire through both systems and maybe encourage in one or two people, the will to make something slightly outside of comfort zone of the known script, actually happen.

Sorry- I missed the part about USPS - but the fact remains that the tracking info says clearly "Notice Left" insted of "Delivered" which I still think means you have to go get it and sign for it at the post office.

Yeah you will need to contact your local post office to have them trace where the package and the note was left. They should be able to track down who was the mail man/woman on duty that day and where the delivery note goes to.

Just had a thought - if there's customs duty payment required, they may not deliver it until you pay them - which could be another reason why they won't jut leave it.

I've had issues where almost 2 years after getting a shipment from Japan (around $30k US) I got a letter from California (where I had lived when I got the shipment) wanting their sales tax. US Customs reports the declared value of incoming goods to the state of destination and they may eventually come after you for their sales tax! They aren't particularly quick about it though and I suspect they don't bother for small items. In the end I didn't have to pay because the goods were only to take to a trade show and had been shipped back to my clients in Japan long before I got the letter.