The customer went through the process for the first time, and customs clearance was assigned to their freight forwarder's local agency. Because he had no need to confirm the local port charges with the customer first, the customer was asked to pay high customs clearance fees without any knowledge, and at one point did not want to clear the customs. The party involved finally explained that due to refunding some of the fees to the customer and their no intention of abandoning the goods, the matter has finally been resolved. He also didn't know that the local port charges were so high. Firstly, he didn't proactively inquire about it, and secondly, he didn't communicate well with the freight forwarder to provide relevant information.

Prevention 1: Clarify local customs clearance rules and confirm costs

In foreign export trade, there are relatively few cases where full container cargo leads to "high tariffs and customers not clearing customs". It is recommended that exporters pay special attention to understanding the customs clearance regulations of the destination port before exporting. "Customs clearance fees are usually incurred by the foreign destination port, so they can only be confirmed with foreign countries. Each country also has slight differences. If domestic freight forwarders provide some cost information, it can only be used as a reference at most

In fact, it is the customer who knows the most about customs clearance at the local destination port. Therefore, before shipping, suppliers should clarify with the customer whether there is a possibility of excessive customs clearance costs. When the goods arrive at the port, customers will designate a local customs clearance company to be responsible for customs clearance matters. They are very clear about the fees charged by the local port, and exporters can also have the freight forwarding company confirm the fees with foreign agents for reference and reduce losses.

In addition, the general destination port fee for bulk cargo is charged per cubic meter for volumes below 1 cubic meter. If the value of the cargo is relatively low and the volume is less than 1 cubic meter, it is recommended that customers try to make up for 1 cubic meter before shipping. Volumes exceeding 1 cubic meter will be charged based on the actual volume.

Prevention 2: Pay attention to follow-up and urge customers to clear customs in a timely manner

There are usually several situations that can lead to high customs clearance costs: firstly, warehouse costs lead to high customs clearance costs; 2、 The overall price increase of ports in the destination country; 3、 Changes in policies of destination port countries; 4、 The sudden anti-dumping of specific products by the destination country leads to tariff increases, etc. In the following situations, exporters are required to familiarize themselves with the rules and gameplay of the destination port. As for warehouse costs, it is necessary to urge customers at the destination port to clear customs as soon as possible to avoid long-term backlog of goods in the warehouse and resulting in high costs.

Although the customer is responsible for customs clearance, this is also an important part of order follow-up. Before the goods arrive at the port, the salesperson should remind the customer when the goods will arrive and when they should be ready for customs clearance. In addition, salespeople should not be too indifferent because the order is small. Before shipping, they should confirm the handover matters with the customer again, in case the goods arrive at the port, the customer goes on vacation or cannot pick up the goods due to other arrangements, resulting in additional costs.

It is worth reminding that you have prepared all the customer's contact information? At many important moments, it is the salesperson who messes up on their own. The most common thing is that when the goods are delivered and the customer does not go to customs clearance, they become anxious. The freight forwarder urges the salesperson, and the salesperson urges the customer. If the customer does not reply to the email in a timely manner, the salesperson becomes more and more wrong. In fact, many salespeople's first reaction is to send an email before making a phone call. Surprisingly, some salespeople can only contact customers through platform chat tools because they used to communicate like this before and didn't ask for other contact information from customers. In the end, due to the low quotation, local customs imposed fines, which affected customer clearance. However, the salespeople here were unable to contact customers in a timely manner, wasting a lot of time.

Prevention 3: Ensure that the preliminary documents are correct

If it is a mistake by the supplier or freight forwarder in the early stages that leads to customs clearance issues and ultimately incurs additional costs, causing the customer to have the intention to abandon the goods (the smaller the value of the goods, the more likely it is). At this point, regardless of the customer's attitude, the supplier should not be passive. It is recommended that regardless of the cost incurred, if it is caused by a problem on the supplier's side, the supplier should bear it first and as a matter of course. If it is the responsibility of the freight forwarder, the supplier can hold it accountable afterwards, as this delay will only result in higher costs.

All expenses incurred by the customer due to any issues with the abandoned goods will be borne by the sender, as customs has no authority to force the recipient to clear customs or pay fees, and can only contact the sender.

To prevent early omissions, suppliers need to ensure that the relevant documents and documents provided to customers for customs clearance are complete and accurate, and that the quotation is reasonable, otherwise they may be fined. Due to the involvement of multiple parties in the entire transportation of goods, various documents will be taken over and forwarded to the next party, so there should be no accidents on the part of the freight forwarder. Once, a freight forwarder mixed up the box numbers of the supplier's exported goods, resulting in inconsistent shipping documents. After the local agent counted the box numbers and provided new documents domestically, there were already storage fees, detention fees, and customs inspection fees incurred. The total price exceeded the value of the goods. Additionally, these goods were delivered by air freight.

When it comes to the issue of freight forwarders, if the supplier and freight forwarder do not cooperate well with each other, it is not surprising that there are mistakes. If both parties have too much tacit understanding, it is not necessarily a good thing. For example, if the supplier increases the shipping cost when quoting, and the freight forwarder turns to the local agent and charges a higher customs clearance fee to the customer, it would be too cumbersome for the customer to even run away.

However, this situation is only a rare occurrence. Usually, customers themselves find customs clearance companies in the local area for customs clearance, and are charged exorbitant fees, which are only related to the local agency they find. If the customer does not clear customs and incurs additional fees, the supplier will have to pay, so the supplier is very passive.

Response: Negotiate and share with customers

If unfortunately, the customs clearance fee directly tracks the value of the goods, and in order to avoid additional costs, some costs should be communicated between the supplier and the customer as much as possible, confirmed by multiple parties, and ultimately selected a suitable solution for both parties, so that both parties can reach an agreement on cooperation. Suppliers can proactively help customers share some of the costs. Of course, some exporters also encounter the trap of customers not picking up goods under the pretext of high customs clearance fees. In the absence of a solution, such as resale or preemptive measures, suppliers can only offer profits to the recipient for customs clearance and pickup, which can recover more losses.

From the many situations listed earlier, we can see that although the value of the goods is small, as long as the customer does not clear customs, the supplier will face a very passive situation. Whether it is destroyed or returned, there will be costs, and resale is relatively difficult. It is difficult to negotiate with the customer, and the time cost is expensive. So, we remind exporters to do more homework in the early stage and less hardship in the later stage. Moreover, if it is a large order, errors in the early stage will lead to customs clearance issues in the later stage, resulting in higher costs and greater losses for the enterprise