Stuck with UPS Shipment in Mumbai? Need Help with Customs Clearance Process!

Hi all, I work for a corporate company in Hyderabad. My Business Group has completed 60 years. On completion of 60 years, our Head Office located in the US has sent notepads and pens to the Hyderabad office, and the team in the US has also shared the UPS tracking ID. While tracking those IDs on the UPS site, I understood that the shipment reached MUM UPS, and they are asking for an invoice sometimes and a declaration at other times.

UPS Shipment Assistance Needed

Is there anyone on-site from UPS, or can anyone help me with the UPS shipment checklist? What exactly do we need to have in place to receive that shipment? Please help.

Thanks,
Simran Soni

Your office from the US should have provided an invoice while booking the shipment. An invoice is required for sending the gift articles as well. Since this is a cross-company stock transfer, no customs charges will be levied. However, your US office should have included a declaration through the invoice explaining why they are sending the shipment, the contents, quantity, etc.

If your US office did not provide the invoice, then the UPS courier should have asked for it. Why did he pick up the shipment without the invoice? If the shipment was picked up without an invoice, the UPS Mumbai office should have alerted you upon the arrival of the shipment without an invoice. In the manifest, they receive details of each shipment along with supporting paperwork. They could have been proactive and asked for the invoice well before the arrival of the shipment.

The shipment is stuck in customs due to failures at multiple locations. As a solution, I recommend you ask UPS customer service to provide you with the invoice format. Filling out the invoice is a matter of just five minutes.

This is yet another surprise to me. Why did the UPS customer service in Mumbai not ask if you were aware of the invoice? If not, why did the customer service agent not provide a sample invoice in the very first telephonic discussion?

Final Comments

This is a classic case study of how people work. Despite having ISO processes everywhere, errors continue to occur.

Thanks,

Dinesh Divekar

Our US team has shared the invoice with the UPS person while shipping the shipment, which shows the unit cost of material and quantity. The invoice I received from my US peer shows a different value/costing. I understood this from the UPS team while exchanging emails. However, I am very close to completing this. We will be receiving a fresh invoice copy from the US team with the same costing and quantity that was provided to UPS during shipping.

Customs Clearance Details Needed

Can you also let us know? It will be very helpful if we are able to get a few more details on customs clearance, such as what documents are needed when shipping a consignment from one country to another and what type of declaration format we need to have in place, as well as a checklist.

Thanks in advance.

Regards,
Simran Soni