I understand they’re treated as items but yeah.
A yoyo coming from Japan has been in customs for a few days and I was wondering what happens.
The main reason I think it takes a while is actually getting to the package in queue and paper work.
Yup, chances are it is just in the queue waiting for someone to process the paperwork. This shouldn’t take more than a few days, but it can be a tricky process and there can be delays…
As an example, I live in South Africa and we have an incredibly high tax of 54% when importing textiles. If someone sends me a box of string and labels it as “Yoyo string” or “Yoyo thread”, customs is going to charge me 54% tax. If you labelled the string as “Yoyo toy accessories” or even “Yoyo toy string”, I would just pay 14% (I’ve learnt this the hard way…).
Many countries have a higher duty on importing wood, and in some countries, certain types of wood can be banned outright. Recently someone sent me a wooden yoyo and marked it as “Wood yoyo” on the box. Because of that, I ended up paying something like 33% tax. If they had left out the wood and simply labelled it “Yoyo”, I would have just paid 14%.
Parcels are also usually x-rayed and there are often sniffer dogs. If something looks unusual on the x-ray or if a dog smells something (they’re usually trained for explosives / solvents), customs will want to open up your package to take a closer look.
Bottom line - customs can be a complicated process. When you label and package items, try to make it as simple for someone else to understand (citing my example, I make it clear that string is not a textile, but an accessory you need to play with a toy called a yoyo).
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