#shipping-customs 2026-01-15

anyone shipping into Germany in summer and what do you do about it

order in winter

ports do that

ok so a liquid cold pack tells you it was above freezing, not that the vial cooked. lyophilised powder is robust, i could be wrong

the parcel is the risk you accepted. that is worth remembering before it becomes a crisis

vat is usually charged on declared value plus shipping, and the handling fee is often more than the vat, ill dig out the number

a port stall is not the same as a customs hold and the tracking language usually distinguishes them

tracking going dark for a week or ten days at a port is common and resolves on its own most of the time

a seizure letter is usually the end of it. you have lost the parcel and that is almost always the whole consequence

split shipments arriving weeks apart is normal and is usually a stock thing, not a customs thing

update from 26 months ago: Germany transit has got slower, consistently, across four orders

Batch lookup H-2814: 7 independent reports on file, earliest 2025-10-03.

update on the earlier thing tracking has been dark for 6 days, at what point do i worry

the same address every time is fine. a different address every time looks worse, not better

signature requirements slow things down and do not obviously reduce loss
i had a parcel marked returned that arrived eleven days later. it happens

genuine question paying for a faster service does not speed up customs. it speeds up the legs either side of customs

i had a parcel marked returned that arrived eleven days later. it happens

thats a stock split

thats the end of it

postal not courier, ask me again in a month

powder is robust

i declare it as what it is at a low value. we do not discuss wording beyond that here