Package stuck in customs? A real DHL payment request always shows your waybill number

The short answer

"Stuck in customs" doesn't always mean customs has your parcel. Often it's waiting for formalities, a check, a document or a payment. The party to talk to is the carrier delivering to you, not customs. If duties are due, the carrier asks for them and you pay on its official site, typing the address yourself. A text signed "customs" asking for money is a fake. And if the parcel contains counterfeit goods, customs seizes them: official report, confiscation, possible fine.

What your tracking status means

Every carrier uses its own wording, but the situations are nearly always the same. French customs explain that "stuck in customs" generally means the shipment is going through formalities or checks that can take time, and that delays can also be purely logistical.

Labels vary from one carrier to another. This table sums up the cases described by French customs, La Poste and DHL, not the exact wording of every tracking page.

Who really contacts you

French customs put it plainly: if your parcel is stuck, there's no point calling them. The carrier handles the formalities, advances duties and VAT, then bills you. Here's who may write to you, and how to recognize them:

• Your postal operator: we didn't verify an official page for every country, so assume nothing and check on its site, typing the address yourself. In France, for example, La Poste says its link must lead to www.laposte.fr.
• DHL Express: a request to pay VAT or duties always includes your shipment's airwaybill (AWB) number, and its emails come from an address ending in dhl.com.
• Other carriers (UPS, the express line chosen at your agent…): we couldn't open their official fraud page, so apply the same rule. Check your tracking number on their site, typing the address yourself.
• Customs: in France, customs never ask you to pay by text, email or phone. In Germany, customs send tax notices and payment demands by post only. We haven't verified this for every EU country.

Pay in the right place

A genuine carrier text can contain a payment link, so a link on its own doesn't prove a scam. The safe method is to never use it and to go to the carrier's site yourself:

• Check that the request matches an order you're expecting, and its delivery time.
• Open the carrier's site yourself and enter your tracking number. DHL advises checking the AWB number on its own tracking page without clicking anything.
• Pay only from the carrier's official duty payment page. In France, La Poste takes cards online with the tracking or notice number, with lower handling fees than at the door or in a post office.
• Respect the deadline set by your carrier. In France, La Poste asks for payment before midnight on the day of the delivery notice, or by midnight the day before delivery.
• Keep the receipt. You'll need it if you dispute anything later.

The amount itself (duty, per-item fee, VAT, carrier fees) is explained step by step in Customs on parcels from China in 2026: €3 duty, €2 fee, VAT, worked out. The calculator below gives you a ballpark figure to see if a request makes sense.

Fake "customs fee" texts: the signs that give them away

It's the most common parcel scam. French customs give a typical example: a text announces an "update" on your parcel, stopped because of unpaid customs fees, with a link to pay. The link leads to a fake page that grabs your card details. The signs that should stop you:

• The message claims to come from customs and asks for payment. That alone makes it fake.
• You're not expecting a parcel, or the request doesn't match any of your orders.
• No tracking number, or a number the carrier's official site doesn't know. At DHL, a real request always shows the AWB number.
• The link doesn't point to the official site, sometimes off by a single letter. France's national cyber-help service advises hovering over a link without clicking, or using a bookmark you created yourself.
• You're asked to buy a prepaid card PIN and send it by email. French customs list this among known fakes.
• You're pressured: goods destroyed, prosecution or seizure if you don't pay right now. French customs report fake emails threatening to destroy luggage if you don't answer.
• You're asked for bank details or a password by message. A public body or a serious company doesn't ask for them that way.

The amount is often tiny so you pay without thinking. In Spain, the public cybersecurity institute INCIBE reported in 2022 a fake text asking for €1.79 in "customs fees". The fake page then asked for the card number, expiry date and the code on the back.

You clicked, or paid: what to do

• You gave your card details or see a strange charge: call your bank right away to block the card.
• Keep the fake message, it's evidence.
• Report it to the police in your country.
• You typed a password on the fake page: change it, everywhere you used it.
• You clicked but filled nothing in: don't type anything, close the page and report the message.

Where to report a fake message

For other countries, including Italy and Portugal, we found no official page we could verify on this topic: contact your bank first if you gave card details, then the police.

Documents you may be asked for

According to French customs, a missing or wrong invoice or proof of value is one of the usual reasons for a hold. Some goods also need supporting documents, and the parcel waits until the carrier receives them. What you may be asked for:

• The invoice, or a commercial document proving the value of what you bought.
• Proof of payment: order summary, receipt.
• A description of the contents: what it is, how many, at what value.
• For some regulated products (of animal origin, protected species…), specific documents.

With a shopping agent, the agent holds the seller's invoice and the shipment details: ask for the document showing the price you actually paid. Only send your papers to the carrier, through its site or official address.

How long it can take

Customs give no standard length for a check. But some deadlines are set in writing:

• Payment: set by your carrier. In France, La Poste wants it before midnight on the day of the notice, or by midnight the day before delivery.
• Suspected counterfeits in a small consignment: when this EU procedure applies, customs notify you that they intend to destroy the goods, and you have 10 working days to give your view (Regulation (EU) No 608/2013, Article 26).
• Temporary storage: goods arriving in the EU must be placed under a customs procedure, or re-exported, within 90 days (Union Customs Code, Article 149).
• In France, a written question to the customs information service gets an answer within 5 working days, through the online form.

If you don't answer, or refuse

Doing nothing has consequences too. What can happen:

• You refuse to pay the duties: the carrier won't deliver. According to French customs, some carriers only hand over the parcel once you've repaid the duties and taxes they advanced, plus their fees. Ask the carrier what happens to the parcel in that case.
• Nobody clears the goods within 90 days: according to the European Commission, customs sell or destroy them, at the expense of whoever made the declaration.
• You don't answer a notice about suspected counterfeits: customs may treat you as agreeing to destruction (Regulation 608/2013, Article 26).

If the parcel goes back to China, first ask your seller or agent what they do in that case: their terms apply.

Seizure: what you risk if it's counterfeit

Let's be straight: customs look for counterfeits in parcels, and they seize them. Across the EU, under Regulation 608/2013, when suspected counterfeit goods travel in a small consignment, customs can notify you that they plan to destroy them; you get 10 working days to respond, and silence can count as agreement.

Penalties are set by each country, and we only verified France's. There, counterfeiting is a customs offence (Articles L. 513-1 to L. 513-5 of the French Customs Code). Customs record it in an official report and seize the goods. Penalties include confiscation, a fine of up to twice the value of the goods involved, and up to three years in prison (ten years and ten times the value for organized gangs). According to France's top court, cited by customs, confiscation must be ordered even without a conviction.

French customs can also offer a settlement (Articles L. 613-1 and L. 613-2 of the Customs Code), an out-of-court agreement; once court proceedings have started, the offer must first go to the judicial authority. According to customs, a settlement for counterfeiting always involves giving up the goods, and they mostly use it for minor offences by travellers. Otherwise, the case goes to the criminal court.

Seized goods don't come back. The only way to avoid all this is not to order items carrying someone else's brand, logo or protected design. Yupa promotes no copies.

Your options to challenge

• You dispute the carrier's fees: ask for an itemized bill. French customs point out that these fees depend on your contract with the carrier, so read it first.
• You want to claim after paying: keep the proof of payment of duties and taxes.
• You have a question about a customs decision: start with your national customs information service (in France, 0 800 94 40 40).
• Suspected counterfeit in a small consignment: you have 10 working days after the notice to give your view. Faced with an official report, get advice from a lawyer before signing anything.
• Fake text: block your card, report it and file a complaint, as above. Your bank will tell you what it can do about disputed charges.

You ordered through a shopping agent

The principle stays the same: the carrier delivering to you is the one that contacts you. The shipping line chosen at your agent decides who declares the parcel and whether VAT is paid at shipping (see Customs on parcels from China in 2026: €3 duty, €2 fee, VAT, worked out).

• Check in the tracking which carrier delivers to you: its site, and only its site, is where you check and pay.
• Your line says customs and VAT are included? A message asking you for fees deserves even more suspicion. Still check the official tracking before deciding.
• You're asked for an invoice: ask the agent for the summary with the price you actually paid.
• Always declare the real value, no exceptions.