Updated as of 10 November 2026. General information, not legal advice. The rules below come from the US Postal Service FAQ and from UK government pages, listed in post 8.
Verdict first: a tracking status such as “held in customs” is the carrier’s wording, not a customs decision. A decision comes as a letter or a bill from the customs authority or the delivery company. This thread covers what official sources say about the wait, the letter and the bill, for the US and the UK. For the UK fee letter in detail, see UK parcels from abroad: VAT, duty, the carrier’s fee letter and how to spot a fake one.
[[PHOTO: phone screenshot of a generic tracking timeline with the line “held in customs” highlighted, tracking number and addresses blurred]]
Editorial summary, not independently verified.
Grand, but is “held” bad news or just a queue? People in other threads read all sorts into it.
On its own, neither. The USPS FAQ (“Customs Forms – The Basics”) says:
- Customs is not run by USPS; imports are a function of US Customs and Border Protection (CBP), and customs issues are outside USPS control.
- If a mailpiece is held in Customs, CBP has 45 business days (USPS excludes Saturdays, Sundays and holidays) to process it and to notify the recipient of an inbound item if the package is seized or detained.
- If CBP detains a package, a letter is sent to the recipient explaining the reason and giving contact information.
So the status alone tells you the parcel is in the customs process. The letter, if one comes, tells you why.
TL;DR: and if nothing arrives? USPS covers that as well.
- CBP can only track or investigate a package’s status after 45 business days from the arrival scan into customs.
- If no detention or seizure notice has arrived by then, the recipient may contact CBP through CBP’s help website with: the recipient’s name and address and the sender’s name and address as they appear on the package, the contents (quantity, manufacturer and value), and the tracking number.
- USPS lists the items most often detained: pharmaceuticals; prohibited or controlled items such as alcohol, spring blade knives and narcotics; and items subject to quota, such as textiles imported for commercial purposes.
For what changed for small parcels into the US and how CBP treats counterfeits, see US customs without the $800 de minimis.
UK side, from the government page “Tax and customs for goods sent from abroad: Tax and duty”:
- You will be contacted by Royal Mail, Parcelforce or the courier company if VAT, duty or delivery charges are due before you receive your goods.
- They send a bill stating exactly which fees are due.
- They normally hold the parcel for about 3 weeks. If the bill is not settled by then, the parcel is returned to the sender.
In other words, in the UK the bill comes from the delivery company, not from a customs officer by text.
Which brings up the fake ones. A text saying “your parcel is held, settle the customs fee here” with a short link: what do official sources say about that?
[[PHOTO: side-by-side mock-up of a suspicious text about a held parcel with a shortened link, next to a plain tracking page, phone numbers masked]]
From HMRC’s page “Report suspicious HMRC emails, texts, social media accounts and phone calls” (last updated 24 November 2025):
- HMRC will never send a notification of a tax rebate, or ask for personal or financial information, by text message.
- HMRC only emails about a tax rebate, or asks for personal or financial information, from an address on HMRC’s own domain.
- Suspicious texts can be forwarded to 60599; the page also gives the address for forwarding suspicious emails to HMRC’s phishing team.
That page is about messages that mention HMRC. For a bill that claims to come from a carrier, the UK page in post 5 is the reference: it is the carrier that contacts you, with a bill listing the fees. The common scam patterns are collected in Staying safe: scams, fake middlemen and privacy.
Summary (updated as of 10 November 2026):
- “Held in customs” / “held by customs” is carrier tracking wording. It says the parcel is in the customs process, not what the outcome is.
- US (USPS FAQ): customs is CBP’s job, not USPS’s. CBP has 45 business days to process an item and to notify the recipient if it is seized or detained; if CBP detains it, a letter explains the reason. CBP can only investigate a package’s status after 45 business days from the arrival scan; the FAQ lists the details to give CBP.
- UK (government guidance): Royal Mail, Parcelforce or the courier contacts you with a bill listing VAT, duty or delivery charges; the parcel is normally held for about 3 weeks and returned to the sender if the bill is not settled.
- Messages: HMRC never asks for personal or financial information by text; suspicious texts can be forwarded to 60599.
- Counterfeits are prohibited goods; in the US they are covered in the CBP thread, and for the EU side see Counterfeits and customs in France and Belgium.
Replies on how to word a declaration or route a parcel to avoid a check are removed. Questions for the moderators: About.
Official sources (checked on 10 November 2026):
- US Postal Service, FAQ “Customs Forms – The Basics”: faq.usps.com
- UK government, Tax and customs for goods sent from abroad: Tax and duty: gov.uk
- HMRC, Report suspicious HMRC emails, texts, social media accounts and phone calls: gov.uk
Updated as of 10 November 2026. General information, not legal advice.
Editorial summary, not independently verified.
Agreed. The one detail people forget: the 45 business days in the US and the 3 weeks in the UK are not the same clock, and they come from different sources.