My order was sent ems and when I look up the tracking info it says it is in "retention period."  What does that mean?  Also is there are customs fee?

Normally you don´t pay taxes, in retention period must be it´s not inspected yet.

Retention just means it's sitting in customs. Very rare you pay fees on small packages.

So what did you get?

i've ordered from japan 6 or 7 times and have not had to pay import duties yet but know people that have. the surprise i got with my first JDM purchase was the "foreign transaction fee" my credit card company charged me...something like 3.25 percent.

I have noticed that Japan EMS has not been doing the best at updating their tracking info. X2 on what did you get?

I got a scorpion xt.  Is it common to be held in customs?

I got a scorpion xt. Is it common to be held in customs?

No

You can track EMS packages on the USPS website, and unless they shipped it UPS or FedEx you wont have to pay customs.

You can track EMS packages on the USPS website, and unless they shipped it UPS or FedEx you wont have to pay customs.

This is true.

I get items delivered by EMS 2-3 times a month from Indonesia and the Philippines.  The EMS tracking websites are not very consistent, not unusual for those sites to show no record of the shipment.  The USPS tracking site is a bit better but far from perfect.  When entering the tracking number "not found" means it's not in the system yet, you will see words saying in "sorting facility", both in country of origin as well this country.  Sometimes the site will say in customs, sometimes not but it always does go thru customs, the site doesn't update too well.

 

I have never paid a customs tax or fee, I've been this for about 5 years.  A bank transaction fee has been charged when using a credit card, this has nothing to do with the shipping.  When I use PayPal I don't get charged a transaction fee, but I will if using Western Union.

Don't stress man. It's all good. I was a bit nervous myself the 1st time, but never had an issue or had to pay customs fees. PayPal is the only way to go.

You can track EMS packages on the USPS website, and unless they shipped it UPS or FedEx you wont have to pay customs.

Thanks for the tip.  I checked usps and it says they tried to deliver it 2 days ago.  Funny thing is they didn't leave me any kind of notice.  I'm going to pick it up today

I ordered some megabass lures from Japan via an ebay store.  They shipped them EMS and I got them in 3 days.  Oddly enough I ordered some lures at the same time that came from California.  They were shipped UPS Ground. It took over a week to get them.  You just never know.