has anyone received gift from US through UPS? my org sent out gifts to all employees; and my colleague in delhi received it within 4 days with no extra headache. whereas mine is stuck at bangalore customs asking for payment of about $15!

Indian customs dept. is highly unpredictable, I’ve had instances where each team member of mine received exact same package and yet paid different amounts of customs. If you’re being asked to pay, there isn’t much you can do besides sending a proof to them that the things you’re receiving is a gift from your employer and is not a direct import made by you.

i did; i even looped in the HR from my org in the UPS email thread. they keep sending me direct emails after dropping the HR person in all responses.

If it's not much, just pay the $15. It's not worth the hassle. I received a shipment of books written by the author as a gift and ended up paying about 8K customs. 🤷 Paid it as it would be embarrassing to send it back.

they assessed gift’s value to be INR 500; and duty being charged is about INR 1070

Yeah then that’s not valid! Send them invoice of items you’re receiving and ask them how can customs exceed the value of items you’re receiving.

Indian customs dept. is highly unpredictable,

its extremely predictable (in a bad way). Bangalore customs almost always overcharges and applies spurious duties. Contesting this requires time and effort, and a significant amount of items are left unclaimed (or overpaid). i suspect they have figured out a thriving "business" of disposing selling-off the unclaimed items. 🤔

@chilly-rocket-77832 Things do go back if you reject delivery. I have had many things that I purchased from Amazon (UK) return back when customs were high.

@loud-glass-33663 That was probably because it was Amazon involved, but for individual packages, they often end up getting auctioned after designated time passes without claims.

Paid 5k to DHL in mumbai for the hoodie my company sent me as a gift. Could have bought a good one from Zara for that price but 🫠