How International Shipping Works

International shipping looks simple from the outside — you book a pickup, someone collects your parcel, and it eventually arrives abroad — but a lot happens between those two points. Understanding the sequence helps you avoid the most common causes of delay: incomplete paperwork, incorrect weight declarations, and missing customs information.

Step 1: Booking and pickup

You choose a courier, declare the shipment's weight and dimensions, select a service level (economy, express, etc.), and schedule a pickup. At this stage you also provide the recipient's address and, for international shipments, a description of the contents and their declared value.

Step 2: Documentation

Before your parcel can leave India, it needs export paperwork. For most courier-mode shipments this means a commercial invoice, a packing list, and a shipping bill (CSB-IV for non-commercial/sample shipments, CSB-V for commercial exports) filed electronically through the courier's customs system. See Export Documents for the full checklist.

Step 3: Export customs clearance (India)

Indian customs verifies the shipping bill against the declared value and the Import Export Code (IEC) of the exporter, then clears the shipment for export. This is usually fast for compliant courier shipments — often same-day — but any mismatch between the invoice value and the shipping bill will hold the parcel.

Step 4: Line-haul and transit

The parcel moves via air (courier/air freight) or sea (cargo) to a hub in or near the destination country. Air courier shipments typically route through the courier's own international gateway hub before onward delivery.

Step 5: Import customs clearance (destination country)

This is the stage most shippers underestimate. The destination country's customs authority assesses duties and taxes based on the declared value, product category (HS code), and that country's specific import rules. Since 2025, this step matters even more for US-bound shipments specifically, because the old $800 duty-free allowance no longer applies to any country — see Customs Information for Shipping to USA.

Step 6: Final-mile delivery

Once cleared, the parcel moves to a local delivery partner in the destination country for last-mile delivery, with tracking updates at each handover.

What actually causes delays

In practice, delays come from a small, predictable set of causes: the invoice value not matching the shipping bill, a missing or expired IEC, an incomplete address, prohibited or restricted contents not being flagged before booking, or the recipient not being reachable to pay duty where duty is collected on delivery.