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Answers to most of your Questions

Shopping & Shipping from India might seem overwhelming when you are sitting miles away from the shopping source. But, trust us,we got this for you! Here are some frequently asked questions with answers to them.

General Process Questions

Can yourDesiCart ship USED items ?

No, We cannot ship USED items. We can only ship new items having payment proof or purchase receipt. Homemade food are an exception and will be repackaged to suite to international standards.

Can yourDesiCart ship as GIFT/SAMPLE ?

No, yourDesiCart cannot ship as GIFT/SAMPLE. We will be shipping packages as a COMMERCIAL shipment and hence B2C (Business to Customer) shipment rules apply at Customs all times.

Why do I need to provide purchase values for each item?

A seller invoice, or payment receipt, is a document that shows the price you paid for merchandise you have purchased. The document may also contain other information, including the name and address of the sellers. Many sellers automatically include a seller invoice with your package, and some may email you an electronic seller invoice. Please keep a record of your seller invoices so you can provide them to yourDesiCart (if needed) or your customs office (if required) for export or import purposes.

Customs requires the purchase value of all imported products. As soon as we receive your items at our warehouse, we will safely store them in your Locker and you will be notified. You will need to add the purchase value at this point. The item can be processed further only after this value is entered.

Special note about gift items: If your package arrives with a gift receipt rather than a complete seller invoice, you will be asked to provide additional information before we can export your purchases.

What happens if an item is not eligible to ship internationally?

In case you have ordered some items which unfortunately cannot be exported out of India, and if for some reason you cannot/don’t wish to return it back to the seller , then you can choose to abandon/donate your parcel for no additional cost or you can get it returned to an Indian address for a small fee. You can ping us on WhatsApp with your instructions.

Does yourDesiCart export Food?

yourDesiCart cannot export any food items that are perishable (require refrigeration), labeled in a foreign language, or restricted for export by the the Indian Food and Drug Administration. We also suggest that you contact your local customs office to inquire if food can be imported to your country, as it is often restricted. yourDesiCart exports food items that are branded and are non-perishable. If the food has arrived from your home and is not branded, then there will be a special package handling fee. The compliance review for the same will usually take less than 24 hours, however, it may take up to 72 hours for your package to be available to ship.

Unbranded food like home cooked pickles, chutney, sweets, snacks, etc. food items that do not have expiry, ingredient info, manufacturing label etc., will be repacked & re-labelled to international standards in sealed covers. For the sanity purpose we wear gloves and maintain clean environment so that no harm is done to your food items during repacking.

How is final chargeable weight calculated for shipping?

The cost of a shipment can be affected by the amount of space that it occupies on an aircraft, rather than the actual weight. Hence, Final Chargeable weight will be either volumetric weight of the box or actual gross weight, whichever is greater. More details here – https://desi-cart.vercel.app/home/volumetric

If you’re sending multiple packages, calculate each weight separately and this is the ‘total chargeable weight’. The chargeable weight is always the greater of the actual or volumetric weight.

Customs & Regulations

Do all countries require Import Duties?

Most countries require import duties at the time when you receive your parcel depending on the laws of the receiving country. But some countries have a duty free concession where goods below a certain value can be imported without duty and/or tax. The import duties are on the higher side for the following countries: UK, European Countries, Thailand, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Indonesia.

What are the import guidelines of my home country?

DHL is our International logistics partner and deliver to over 220 countries worldwide. Import regulations vary from country to country and it is important you know the guidelines pertaining to your home country before import. You can find this information by selecting your Region and Location under the ‘Worldwide Express Import Guidelines’ on the DHL website here

What is Duty/Tax Free Amount (De Minims Value)?

The de minims value is a country-specific value below which no duty or tax is charged, and clearance procedures are minimal. If you are importing a shipment with a total declared value LESS than this amount, duty and tax do not apply (certain products may be subject to other types of fees or taxes). The de minims value is usually different for duties than it is for taxes.

Do shipping rates include customs fees, tariffs or taxes?

The shipping rates displayed in the website are inclusive of all the taxes within India such as GST, Fuel Surcharge etc. In some cases, special packing charges will need to be added for homemade food/fragile items/semi liquids etc. and will be added on case by case basis.

The import laws of countries vary and you may have to pay import duty/VAT/customs as per the laws of your receiving country, at the time of delivery which is collected by the carrier that delivers your shipment. In some cases, carriers may also charge a brokerage fee/storage fee to clear your package through local customs. These fees vary, and are not paid by yourDesiCart. Please contact your local customs office for more information on duties or import fees or VAT or import taxes.

What if I do not wish to pay the duties while receiving my package?

In some cases, where you feel the customs/duties/import/admin charges levied by your home country (while receiving the package) is higher than the product cost and you wish to not pay the duties, then you have following options –

  1. Do not accept the package and raise a dispute ticket with your local DHL customer care indicating the duties levied are huge. If you wish you can further challenge the duties amount levied by producing the purchase receipts of your items in the shipment. It is upto the discretion of the customs officer to agree or disagree to your request.
  2. You can request to send the shipment back to your locker address in India, in which case, international return shipment charges, import duties in India, any storage charges at airport, any admin fees etc. will be applied to you
  3. Discard or abandon the package – in which case the home country customs/DHL will donate or trash your package.

Feel free to ping us on WhatsApp for more details.

What if my package is rejected by home country customs?

yourDesiCart can help with checking the eligibility of your items before shipping internationally. However, in some unfortunate situations, if the item is not allowed entry into your home country, then you have 2 options –

  1. You can request to send the shipment back to yourDesiCart locker address in India, in which case, international return shipment charges, import duties in India, any storage charges at airport, any admin fees etc. will be applied to you
  2. Discard or abandon the package – in which case the home country customs/DHL will donate or trash your package for free of cost.

In above circumstances it is customer’s/consignee’s responsibility and yourDesiCart is not responsible to provide shipment/service refunds if the package comes back due to non-eligibility. We will guide you before shipping the item, but countries change regulations often and it is hard to keep track of even at DHL level, hence we strongly recommend reading what is allowed shipping to your country. Feel free to ping us on WhatsApp for more details.

How is the customs duty and tax calculated?

Duties, import taxes and VAT are calculated as a percentage of the customs declared value of the goods.

    The valuation of the cost is based on the complete shipping value, including:

  • The price of the imported goods
  • The cost of freight
  • Insurance

The imports are also subject to sales taxes. Any duties, admin fees and taxes on your international shipment will be billed directly to you by the global carrier.

International Shipment Insurance

Will my international shipment be insured?

All your shipments will have limited liability cover provided by DHL. You can purchase additional insurance at the time of shipping your parcel. Insurance covers loss or theft or damage to the items in your shipment. Claims can be filed for the declared value plus international shipping costs, if applicable. Insurance does NOT cover import duties and taxes, domestic shipping costs or damage to the box/packaging.

Item Eligibility Questions

What if my package is denied entry into my home country?

yourDesiCart can help with checking the eligibility of your items before shipping internationally. However, in some unfortunate situations, if the item is not allowed entry into your home country, then you have 2 options –

  1. You can request to send the shipment back to yourDesiCart locker address in India, in which case, international return shipment charges, import duties in India, any storage charges at airport, any admin fees etc. will be applied to you
  2. Discard or abandon the package – in which case the home country customs/DHL will donate or trash your package for free of cost.

In above circumstances it is customer’s/consignee’s responsibility and yourDesiCart is not responsible to provide shipment/service refunds if the package comes back due to non-eligibility. We will guide you before shipping the item, but countries change regulations often and it is hard to keep track of even at DHL level, hence we strongly recommend reading what is allowed shipping to your country. Feel free to ping us on WhatsApp for more details.

Can you export perfume?

No, we will not be able to ship perfumes as they come under flammable items list.

What is the difference between restricted and prohibited items?

Prohibited goods are those which cannot be exported. Example: Explosives, Cash, Bullion, Ivory, Ammunition, Illegal goods etc. Restricted commodities are those can be acceptable with certain documents required for carriage such as Antiques & work of art, Stamps, Toy guns, Cigarettes, Perishable items, Dry ICE, Biological samples etc.

What is considered as dangerous goods or hazardous material?

Dangerous goods/hazardous materials are items that require special handling, additional packaging and labeling to be transported internationally.
These items may or may not be allowed to ship to your country. Shipping dangerous goods is country-specific. Even if your country allows the import of an item, the carrier may not be licensed to handle and transport dangerous goods.
Items considered to be dangerous goods include: flammable items or items under pressure (e.g., hairspray, spray paint, lighters, nail polish and perfume). Dangerous goods items will incur a Special Package Clearance Fee and may be required to ship separately from non-dangerous goods items, and may take additional time (10-20 days) to reach your doorstep.

Can you export liquid/semi liquid items?

Yes. yourDesiCart lets you export liquid/semi liquid items as long as they are not restricted in the receiving country or fall under the prohibited category of items. This will attract an additional Special Package Handling. Please note that liquids/semi liquids will have to be shipped separately from other items, and may take additional time (10-20 days) to reach your doorstep.

Can you export Agarbatti/Incense?

Agarbatti’s comes under flammable items list and we will not be able to ship these.

List of prohibited items?

Can we ship USED items?

No, We cannot ship USED items. We can only ship new items having payment proof or purchase receipt. Homemade food are an exception and will be repackaged to suite to international standards.

Can yourDesiCart ship mobiles?

We can ship mobile phone as long as it adheres to following:

  1. Brand new
  2. Battery wh < 100
  3. Value < INR 25,000 ( for greater values shipment needs to go in commercial mode and clearance charges of INR 4000 will be applied)

We need to know the following to let you know whether we can ship mobile or not. Please share the following details to support@yourDesiCart.com

  1. Battery Type ( inbuilt or separate)
  2. Exact mobile you want to ship. ( please share a link)
  3. Quantity you want to ship

Please note there will be electronic items handling charge of INR 1000 on top of the shipping charges and we have to drain the battery before we ship

Can yourDesiCart ship imitation/fashion jewelry?

Yes, we can ship imitation/fashion jewelry. However we need the purchase invoice of the jewelry clearly showing the details of the seller, item description and purchase amount. Sometimes the clearance team may even ask for an Appraiser Certificate to prove the authenticity of the invoice provided. Appraiser Certificate is the certificate given by the government approved valuer confirming the value of the jewelry. Please note the whole shipment will be discarded and will not be returned if there is an attempt to ship any precious metal or stones.

Can you ship gold and silver items?

No, we can’t ship any precious metals or stones. Any attempt to ship these will result in discarding the whole shipment.

Does yourDesiCart export Food?

yourDesiCart cannot export any food items that are perishable (require refrigeration), labeled in a foreign language, or restricted for export by the the Indian Food and Drug Administration. We also suggest that you contact your local customs office to inquire if food can be imported to your country, as it is often restricted. yourDesiCart exports food items that are branded and are non-perishable. If the food has arrived from your home and is not branded, then there will be a special package handling fee. The compliance review for the same will usually take less than 24 hours, however, it may take up to 72 hours for your package to be available to ship.

What if yourDesiCart receives a counterfeit or bootleg item in your locker from a seller?

yourDesiCart cannot export counterfeit, bootleg or knockoff items. If you receive an item that does not appear to be authentic, we will notify you by email and refer the item to our trade compliance team to verify its authenticity. If the item is counterfeit and came from a seller in India and the seller provided a return label, we can help you return the item. If the seller did not provide a return label, or if the seller will not accept a return, we must discard the item. yourDesiCart cannot ship counterfeit items to anyone other than the original seller, including individuals in India.

Domestic Package Pickup in India Questions

Why is my package not picked up yet?

Pickup Service is just a convenient service that yourDesiCart provide to its customers. yourDesiCart uses third party courier service for picking up your packages within India. We do not take any responsibility until your package comes to the warehouse.

As we use third party courier services to get the courier, there could be pickup delays and delays during transits. yourDesiCart do not have any control in expediting the pickup. We can only trace your package by going through third party courier’s customer service and summon to expedite.

Under no circumstances yourDesiCart can be held responsible for delays incurred by third party courier services.

Time taken to pickup my package from anywhere in India?

We leverage existing third party courier infrastructure to arrange domestic pickup from anywhere in India. Once you submit a pickup request, we will arrange pickup in the next 24-60 hours. At times if pickup is from remote village or town it might take even longer than this for the actual pickup to happen. Once picked-up it takes 5-8 days (post Covid-19) for your package to arrive at the Hyderabad yourDesiCart Warehouse.

Do I need to pack the box and keep it ready before pickup?

Yes! Kindly do basic packing of the box so that it can reach safely to our warehouse. Any fragile items have to be bubble wrapped. Box have to be marked. It is customer’s or sender’s responsibility to ensure proper packing is done to the box and box is correctly marked as FRAGILE with prints properly pasted on the box. The third party pickup boy will only pickup the box and may or may not be aware of the contents in the box. If the outer packing is not tampered and internal contents are damaged, then no refunds are processed by the third party courier service.

Once it reaches yourDesiCart International Processing Warehouse, we will open the package, inspect items, share inspection results with you, after getting approval from you we will re-pack to international standards, do customs paperwork, send you final shipment invoice and then post payment ship it internationally.

Items in my package are not eligible for shipping internationally?

You can opt to courier it domestically within India for a small fee (calculate domestic shipping rates in – Domestic Pickup Charge Calculator  – “https://yourdesicart.com/pricing-services/”), or you can choose to donate or dispose it.

Total time taken to pickup package in India & deliver Worldwide?

Every package will be routed via Hyderabad International processing warehouse, hence please note below timelines: 1. From anywhere in India to Hyderabad International Processing Warehouse – 5-8 days 2. From Hyderabad International Processing Warehouse to your home Worldwide – Varies based on courier type chosen and destination country DHL – 3-7 days FedEx – 5-10 days Atlantic – 7-12 days India Post – 15-20 days Operations Timelines as indicated in Terms & Conditions

Total cost of picking package in India and delivering it Worldwide?

  1. yourDesiCart Pickup Service Charge – as indicated in Pricing & Services
  2. yourDesiCart Base Service Charge – To use any of our service, as indicated in Pricing & Services
  3. Domestic Courier charges from anywhere in India to Hyderabad Warehouse – Estimated to give you an idea – Rs.600-Rs.800 for 10 Kgs
  4. International weight based shipping country-wise rates – Estimated as indicated in Shipping Calculator

If items break during transit from anywhere in India to yourDesiCart Warehouse?

Incase of any damage/lost/theft to your domestic package pickup shipment then third party domestic courier company’s limited liability insurance gets applied. Usually upto Rs.5000 or product value which ever is lower is refunded. If the outer packaging is not tampered and there is damage to your internal items in the domestic shipment, then the third party courier service does not provide refunds. It is your responsibility to pack items properly, fragile items have to be wrapped properly and ensure items reach your warehouse Locker address in a safe manner. Third party courier service will refund if the outer packaging is tampered, package is lost or theft occurs.

Is yourDesiCart a Courier Service?

No, we are a Shopping + Shipping Service from India & Package pickup is an add-on service we provide for the convenience of our international Customers.

Can you print domestic packing label?

Our third party domestic courier service may or may not and we can try to request them to print Shipping label only under emergency circumstances like old parents, sick or no access to printer. You can make a request and see if we can get it printed. On the day of pickup we will receive a call from the pickup boy and only then we will be able to communicate with him about printing the label. If the pickup guy agrees it will be done, else it wont be done.

Can third-party courier pickup my package on weekends in India?

No, pickups can happen only Mon-Fri 9am-6pm India time.

Why do you route my package via Hyderabad?

Once it reaches International Processing Warehouse, we will open the package, security inspect the items, eligibility inspect items, share inspection results with you, after getting approval from you we will re-pack to international standards, do customs paperwork, send you final shipment invoice and then post payment ship it internationally. Hence it needs to be routed via Warehouse.

My domestic package is lost, stolen or damaged during/before it reaches yourDesiCart locker ?

A maximum of upto Rs.5000 or individual product cost which ever is lower will be refunded by the Third Party Courier Company if your package is lost, stolen or damaged during domestic transit to Locker address. For damages, if the outer packing is not tampered and internal contents are damaged, then no refunds are processed by the courier service, as it is the responsibility of the sender to pack items properly and then had it over to the pickup boy.

yourDesiCart is not responsible for any refunds in this case, rest assured we will definitely facilitate your refunds with the third party courier service.

 

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