Short version: customs is not accusing you of anything. It is missing one page. Send a single PDF with a commercial invoice (or your order confirmation plus payment proof), a packing list, and the ID page they asked for — back through the same channel that contacted you — within three to seven days, before storage fees start. Everything below is the detail that keeps people from losing a week.
We went through 50,037 public tracking questions to see what people actually get stuck on. 210 of them mention an invoice, a passport or ID, or proof of purchase. 74 use the same four-word status: invoice missing. And almost every one contains at least one of three mistakes: the paperwork went to the wrong desk, the value on paper did not match the price that was actually paid, or nothing was sent at all because nobody knew what “invoice” meant in this situation.
First, work out whose customs is asking
This sounds obvious. It is the step most people skip, and it is the reason a parcel can sit for two weeks while the sender emails the wrong company.
One seller in France sent a return back to a Chinese vendor. Twelve days later the tracking still read: “Retained by customs, invoice missing.” He emailed China Post’s English line, got a recorded menu, and wrote again. Nothing moved. The request had never come from China Post — it came from the customs broker handling the entry, and the reply address was in a text message from the local delivery office the whole time.
So read the location line first. If the last scan is Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Shanghai or Nanning, it is Chinese customs. If the last scan is your own city, it is your country’s customs, and the letter usually comes from the carrier — DHL, FedEx, UPS or your national post — not from a government office.
Here is the part that surprises people. Nearly one in five of these requests — 39 of the 210 — is about a parcel heading into China: a return to an AliExpress seller, a gift to family, documents for a school or an employer. Not a parcel leaving China. If you are mailing something back, you are in the same queue as everyone else, and the same paperwork applies.
What “invoice missing” actually means
It is a checkbox, not an accusation. Customs has a form field for “declaration complete” and another for “value supported by documents.” When either one fails, the system prints the same line it prints for a missing label, a wrong weight or a suspicious price. Nobody sat down and wrote you a message. A template did.
Two things usually trigger it. One: there is no commercial invoice in the pouch, or no electronic copy attached to the shipment. Two: the declared value does not match a price a human can check. A $180 phone declared at $25 is not a clever trick, it is a held parcel with a question attached.
That is good news, because both problems are fixable from your kitchen table.
The five documents, and who makes each one
You will rarely need all five. You will almost always need the first two.
| Document | Who produces it | What it has to show |
|---|---|---|
| Commercial invoice | The seller | Seller and buyer names and addresses, the item described in plain words, quantity, unit price, total, currency, country of origin |
| Order confirmation | You — screenshot or PDF | Order number, order date, item name, total paid |
| Payment proof | Your bank, card app or PayPal | Amount, date, merchant name, last four digits only — black out the rest |
| Packing list | Seller, or you if it is a return | What is in the box, how many, total weight |
| ID page | You | Name, photo and ID number — cover the address, the signature and the machine-readable strip at the bottom |
Two notes on that table. A screenshot of the order page is usually accepted for personal parcels, but a PDF looks more like a document and gets read faster. And a payment screenshot should show the last four digits of the card, never the whole number. If a form asks for the full number, you are probably not talking to customs.
There is no invoice. Now what?
This is the most common situation, and it has three workable answers.
1. Ask the seller for a proforma invoice. Not a receipt, not a screenshot of the order page — a proforma invoice, made out to you, with the item and the price. Short message, no drama:
Hi — my parcel is held at customs and they need a commercial or proforma invoice. Can you send me a PDF invoice for order #____, showing the item, the quantity, the price I paid and the date? My full name and address are on the order. Thank you.
Most sellers send one within a day, because a returned parcel costs them money too.
2. Build the invoice yourself. If the seller is slow or gone, you can write one. It needs seven things: your name and address, the seller’s name and address, the item description, the quantity, the unit price, the total and the currency. Add “proforma invoice” at the top, add the order number, sign it, and save it as a PDF. Customs cares that the numbers are true, not that the paper came from a factory.
3. For a gift, write a statement of value. 262 of the questions we read mention gifts, and almost none of them have any paperwork at all. “It is a gift” is not a value. It is a category. One page with the item, where you bought it, what it cost, and the sentence “this is a personal gift, not a commercial sale,” signed and dated, is a document. Send it with a photo of the item and any receipt you still have.
Where to send it (this is where the week disappears)
Send it back through the channel that asked. If it came as a text with an upload link, use the link. If it came from a carrier’s clearance desk, reply to that email. If it came from your local post office, walk in with a printed copy. Do not forward it to a general customer service address and hope it gets routed. It will not get routed.
A few small things that make a real difference:
- Put the tracking number and the words “customs documents” in the subject line. Clearance desks search by tracking number, not by your name.
- Send one PDF, not six photos. Name the file with the tracking number, for example LZ123456789CN-invoice.pdf. Under 5 MB.
- Ask for a ticket or case number in the same email, and ask them to confirm receipt. If nothing comes back in 24 hours, reply once more on the same thread.
- Do not send a Google Drive or WeTransfer link that expires in seven days. Customs queues are slower than link expiry.
- Keep your own copy, with the date and the address you sent it to. If the parcel is later returned or charged storage, that copy is your evidence.
The clock nobody mentions
Documents do not sit in a queue forever. Every airport and port has a free storage window, and then a daily charge that someone has to pay before the box moves. Three to seven days is typical. After that, the meter runs.
| When | What is usually happening | What you should be doing |
|---|---|---|
| Day 0–2 | The request lands in your inbox or by text | Reply the same day. This is the cheapest day you will ever have. |
| Day 3–7 | Free storage is ending; the parcel is still in the customs area | Confirm in writing that your documents were received. Ask for a clearance status. |
| Day 7–14 | Storage fees start; some carriers charge per day per kilo | Decide: clear it, or let it return. Compare the fee to the value of the item. |
| After 14–30 days | The parcel is a candidate for return to sender or abandonment | If you want it, escalate to the carrier’s clearance supervisor. If not, start the refund. |
The return option is not free either. On a low-value order, sending a parcel back to China can cost more than the item, which is why so many of these parcels end up abandoned. That is a business decision, not a moral one — but make it on day seven, not day thirty.
What never to send
A real customs request quotes your tracking number, names the document it wants, and comes from an address you can check. It does not ask you to pay a release fee by gift card, crypto or a link in a text message — those are scams, and they get busy whenever a batch of parcels is delayed. Even to a real broker, never send a full card number, a Social Security number or an unredacted passport scan when one page will do.
If the seller will not help
Some sellers disappear the moment a parcel is held, because a return costs them money. Give them three messages and a deadline: the first asks for the invoice, the second sets a date, the third says you are opening a case on that date. Then do it.
You do not need the seller’s permission to claim. You need the order confirmation, the tracking number, the customs status and your unanswered messages. Our guide to refunds and chargebacks walks through the timing for each route, and our returns guide covers the case where the parcel is the thing going back.
Frequently asked questions
Can I send a screenshot instead of an invoice?
For a personal parcel, usually yes — an order confirmation plus a payment screenshot is often enough. A PDF is still better. If the item is expensive or the parcel is commercial, they will probably come back for a real invoice.
They asked for my passport. Is that normal?
For personal postal items, yes. Many countries require an ID or tax number to clear a parcel. Send the photo page only, and cover the parts nobody needs: signature, address if it is not the delivery address, and the strip at the bottom.
The invoice was inside the box. What now?
This is common, and it is an easy fix. Tell them the invoice is in the pouch or inside the parcel, and attach a copy anyway. A document that exists but cannot be reached is the same as a missing one to the person at the scanner.
How long do I have before it goes back?
Plan on a week. Free storage is usually three to seven days, and the return decision often gets made without another message. If you want the parcel, reply on day one.
Does “retained by customs” mean they think it is illegal?
No. It means the entry is not complete. “Retained” is the word for a parcel parked in a customs area while a question is open — the question is almost always paperwork, value or weight. The scary version of that story is much rarer than the internet suggests.
The short version, again
One PDF. Invoice or order plus payment proof. A packing list if the box is complicated. The ID page, redacted. Reply to the message that asked, within a day, with the tracking number in the subject line. Then confirm that they got it. If the parcel is still sitting there a week after documents were confirmed, the problem is no longer paperwork — that is the point to read what happens after release and when to give up and claim. For why parcels get held in the first place, start with our customs hold guide.
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