What is Customs clearance?

For a small Shopify store that imports stock, customs clearance is a step that can delay your incoming inventory by days or weeks depending on paperwork, duties owed and random inspections. If you plan your reorder dates assuming goods arrive the moment they leave the factory, you will run out of stock before the shipment actually reaches your warehouse.

Build customs clearance time into your supplier lead time as a separate buffer, especially for new suppliers or new countries of origin. Ask your freight forwarder or supplier for a typical clearance time and treat it as a fixed delay added on top of shipping transit time, not something that happens in parallel.

Example

A candle store in Canada imports jars from a supplier in China. Ocean transit takes 25 days. The last three shipments sat in customs for 4, 6 and 5 days before being released. The owner now plans for 25 days transit plus 6 days customs clearance, so total lead time used for reordering is 31 days instead of 25.

Common mistakes

• Treating customs clearance time as zero or ignoring it when setting reorder dates.
• Assuming clearance time is the same for every country or every product category.
• Not accounting for extra delay when a shipment gets flagged for inspection.

Customs clearance and SteadyShelf

SteadyShelf uses each supplier's full lead time, including typical customs delays you build into it, to calculate the order-by date for each SKU.

SteadyShelf is launching on the Shopify App Store. Join early access to get the install link first.

Related terms

Lead time · Transit time · Supplier lead time variability · Incoterms · Freight forwarder

Full inventory glossary

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