Customs seized the shipment. We recovered the goods and €550,000 deposit.

Dutch customs detained a shipment of electronics based on a visual inspection and demanded a €550,000 deposit. We worked for 19 months and recovered everything.

Context: three years of clean imports — and one visual inspection

A European B2B company had been shipping second-hand electronics from Hong Kong to the Netherlands for three years. A customs inspector opened one box. The devices looked new. For the Dutch Customs Authority, that was enough. Deposit: €550,000. The company paid.

Dutch customs is a wall

No phone contact. No written contact. FedEx brokers couldn't get through. We showed up in person at the customs office at Schiphol Airport and got the first concrete information.

The evidentiary case

Statements from Hong Kong suppliers, independent technical assessment confirming the devices were not new, three years of clean import history.

The breakthrough

After one year and seven months, we identified the two specific customs inspectors handling the client's case. The wall came down. Documentation accepted. The Customs Authority returned €550,000 to the client in full.

Dutch customs doesn't answer letters. But every case has a specific inspector — and finding them is faster than waiting for an official response.