Shipping and customs for agent parcels, mode by mode
Each lane meets customs in a different place, and each has its own list of goods it will not carry. This page sets them side by side.
Where customs meets each mode
Every lane passes customs once on arrival, but not in the same place or with the same people. On air express the courier's own brokerage team usually handles clearance at the destination airport. On air postal the parcel waits at your national post's international mail office. On air plus road it is usually cleared in the first EU country the flight lands in, before the truck leg; Kakobuy's line notes name Amsterdam, and Kakobuy adds that returns from those lines go to an overseas warehouse, not back to China. Rail parcels are usually cleared at the terminal where the train enters the destination customs area, and sea parcels at the port of arrival.
Who collects any duty or tax depends on your country and on the line. In the United States, the customs agency's e-commerce FAQ, last modified on 2 September 2026, describes the de minimis exemption for shipments of $800 or less as indefinitely suspended for postal and non-postal shipments alike. EU rules on low-value parcels also changed in 2026.
Agents do not decide any of this. LoongBuy's Customs and Taxes article says customs inspection is a routine, random enforcement action that neither the agent nor the carrier can interfere with, and that costs from a hold fall to the recipient.
Batteries, liquids and oversized boxes on the slower modes
It is tempting to think the slow lanes take anything. Usually they do not. Batteries, liquids, powders, aerosols and anything flammable fall under carrier safety rules on every mode, and each line lists what it accepts. Air is the strictest, and loose lithium cells are refused on most express lines; rail and sea give more room for heavy and oversized boxes, but a power bank or a bottle of fragrance still needs a line that says it takes them.
LoongBuy sorts this out at the warehouse. Each item gets mailing restriction tags after the warehouse check, judged on what it is, what it is made of, its shape, its size and how much it weighs, and the parcel page only shows lines that accept every tag. It also says plainly that the tags are a platform control, not a promise: they do not guarantee clearance, transit time or tax outcome.
Size is the other limit. Couriers cap length and girth, and big boxes fall outside them. Superbuy sends parcels over 30 kg or with a side over 120 cm towards its custom routes, which mostly run by rail and sea; that is where oversized hauls belong.
Volume weight and the bulky parcel
Carriers charge for space as well as mass. On lines that use volume weight, the box's length, width and height in centimetres are multiplied and divided by a divisor the line sets, and you pay on the bigger of the two, the scale reading or that figure. Divisors vary by line, so the same box can be charged differently on two lines from the same agent.
For light, bulky goods this often decides the mode. A down jacket weighs little but fills a large box; a pair of boxed trainers adds a rigid cube. Packing changes the result: agent billing rules point out that removing shoe boxes, removing packaging or vacuum-packing makes the final weight and volume differ from the estimate at submission. When the packed size is still large, a slow lane that charges more gently for volume, or a custom quote, is worth a look; when it packs small, air is usually simpler.
Postal lanes to the EU since June 2026
For buyers in the European Union, the postal lane all but closed in mid-2026. LoongBuy's notice, created on 29 June and signed 27 June 2026, says China Post services to all 27 member states were temporarily suspended with immediate effect, that the matching China Post options would be unavailable on its platform, and that a new notice would follow when service returned. On 17 October 2026 the notice was still listed and we found no resumption notice beside it.
In practice that leaves EU parcels on courier air, air plus road, rail and sea. If an older guide or video tells you to pick the cheap postal option for a European address, check whether it still exists before planning around it.
