Gift or commercial? How to declare peer deliveries at customs

Customs authorities in most countries apply different rules to gifts and personal items versus commercial shipments. Understanding which category applies to your peer delivery affects both duty rates and the likelihood of inspection.

What is a gift for customs purposes? A gift is a good sent from one person to another without payment, as a personal act. There is no commercial relationship, no payment for the goods themselves (only potentially a delivery fee). Gifts typically attract lower duty rates and higher thresholds in many countries.

What is a commercial shipment? Goods being sold, imported for resale, or shipped in commercial quantities. These attract full duty rates and often require formal customs entries.

Where peer delivery typically sits. Most Sendways shipments are personal items sent between individuals, clothing from family to family, electronics purchased abroad for personal use, gifts between friends. These are generally personal-use or gift shipments, not commercial imports.

The "commercial quantities" trap. Even genuinely personal items can be classified as commercial if the quantities appear unreasonably large. Five of the same smartphone model is commercial regardless of what the sender says. One or two is personal.

How to describe it. On customs forms, "personal effects" and "gift" are the most accurate descriptions for the majority of Sendways shipments.

Do not misuse the gift designation. Declaring commercially purchased goods as gifts to avoid duty is fraud. The consequences: seizure, fines, and bans, far outweigh any saving.