The facts in order. We buy tins and gift cartons from a Chinese supplier, DDP Melbourne on their terms, their nominated forwarder on the file. The GST I would have claimed on my own entry sits in their price. Freight paid. A message then demanded a further 2,000 RMB: first for 500+ kg over the booked weight, then, once I asked for the working, for volumetric weight. No documents. Pay first, or the cargo stays put and demurrage starts.
Since then the representative has largely stopped answering, though visibly active on WhatsApp. I have every message and invoice, hence asking here rather than paying. Not a customs question, not a biosecurity one. How does one get cargo moving when the counterparty has gone quiet?
Forget the 2,000 RMB for now. The problem is that you do not know where the cargo is, and under DDP the seller's forwarder has no reason to tell you. Ask the supplier, not the forwarder, for the booking or bill number and track the box yourself; if it is not on a vessel yet, the demurrage threat was a lever, not a fact. A claim that flips from overweight to volumetric means nobody measured anything. Next time buy FOB and let a forwarder in Melbourne own the move.
DDP from China was the mistake. Not the forwarder. Under DDP you are not the importer on the Melbourne entry. Somebody's agent will be. You will never see that declaration, the valuation on it, or the GST line. Ask the supplier today who is named as importer, because when the container arrives that is who the port talks to, and it is not you.
From the seller's side: when I sell DDP, the forwarder is my forwarder. He answers to me, invoices me, and the buyer has no standing with him. If your supplier is honest, one message from them moves this faster than ten from you, because the money sits in that relationship. If the supplier goes quiet as well, you have learned which of the two you were really dealing with. Who in your office signed DDP, and would they sign it again?
Two questions, two remedies. The first is recovering the shipment: suing a forwarder in another jurisdiction is unrealistic in practice, so the useful lever is the regulator. With the company's registered name, the agreed price and the messages in hand, a complaint to the local market regulation authority through the 12315 system will likely be read faster than another WhatsApp message. The second is whether the surcharge was ever owed; the party claiming a weight must show it. Keep every message; their refusal to document the charge is evidence.
