HHoldDesk

For Canadian Shopify brands shipping 50+ US orders a day

A parcel is held at customs. Who owns it?

Not the carrier, who will tell you to contact the broker. Not the broker, who needs a document from you. Not your support agent, who has eleven other tickets. HoldDesk owns it — detection, documents, chasing the brokerage team, and keeping your customer informed until it moves.

Every shipment monitored for holds, not just the ones customers complain about
We find out what customs needs and send it
You are only involved when a decision is genuinely yours

Request details See how it happens

Early access — we are onboarding a first cohort and reply to every enquiry within one business day.

The anatomy of an unowned hold

Day 1Parcel held. Tracking says “clearance delay.”

Day 4Customer emails asking where it is.

Day 5Support calls carrier, is referred to brokerage.

Day 7Brokerage names the missing document.

Day 9Document sent. Parcel moves. Review already written.

This sequence is the normal case, not the worst case. Nearly all of the elapsed time is waiting for someone to take ownership rather than waiting for customs.

The problem

Holds are a process problem disguised as a shipping problem.

A customs hold is rarely complicated. Usually something is missing or inconsistent: a commercial invoice without enough detail, a value that does not match, a classification the broker will not accept, a missing certification, a document that needs a signature. Each one has a known fix.

What makes it expensive is that nobody owns the resolution. The tracking status says "clearance delay" with no explanation. The carrier’s general line tells you to contact brokerage. Brokerage needs a document and has emailed an address nobody reads. Your support team finds out when the customer asks where their order is — which is already day four.

At fifty orders a day, even a one percent hold rate is several parcels a week sitting still, each generating a support thread, each aging toward a refund. The individual fixes are easy. The ownership is the thing you do not have.

In their own words

This is what brands with this problem are searching for

We did not invent this problem. These are the actual queries people type when they hit it.

package held at customs what to doSearched by brands in exactly your position

UPS clearance delay how to fixSearched by brands in exactly your position

who to contact customs hold ecommerceSearched by brands in exactly your position

Built for you if

Is this you?

If three or more of these are true, HoldDesk will pay for itself. If none of them are, we will tell you so rather than sell you something.

You ship 50 or more US orders a day by courier
Held parcels reach you as angry customer emails rather than alerts
Resolving one means half a day of phone calls and hold music
You have no idea how many parcels are currently stuck

How it works

Four steps, and you are only in one of them

The work happens whether or not you are watching. You get the output.

We watch every shipment

Tracking is monitored continuously for clearance exceptions. A hold is detected on day one, not when the customer notices on day four.

We find out what is actually needed

We contact the carrier’s brokerage team and establish the specific requirement — not a status code, the actual missing item.

We supply it

Commercial invoice corrections, certifications of origin, classification support, value documentation. Most requirements we can satisfy from your product data without involving you.

We chase until it moves, and tell your customer

Follow-up on a schedule, with a proactive update to the customer so your support inbox stays quiet. You hear from us only when a decision is genuinely yours to make.

What you get

Everything included

Proactive hold detection

The single biggest saving is time. Finding the hold on day one removes most of the elapsed delay before any document is even sent.

Brokerage escalation that gets through

Knowing which channel actually reaches a clearance team, and following up on a cadence, is most of this job.

Document preparation from your data

We build the corrected invoice or certification from your catalogue rather than emailing you to ask.

Customer comms handled

Proactive, accurate updates to the end customer in your brand voice. Silence is what turns a delay into a refund request.

Root cause reporting

Holds cluster. Monthly reporting on what caused yours so the recurring ones get engineered out instead of handled forever.

Escalation only when needed

You are contacted when there is a real decision — abandon, reship, pay a disputed charge. Not for status.

Side by side

Before and after

	Today	With HoldDesk
Hold detected	When the customer complains	Day one, automatically
Who contacts brokerage	Your support agent, between tickets	HoldDesk
Average time to resolution	Over a week	Days
Customer communication	Reactive and apologetic	Proactive
Recurring causes	Handled again every time	Reported and engineered out

Find out what this is costing you

Send us your situation and we will tell you plainly whether HoldDesk would make a difference at your volume — before you commit to anything.

Request details

Tell us what your situation looks like

Seven questions. We use them to work out whether HoldDesk is actually the right fit for you — and to say so if it is not.

1You send the formTakes about two minutes. No call booking widget.
2We reply within one business dayWith a straight answer on whether this fits your volume and setup.
3If it fits, we show you your own numbersA short review of your actual orders and invoices before anything is signed.

We are onboarding a first cohort of Canadian brands, so spots are limited and we would rather tell you early if you are not one of them.

Your name *

Work email *

Brand / company *

Store URL

Monthly US orders *

Carriers you ship with *

What is happening right now? * Specifics get a specific answer.

We reply within one business day. No newsletter, no sequence, no sales calls you did not ask for.

FAQ

Questions worth asking

My package is held at customs. What do I actually do?

Establish the specific requirement rather than the status. "Clearance delay" is not a reason. Contact the carrier’s brokerage department — not general customer service — and ask what document or information is needed to release the entry. Then supply exactly that, in the format they want, and follow up the next day rather than waiting. Most holds are resolved by one document; most delay is caused by nobody asking the right team the right question.

How do I fix a UPS clearance delay?

Clearance delay means the entry cannot be filed or has been questioned. The usual causes are an incomplete commercial invoice, a value or description that does not support the classification, a missing certification of origin, or a requirement from another agency for that product type. The fix is specific to the cause, which is why identifying the cause quickly matters more than knowing the fixes.

Who is actually responsible for a held parcel?

Commercially, you are — your customer bought from you. Practically, resolution requires the carrier’s brokerage team to act on information only you have. That split is exactly why holds sit: each party is waiting for the other and neither is tracking it. HoldDesk exists to be the party that owns it end to end.

Do you need access to my carrier account?

We need tracking visibility and the ability to correspond with brokerage on your shipments, plus access to your product and order data to prepare documents. We do not need the ability to ship.

What if a hold cannot be resolved?

Some cannot — a prohibited item, a requirement you cannot meet. In those cases we tell you early with the options and their costs, so you decide to abandon or return rather than discovering it after three weeks of silence.

Will this reduce my hold rate over time?

That is the aim. Holds cluster by cause — a few products, a document template, one destination pattern. Handling them is the service; the monthly root-cause report is what makes the service shrink.

Guides

Read the detail first

Written for the specific questions brands ask us. No gate, no email required.

Package held at customs: what to actually doA practical sequence for resolving a customs hold on a commercial parcel: identify the real requirement, reach…UPS clearance delay: what it means and how to fix itWhat a UPS or FedEx clearance delay means, the specific causes behind it, and the document or correction that …Who to contact about a customs holdCarrier support, the brokerage team, your broker or customs directly? Who can actually release a held ecommerc…