Parcel Exception Guide

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On Hold Awaiting for Payment of Shipment Related Fees

Also described officially as: unpaid shipment fees; import duties and taxes

Common search wording (not official text): duties and taxes unpaid

Shipment is held because import duties, taxes, or related fees are unpaid.

Act or wait
Act now
Who must act
Recipient, Shipper
Official deadline or hold
no official deadline found
Last checked
(Asia/Shanghai)

Official wording

Shipment is being held up due to unpaid shipment fees (e.g import duties and taxes).

Source: DHL Express Tracking Status Explained

What to do

Confirm pending duty with local DHL and pay via OnDemand Delivery / Global Payment Portal or at a ServicePoint as instructed. US customs FAQ: receivers are typically responsible; DHL generally cannot deliver until duties/taxes are paid unless shipper preselected to pay.

Verbatim wording is from the DHL Discover Malaysia page https://www.dhl.com/discover/en-my/ship-with-dhl/track/tracking-status (page title "DHL Express Tracking Status Explained | DHL Malaysia", dated 27 May 2024 on the page). The matching US path https://www.dhl.com/discover/en-us/ship-with-dhl/track/tracking-status returned 404 on 2026-11-10. A US Discover article on tracking international DHL shipments (dated 2026-10-12) is general and does not contain this glossary. The quote was not moved to a US page that lacks this sentence.

Open official DHL tracking

Sources