DHL Express offers a range of possibilities and options to ship your products safe and sound across locations. When you are shipping, you need to ensure that you are adhering to the DHL Express policies. Shipping products and commodities that are violating the ground rules of shipping is not the best practice. There might be several chances wherein the products that are shipped are categorized as Prohibited and Counterfeit goods. Moreover, there are certain legalities when you consider shipping counterfeit and Prohibited goods. Now how do we recognize what are these Prohibited and Counterfeit goods? Let us take a closer look at the same.
What are Prohibited and Counterfeit goods?
Counterfeit goods are one bummer for popular industries, as they truly damage the reputation of their branded items. It is indeed a greater challenge to detect counterfeit goods from the original ones at a glance. Popularly counterfeit goods are mostly in clothes, perfumes, bags, watches, etc. Most of these items are made of low-cost materials and are made to look deliberately genuine to customers who buy them, assuming they are branded. Many people fall into such traps. These items are sometimes even hazardous and even its a waste of money.
Prohibited goods are categorized as per the laws governing the countries, which ban the import and export of certain items. The reasons for banning the items are linked to health and environment, protection of endangered species or even the flora and fauna of the region, etc. Every region has different laws in the case of these prohibited goods. Like for example, the government of Dubai prohibits goods from Israeli origin or even bearing Israel flag or even emblem.
While shipping with DHL Express, the customers need to know what all items can be shipped via DHL Express and what not. DHL offers hassle-free transportation of goods across locations. Yet again, DHL adheres to every law concerning the region they ship the products to.
Important guidelines to remember about Shipping Prohibited and Counterfeit Goods using DHL Express
It is important to understand the different guidelines while shipping goods using DHL.DHL does not accept certain shipments for transportation under any circumstances. The decision is arrived at, by following the consideration of Operational, Legal and Risk Management implications.
- Live Animals
- Animal parts like an ivory, shark fin, animal remains or by-products of animals, any derived products that are not meant for human consumption, hunting trophies, any items prohibited for movement by the CITES Convention or any local law.
- Ashes or human remains.
- Bullions such as gold or silver that are preserved in the form of bars.
- Cash
- Precious stones
- Firearms, ammunition, explosives
- Illegal goods like narcotics, or counterfeit, etc.
- Activated/blank cash/credit cards.
- Sim cards that are activated.
DHL does not incorporate any counterfeit shipping. If found then serious legal actions are taken up and the Customs is informed. Most commonly copied goods fall in these categories:
- Shoes
- Expensive Watches
- Bags
- Cds/DVDs
- Perfumes
- Electronics
- Clothing
How to identify Prohibited and Counterfeit goods to avoid Shipping hassles with DHL?
Prohibited Goods vary within regions. It is always advisable to consider seeking the advice of a DHL agent before shipping any commodities. It strictly does not accept prohibited goods. DHL lists a certain list of products that are generally prohibited to ship with DHL Express.
It also restricts counterfeit goods shipping. DHL strictly does not want to be associated in shipping counterfeit goods, hence they have laid down certain guidelines restricting such goods. Identifying counterfeit goods are again a tedious task. Mostly when branded items in some categories like shoes, bags, watches, clothing, perfumes, electronic items, etc. priced very low, there are chances that they might be counterfeit ones. When such items are sold at a lower price, then chances are that they are copied products.
How to ship goods that are allowed to be shipped using DHL?
It is important to note that DHL allows certain Special Packaging services that are meant to ship certain products that even being marked hazardous or for medical purposes. DHL allows the shipping of temperature-sensitive shipments that are sent to the laboratories. DHL assures safe delivery of medicines and even shipments for Life Science using DHL Medical Express.
When you are dealing with goods that are allowed shipping using DHL Express then consider using ELEX WooCommerce DHL Shipping Plugin. The plugin integrates with the WooCommerce platform like magic. When you are shipping certain goods that are allowed via DHL Express, you can simply avail the DHL Special Service, wherein you get a varied selection of goods that are under the dangerous goods with exceptions and even approved goods under the DHL Express.
In order to make use of the plugin which easily integrates with DHL Express, all you need to do is purchase the plugin and install the same on your WooCommerce platform. You need to ensure the settings are incorporated correctly.
You need to set up rates and services for all types of services you want to use via DHL here.
Price adjustments (discounts and markups) for services are also easy to apply using the plugin.
Shipping using DHL Special Service
When you are shipping, certain dangerous goods or goods related to Life Sciences and Healthcare, then you can consider the DHL Special Service and choose from the list.
If you want to set the shipping settings on individual products, then you can do the same using the plugin.
When you are into selling any special products that fall under dangerous goods or any special category, you can do the necessary settings at the product level.
While shipping dangerous goods or other goods like goods related to Life Science then a special UN Number is assigned. The UN numbers are assigned to any hazardous or even other goods that fall under the special service category. These numbers are allocated by the United Nations Committee of Experts on the Transport of Dangerous Goods.
Like for Medical or clinical related substances, the UN number is UN2814 or UN2900. For shipping medical substance-using DHL Express, WHO has listed certain guidances on regulations for transportation.
Once the order is on the checkout page, you get to choose the DHL Express service that will keep your product safe until it reaches its destination.
Once the Order is created, a shipment package can be generated using the DHL Express Plugin.
When finally the shipment is created, you can generate a label, which will contain the UN number to ensure that the shipment contains items related to Life Science and is shipped under regular laws to the location specified.
Ensuring that the products fall under the specific categories that are allowed to ship to a location using DHL Express offers transparency.
Conclusion
DHL Express is completely transparent in offering services while shipping goods across locations. It is important to ensure that you do not seek services for shipping Counterfeit and Prohibited goods. It is vital to identify goods that are genuine and also allowed by DHL following the guidelines specified by DHL Express.
Further Reading
- How to ship Dangerous Goods and hazardous material using DHL Express.
- How to set up WooCommerce DHL eCommerce in ELEX WooCommerce DHL Express/eCommerce/Paket Shipping Plugin with Print Label?
- DHL Locations & Services: How to find DHL locations near you?
- An Ultimate Guide on WooCommerce DHL Shipping
- Configure DHL International Live Shipping Rates and Print Labels for WooCommerce
- How Does the ELEX WooCommerce DHL Plugin Comply with EU Regulations?
