HealthCabin order confiscated in Chicago

[Flt Simulation]

Way back on 21 Feb I placed an order with HealthCabin for an Innokin mod with atomizer kit along with a few replacement coils. All of this was in stock at the time of my order.

It took them untill 10 Mar to send my order to the sorting facility in China.

Well, my order then arrived in Chicago on 13 Mar ... and there it has been sitting. So, it has been there for 16 days now. There is no way it takes 16 days or more to clear US Customs and then be on it's way to me. It's pretty obvious that Customs has confiscated the shipment.

I have contacted HealthCabin twice now about this, and all they tell me is just to keep waiting.

How things have changed ... I never had these problems with shipments from China when I used to order from fasttech.

 

[Flt Simulation]

I just found this on the internet ...

If your vape order from China was confiscated in customs, it likely means the products were unauthorized or illegal for import into the United States, as the FDA and CBP have been actively seizing shipments of unauthorized e-cigarettes from China.

In Chicago, CBP officers seized 3.2 million prohibited Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems (ENDS) products with a Manufacturer's Suggested Retail Price of more than $81.5 million, with almost all shipments originating from China

 

[JCinFLA]

I wouldn't give up hope just yet. I've had packages take what seemed to be forever to get through Chicago Customs, and some of them didn't contain vaping related items at all. ALL of them were eventually delivered to me. I've never had any packages confiscated by US Customs. They're usually after larger shipments sent to businesses, not smaller packages sent to individuals.

I'd think that Chicago Customs has been even more backlogged too, since the announcement was made about the tariffs on products from China. Businesses likely ordered way more than usual then, to beat having to pay them.

 

[englishmick]

2 or 3 years ago I had a package from China apparently stuck in Chicago customs. I checked it on several different third party tracking apps. Finally found it on one of those apps. Can't remember which one unfortunately.

From customs stuff is sent to a nearby transit facility before it moves out into the world. I looked up the address of the facility and it was just down the road from the customs location. For some reason this facility doesn't show up on most tracking apps so packages appear to be still with customs. My package sat there for several weeks. After that it moved and reappeared on regular tracking.

So it's possible your package has actually left customs.

 

[Flt Simulation]

So it's possible your package has actually left customs.

I hope so, but I'm not holding my breath with this.

 

[Infinium]

I collaborate with HealthCabin and several other companies. Although I live in Italy, I’ve also noticed that since 2025, tracking systems have been completely inaccurate, showing early deliveries to certain locations that never actually happened or taking a long time to update. I say this after receiving about more than ten packages.

Just last week, I had a package in Belgium (since all my shipments from China stop there first) marked as "arrived," only for it to take another week to update to "custom clearance." Earlier in 2025, I had a package travel from China to Korea to Belgium before the tracker even updated, taking 15 days in total. Before those 15 days, the tracker was stuck on "shipment created" or something similar.
Another shop also confirmed to me that, at the moment, they are experiencing delays on all packages solely due to tracking issues.

No need to panic, I also used ParcelsApp as a tracker, but it often skips intermediate steps or registers them much later. For convenience, NinjaTracker is superior, otherwise, you can use the classic 17Track, which is considered the most reliable by shops themselves.

 

[jjcordone]

I'm in the same boat - a package that shows as sitting in Chicago for two weeks now.

 

[Flt Simulation]

Today is 31 Mar ... It has now been 18 days that my package has been setting in Chicago. Something is very wrong here !

This is the last time I ever order anything that has anything to do with vaping from China.

 

[jjcordone]

The company I purchased from told me the package is in customs
People on redit are posting saying its DOGE layoffs took customs to a skeleton crew level.

 

[Coyote628]

Why can't these things be made in the US? Surely it's possible but nobody doing it. It would end dependence on Chinese made products. But I guess that's another topic for another time.

 

[jjcordone]

Anyone have any luck getting a shipment from China lately?
Mine is still stuck in Chicago, but I've had no notification on why.

 

[Flt Simulation]

Mine has been stuck in Chicago since 13 March (23 days) ... Still there

No notifications ... Nothing

 

[Flt Simulation]

My order has been in Chicago for almost a month now. This is the last time I ever order from HealthCabin (or any item which is shipped from China) ... Here is what I just sent to HealthCabin:
..................................................

My order # 624520 has now been stuck in Chicago for almost 1 month. It has been confiscated by Customs. I am not going to wait for this shipment to come to me because it will never be sent to me ... Please refund the purchase price back to my credit card ... I will be ordering vape supplies from the United States from now on.

I think your shipper made mistakes on the customs paperwork.

I don't want to go through all this trouble again ... I will be expecting a refund.

 

[JCinFLA]

I was reading some articles late last night about the soon-to-start tariffs, DOGE activities regarding US Customs worker cuts, the end of a decades long policy regarding Customs inspections for less expensive packages, etc.....and ran across info that (1) the USPS put a halt on accepting incoming shipments from China for a period of time not long ago, so there's been a backlog of parcels to take care of before dealing with the newest arrivals. (2) DOGE has drastically cut the number of Customs workers at 5 main customs locations in the US. (3) For years, many companies in China and elsewhere in the rest of the world...have routinely and legally shipped packages valued at $800 or less to the US...without them having to go through the same lengthy Customs inspections as higher cost and/or larger shipments do. Trump is ending that though, as of May 2. So, with that coming and the high tariffs that are soon to start...overseas companies, in China especially...are now scrambling to get US based warehouses set up to receive more containers of their products, and have them distributed from those, throughout the US to the buyers. IMO, that's a whole lot of changes to deal with, in such a short period of time.

 

[jjcordone]

I was reading some articles late last night about the soon-to-start tariffs, DOGE activities regarding US Customs worker cuts, the end of a decades long policy regarding Customs inspections for less expensive packages, etc.....and ran across info that (1) the USPS put a halt on accepting incoming shipments from China for a period of time not long ago, so there's been a backlog of parcels to take care of before dealing with the newest arrivals. (2) DOGE has drastically cut the number of Customs workers at 5 main customs locations in the US. (3) For years, many companies in China and elsewhere in the rest of the world...have routinely and legally shipped packages valued at $800 or less to the US...without them having to go through the same lengthy Customs inspections as higher cost and/or larger shipments do. Trump is ending that though, as of May 2. So, with that coming and the high tariffs that are soon to start...overseas companies, in China especially...are now scrambling to get US based warehouses set up to receive more containers of their products, and have them distributed from those, throughout the US to the buyers. IMO, that's a whole lot of changes to deal with, in such a short period of time.

Your description fits with the feedback I received from the company I purchased from.
They told me their shipping agent isn't responding to their emails asking for a status.
I suspect in another couple of weeks I'll get an email saying I have to pay a duty fee to cover the tariff, but just my opinion.

 

[Flt Simulation]

Just to let you know ... HealthCabin refunded me back the purchase price I paid (cc) for the items that were never delivered to me, so at least they did the right thing !