Short shipments are sent upon request of the assessment administration.

Short shipment can be reported by the recipient if some of the goods disappear in transit, such as by theft or loss.

Falsely reporting a short shipment can be used to perpetuate a fraud, by stealing the items actually received but reported not to have been.

If a split remains un-finalised (for example, a short shipment), it will need to be actioned as follows:

Short shipments and overshipments can cause accounting problems due to paperwork disagreeing with reality, and need to be manually corrected.

A short shipment is when cargo is listed on a shipping list (many synonyms) but not included in a shipment, or not received by the recipient.

Overshipment and short shipment can both be caused by an error at the source, where the incorrect quantity is shipped or the incorrect quantity is listed.

These include supplemental shipments for short shipments, returning merchandise for overshipments, issuing corrected invoices if actual quantity is acceptable, etc.

If a whole consignment has been cleared or release granted for removal, it may be part released if required (or if necessary, for example, Short Shipments).

In addition, Mr. Kreindler said, there were millions of dollars in chargeback deductions, which the lawsuit defined as "penalties for alleged short shipments, late deliveries, mismarkings, improper packaging and various other miscellaneous claimed errors."

When a short shipment or overshipment is noticed - most often by recipient, but potentially by sender if an error is noticed post-shipment - the other party should be informed promptly, so corrective action can be taken.