About one-quarter of the vendors taking part in a Filipino trade show in Honolulu this weekend were left with little to sell after their goods were caught in a customs mix-up, organizers said yesterday.

Vendors at the Centennial Goods and Gift Show at the Hawai'i Convention Center scrambled to sell borrowed goods or display pictures while their real products were stuck on the docks of Honolulu Harbor.

"It's one of those unfortunate things, a cost of doing business," said Jesusa Luzano, who had shipped about $2,000 worth of lamp shades made with processed soursop leaves to Hawai'i but never got to sell them at the show.

She was among about 30 vendors at the show who ran into problems getting their products through customs for a variety of reasons, said Elias Beniga, chairman of the Filipino Centennial Commission, which sponsored the trade show as one of the final events in its celebration of the 100th anniversary of the first Filipino workers in Hawai'i.

Trade-show organizers tried to help the vendors work through their problems, but at least two containers loaded with products for the show were never released and are being returned to the Philippines, he said. The products include furniture, food, jewelry and other merchandise.

Many of the disappointed vendors had shipped their goods through a Filipino company but had trouble contacting the customs broker in Honolulu who was supposed to help them process the goods, Luzano said. "It was all based on trust," she said.

Other problems included poor paperwork, improperly packed merchandise and, in one case, the inclusion of shell products from endangered turtles, Beniga said.

In all, about 100 foreign vendors and 25 from Hawai'i showcased their merchandise during the three-day event, attended by about 4,000 people. The foreign vendors payed $450 for a booth at the show, Beniga said.

Reach Mike Leidemann at mleidemann@honoluluadvertiser.com.