DHL ripoff

[bloguetronica]

Hi,

About a week ago I've ordered 10 boards and a stencil from ALLPCB.COM . I've paid $37 for the boards, $13 for the stencil, plus $18.63 for shipping, fees, plus a discount, giving a grand total of $68.63, or 61.29€.

However, it seems that the Portuguese customs, still living in the stone age, declared the value to be 94.34€, and the VAT now is 21.23€ (a 6€ ripoff). But the worst is that now I have to pay to DHL 33.76€ plus VAT, yielding an added ripoff value of 63.22€, which by itself is more than what I already payed for the package.

Has anyone had such a ripoff with DHL? Really, doing business with this carrier is worse than doing business with thieves. IMHO, German companies such as DHL are the worst at thieving.

Kind regards, Samuel Lourenço

[In Vacuo Veritas]

Welcome to the real world. This is customs brokerage. They all do this. Next time, read the fine print.

[xaxaxa]

ask them to declare lower value next time

[floobydust]

DHL is a ripoff, especially shipping from Asia:
Shipping Fee
Customs/Duties/Brokerage Fees
Taxes
Handling Fee $18 for me

I find you end up paying double what your parts cost, just for all this. I use post instead and wait weeks for the boat.

You could try to get the declared value corrected.

[wraper]

Welcome to the real world. This is customs brokerage. They all do this. Next time, read the fine print.

Not all that simple, not all are equal. Recently DPD charged me 10GBP ($13) for brokerage, no documents asked. Shipment was by SF express and DPD took it over in UK. If I use DHL or UPS as a private person, I submit necessary documents through tax agency website and don't pay a dime in brokerage fees. In the past DHL charged EUR 25 ($29) for brokerage if you did not want to visit customs and submit documents personally.
If I order something as a company, I need to use customs broker in any case unless it's post/EMS. In that case it costs EUR 50+. So often I just order as a private person instead of company if it's something not expensive. Because I'll spend more on customs brokerage compared to all taxes I could save as a company.

[Macbeth]

Welcome to the real world. This is customs brokerage. They all do this. Next time, read the fine print.

The fine print of a contract you are not a party to? I've so far argued this point with the likes of DHL/Fedex/UPS and got the brokerage fees waived. I pay them the VAT part which they hopefully actually do pass on to HMRC.

It's ludicrous to pay ~£25 on goods that total £30 just for the service of a VAT calculation that a child can do in their head ( value * 0.2 )

"Yes, Macbeth, we at DHL/FedEx/UPS have got our crack team of customs brokers onto the case. We have determined you owe HMRC £6 in VAT. For our magnanimous service you didn't even ask for, we now invoice you £25 + £6 = £31"

In fact the whole thing is down to the EU with their ludicrously low customs limits. Dave doesn't have to bother with this in Australia until goods are valued over $1000 AUD.

If I use DHL or UPS as a private person, I submit necessary documents through tax agency website and don't pay a dime in brokerage fees. In the past DHL charged EUR 25 ($29) for brokerage if you did not want to visit customs and submit documents personally.

Is this available in the UK? I have to admit pretty much everything I get now comes from China/Taiwan using other postal services and there is never any brokerage, customs duty or VAT. It's odd how that works. But if I was to use a big name courier for goods from the US it's nice to know I can pre-empt the brokerage fees scam before they try it on.

[In Vacuo Veritas]

Welcome to the real world. This is customs brokerage. They all do this. Next time, read the fine print.

The fine print of a contract you are not a party to?

LOL ever buy a house?

[wraper]

If I use DHL or UPS as a private person, I submit necessary documents through tax agency website and don't pay a dime in brokerage fees. In the past DHL charged EUR 25 ($29) for brokerage if you did not want to visit customs and submit documents personally.

Is this available in the UK? I have to admit pretty much everything I get now comes from China/Taiwan using other postal services and there is never any brokerage, customs duty or VAT. It's odd how that works. But if I was to use a big name courier for goods from the US it's nice to know I can pre-empt the brokerage fees scam before they try it on.

Dunno, it's certainly not available in many EU countries. Google, or call HMRC?

[Astrodev]

A few years back I ordered 10 TEC (Peltier) devices from China that cost me just under 18GBP and the company I bought them off were doing a promo that gave free DHL shipping, but after the package hade been delivered I got an invoice from DHL because they estimated the shipping cost to be around 43GBP which when added to the declared value of the goods, in this case 10GBP meant I was being charged 20% of 53GBP plus the clearance fee which as I remember all came to a little under 27GBP.


When I contacted them about this they were initially not very helpful but when I pointed out that I had a receipt for the payment to the supplier they did agree to waive the whole invoice.

But this is the exception rather than the rule.

[Specmaster]

I find you end up paying double what your parts cost, just for all this. I use post instead and wait weeks for the boat.

Even post can sometimes be subject to customs as they will open the odd package and assess the value and charge you accordingly. A few years ago I ordered a digital camera from USA for my sons birthday present and I can't recall how much I had to pay in customs fees but it almost doubled the price of the camera.

[malagas_on_fire]

When i bought the eevblog bm235 i payed clearance and 8 "aerials". But it got here very fast and i was not going to wait more for a meter. Dhl is very communicative polite but takes a bit the wallet.

[Mr. Scram]

Hi,

About a week ago I've ordered 10 boards and a stencil from ALLPCB.COM . I've paid $37 for the boards, $13 for the stencil, plus $18.63 for shipping, fees, plus a discount, giving a grand total of $68.63, or 61.29€.

However, it seems that the Portuguese customs, still living in the stone age, declared the value to be 94.34€, and the VAT now is 21.23€ (a 6€ ripoff). But the worst is that now I have to pay to DHL 33.76€ plus VAT, yielding an added ripoff value of 63.22€, which by itself is more than what I already payed for the package.

Has anyone had such a ripoff with DHL? Really, doing business with this carrier is worse than doing business with thieves. IMHO, German companies such as DHL are the worst at thieving.

Kind regards, Samuel Lourenço

Either show them the actual value and have it corrected or ask them to provide a calculation of how they arrived at 94,34 euro.

[wraper]

ask them to provide a calculation of how they arrived at 94,34 euro.

They "estimated" shipping cost and slapped it on top of the declared value. Happens all of the time when I deal with them as a company. They just slap their own shipping estimation on top even though invoice containing shipping cost is provided every time.  Though a business I don't care about that crap as I will claim the VAT back anyway. But as a private person it's really annoying.

[Mr. Scram]

They "estimated" shipping cost and slapped it on top of the declared value. Happens all of the time when I deal with them as a company. They just slap their own shipping estimation on top even though invoice containing shipping cost is provided every time.  Though a business I don't care about that crap as I will claim the VAT back anyway. But as a private person it's really annoying.

The shipping was already included.

[wraper]

They "estimated" shipping cost and slapped it on top of the declared value. Happens all of the time when I deal with them as a company. They just slap their own shipping estimation on top even though invoice containing shipping cost is provided every time.  Though a business I don't care about that crap as I will claim the VAT back anyway. But as a private person it's really annoying.

The shipping was already included.

I say that it does not matter. Often they just don't care, take a whole value (including shipping) and slap on top their own shipping estimation.

[bloguetronica]

Welcome to the real world. This is customs brokerage. They all do this. Next time, read the fine print.

No, it is not a matter of being the real world. FedEx doesn't charge such absurdity. In fact, never had any issues with FedEx, even with packages outside EU. Postal was never a problem too, even if the package was retained at customs. DHL is fraudulent, and always disrespects the value from the invoice, adding some extra plus VAT.

Also, fine print, where is it? I already paid the shipping. All I should've payed was the VAT based over the invoice value, and not based on some "reasonable" value they have concocted. The 33.76€ plus VAT on top of that doesn't justify, as they did nothing.

A few years back I ordered 10 TEC (Peltier) devices from China that cost me just under 18GBP and the company I bought them off were doing a promo that gave free DHL shipping, but after the package hade been delivered I got an invoice from DHL because they estimated the shipping cost to be around 43GBP which when added to the declared value of the goods, in this case 10GBP meant I was being charged 20% of 53GBP plus the clearance fee which as I remember all came to a little under 27GBP.


When I contacted them about this they were initially not very helpful but when I pointed out that I had a receipt for the payment to the supplier they did agree to waive the whole invoice.

But this is the exception rather than the rule.

Given the many cases and protests against how DHL operates in my country, it seems that the exception rules here in Portugal.

ask them to provide a calculation of how they arrived at 94,34 euro.

They "estimated" shipping cost and slapped it on top of the declared value. Happens all of the time when I deal with them as a company. They just slap their own shipping estimation on top even though invoice containing shipping cost is provided every time.  Though a business I don't care about that crap as I will claim the VAT back anyway. But as a private person it's really annoying.

They basically took the opportunity to steal 6€. They had the invoice, the order screenshot and the payment, all pointing to the correct value. What they didn't had was intelligence. Now the case will be reported, and not to DHL. And they will have to justify the excessive service cost too, since I didn't ask them to do it, and customs takes care of that for free.

DHL is a ripoff, especially shipping from Asia:
Shipping Fee
Customs/Duties/Brokerage Fees
Taxes
Handling Fee $18 for me

I find you end up paying double what your parts cost, just for all this. I use post instead and wait weeks for the boat.

You could try to get the declared value corrected.

Lesson learned. I will do that next time. In any case, if the manufacturer/seller only presents DHL or UPS, I'll just look for another manufacturer that offers postal. I don't negotiate with robbers, neither feed them.

Kind regards, Samuel Lourenço

[wraper]

They basically took the opportunity to steal 6€. They had the invoice, the order screenshot and the payment, all pointing to the correct value. What they didn't had was intelligence. Now the case will be reported, and not to DHL. And they will have to justify the excessive service cost too, since I didn't ask them to do it, and customs takes care of that for free.

Well, they've "stolen" it for the sake of Portugal. Country keeps that extra VAT paid, not them. Brokerage fee is on the high side though.

[Mr. Scram]

I say that it does not matter. Often they just don't care, take a whole value (including shipping) and slap on top their own shipping estimation.

Of course it matters. This isn't some magical process. It's a simple calculation.

[wraper]

I say that it does not matter. Often they just don't care, take a whole value (including shipping) and slap on top their own shipping estimation.

Of course it matters. This isn't some magical process. It's a simple calculation.

I say they often don't care if there was shipping cost in the invoice. They just take the whole figure written and slap their own shipping on top. Have you ever seen "statistical value" in customs declaration from which taxes are then calculated. Basically means they can shit on your invoice as they wish.

[hamdi.tn]

am going to die before i get why custom is the thing that exist. i payed the equivalent of 120$ for custom for non-commercial invoice with a declared value of 50$ (GNSS modules samples) and one week delay, this was with UPS, they didn't take a single dollar, basically cause they didn't have to deliver i moved to their warehouse and i finished transit with custom myself.

With FedEx i endup paying around 200$ for 4 unpopulated PCB sample with no commercial value declared value 20$, FedEx took 130$ for transit and delivery and 3 f***ing week delay

i didn't have much trouble with DHL so far.

[I4E]

I'd suggest contacting DHL customer directly and showing them proof with your order or receipt that the items costed less.  I've done this before in the past and they've refunded me the difference.

Having said that... if the paperwork from the supplier had a higher amount on it then any courier you used would charged VAT and duties on the higher amount.  You may also want to ask the supplier which tariff code he's using sometimes you choose a different tariff code which won't have  a duty fee or a lesser duty fee.

Joy Torres
Instruments 4 Engineers Ltd
www.instruments4engineers.com

[SiliconWizard]

I second your experience with DHL.

DHL's customs fees are obscene. Every time.

What could explain weird VAT amounts: I think they may actually include their own shipping fees in the grand total before applying VAT, which may seem right on a purely accounting point of view but something you're not necessarily expecting. This also represents the total seen by customs and thus you're not waived customs taxes on goods that you thought you would be.

Then they have added fees to handle customs fees and files on top of that.

So typically for a $50 product bought in China and shipped via DHL you will end up paying practically twice that. Had that experience with my last order at PCBWay.

Other private shipping companies are pretty similar, but IME, DHL is the most expensive.
The only way you can drastically reduce overall shipping costs is to use postal services. From China, it can take 3 or more weeks though... so...

[bloguetronica]

I say that it does not matter. Often they just don't care, take a whole value (including shipping) and slap on top their own shipping estimation.

Of course it matters. This isn't some magical process. It's a simple calculation.

I say they often don't care if there was shipping cost in the invoice. They just take the whole figure written and slap their own shipping on top. Have you ever seen "statistical value" in customs declaration from which taxes are then calculated. Basically means they can shit on your invoice as they wish.

Basically, that's corruption 101. They can argue that a product costs trice or four times the original cost, and slap that. That is extortion and I don't agree.

I'd suggest contacting DHL customer directly and showing them proof with your order or receipt that the items costed less.  I've done this before in the past and they've refunded me the difference.

Having said that... if the paperwork from the supplier had a higher amount on it then any courier you used would charged VAT and duties on the higher amount.  You may also want to ask the supplier which tariff code he's using sometimes you choose a different tariff code which won't have  a duty fee or a lesser duty fee.

Joy Torres
Instruments 4 Engineers Ltd
www.instruments4engineers.com

They had their chance and they knew well what they were doing. I prefer to complain about DHL to the authorities and damage their reputation. If one causes damage to me in any way, I'll simply damage them trice. Complaining to DHL only would give them the opportunity to come up with sorry excuses. I don't support corrupt companies, even if they are from Germany.

I second your experience with DHL.

DHL's customs fees are obscene. Every time.

What could explain weird VAT amounts: I think they may actually include their own shipping fees in the grand total before applying VAT, which may seem right on a purely accounting point of view but something you're not necessarily expecting. This also represents the total seen by customs and thus you're not waived customs taxes on goods that you thought you would be.

Then they have added fees to handle customs fees and files on top of that.

So typically for a $50 product bought in China and shipped via DHL you will end up paying practically twice that. Had that experience with my last order at PCBWay.

Other private shipping companies are pretty similar, but IME, DHL is the most expensive.
The only way you can drastically reduce overall shipping costs is to use postal services. From China, it can take 3 or more weeks though... so...

You summed up well. They are a bunch of thieves. For the shipping alone I ended up paying 50€ (20€ to the supplier, plus 30€ for "services" I didn't asked for - ransom?). And the package ended up damaged, and it was clearly dragged onto the floor. Next time, postal it is. I'll avoid DHL like the plague.

Kind regards, Samuel Lourenço

[bd139]

This is why I tend to go with suppliers who lie on the customs declaration.

COMMERCIAL SAMPLES $7

Written on the 5kg box of shite

[wraper]

This is why I tend to go with suppliers who lie on the customs declaration.

COMMERCIAL SAMPLES $7

Written on the 5kg box of shite

Would not work in Latvia.