Nice one DHL

[ZeTeX]

So, a few weeks ago I made an order with a couple of components from arrow electronics and choose express DHL shipping option (why not? it's free), and the value of the package was 11.59$.
everything is going great until I get a message from DHL telling me that I have a large quantity of components so I will have to pay some fees that are in total about 25$.
I need to pay twice more than the value of the package.. are they serious? I think what caused the problem is that I ordered 100 cheap SMD diodes that cost 0.84$ and 50 decoupling caps that cost 1.79$ in total.
Does this happen to people here? I told them to return the order... maybe they will be nice and reduce the cost, who knows.

[MK14]

I would imagine it is a tiny import duty charge + DHL's admins fees, rounding it up, to some much larger amount.
I don't know about your country.
But for the UK, it would be a min of £11 charge.

How much is the Advance Payment / Disbursement I have to pay?
An amount of £11.00 or 2.5% of the total Duty and/or VAT incurred, whichever is the greater.

Effective 1st May 2016, the amount for businesses and private individuals will be £11.00 or 2.5%. Occasionally this charge for private individuals may be rounded down to the nearest round pound amount.

If the total Duty and/or VAT incurred is less than £440 then a flat amount of £11.00 will be incurred as this is less than 2.5%

From here:
http://www.dhl.co.uk/en/express/customs_support/duties_taxes/duties_taxes_receivers.html

[ZeTeX]

I would imagine it is a tiny import duty charge + DHL's admins fees, rounding it up, to some much larger amount.
I don't know about your country.
But for the UK, it would be a min of £11 charge.

How much is the Advance Payment / Disbursement I have to pay?
An amount of £11.00 or 2.5% of the total Duty and/or VAT incurred, whichever is the greater.

Effective 1st May 2016, the amount for businesses and private individuals will be £11.00 or 2.5%. Occasionally this charge for private individuals may be rounded down to the nearest round pound amount.

If the total Duty and/or VAT incurred is less than £440 then a flat amount of £11.00 will be incurred as this is less than 2.5%

From here:
http://www.dhl.co.uk/en/express/customs_support/duties_taxes/duties_taxes_receivers.html

Custom fee is 6.7$ which is great, but "processing fee" is 12.5$... add those together with VAT and you get 25$.
It's kinda retarded, I'm ordering electronics, that cost so little there is no reason to not order 100s of them... I would expect much less payment because of that.

[MK14]

Custom fee is 6.7$ which is great, but "processing fee" is 12.5$... add those together with VAT and you get 25$.
It's kinda retarded, I'm ordering electronics, that cost so little there is no reason to not order 100s of them... I would expect much less payment because of that.

I agree with you, it REALLY annoys me as well!

It is so crazy when the customs charge is (e.g.) $0.78, then they round it up SLIGHTLY to $25.

Sometimes you have lots of hassle, because the delivery company insists on getting the customs and admin charges, BEFORE they even deliver the package to you. Both delaying it and giving you much more hassle.

I'm jealous of Australia, because I think Dave said that below $1,000 (assuming it has stayed the same amount), there is NO import charges!

[g0hjq]

I had a similar problem with DHL in the UK.

I ordered some cheap PCBs from China (about 20$ worth I think) with express delivery.

DHL decided that their delivery was worth 30$, added that onto the cost of the PCBs, and as the total was now over the UK tax threshold, decided I needed to pay UK taxes on the full $50. Then they charged me another $15 handling fees for the privilege!

It's rather like buying something from a shop, then them adding 50% on top to let you take them out of the door - complete rip off, and the last time I ever use DHL.

[Ampera]

DHL barely operates in the US. Unfortunately the USPS is expensive, and the UPS are even more expensive, but what do you expect for a postal service that operates an area larger than the EU, as well as tons of cargo planes.

[ZeTeX]

DHL barely operates in the US. Unfortunately the USPS is expensive, and the UPS are even more expensive, but what do you expect for a postal service that operates an area larger than the EU, as well as tons of cargo planes.

I expect them to understand that for electronics components that cost next to nothing, 100-1000 quantities should not be considered large enough that I will have to pay extra, at least for the cheap stuff. and they know how much those components cost, I can provide an invoice, arrow can provide an invoice, they are just trying to earn some easy money.
They are small, they don't weight a lot, their transportation is not different compared to others, there should not be any charge on them.

[rob77]

DHL is good only for more expensive stuff, they deliver it fast and safe and they handle the customs for you (but you pay 20eur minimum for handling customs)... at least that's my experience.
for orders imported into EU below 22Eur, it's more effective to use the cheapest delivery service (ideally postal service) because you don't need to handle customs in EU for small orders below 22Eur.
I assume other countries have also such a limit for "small purchase import", so there should be always a way to avoid unnecessary fees.

[wraper]

DHL decided that their delivery was worth 30$, added that onto the cost of the PCBs, and as the total was now over the UK tax threshold, decided I needed to pay UK taxes on the full $50. Then they charged me another $15 handling fees for the privilege!

They don't decide anything in this case, it's required by law. If the value (inc. shipping) exceeds the certain value (EUR 22 here), it must be taxed. $15 customs broker fee is very cheap BTW, it's twice of that here. Although since about 1.5 years ago we can provide all documents to the customs by email and pay online directly. Valid only for private persons and small quantities though.

[ZeTeX]

DHL is good only for more expensive stuff, they deliver it fast and safe and they handle the customs for you (but you pay 20eur minimum for handling customs)... at least that's my experience.
for orders imported into EU below 22Eur, it's more effective to use the cheapest delivery service (ideally postal service) because you don't need to handle customs in EU for small orders below 22Eur.
I assume other countries have also such a limit for "small purchase import", so there should be always a way to avoid unnecessary fees.

I had many 100$+ orders through DHL and didn't have to pay anything...

[dimkasta]

Same thing happens all around the world with all private companies.

Next time try mouser, buy more than 60 euros worth of stuff. You then have the option for free Fedex delivery with paid import fees

[igendel]

I had many 100$+ orders through DHL and didn't have to pay anything...

I've had similar experiences with UPS and FEDEX too, when ordering from all sorts of websites. Couldn't find any pattern in these events. It seems like a combination of luck with the courier, as well as luck with the custom's random inspections (no matter what you ordered - they charge all sorts of fees simply for taking it aside and looking at it).

Specifically for Israel, try to order directly from the local branch (e.g. mouser.co.il instead of mouser.com). There's a bit more paperwork but the outcome is more predictable and in the worst case you'll have someone to talk to.

[CJay]

DHL barely operates in the US. Unfortunately the USPS is expensive, and the UPS are even more expensive, but what do you expect for a postal service that operates an area larger than the EU, as well as tons of cargo planes.

Unless they've got significant over capacity surely unit cost shouldn't be that high though?

Every time I've tried to buy from a company in the US the USPS has been a huge incentive to find a supplier in the EU or China.

[rob77]

DHL is good only for more expensive stuff, they deliver it fast and safe and they handle the customs for you (but you pay 20eur minimum for handling customs)... at least that's my experience.
for orders imported into EU below 22Eur, it's more effective to use the cheapest delivery service (ideally postal service) because you don't need to handle customs in EU for small orders below 22Eur.
I assume other countries have also such a limit for "small purchase import", so there should be always a way to avoid unnecessary fees.

I had many 100$+ orders through DHL and didn't have to pay anything...

are you trying to tell me that DHL sometimes go through customs and sometimes not ? sorry i don't buy that... DHL is a corporation and corporations use well defined processes for every action... i bet my bottom dollar they handle all packages the same way.

[bktemp]

are you trying to tell me that DHL sometimes go through customs and sometimes not ? sorry i don't buy that... DHL is a corporation and corporations use well defined processes for every action... i bet my bottom dollar they handle all packages the same way.

Everything goes through customs, but customs can not check each item. Therefore if you are lucky you don't have to pay anything even if the value is above the tax threshold.

[Koen]

are you trying to tell me that DHL sometimes go through customs and sometimes not ? sorry i don't buy that... DHL is a corporation and corporations use well defined processes for every action... i bet my bottom dollar they handle all packages the same way.

In Belgium at least, customs will flag some parcels (only happened twice to me) and ask DHL to hold these while they verify whatever they want.

[m98]

You shouldn't mix up DHL PeP (Post - eCommerce - Parcel) and DHL express. DHL PeP is great, reliable, fast and cheap, DHL express isn't.
Currently waiting for part 2 of a split-up Arrow order, in the time it took DHL "express" to redeliver the order because everyone in the office(!) supposedly was absent for two days in a row (they didn't even leave a note), I've just ordered those parts off E-Bay and got them delivered the very next day via the regular postal service.

[ZeTeX]

You shouldn't mix up DHL PeP (Post - eCommerce - Parcel) and DHL express. DHL PeP is great, reliable, fast and cheap, DHL express isn't.
Currently waiting for part 2 of a split-up Arrow order, in the time it took DHL "express" to redeliver the order because everyone in the office(!) supposedly was absent for two days in a row (they didn't even leave a note), I've just ordered those parts off E-Bay and got them delivered the very next day via the regular postal service.

You got your order the next day when ordering from eBay? that's awesome why can't all post office be this quick...
Where I live if send a package from 1 city to another city it would take at least a week to arrive. Stupid post office.

[rob77]

are you trying to tell me that DHL sometimes go through customs and sometimes not ? sorry i don't buy that... DHL is a corporation and corporations use well defined processes for every action... i bet my bottom dollar they handle all packages the same way.

Everything goes through customs, but customs can not check each item. Therefore if you are lucky you don't have to pay anything even if the value is above the tax threshold.

i don't know how German customs work, but over here EVERYTHING goes through customs and it's the post or transport/parcel company who asks to release the packages with indicated value below 22Eur. if the indicated value is above 22Eur or the customs officer doesn't believe the indicated value under 22eur (e.g. package too big or heavy), then it has to go through the process and you have to fill in the "common customs declaration" form (the how-to for filling in that form has approx 70 pages), get your EORI registration, provide proof of the actual price (invoice, bank statement) and spend few hours at the customs office, then pay the VAT + customs fee they calculate and the package is released.

if you don't want to handle that customs process, then you simply let the parcel company do it for you. over here DHL does it for 2% of the customs duty/fees , 18Eur minimum but 90Eur max. for me it's much cheaper to let DHL do it because i can make more than 20Euros during that time spent filling the forms and time spent at the customs office.
and of course even if the order is below 22eur and you don't pay VAT+customs you still pay the 18Euros to DHL for handling it. that's why to use postal service for orders below 22Eur they will handle customs for free (request releasing the package by the customs because it's under 22Eur).