General > General Technical Chat
Rant about bad experience buying from DigiKey to Europe
janoc:
--- Quote from: benj38 on June 19, 2020, 07:34:43 am ---
--- Quote from: Siwastaja on June 19, 2020, 06:33:18 am ---So to recap, you ordered things for 53.37 EUR, expected to be billed 10.71 EUR of VAT, but instead were billed for 14.33 EUR, which is 3.62 EUR more than you expected, or 6.8% of the initial total price of your order.
--- End quote ---
No.
1. As I said in OP, VAT is usually waved for packages of low value coming into Austria, depending on your luck, and the invoice clearly stated VAT was not due. I also said in the OP that "It is not a big order, so it does not hurt much". In short, I was wrongly charged 14.33, which is over 26% of the order value.
2. Let's see you get a big company like DigiKey to use the same reasoning: "Hey, I just paid you 1% less than you expected, why don't you ship anyway?"
It always amazes me how the richer (and by this I mean big companies) expect the poorer to "just be flexible, it is a small amount, what are you fussing about", but when it comes to them will not even accept one cent less.
3. I am old-fashioned like this. I believe there are things called principles. My mother taught me I have to honor any agreement I sign. I know it is out of fashion these days. My apologies.
--- End quote ---
If this is the same as they do here in France (where shopping at Digikey is the same pain), that "government fee" is most likely not "government" at all but it is the UPS flat fee for them filling the customs paperwork (even when none is required) on import for you. At least here in France they itemized it on the bill like that and didn't hide behind any "government fees" last time.
UPS loves to charge this, here in France it is more like 20 euro. Digikey will wash their hands off it because it is not them charging it. However, they are outsourcing the customs declaration to UPS instead of filling it themselves (it is the shipper's responsibility) - and UPS will never pass on a chance to milk you.
We have managed to get this fee waived once when my incensed manager got a local Digikey rep on the phone (they are trying real hard to look like a local company, with a French website, French phone number and even an address in France) and accused them of deceptive business practices because there is no customs (and thus no customs paperwork) to be dealt with when buying something from a French company. But not everyone has stomach for that ...
If UPS/Digikey has these practices in your country** then Digikey is best avoided. I go there only if nobody else is stocking the part I need.
** I emphasize this, because this differs a lot between countries due to differences in customs laws and which company Digikey ships there with - these are not uniform EU-wide. E.g. there are no such issues in UK or Denmark and people there don't understand what are we complaining about!
mzzj:
--- Quote from: Siwastaja on June 19, 2020, 06:33:18 am ---So to recap, you ordered things for 53.37 EUR, expected to be billed 10.71 EUR of VAT, but instead were billed for 14.33 EUR, which is 3.62 EUR more than you expected, or 6.8% of the initial total price of your order.
I know how frustrating it is to receive unsubstantiated 20 to 40 EUR invoices from shipping companies for some services you didn't knowingly agree to, but clearly 3.62 EUR of excess on top of your expected 10.71 EUR, marked clearly as "government fee", is something different.
You could ask UPS for a breakdown of what this "government fee" constitutes. Chances are, it's simply 20% of 71.65 EUR, which would be 53.37 EUR + 18.28 EUR tax value of "free shipping". Or then again, there might be another VAT-related government fee of 3.62 EUR there.
--- End quote ---
Last "funny business" bill I saw from UPS/Digikey the VAT was calculated from 18 euros "free shipping"
Goes really close also in OP's case: (53.57+18)*0.2=14.314 (off by 1.6 cents)
Siwastaja:
Are you being serious?
You, youself, wrote in the OP:
"The Digikey order clearly stated "Incoterms: DDP (Duty and customs paid by Digi-Key, VAT due at time of delivery)""
So the discrepancy cannot be about anything else than the 3.62EUR. I accept if you are after this 3.62EUR "by principle", until you get a proper explanation, or refund for that. I have principles myself, too, but I strongly recommend to think critically whenever you find yourself twisting the truth for your own gain.
But what you just wrote - total and utter bullshit.
Yes, small packets can get past customs "by luck" without you "needing" to pay VAT, but this luck, IME, does not happen with UPS. Also note while you talk about VAT being "waved", it's possible that you are actually committing a possibly criminal offence (albeit meaninglessly small) by not paying the VAT, unprompted; depends on your local jurisdiction. Why are you counting on this and require Digikey to be responsible for the fact you weren't lucky to be able to sneak past paying the required VAT, which you were informed about beforehand, and which you clearly acknowledged from the beginning? You clearly agreed to pay 10.71 EUR at the time of delivery, and now you are wasting Digikey's time arguing about that :palm:.
By all means go on and fight for the unexpected 3.62EUR if you feel it's necessary for principles.
But it's clear at this point requesting refund for VAT is not about any sound principle, just you lying to yourself, or being a dickhead. Digikey is being responsible for not "refunding" you anything, because that would be then subvented in Digikey prices for me to pay.
Siwastaja:
--- Quote from: janoc on June 19, 2020, 07:48:42 am ---If this is the same as they do here in France (where shopping at Digikey is the same pain), that "government fee" is most likely not "government" at all but it is the UPS flat fee for them filling the customs paperwork (even when none is required) on import for you. At least here in France they itemized it on the bill like that and didn't hide behind any "government fees" last time.
UPS loves to charge this, here in France it is more like 20 euro.
--- End quote ---
No, do not mix things up, this clearly isn't the case. It wouldn't be just 3.62EUR, and with the standard Digikey "Duty and customs paid by Digi-Key, VAT due at time of delivery" delivery, that 20EUR or similar cost should not happen and would be an actual mistake. I have never seen it with Digikey; with others not specifying DDP, this does happen.
Though, I order from Digikey supplying an EU business VAT number, so I don't have to pay anything at delivery time.
Bud:
Go to UPS web site and check the fees, there are plenty of fees UPS can slap on you other than import duties. Digikey has nothing to do with them.
https://www.ups.com/ca/en/shipping/zones-and-rates/customs-clearance.page
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