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Rant about bad experience buying from DigiKey to Europe

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benj38:
Hi guys,

Just had a bad experience buying from DigiKey sending a package to a friend in Austria.

UPS charged me 14.33 Euro (on a 53.57 Euro order: almost 27%!) to get the package, and DigiKey refuses to refund me.
They actually told me that if I refuse to accept the package I will be charged shipping both ways which will be about 38 Euro, and no parts!

It is not a big order, so it does not hurt much, but I sure will never take a chance with them again.

The Digikey order clearly stated "Incoterms: DDP (Duty and customs paid by Digi-Key, VAT due at time of delivery)".
so I should have paid nothing except for VAT (which, BTW, according to my friend is always waved for packages below 20 Euro, and many times for packages up to 100 Euro - depending on your luck).

Now this charge is clearly not VAT since:
1. The UPS invoice clearly states VAT: 0.00, government fees: 14.33.
2. VAT is 20% in Austria (this is the maximum rate, it is lower for some things), which would come out to 53.57 x 0.2 = 10.71, which is nowhere near 14.33.

The annoying thing is that talking/ emailing DigiKey customer service about this is like talking to a wall! They simply do not want to grasp the meaning of incoterm DDP!
--- Feel free to open Wiki and educate yourself about what DDP means if you don't know.

A little example from the last email from them:
"...duties and taxes were due at time of delivery... This is from the government and again this is  not a charged on behalf of Digi-Key".

Compare this to the text in the order confirmation: "Incoterms: DDP (Duty and customs paid by Digi-Key, VAT due at time of delivery)"

In short, it looks like DigiKey are either clueless about international shipping terms and rules, or are playing dumb. One thing is clear though: if you get hit with any charge they are simply going to drop it on you in complete violation of the terms of your order.

End of rant.

NivagSwerdna:
Must be something specific to continental Europe since I've never seen such charges in the UK and my DigiKey orders all seem to get fulfilled from the US... unless things are changed now we are in Covid19 times?

H.O:

--- Quote ---Duty and customs paid by Digi-Key, VAT due at time of delivery
--- End quote ---
^ This is the key. And you pay VAT on the value on the "free" shipping as well and I'm pretty sure that's the discrepancy you see.

VAT here in Sweden is 25%.
Had I ordered parts for €53.57 Digkey would then add the value of the "free" shipping to the total value of the parts IIRC €16 so I'd pay 53.57+16 * 25% = €17.39 and it's been like that for the 10 years I've been ordering from Digikey. I've objected to the fact that I have to pay VAT "twice" on the shipping but Digikey say it's out of there hands. It's €4 so not the end of the world but lately I've heard from other Digikey customers here that they've been able to reclaim that cost from Swedish customs.

Now, why UPS says that VAT is 0.00 I don't know and I'm not surprised. UPS constantly messes up, trying to double charge me, first sending me an Electronic invoice to be paid Before the parcel is delivered and then the same invoice on paper a week later. When I call them up they always discards the second invoice but I can't help but wonder how much money they make doing this - intentionally or not.

tom66:
Digi-Key have screwed up.  Same thing happened with me with Arrow and I eventually ended up getting them to refund it.

DDP means duties and delivery paid.  Any duties are the responsibility of the seller.  You shouldn't have to pay anything.

Also, you don't pay VAT on the value of free things.  The seller pays VAT on these and can't reclaim it.  Of course Digi-Key is a US corporation so I don't know how that would work. But free shipping is not a gift, it is a business expense that is provided to make you buy the product.

tooki:

--- Quote from: benj38 on June 17, 2020, 05:23:38 pm ---Hi guys,

Just had a bad experience buying from DigiKey sending a package to a friend in Austria.

UPS charged me 14.33 Euro (on a 53.57 Euro order: almost 27%!) to get the package, and DigiKey refuses to refund me.
They actually told me that if I refuse to accept the package I will be charged shipping both ways which will be about 38 Euro, and no parts!

It is not a big order, so it does not hurt much, but I sure will never take a chance with them again.

The Digikey order clearly stated "Incoterms: DDP (Duty and customs paid by Digi-Key, VAT due at time of delivery)".
so I should have paid nothing except for VAT (which, BTW, according to my friend is always waved for packages below 20 Euro, and many times for packages up to 100 Euro - depending on your luck).

Now this charge is clearly not VAT since:
1. The UPS invoice clearly states VAT: 0.00, government fees: 14.33.
2. VAT is 20% in Austria (this is the maximum rate, it is lower for some things), which would come out to 53.57 x 0.2 = 10.71, which is nowhere near 14.33.

The annoying thing is that talking/ emailing DigiKey customer service about this is like talking to a wall! They simply do not want to grasp the meaning of incoterm DDP!
--- Feel free to open Wiki and educate yourself about what DDP means if you don't know.

A little example from the last email from them:
"...duties and taxes were due at time of delivery... This is from the government and again this is  not a charged on behalf of Digi-Key".

Compare this to the text in the order confirmation: "Incoterms: DDP (Duty and customs paid by Digi-Key, VAT due at time of delivery)"

In short, it looks like DigiKey are either clueless about international shipping terms and rules, or are playing dumb. One thing is clear though: if you get hit with any charge they are simply going to drop it on you in complete violation of the terms of your order.

End of rant.

--- End quote ---
It’s frustrating, but you have to pay super close attention to the words. Digi-Key isn’t wrong here.

Duty, customs, VAT, and government fees are four different things. DDP incoterms mean customs and duty are prepaid, but not VAT and fees. Those still have to be paid.

Never mind, I remembered wrong. See replies below.

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