I bought a set of levers for my bike on the internet, imported from Hong Kong.
The declared value for the package was $18. (In fact I paid $15 for them)
The bill from DHL was CHF33.45
What gives? The calculated tax on the levers for was 0.10, somehow they magic'd another 5.35 because the rieght with DHL was another 52.50 (It wasn't, it was less) The rest was in fees from the Douane and admin charges from DHL. Surely since the postage was already paid (Aparrently $52.50) do DHL really have the right to charge me money for admin charges.
Now, I've refused these ridiculous customs charges at the door before, but DHL deliver your package, get you to sign for it, then send you the bill, so I can't refuse a package with is valued at 1/3 of the total I paid for it.
Is there any way to avoid these charges, by perhaps finding out how much the charges would be when the packet was delivered and then refusing delivery? I'd rather that than pay a stupid amount for the item.
And anyhow, I thought that $18 was below the minimum for Douane charges.. Can they really charge you TVA on the DHL delivery charges?
No wonder this country has such high prices and so little choice in the shops.. I feel sorry for the Swiss.. At least I chose to be here.
Customs will levy a charge for opening the package and confirming the contents- that charge will be forwarded to DHL who will charge you an admin fee for processing it.
Last month I sent back to the UK £3000 worth of camera equipment that I had hired. I filled out all the customs forms - indicating exactly what was in it - and also included a copy of the rental contract in the documentation.
Absolutely no problems leaving Switzerland or arriving in the UK - and no charges.
Your sarcasm hasn't gone unnoticed.. There's a reason why this is in the Complaints Corner.. It's annoyed me, if I really wanted an answer, I'd have called DHL.. I did that last year and got nowhwere, I was letting off a bit of steam. You appear to have missed that.
And your point is? Sorry, I missed how it's relevant that you returned an item valued at £3000 that you purchased, and didn't get charged anything, compared to being charged twice the value for receiving an item that I purchased.
Ignore me,it's just a bad day, just made a little worse by people being sarcastic when I try to let off some steam...
Never ever use DHL!! They charge hefty "brokerage" fees. You pay them to clear customs which is ridiculous. It's best to always use the national post service.
I'll just add that your complaint isn't against "the Swiss". It's against DHL which operates the same in every country.
If you get things from abroad with a value of less than CHF 65.-- insist upon normal postal services being used as the consignment then will be below-limit and free of duty, VAT and handling. In the case you mentioned, DHL did the handling, unnecessarily but it brings them money !, the transport was added to the actual value and so, you had to pay VAT (7,6%) and possibly even some (minor) duty.
i got caught out once, customs added the postage cost onto the cost of the item even though the total included the postage fee.... now if buying via ebay i always get them to put low values and any invoice has to include the postage.
Advise the senders to use the normal postal services. UPS and other such courier services will take your value of CHF 25.--, decide it is not a "real" gift, and add a transport charge of 45 CHF, making a total of CHF 70.--, charging the VAT of 7,6% on 70.-- = 5.35 and add their handling of 35.-- and charging you some 40.35 !
Most private courier services will charge you brokerage fees. The national postal services have agreements with each other and they do the customs clearing. So although you wont' always avoid taxes & chargers, you don't get the 25-45CHF brokerage fees.
I believe the Swiss customs charge 20.- not 18.- if the package is opened. Through the Swiss Postal system they only open the package if there isn't a valid customs declaration on the outside, or if the declaration states that the goods don't have duty paid on high value goods or the high value goods come from a country where there is no bilatteral agreement, or they suspect for any reason that you are trying to evade duty (For example you state the value of the goods is $10 on a package tht weighs 10kg) Even then, they will not charge you if they open the package and find that the customs declaration was in fact accurate and within limits.
What annoyed me was that the item DID have a valid customs declaration on the outside of the package, it was NOT a high value item and the description was accurate. If it had come through the normal post, it wouldn hav arrived without charge..
DHL handle the German parcels, it's true, but it's a separate branch of DHL, and packages handled though that (I recently bought some exhausts from Germany that arrived via DHL) are subject to normal postal handling charges, I think DHL hand the items to Swiss Post at the border for handling from there on, so they don't have DHL's "special" charges reserved for the poor people who think that DHL are actually better than the ordinary postal system.. Maybe they are, but they're damned expensive, and unless I need something in a big hurry, I'll avoid them.. By the way, the exhausts took 3 weeks to arrive from Germany.
DHL Germany is not DHL Germany. If your consignment is done by DHL standard package dispatch, there is no handling. I right today got a parcel with a value of CHF 80 and only had to pay the VAT of CHF 5.95 and no handling even.
Don't really mean to be rude, but the point of my original post, apart from letting off steam, was to find out if there is any way to find out what charges DHL were going to make BEFORE I accept a parcel and wind up with this kind of fee. If I'd known how much they were going to charge, I'd have refused delivery.
I don't actually mind paying taxes, vat here is cheap, the standard of living is good, it has to be paid for somehow. What I resent is paying twice the value of the item in taxes for opening an item that is properly labelled.
I've been living here since 2005, the last time I was in the uk was November 2009, I'm pretty settled and I've figured out what the VAT rate is thanks.
To open a case to have this reconsidered costs 20.- and I'm not prepared to do this, so my question was straight forward: if DHL only supply the paperwork 3 weeks later, is there any way to find out, on the doorstep, what I would be charged so I can refuse a parcel IN THE FUTURE? I don't care about this one. DHL make it deliberately difficult to contest charges for items already delivered, your only chance is to refuse the item on the doorstep.
If you have a parcel sent from the UK, my suggestion would be to get it sent through ordinary parcel post and make sure that there is a properly completed customs declaration on the outside, that way you will only be charged excise duty if it falls in that bracket, and should avoid handling charges.
A) You usually, in case of DHL, have all the paperwork on the parcel, and if you are determined not to pay their charges in spite of already having paid more for the merchandise and postage, than you CAN refuse acceptance. If demanding money from you they have to show you the documentation
B) If you however refuse acceptance, you will not be reimbursed by the sender because problems arising out of the importation are NOT the responsibility of the sender
C) $ 18 makes it obvious that this is an ex-works price and NOT C&F, so that all transport-charges get added to the value
D) Whomever does the importation of goods of course has the right to charge for the import-handling. The import-handling in case of airfreight, even in case of minimum-packages can well be up to CHF 120.--, and if delivered a minimum-cartage of CHF 55.-- to 65.-- will also get charged.
a painting is a pain in the arse as customs will want to know everything about it, the scene, name of the scene, the painter, when it was painted etc..... i have been down this route already.