Holy crap, I just received an invoice from DHL for 18% of the price of the item I won on EBAY. I rarely buy on EBAY but I did win an auction for a bag that came from China, now DHL is trying to collect the duty tax, I can't believe the tax is so high I thought duties would be around 8%.
Duty Charges
- Thread starter zippie
- Start date
they are very high. a dior gaucho bag can be AUD$2600ish retail or AUD$1800ish from duty free stores here in australia.see the huge difference? so next time maybe u can ask ur seller to put down the value as $50 something to avoid or lower the duty charge.
This has been discussed here a million times, though - it's illegal to misstate the value on the customs form, or to claim it's a gift when it's not; and it also means that the item cannot be insured. So asking the seller to do this is really asking a lot. If the incorrect value gets caught, it's the seller who is in trouble. If the bag gets lost or damaged, it's the seller's problem.
You're correct, I will not put anything but the correct amount on any item I ship over seas and don't like people asking me to do so.
no offense but then u should be ok with paying the duty charge coming from the "leagal" point of view. insurance is the risk that im willing to take. but honestly, i really dont think that they lose that many parcels, i could be wrong tho. the reason i buy from ebay is "saving money", as much as possible, and i find duty charges expensive as u do.
I was asking about duty charges and questioning how high the percentage is. I certainly don't trust DHL so I am asking for advice on the duty percentage and if any one knows if 18 percent is normal.
then i showed u that australia has around 25% duty charges and your 18% doesnt look so bad comparing to that. i aplogoze for taking the topic too far.
Zippie,
Are you in the U.S.? I've tried to figure out what the duty would be on some different bags, but the information that you can get from customs is so hard to figure out!
Yes I live in the US and received duty invoices from shipping companies when I had my business and I never remember the fees being this high.
You said the bag came from China, but where was the bag made in? That might make a difference? Perhaps they assumed because it shipped from China, that it was also made there? I don't know if that will make a difference as far as what they charge though?
I think anything imported from "China" has high customs fees. I only say this because I ordered a pair of Louboutins a while ago from a boutique in Germany and DHL is the courier they use. So, before ordering I wanted to see what the customs fees would be. I was asked what the total amount was, what the shoes were made of, AND also WHERE they were made. The shoes say "Made in Italy" so I got away with a lower tax, well I got away period b/c the DHL guy did not collect any taxes from me. lol
The DHL representative explained that anything coming from China and the like would have a much higher tax associated with it, perhaps 25% and UP. However, if it was Made in Italy, France, etc that it would supposedly be no more than 12%, probably 7/8% like sales tax here. The man I spoke with at DHL seemed to know what he was talking about because he got all of this information directly from a supervisor. Regardless, I think the higher fees you have been charged may be because it came from China????
I think anything imported from "China" has high customs fees. I only say this because I ordered a pair of Louboutins a while ago from a boutique in Germany and DHL is the courier they use. So, before ordering I wanted to see what the customs fees would be. I was asked what the total amount was, what the shoes were made of, AND also WHERE they were made. The shoes say "Made in Italy" so I got away with a lower tax, well I got away period b/c the DHL guy did not collect any taxes from me. lol
The DHL representative explained that anything coming from China and the like would have a much higher tax associated with it, perhaps 25% and UP. However, if it was Made in Italy, France, etc that it would supposedly be no more than 12%, probably 7/8% like sales tax here. The man I spoke with at DHL seemed to know what he was talking about because he got all of this information directly from a supervisor. Regardless, I think the higher fees you have been charged may be because it came from China????
UK is 17.5%
I hate custom fees too. They're so ANNOYING! I do ask sellers to reduce the custom value though, and have not had any problems as of yet
I hate custom fees too. They're so ANNOYING! I do ask sellers to reduce the custom value though, and have not had any problems as of yet
We are very lucky here in the US that customs fees are low and that items coming from Asia/Australia and the Americas rarely get taxed, though I was nailed for nominal amounts several times on items coming from Europe (Spain, Germany).
18% is more than reasonable. Import duties in the Philippines are 40%. I guess this is the added cost of buying internationally. I actually pulled 2 of my auctions because shipping internationally will turn out much more of a hassle for both me and my buyer.
I was nailed for 400.00 canadian on a LV Salsa purchased from Hong Kong for 379.00 US plus 40.00 shipping and back then the US$ was quite high. After paying for everything, I could of walked out of LV store paying less for a brand new. Custom really sucks!