DHL? What the heck!

[grace11roses]

Good Lord! I'm on a bad roll with eBay. Last month I had a terrible experience as a buyer with Pitney Bowes. So, I vowed to avoid the GSP. Now I discover that a vendor I recently  transacted with uses DHL. DHL..... what the heck! I had never even heard of this service. I messaged the vendor who told me he/she has no idea how much I will be charged upon delivery. I find this quite dodgy, and I wish I had been warned about it. There was nothing in his/her feedback about customers being unhappy about DHL charges. Am I the only online shopper in Canada who knew nothing about it?  I can't leave anything about this in my feedback, can I? (Taboo against mentioning 3rd party causes of distress). Oh well, live and learn.

[ypdc_dennis]

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@grace11roses wrote:

Good Lord! I'm on a bad roll with eBay. Last month I had a terrible experience as a buyer with Pitney Bowes. So, I vowed to avoid the GSP. Now I discover that a vendor I recently  transacted with uses DHL. DHL..... what the heck! I had never even heard of this service. ...

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DHL is the largest shipping company in the world (outside of the USA). Like FedEx and UPS they collect duty and taxes (as required by law) on items imported into Canada. Their fees depend on which level of shipping was used. More expensive than Canada Post and depending where processed the charges can be wildly* inaccurate.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deutsche_Post

@* - My wild moment -- 25 items for $100 ($4 each) processed as 25 items @ $100 each

[reallynicestamps]

DHL is used by a lot of Chinese sellers.

Couriers like DHL, Pitney Bowes and UPS, have to charge appropriate Canadian duty and sales taxes on imports valued over $20CDN (about $16USD) .

They also add a 'service charge ' or 'customs brokerage charge'. This can vary from ~$5USD for PB to $25CDN or more for UPS.

vendor who told me he/she has no idea how much I will be charged upon delivery. I find this quite dodgy,

Actually that's normal. The seller is not required to know all about import fees for all the countries he ships to. That is up to the buyer/importer.

If your item was under $20CDN, there will be no fees charged on your doorstep.

If there are fees, you will have to pay them before you get your item.

DHL seems to turn a lot of their shipments over to Canada Post*, however.

Canada Post has a different system. Basically, they and CBSA ignore any small or low value (under around $100 CDN) on the sensible basis that they would spend more expensive labour than they would collect in fees.

So if you item is under $20CDN, you won't be charged anything.

If DHL gives the parcel to Canada Post, you probably won't be charged anything.

If DHL delivers the parcel themselves, you will be charged but the money collected goes to Canada and your province, as well as to DHL. Your seller never sees a cent of it.

*As do most couriers outside the major cities. You won't see the men in Brown in Old Crow NWT.

[ypdc_dennis]

"If DHL gives the parcel to Canada Post, you probably won't be charged anything."

DHL uses COD for the charges when using Canada Post. Their customs processing can be pretty sloppy, particularly for the cheaper DHL delivery methods, so things do slip through with no charge, but they can also overcharge (and disputing that can be a pain).