DHL scamming on brokerage fees, any easy way around this?

[niagaranht]

I just discovered that DHL rips recipients off with exorbitant amounts of money for 'clearance' on low cost items. I just purchased $25 in goods from China and they wanted me to pay $28 to clear it...!?

Does anyone know of a way around this that doesn't involve jumping through hoops?

[lotzofuniquegoodies]

If your seller is using DHL(Charges vary by shipping courier/Postal Mail) to ship, unfortunately whatever fees you are being charged for customs clearance/any owed taxes by their calculations are at your expense. For any future purchase I would confirm prior to placing an order who they use for shipping and base your buying decision from that information.

-CM

[femmefan1946]

A rate of $25+ is normal for couriers.

It may get higher with higher valued items.

Canada Post at $9.95Cdn and the Global Shipping Program/ Pitney Bowes (spit spit spit) at ~$5USD have the lowest service fees.

Your seller chooses the shipper and service, based on their needs for secure and prompt delivery.

And any imports valued over $20Cdn ($16USD) will be assessed for duty and sales tax. Canada does not have a free trade agreement with China so there might well be some duty and more Sales Tax in the fee.

The fee itself is usually a flat basic amount charged on all items no matter what the value, since the clearance labour is going to be the same.

It's worth noting that one reason CBSA has a policy of ignoring most low value/ small imports is that it costs more to assess and collect the trivial amounts of duty and Sales Tax due on these than the Canadian taxpayer pays the border officials in salary.

Private customers don't have that luxury.

[retroman_studios]

This scam you speak of......is spreading. My local grocery store had the audacity to charge more for produce than they paid for it! Plus they even charged me taxes!

Highway robbers they are! But perfectly legal.

Hopefully at this point you realize I'm being sarcastic.

If you think DHL fees are high, you should have seen UPS a few years back. Used to be $50 plus for customs clearance.

[reallynicestamps]

While I am sure DHL makes a profit on their import charges, they are in business for that purpose after all, it would not surprise me to learn that $25 or so is only about a 100% markup of their actual costs.

Canada Post charges $9.95 to collect import fees at the door. They have a decently paid unionized staff, and collecting the fee is just part of a carrier's daily work. They don't do any of the assessment for charges, that's done by CBSA, that's just for collection.

And CBSA doesn't bother assessing small, low value shipments, because it is more expensive to do the assessment for the small amounts they could collect.

It's constantly surprising to work out how much things really cost.

How much do you think a plumber's service call should cost? A vaccination at the pharmacy?  Having your lawn mowed twice a month?

[nebulaastronomy]

That happened to me too only worst than that. I got a bill in the mail for duties. Seller' shipping cost+UPS charge+a customs bill in the mail on a used item. I could have drove across the border and paid the customs there. I would have saved a wack of money and easily paid for the trip. Go with GSP there is no additional charges.

[femmefan1946]

UPS? That's unusual. It's a well-known trick by FedEx though.

All the couriers use 'customs brokerage' as a profit centre.

But again, when you consider that Canada Post charges $9,95 just to collect the appraised duty (and sales taxes, even when there is no duty) the $25 for appraisal plus collection is probably pretty close to their costs plus a profit margin.

And couriers, including GSP/Pitney Bowes, are in business to make a profit.

But GSP/PB do the assessment in their Kentucky plant and ship across the border in bulk on a bulk manifest.  That lowers their costs considerably, allowing them to charge "only" ~$5USD for handling.

[onebadwolf]

DHL are scoundrels. 4 days late, due to a "meterological force majeure" , which they explained as bad WX in Cincinnati. I guess they didn't know I'm a pilot, and that the disturbance must have been located directly over their equipment, because when I checked, there were no other aircraft experiencing weather. I went through the METARS, SAs even PIREPS, no significant WX . The best part though, was the double billing for Customs and import fees. I sent them the confirmation that DHL had sent me after I paid them 5 days earlier, and heard nothing back. They then contacted the seller, and told them I had not paid the fees, and that if the seller paid them, they wouldn't have to ship the item back. I forwarded my reciepts to the seller, and explained that DHL would likely send the item back, because that's how they roll. Apparently, DHL scams quite a few people this way according to Google. You are not alone.

[computergeekh]

You can self-clear which should save you money on customs clearance fees. See:

https://bc.ctvnews.ca/how-to-avoid-extra-fees-for-international-delivery-services-1.3280694

https://www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/import/courier/lvs-efv/prsn-eng.html#_s2

https://www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/do-rb/menu-eng.html

[ypdc_dennis]

ZOMBIE thread from 2018

[tyler@ebay]

Hi everyone - 

Due to the length of time that has passed since this thread has begun I have locked it from further replies. If this is still a topic that warrants further discussion please don't hesitate to start a new thread!