Can DHL charge an 'admin fee' on imported goods?
MrPineapples
Posts: 6 Forumite
Hi Guys,
I've ordered £39 worth of goods from iherb.com. Postage at time of purchase was quoted as £6.13 & there was a note that ‘Duty & taxes may be collected at delivery’. I thought that’s fine VAT is 20% i’ve had to pay that before on foreign purchases.
I had a text from DHL a day or so later stating that I needed to pay them £18 for Duty & VAT. That seemed very high for £39 worth of goods, after a couple of calls & misinformation from various departments (one department stated this fee is charged by HMRC & there’s they could do about it) I was told that the fee breakdown is £7.97 tax & a £10 admin fee.
I said I’m happy to pay the tax but not the £10 admin fee as I wasn’t informed about it at point of sale & as far as I was concerned the postage had been paid for. Also I wouldn’t have ordered the goods if I’d known i’d have had to pay so much in ‘postage’. I was told I had to pay it if I wanted the goods.
So I think i’m going to have to have them return the items. Are they allowed to charge this fee after purchase when it isn’t stated at any point during the ordering process? The DHL guy said it was stated (i've since checked & can't find anything).
Any advice would be good, has anyone had any luck getting DHL to waver these fees? it seems very high for such low value goods.
Thanks.
I've ordered £39 worth of goods from iherb.com. Postage at time of purchase was quoted as £6.13 & there was a note that ‘Duty & taxes may be collected at delivery’. I thought that’s fine VAT is 20% i’ve had to pay that before on foreign purchases.
I had a text from DHL a day or so later stating that I needed to pay them £18 for Duty & VAT. That seemed very high for £39 worth of goods, after a couple of calls & misinformation from various departments (one department stated this fee is charged by HMRC & there’s they could do about it) I was told that the fee breakdown is £7.97 tax & a £10 admin fee.
I said I’m happy to pay the tax but not the £10 admin fee as I wasn’t informed about it at point of sale & as far as I was concerned the postage had been paid for. Also I wouldn’t have ordered the goods if I’d known i’d have had to pay so much in ‘postage’. I was told I had to pay it if I wanted the goods.
So I think i’m going to have to have them return the items. Are they allowed to charge this fee after purchase when it isn’t stated at any point during the ordering process? The DHL guy said it was stated (i've since checked & can't find anything).
Any advice would be good, has anyone had any luck getting DHL to waver these fees? it seems very high for such low value goods.
Thanks.
0
Comments
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Ask them if they can waiver it.
What was it you ordered, is it not available in the UK ?0 -
MrPineapples wrote: »...it seems very high for such low value goods.
It's a flat rate fee.
It costs the same to clear goods which have the value of your parcel as it does to clear one valued many times more.
Use the forum search facility to find many other threads with the same query.0 -
The basics are these....
There is a lower limit (£15, I think) below which there is no duty, no VAT and no fee.
Above the limit, there is duty only until you get to a higher limit when VAT also becomes payable. As soon as tax is due, the admin fees kick in as well.
It's not really down to the seller as they cannot know what the authorities will do with the shipment once it arrives here. Therefore down to you to pay...
I don't know what happens if you refuse - I suspect it gets very messy.0 -
Its pretty standard for these charges when buying from America for example, did you not do research into the extra charges.0
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@Cornucopia as far as i'm aware they've not paid anything to customs, the items are still in the US, surely I can just send them back?0
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MrPineapples wrote: »@Cornucopia as far as i'm aware they've not paid anything to customs, the items are still in the US, surely I can just send them back?
Okay - I've not heard of them doing that before.
Normally it's a bit more "take it or leave it", because the goods are sitting in a secure lock-up somewhere in the UK.
I think you're probably going to have to ask them what your options are.0 -
Okay thanks0
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It depends whether DHL have texted to warn you that a fee would be payable on arrival in this country.MrPineapples wrote: »@Cornucopia as far as i'm aware they've not paid anything to customs, the items are still in the US, surely I can just send them back?
However, how would DHL in this country know that a fee was payable on something that hasn't arrived here yet?
It's far more likely that delivery is being postponed and the goods held in the UK until you pay the tax and fees.0 -
The admin fee is for the courier clearing the goods through customs on your behalf.
some information here http://ec.europa.eu/taxation_customs/common/buying_online/buying_goods/within_non_eu_en.htm
I believe you can arrange to do this yourself but may end up costing you more in travel etc and you would needed to have the seller document it as such
a thread here http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=51531830 -
On the plus side, it's usually people complaining about the £8 Royal Mail charge! But if you want to see it explained ad nauseum look for any of the Royal Mail importing threads, the same principle applies.0
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