Customs import fee

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niz55

Well-Known Member
Messages
1,017
Hey guys I bought some parts from TPS in UK totaling around $1450usd that includes $47 shipping and It was shipped with DHL. Now I have been going back and forth with DHL trying to clear this through customes. They wanted name of the items and country of origin plus my Social number . I provided everything they needed to get this going. Today I got an text saying I have to pay $402 Import fee for my items to be released from los Angeles and delivered to me.

I have never had this thing happen to me biyun fro AliExpress, Taylor rc or some country in Europe.

Not sure if this some kind of random check but honestly I am not trying to pay $400 to get my items released.

Really doesn't make scene...

Any help would be appreciated
 
Welcome to being an importer.... government wants its pound of flesh. I used to get a lot of parts for saws from Canada, yeah not anymore with how low the import $ amount is. There are also a lot of variables with how the customs forms are filled out, and what they say is in them, and what they are classed as. Big orders I found it easier to get a shipping broker to deal with the red tape bs. Sure it costs a bit extra, but I didn't have to deal with the problems. Just pay the guy for his time and the duty fees and the stuff shows up.
 
I just don't understand why I never have to pay fees when ordering from Taylor rc ?

What is the difference? Comes from the same country UK.
 
This is just the shipping Co. charging what is possible. Canada post and USPS do it randomly. DHL, FedEx and others charge the max, because they can, or they have to pay it when the Gov. want their's.
 
niz55 said:
I just don't understand why I never have to pay fees when ordering from Taylor rc ?

What is the difference? Comes from the same country UK.
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Depending on how he list it, or if he says it's a gift, demo, prototype etc you can get around the duty fees. Go look up the tariff code standards, it's enough to blow your mind how stupid this all is. Then there's declared values, gift, demo/prototype etc. Makes my head hurt somuch I just stopped getting a lot of stuff from I've seas. Sad part I just bought a vw tdi, so I've been on an ordering spree from the uk getting parts i can't get state side. I'm sure I'll get hit when the turbo and injectors get here.
 
@niz55 Only thing you can do now is not accept it and try to have it sent back. File claim with your bank.

The shipper didn't fill out the customs forms correctly and your getting screwed because of it. Customs goes by value stated of product. They stated full value and not under $800. If they woulda just wrote $799 on the form you'd have it already.

Sry to say your out the fee or you have to fight the purchase/payment with your bank.
 
I dout the company will change the invoice pricing because it was attached with the package.

4 days going back and forth with DHL.

Name of the manufacturer
Address of the manufacturer
My social security number
Tariff number

Things I have never even heard of in my life. I have them all the info has to go back and forth with the seller but for everything sorted out and submitted. After couple of hours email/text from DHL we need $403 to clear shipment.


Email the seller and they told me the receiver (me) is responsible for any customes fee so I am pretty poop out of luck even though I paid with PayPal.


My only choice is to asked them to ship it back and I will happily cover the shipping again to make this go away or Bend over and pay $400.

A very very good lesson learned.
 
You might be able to complain to paypal about this telling them you were never told about any additional fees. I think customs will hold your stuff for a couple months and notify you before they destroy it or whatever they do, might be worth trying a paypal fight over the next 30 days and see what happens.

Yup defintely a lesson to be learned here. I do a little bit of importing and have been burned by customs before. If they feel the item/items are being under valued they litterally google the item and find most expensive price and make that the value. It's wild.
 
I don't see a reason why they shouldn't take it back and for any reason they don't I will pay the fee to have it delivered and open a dispute with my bank to recover the $400.

Is a shame they don't let you know up front but email you the fine prints on the shipping policy after the headache starts.
 
Just curious niz there's no tps in uk that I can find, was it tps racing? Tps racing is in the Netherlands and I read their shipping and yes they failed to put that customs and duties is on the receiver but no offense its kinda known that after x amount it will inherit these fees. @ $1400 you weren't getting out of paying something and did you ask how they got to the price of $400 as tax on this stuff? If the tax is 3% of the order then how are they asking $402 which is 27% of the total? You can contact cbp yourself and get more info and ask exactly how it is their totaling this then you can go back with the info and throw it in dhl's face. Or is DHL tacking on a fee of their own?

Also DHL is the middle person here and they have to process paperwork as the importer here so they may have dropped the ball on you and didn't do their job right so I'd watch out for that too. Ups did it to me with my shipment from Germany and they had my stuff locked away because they failed to tell cbp it was coming.
 
Yes TPS Racing.

I didn't know they were from Netherlands. I thought it was coming from UK because the website had the flag right on top. Not sure if that makes a difference or not but I completely agree with you on the charges. 27% seems extremely high. Also no one mentioned this to me after I got hit with it and they informed me that the buyer(me) is responsible for the fees through email.


I have contacted DHL tax/import many times, left message for call back, send multiple emails and they do not respond at all.

When I call DHL service center the only thing they mention is that I have to contact the tax/import dep to get all the info or dispute the fees but I cannot get a hold of them.


This is way too much headache to deal with. I will contact the seller tomorrow and ask to return the items. I am sure I have to pay for shipping and that's fine. Just want to get it over with.
 
That's ridiculous and I know how you feel, when I delt with ups their "broker" department I found out was permanently closed and I had to figure that one out. Sounds to me like DHL is trying to take advantage of you. I hope you get it sorted and keep us posted.
 
Rep732 said:
That's ridiculous and I know how you feel, when I delt with ups their "broker" department I found out was permanently closed and I had to figure that one out. Sounds to me like DHL is trying to take advantage of you. I hope you get it sorted and keep us posted.
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So much I can do honestly. I already stressed good amount about this situation and I want to leave it behind me.

Like I said, good lesson learned here But from my experience I never had to pay or went through anything like this buying form Taylor or other places I mentioned. I spend over $5000 from Mike at Taylor for that big bore vekta engine setup and other parts and it came straight to my address without any issues.

At the end if they deny the return I will pay the fee and move along.
 
We get taxed from the uk, he's likely lying on the customs forms to try and scoot around the tariffs/duty fees. It's technically illegal but a lot of sellers do it.
The unfortunate part is all of this should have been known upfront by the seller, irregardless if they gave the disclaimer or not, they should have been able to give you a pretty good estimate of what the duty fees would be, and $400 is way too much. I'd guess along the same lines as Ryan, DHL wants you to pay more then needs be to cover some sort of costs not associated with the duty assigned, or customes is being a jerk for whatever reason they want. Call customs and try to get an answer, just seems like someone dropped the ball.
 
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