DHL fares

[Arkteia]

So I got another chrysoberyl from Tan. It is a match for the one in my bracelet. It is a very nice stone, and I am thankful to Tan.
It was mailed by DHL express.

Now I am getting DHL customs duty invoice with: duty, disbursement and merchandise processing fee, alltogether amounting to 83.84.

Please understand, I am not a miser, but I am not happy paying the fee while I could buy another stone with these $$. Do you know if it is the standard procedure? Should any stones be mailed by DHL? I had another, weirder, situation with DHL when they demanded a princely sum of $ 700+ to be paid for an item shipped from another country. Finally, the charges were dismissed.

What is other PS-ers experience with the DHL and what would you advise me to do?

 

[chrono]

I’ve had parcels arriving via DHL but not been charged anything. Have you contacted DHL about these fees? As far as I know, the US doesn’t charge any duty invoice on gemstones and etc unless you are accepting the receipt of package in Canada, UK or some other country that charges an import fee.

 

[Deathspi]

Wow, seems like their really trying to bleed you dry... What country are you in? This is exactly why I get paranoid whenever I import from the US! Wish I could give you some advice but I don't know what to say, I haven't had charges that bad (yet!). You have my sympathy anyway, hopefully DHL will forget about the charges!

 

[ruffysdad]

As of my last shipment from overseas, there was still no duty or taxes on loose stones and rough being imported to the US. I'd definately be on the phone to DHL asking what kind of scam they're trying to pull. Probably just a mistake on their part but they're supposed to be an int'l carrier and know that kind of stuff. Good luck

Pete

 

[Arkteia]

Oy, it is such a saga... In short, the stone costs $ 500.00, the import tax $ 57.00, the disbursememnt is $ 5.00 and the processing fee $ 25.00. I am in the US, and the shipment comes from Thailand. It is a loose stone. It is for personal use.

Now I had worse situation, when I received a shipment from Canada, and they wanted to charge me $ 700.00 which was way above 1/10 of the cost of the item! I know that Canada is part of NAFTA, and goods are not taxed, unless the total cost is above $ 8000.00. The lady who I spoke to was of absolutely no help because of her total incompetence. I suspect it was the reason for the DHL to hire her. Much later, after threats and what not, we found out that she misread the stated cost (let's say, you put $ 100 and she reads it as 1100 - just an example). So all charges were dropped.

Now I know that sometimes stones get lost in transit, but I bought more expensive stones from Tan and I do not remember if he used DHL or not. Should I ask him not to use this carrier in the future? This is the second time I am having problem with them.

I can, and probably should, google it, but does anyone know if I should even pay custom duties on an item which costs $ 500.00? From what I know, if I travel, I have to declare goods purchased in another country only if the total sum exceeds $ 300.00, and I have never been taxed on imported goods in my life.

 

[T L]

Crasru,
I'm sorry for your issues with DHL. I've never had a problem with them, and I always send my stuff via DHL from Tan instead of snail mail (which I hate).

 

[chrono]

If you are in the US, then you should not be charged a single penny by DHL for receipt of any gemstone from any location, no matter the cost of the gem.

 

[VapidLapid]

Just last week I had a similar scare, though through fedex. I had received a package of rough stones a few weeks ago and last week fedex called wanting to know what was in the package. It seems the customes form declaring the contents only said "see attached list" and there was no attachment since it was in the envelope. Also I had seen last month this notice on the sellers website:

Duties on rough gemstones - please take note that the U.S. Customs have imposed a new tariff on rough sawn gemstones!!! These stones are now classified under the Harmonized Number 7103.10.40 and attracts a duty of 10.5%.
But, this only seems to be the case when parcels are sent by courier - we have not had any duties imposed on parcels sent by Registered post. It is interesting to note that cut, faceted stones attract NO duty!

I told fedex it was mineral specimens and they actually grilled me asking specifically about sapphires rubies and jadeite. There were none. I am thinking in your case Crasru there may have been an error in the Harmonized Number that the sender put on the form. perhaps if you check that and tell them what it really should have been it will make the tarrif go away.

I hope it goes smoothly for you. The economy needs us buying stuff.

 

[LD]

Crasru in the UK this is the "norm" unfortunately. Anything coming by courier i.e. FedEx, DHL etc., is normally inspected and an import duty charged a proportion of the invoice amount. I've been charged up to £100 for a package (approx $150). Regular mail doesn't seem to be inspected as much and so there is very rarely any import duty charged - although I have been on occasion.

I have no idea the rules on importing into the US and hope that you're not following the UK model. Hope it gets resolved.

 

[Arkteia]

Well, they need $$ and since there was no raise in income taxes...

Sorry for my naivete, but what is Harmonized Number?

 

[VapidLapid]

US customes has number codes for classifying all things. The breakdown of what gets taxed and how much is bizzare. Harmonized number I think means they have this classification system that is used all over the world so a shipment classified in bali will have the same number in the us to make things easier for the people who decide to tax us and how much. So if you have your number an d you find it doesnt match what you got and there is another number that is better and that doesnt incur tax you can say it was misclassified or maybe even it was written sloppily and misread

 

[Arkteia]

You know what? There is no Harmonized number on the slip and it also says. "see attached invoice" under "contents". And the invoice is in the package! So I am not surprized now.