Custom duty being charged by DHL?

Status
Not open for further replies.
Aman27deep

Aman27deep

Herald
Hello Guys,

Some of you might have read that I won a 360 Madcatz controller (http://www.techenclave.com/gaming-consoles/i-won-something-182357.html), So it costs 50$ in the Market.

I was shipped this item via DHL from Singapore, and I got the delivery tooday, but they were asking for Rs. 1,200 as Customs. I refused to pay the amount. An uncle of mine told me that if the item is priced under 5,000 there would be no need for me to pay Customs.

Now what should i do? Is the price they're asking for true, and not one of their attempts to con me or something? Please help, help will be appreciated. Thanks.
 
Why dont you tell whoever is asking you for money that customs doesnt apply for articles costing under 5000..And who was asking it? the DHL courier guy??
 
^^ The DHL guy's get the package cleared from customs by paying the customs duty themselves, they then collect the same from you along with service charges. The problem is that these people don't bother/care how much is being charged.

Anyway, there is something seriously wrong with the customs officials in our country. There was earlier another case on TE where someone was charged 4000/- as customs duty for a Razer Mouse mat that cost barely half of that.
 
DHL has a very bad habit of putting in customs even when there should be none. They do have a process to ask for a refund or waive off customs but that is again lengthy and time consuming with paper work involved. A few times I have recieved review samples from companies where a clear mail was attached of the purpose of the item inside and still had to pay customs and didnt bother to get involved in the waiving off process. Sad to hear honestly, but I feel these courier companies do take us for ride.
 
Aman, what does your DHL receipt for the airway bill read in 'Declared value for customs' under column number 6 - 'Non-Document Shipments only (Customs Requirements)'?

If the consignor has declared a value under that column (maybe XX USD), DHL will levy the charges from you accordingly. If there is none, you can write to the consignor about this since gifts valued under 10k INR are not charged customs.

Have they not enclosed a declaration/invoice with the consignment?
 
Desecrator said:
Aman, what does your DHL receipt for the airway bill read in 'Declared value for customs' under column number 6 - 'Non-Document Shipments only (Customs Requirements)'?

If the consignor has declared a value under that column (maybe XX USD), DHL will levy the charges from you accordingly. If there is none, you can write to the consignor about this since gifts valued under 10k INR are not charged customs.

Have they not enclosed a declaration/invoice with the consignment?
Click to expand...

Well i dont see a declaration anywhere. Desecrator check pm, i pm'ed u the whole thing.

This is what i'm being asked to pay

dhlthingy.png
 
Clearly DHL charges a lot to get shipments cleared. The list is long - basic, additional, counter vailing, handling (300 is too much IMO). Did they attach any receipt from the Indian customs stating that they paid x amount
 
They do charge quite a bit.

On $120 or so it is like 2k and on $180 or so it is like 2700 bucks.

And they don't care about the 10k policy for India.
 
raja_mastana said:
Clearly DHL charges a lot to get shipments cleared. The list is long - basic, additional, counter vailing, handling (300 is too much IMO). Did they attach any receipt from the Indian customs stating that they paid x amount
Click to expand...
the basic, additional and conter vailing duty is all indian custom specific stuff.

300 bucks is the handling which is simply too much of charge. When i got my kindle from us, it was marked as a gift via amazon, dhl didnt charge me a single penny. got the refund of customs from amazon deposit too.
 
OK, i contacted DHL again. They have told me that as the item wasn't marked as a gift, i would have to pay the customs to get the controller.

*sigh* looks like i will :/
 
Try and talk to the consignors .All these big Courier companies like Fed-Ex , DHL have a provision of customs duty to be charged to consignee .Recently I received some stuff from a company via Fed-Ex and was charged a duty of ~3.7K . I sent back the package, spoke to the original consignee company and they billed the customs duty to their own Fed-Ex account and parcel was delivered in 3-4 days . :)
 
^Exactly my point. I see no reason why he should bear these charges if he won a gift or if this was a replacement. I received a pair of sticks from G.Skill as replacements and the invoice read 1 USD as the charge.
 
DHL Handling duty is very high, For two pieces of CISS kit I have been charged Rs.1500 though in Invoice it has been declared as sample & valued around Rs.4000

DHL wala told me min. handling charges are Rs.600 & accordin to weight it varies.....huh!!
 
raja_mastana said:
Did they attach any receipt from the Indian customs stating that they paid x amount
Click to expand...
Please insist on this. And every one should ask this while paying. We got this for our shipment from aramex shopandship.
 
Whenever any item is imported, a bill of entry is filed. This bill of entry is filled by the clearing agent. The bill of entry is then submitted to the customs who charge the duty based on the bill of entry.

Now, DHL has a very bad habit of submitting bill(s) of entry without proper consideration. Once the customs charges customs duty, DHL charges a certain percentage of the amount as handling fee or 300 Rs, whichever is higher. Look at it this way, had they filed a proper bill of entry for you, they wouldn't have earned their 300 bucks which they have charged you. Unfortunately, since the customs have already charged you a certain amount, getting a waiver will be very difficult!

2 weeks ago, my supplier from China had to send me some original documents for a sea consignment. He usually sends them through DHL and he uses his own account. He sent me a mail saying that he had sent me some calendars along with the documents. DHL filed a stupid bill of entry. Customs charged me almost 500 bucks for the docs+calendars, and DHL added their 300 Rs. I ended up paying Rs. 800 for 4 lousy calendars which I gave away to the help in my factory. The only reason I paid was because the courier packet had the original docs also.
 
even, I suspect that DHL might be overacting here. Even, for 130$ GPad, they charged me 2600/- as customs duty, almost 40% of my item value. I didn't know what to do at that situation and I had paid that amount :(
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top Bottom