DHL Rip Off for postage to the UK

[scook17 247]

Happened to go to the post office today to post a small parcel to the UK and got charged 18 Euros!

I was surprised, and told the girl the item was a gift, not valuable and I did not need tracking or insurance.

But she insisted the only option was 18 Euros.

Later in the day, this was bugging me, so I checked the receipt and the DHL website, and noticed the receipt was with tracking.

 

If you look the cheapest price, 9 Euros, which would have been fine for me, no tracking. It's available ONLY online.

If you look at the next option up to 2kg, it's 13.50 Euros, but notice what I underlined.

If you buy this in the post office they charge you an additional 4.5!!! Euros or an additional 35% for going to the post office.

Printing the label yourself, which includes now the correct CN22 customs declaration as GIFT means you just hand over the parcel and she beeps it with the scanner.

 

Just a warning on the latest DHL scam to collect unnecessary fees from people sending / receiving parcels from the UK.

[BayrischDude 2,071]

Does kind of beg the question why didn't you look online before going off to the Post?

You printing the label, doing the measuring and the weighing of course would cost less.  The online system came about a means to not only save the customer money, but create less work for the DHL counter employees.  Want to use their printing system?  Their ink?  Their electricity?  Their service?  It costs.  It goes without saying that merely dropping a package for posting that involves little to no work on their part is going to be much cheaper.  

Not sure what you're even on about.  Perhaps the fact that you failed to look online first? 

[murphaph 9,652]

Same with Royal Mail. I sold some items to a chap in Essex recently and he had to pay the 27.90 postage and got hit for 60 quid VAT on his end. The same guy then bought a further smaller item off me. As I was planning on a visit to Dublin  with a day trip up north I offered to hand carry it and post ot Royal Mail from Northern Ireland. Cost him 2.85 and obviously no VAT but the tracked 48 hour service was only available online for that price. If I had taken it to a post office it would have been almost 10 pounds. The Post Office and Royal Mail are two different companies. I guess it's somehow similar in Germany, although DHL belongs to Deutsche Post. By the way, the parcel that costs 27.90 to the UK (annoyingly including NI, even though NI is still inside the EU single market for goods!) still only costs 16 to Ireland. That's another Brexit benefit :-(

[john g. 37,687]

Hm, before Christmas. I bought some jewellery stuff for my partner Nicole and, separately , for my daughter in Amsterdam from a shop in Israel.

Nicole's pendant arrived first and we had to pay 42 euros import duty.

 

When my daughter Silvia picked up her pendant in Ansterdam, she paid no duty.

Wondering how that fits into all this narrative?

[keith2011 2,579]

15 hours ago, murphaph said:

I sold some items to a chap in Essex recently and he had to pay the 27.90 postage and got hit for 60 quid VAT on his end.

I assume you did not include German MWST in the selling price since the items were shipped outside the EU so the customer effectively just paid an extra 1% i.e. the difference between British VAT for retail and if a business then the VAT paid would be claimed back against VAT collected on their sales. Or have things changed regarding non EU trade?

[scook17 247]

16 hours ago, BayrischDude said:

Does kind of beg the question why didn't you look online before going off to the Post?

You printing the label, doing the measuring and the weighing of course would cost less.  The online system came about a means to not only save the customer money, but create less work for the DHL counter employees.  Want to use their printing system?  Their ink?  Their electricity?  Their service?  It costs.  It goes without saying that merely dropping a package for posting that involves little to no work on their part is going to be much cheaper.  

Not sure what you're even on about.  Perhaps the fact that you failed to look online first? 

 

Yes, things are obvious with the benefit of hindsight.

 

Posted this here to highlight just how much the post office counter charges so others are aware. Yes, sure it costs perhaps a couple of cents to print a label and all of two minutes,  max, per customer in service time. 4.5 Euro x 30 two minute sessions = 135 Euros an hour. I doubt the post office girl gets paid much more than minimum wage, so yes, I consider this ripping off customers and DHL profiteering.

[murphaph 9,652]

2 hours ago, keith2011 said:

I assume you did not include German MWST in the selling price since the items were shipped outside the EU so the customer effectively just paid an extra 1% i.e. the difference between British VAT for retail and if a business then the VAT paid would be claimed back against VAT collected on their sales. Or have things changed regarding non EU trade?

It was a private sale of some items I listed on an Irish classifieds website. I warned him that I was not responsible for any charges he might face and he took the risk. He paid £60 extra.

[Gambatte 897]

Mate of mine buys cheap engineering stuff from China, via Alibaba. I asked him if there's any import duty he must pay at the end when the stuff get delivered.

He answered "sometimes", he says it's not possible to know it at the time he orders.

[AdHa 55]

Whatever the price I would avoid DHL. They are soooo slooooow delivering.

[Keleth 9,279]

It´s perfectly normal to pay less online than physically going to a shop, lots of cost savings for the supplier.

 

[toBnruG 1,152]

On 05/02/2023, 03:53:32, Gambatte said:

Mate of mine buys cheap engineering stuff from China, via Alibaba. I asked him if there's any import duty he must pay at the end when the stuff get delivered.

He answered "sometimes", he says it's not possible to know it at the time he orders.

It's always possible to know what import duty should be paid. The rules are readily available for anybody who wants to research them. It's just not possible to know, when ordering with Alibaba, if your shipment will have the necessary duties applied or not. Some get "lucky" and avoid paying the import duties, some get less lucky and have their orders stopped and taxes applied.