i ordered products from a company in another country. i paid a price in full INCLUDING SHIPPING yesterday i got an invoice from ups charging me for custome charges of $7.51 then an entry prep fee of $21.50 and a disbursement fee of $5.00 for a total of 34.01. Im wondering if im responsible for this charge because i paid for the item including shipping and i think this charge is a part of shipping. let me know what you think. thanks.

 

yes you are. customs fee is customs fee. seperate from whatever deal you made with your vendor who shipped the product. Only way around it is to ask whoever sending the product to you claim the item to be under $150. Only then they may not charge you customs.

 

Yes, you are unfortunately responsible unless you had a clear agreement with the seller that customs charges were also going to be included. At least it wasn't a few hundred dollars.

 

And then if it gets lost in shipping, youre SOL because it was only insured for $150.

Ryan

 

Stop Jinxing me Ryan

 

Whats the Tracking number???? I work for UPS

 

What are you waiting on?

Ryan

 

Yes, you do have to pay. Customs and import duties are charged by YOUR government. Not the merchant, not the carrier. Brokerage fees are charged by the carrier but it is their discretion to do so; it's a processing fee for collecting and remitting the duties to your government. Unless the item you bought was specifically listed as being shipped duties included, you are responsible for those charges when you import items.

If you don't pay, the merchant gets billed by the shipping company and then they come after you. Been there, done that.

The only way to (illegally) avoid paying duties is to declare items as gifts. Legitimate companies usually won't do this, as if they get caught their business is in legal jeopardy; I don't know anyone who would sacrifice a business for the sake of potentially saving one customer $25 in duty.

Just some input from my side of the fence.

 

why would declaring them as a gift be any different then saying it's for personal use?

unless you're saying "as a gift" in meaning that the person sending it over is claiming it's a gift to the other person and no money was exchanged....

 

thanks for the help guys. i see why now its my responsibility, i just have never gotten charged customs fees and i figured it would have been a part of shipping.