DHL invoice after getting a JNS shipment in the US?

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TimS

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I've placed two orders with Maxim. After my most recent order, I received an invoice for duty assessed by DHL. I know other countries pay an import duty, but I've never paid one in the U.S. And I'm not sure why one order was assessed a duty, and the other one wasn't?

Did I just get lucky by not being taxed on the first order, or did DHL make a mistake by billing me for duty on the second?

I'm curious to see what others' experiences have been.

Thanks,
Tim
 
you got lucky the first time... they can charge you customs and duties on any of this stuff really
 
Hi TimS,

You are the lucky one.

I got one a couple of years ago for an order from Maxim. The charge was about $60 for random custom inspection recoup cost. If you search for references of incidents, you will find many and many people think that DHL just tries to get some extra money if you are happy to pay.

What I did was to ring DHL, and in the end they waived the charge.
 
There's technically a duty on kitchen knives, but not one on sharpening stones. For some reason, USPS almost never imposes a duty, but I've gotten a customs duty for some international packages shipped via ups, FedEx, and DHL.

I've gotten 2 duty invoices for packages from maxim out of probably 15 packages in the last year. On one package that was mostly stones with one knife, I called and said the duty was on the full value of items that shouldn't have been assessed. They wrote me a letter a couple weeks later saying that the duty was in error.

So it seems somewhat arbitrary. It depends on what's marked on the invoice and who's reviewing it at CBP. They have to match up items and values on the invoice with the complex harmonized tariff schedule. You can look up the HTS online if you want.

* the above only applies if you are in the US

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
I've never ever been invoiced for a duty, and I've gotten a ton of stuff over the years...
 
Thanks for the info; I appreciate the comments. I guess I'll call DHL and see what they say.

FWIW, both shipments were stones only. Oh well, learn something new every day.
 
there actually is a duty on stones too... its just much less than knives

Hey Jon -- which HTS code do you use on synthetic and natural stones?

I did a search of the USITC website (http://hts.usitc.gov/) and came up with the following categories (Sorry it's hard to read -- I'm bad at pasting tables):

6804 Millstones, grindstones, grinding wheels and the like, without frameworks, for grinding, sharpening, polishing, trueing or cutting, hand sharpening or polishing stones, and parts thereof, of natural stone, of agglomerated natural or artificial abrasives,

Other millstones, grindstones, grinding wheels and the like:
6804.21.00 00 Of agglomerated synthetic or natural diamond
6804.22 Of other agglomerated abrasives or of ceramics:
6804.22.10 00 Bonded with synthetic resins
Other:
6804.22.40 00 Abrasive wheels
6804.22.60 00 Other
6804.23.00 00 Of natural stone
6804.30.00 00 Hand sharpening or polishing stones

Or you can go here: http://hts.usitc.gov/Table 68.xml#6804. Most of the items on the list are free of a "general" duty.

I called DHL and sayd that my items fell into the last category "Hand sharpening or polishing stones" and were duty free. It's usually someone's job to match up the packing slip with the ITC categories, and assess duties if any are due. People make mistakes, especially on small tickets :biggrin:
 
i dont remember exactly what it was, but we had a customs broker deal with this stuff for us a couple of times and i recall it was... maybe 6804.22.10
 
I have been seeing this kind of stuff more and more from private carriers such as DHL, UPS and FedEx. These companies use 3rd party customs brokers so the evaluations and charges are always the highest applicable and their service charges are often hefty. People started getting fed up with these charges and began refusing shipments at the door. These couriers became wise to this and started sending invoices after the shipments were accepted. By the time the invoice shows up the recipient is less likely to return the product. They would have already used the product, discarded the packaging and would be responsible for return shipping costs and applying to customs for a review once the product was returned. Not completely ethical but pretty damned wise.
 
Hi TimS,

You are the lucky one.

I got one a couple of years ago for an order from Maxim. The charge was about $60 for random custom inspection recoup cost. If you search for references of incidents, you will find many and many people think that DHL just tries to get some extra money if you are happy to pay.

What I did was to ring DHL, and in the end they waived the charge.

I've had this 3-4 times.... Usually with stones or WA powder
 
I have had amazing and terrible service with DHL. I avoid them, but I know they work very well for Maxim, because they truly are just a better option in Europe. I've recently been sending with Purolator, to the US, and so far I think the guys have been "duty free". It can be tough to find a carrier that doesn't overcharge, and this is a frustrating part of shipping internationally. In my mind, the free shipping from Maxim makes up for the occasional fee that DHL charges.
 
You're lucky in the States. HMRC in the UK is really tight when it comes to enforcing import VAT/customs duty.
 
Yep, sounds like things are usually loose enough in the US that most buyersaren't even aware of potential import duties. Having sent a few things to the States, my impression is that the US system is geared towards security concerns (Hey, that 'stone' could be a bomb!) rather than monitoring import cheats. Maybe wise to have your goods labelled and shipped accordingly. For example, a common translation of a knife from Japan is 'kitchen tool' or maybe describe a stone as a 'traditional Japanese' sharpening stone. I dunno, could help.
 
I've placed two orders with Maxim. After my most recent order, I received an invoice for duty assessed by DHL. I know other countries pay an import duty, but I've never paid one in the U.S. And I'm not sure why one order was assessed a duty, and the other one wasn't?

Did I just get lucky by not being taxed on the first order, or did DHL make a mistake by billing me for duty on the second?

I'm curious to see what others' experiences have been.

Thanks,
Tim
Happened to me once, could not get an answer that made sense from DHL as to why the charge. Never happened again though.
 
I just spoke with DHL. The agent was adamant that a U.S. customs agent made the assessment that my stone warranted an import duty. When I cited the Harmonized Tariff Schedule (thanks for providing that to me!) that seems to indicate that my stone should be duty-free, she said there wasn't much she could do because it (the HTS #) wasn't cited on the original invoice.

I asked what I needed to do to dispute the charges. She told me she'd be happy to help, but that I needed to know that if after the dispute has been investigated, if I am still in the wrong, I need to pay an ADDITIONAL $75 because US Customs has to 're-open' the file. Sounds like extortion to me.

The sum of money actually isn't all that much; it's the principle. I hope this doesn't come off as a bunch of whining self-righteousness to our friends in Europe and elsewhere that pay import duties as a matter of course--I'm just kind of put off by this, especially since it seems like the duty shouldn't have been assessed.

Oh well, I'll have to give this some thought and figure out what to do next.
 
I was very excited when heard a doorbell and saw the DHL package showed up on my doorstep.

Then as I closed the door, the DHL driver quickly shouted at me to wait.

The rest of the story was pretty much the same with what you experienced.

I was a little bit annoyed at the first, but after using the stones to sharpen my knives, I got my smile back.:biggrin:
 
In Australia, my dhl agent advised me to ignore them as long as you have received your parcel. LOL
 
98% of times people don't pay any taxes or duties, when I ship to US, however I have seen that US customs tend to take stones or knives names and label them As cloths where the taxes is highest, you just need to complane and don't pay anything :p
 
I forgot to mention. The first time I got a duty invoice I ignored it (as I've done in the past with UPS). DHL sent my bill to collections. Total due was around 40 bucks.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
DHL really will send you to collections... they take it very seriously. FedEx and UPS are the same in this regard.
 
It seems you in the US are luckier then I am. Whenever I get something abroad via UPS, DHL or FedEx (abroad means overseas as not in continental Europa or UK), I almost always have to pay import duties, and custom fees. The only time when they're not applicable when the item is marked as gift.

Last bill was around $45 for a $60 straight razor sent from LA to me. Makes a cheap razor not so cheap :(
 
Just got back from Vacation and try to sort out that mess :D

For All US Costumers that got that extra Bill from DHL, Please contact me show me the bill and i will set in extra credit to your next purchase.
 
:bashhead: I threw away my DHL invoice. Dammit !
 
Just send me email anyway, i tend to trust KKF members :D
 

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