Re: Shipping From China
Thanks for the info. DHL is taking a cut because $45 is well above the duty. They are charging brokerage fees (and very generous ones) and are deciding to do it on your behalf without your permission as well. I wonder how much of that amount they are really paying since typically small amounts, even over $200, are often let through. It is customs that decides not the courier. I once sent a $35 scarf as a gift. FEDEX charged $17 customs and brokerage fees (%50 of the item cost) it is a scam!! Think about it. all the additional costs end up being the real cost of your flashlight.
This business model makes it very convenient and very profitable for the manufacturer and ultimately the customer accepts all of the risk. The purchaser has to order it, cover all of the import costs and then happily wait for however long it takes to arrive. Then, even if it is under warranty, with an obvious manufacturing defect, is required make a movie to prove that it is, in fact, missing an Led. Arrange and pay for shipping back to China, then wait for a replacement product and a refund (just don't pay for tracking). We have lost our minds. We are suckers!!! From the manufacturer serving the customer we have been retrained to provide the manufacturer service and convenience and then pay for it. Bizarre!! if you instead choose to buy from a US dealer the manufacturer of the light, who themselves made the decision to sell and release the flashlight for distribution is somehow not responsible if the specifications do not comply with what is listed on their website. How far we have come.
There is an important difference between USPS and DHL/UPS/FEDEX. When a broker handles clearance, the broker is are legally required to collect any duty that is owed. They generate an entry which has the details (description, HTS number, value, duty rate, and duty due) and attaches payment for the duty which is submitted to customs (electronically these days) . Customs then can accept or reject the entry. Rejections are extremely rare.
The only complaint I have with that is that the competence of the people they use to determine the HTS (Harmonized Tarifff System) number (which determines the tariff rate) is often more than a little suspect. Quite frequently the goods may be classified into one or more HTS number. There are often a substantial differences in duty rates between HTS numbers that represent very similar products. There is nothing that requires the goods be classified into the highest duty rate HTS number. Obviously it is to your advantage to put them into the HTS number with the lowest duty rate. For example a number of years ago I purchased a HID flashlight (and it cost well over $200). Flashlights have fairly high duty rates. I had the shipper declare it as portable HID lighting (which it certainly was). IIRC, the HTS number for portable HID lighting turns out to be non-dutiable, in other words. Zero duty. Perfectly legal.
Naturally these companies also charge for the use of their customs broker, which is perfectly legal. What very few people realize is that you can challenge the duty charged and request an adjustment. I used to do this frequently with Federal Express, and almost always succeeded. The customs brokers employed by the courier companies are not experts in anything except customs brokerage. They have to deal with an immense variety of goods. They often don't have enough knowledge to know which HTS numbers best describes the product, and for the money they are getting paid, are not going to spend an hour researching to figure out what HTS number is the best fit. They will pick the first HTS number that seems to fit the description and move on.
By contrast USPS customs clearance is actually handled by Customs and Border Protection (CPB), who are under NO legal obligation to charge duties. While the courier companies are legally obligated to charge the duty regardless of how large or small it is, there is no such obligation on the part of Customs and Border Protection. If the duty is less than the they believe it will cost them to fill out the paper work, they are inclined not to bother. The result is that often parcels which are in fact dutiable, enter free because CBP does not want to be bothered. If duty is due, the Post office charges a fee, plus the cost of a COD shipment, plus the applicable duty. However the fee the USPS charges tend to be quite small compared to what a customs broker will charge.
If the shipment will weigh more than about 20 pounds, you might consider shipping via Air Freight. If it is a non-commercial import, you can go to Customs (assuming you live in a city with a Port of Entry) and handle the clearance yourself, avoiding the brokerage fee. Goods being returned to USA if they were manufactured in the USA are always non-dutiable (American Goods Returned).
