Import tax customs duty runaround from an item purchased from Amazon

[dhupverg]

I bought a sporting goods product off of Amazon for $105 including shipping.  Amazon added a "deposit for customs fee" of $45.  So far so good, no worries.  

 

The product was delivered 2 weeks ago and I did not see any refund nor any accounting of the import fee in Amazon.  I talked to a clueless rep and finally he gave in and said " all of the fee was used"  When I asked him where I can see these details, he tells me I need to check with the shipper.

 

So I get on the phone with DHL Thailand and they say they do not do anything with tax collection and have no idea of the import fees.  They then give a name of a random generic company and say to contact them.  Of course DHL gave no contact info for this random generic name company which I guess has their hand out for "customs clearance"

 

So it seems the $45 in fees ( amounting to over 40%) of product and shipping has disappeared into the ether with no company taking any responsibility as to how much the actual duties were ( I believe it should be 20% + 7%), nor was there any receipt anywhere.

 

I had thought that DHL UPS etc.  normally handle customs collection.

 

In the past, when I purchased off of Amazon for similiar products, I always ended up getting a refund from Amazon as they tend to overvalue the duties and customs.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

[FritsSikkink]

So you don't know where about 6 USD went and talked to Amazon, DHL and now you are stuck because you don't have any contact details of the third company?

[Celsius]

32 minutes ago, dhupverg said:

In the past, when I purchased off of Amazon for similiar products, I always ended up getting a refund from Amazon as they tend to overvalue the duties and customs.  

 

Just because you used to get refunds in the past does not mean anything with companies like amazon.

 

I remember 7-8 years ago I could order a heavy items from Amazon UK (I am talking 30kg or more) and they had a flat shipping of 4.95 pounds (no duties). Of course they were losing money. I made so much money reselling their product in Thailand. Now they charge 300-400 pounds to ship the same item.... plus, of course, customs duties which run in the hundreds.

[lopburi3]

The one time I had a DHL proposed invoice (after arrival in Thailand about 16 months ago and I let them keep).  Total cost would likely have doubled and even then may not have received item.

 

900 baht service fee to authorize DHL to act as broker.

200 baht Customs fee

200 baht storage fee (min after 2 free days)

500 - 1450 handling fee (2% of customs duty + 7% VAT

XXX baht Customs duty (unknown until determined by Customs).

 

So from above costs without any duty would have been more than $45.

 

So in effect likely more than original cost total - and as item could be classed as medical (not a drug - a physical item) and not allowed entry without special paperwork may not have received even with payment.  

 

I would be happy to receive your item with just the estimated customs payment and no extra paperwork/trips involved.

 

 

[Crossy]

Generic "Sports Equipment" (HS Code 9506.99.0000) should be 10% duty plus 7% VAT on the declared CIF value. So about $19 if we take $104 as the CIF.

 

Then of course DHL have their fees to add on.

 

The problem is, of course, they have the money so there's really no reason (by their thinking) to actually do anything about giving some of it back.

 

How much is your time worth?

 

 

[Liverpool Lou]

 

3 hours ago, dhupverg said:

I talked to a clueless rep and finally he gave in and said " all of the fee was used"  When I asked him where I can see these details, he tells me I need to check with the shipper.

Seems that your beef is with Amazon.

 

When DHL are contracted by a seller to ship a dutiable item from overseas, DHL acts as an agent of Thai Customs and collects the duty and VAT on it's behalf, plus a disbursement charge.  All that is clearly itemised on their receipt that is attached to the delivered package.

 

When a seller/Amazon collects the duty at source and it is added to the purchase price and paid up front, as in your case, the seller/Amazon is responsible for that information.   DHL Thailand will just deliver as duty paid at source without having access to the details as they did not collect the duty, etc..

[dhupverg]

46 minutes ago, Liverpool Lou said:

 

Seems that your beef is with Amazon.

 

When DHL are contracted by a seller to ship a dutiable item from overseas, DHL acts as an agent of Thai Customs and collects the duty and VAT on it's behalf, plus a disbursement charge.  All that is clearly itemised on their receipt that is attached to the delivered package.

 

When a seller/Amazon collects the duty at source and it is added to the purchase price and paid up front, as in your case, the seller/Amazon is responsible for that information.   DHL Thailand will just deliver as duty paid at source without having access to the details as they did not collect the duty, etc..

The bottom line beef is no one can show me an invoice except the original seller.  If the duty is 10% +7% as stated above, then someone just lined their pockets.  I really don't care about the missing $20 or so, but I would like to know who ended up pocketing the money and why there was no invoice from anyone except the original seller for $105.

 

Everyone just pointed fingers at someone else in the chain with no accountability.  

[Barefootknobby]

2 hours ago, Liverpool Lou said:

 

Seems that your beef is with Amazon.

 

When DHL are contracted by a seller to ship a dutiable item from overseas, DHL acts as an agent of Thai Customs and collects the duty and VAT on it's behalf, plus a disbursement charge.  All that is clearly itemised on their receipt that is attached to the delivered package.

 

When a seller/Amazon collects the duty at source and it is added to the purchase price and paid up front, as in your case, the seller/Amazon is responsible for that information.   DHL Thailand will just deliver as duty paid at source without having access to the details as they did not collect the duty, etc..

I ordered a sports massager from amazon, it arrived in bangkok, I was told by customs and excise I had to have a medical certificate from a hospital for them to deliver, within two days Amazon realised the unusual action by customs, immediately sent me a refund and an apology with a £10 voucher for my troubles, they took care of the return which I thought was good service. Note amazon refunds said they had never encountered this before in any other country lol

[soisanuk]

When I order from Amazon and pay the shipping/customs fee added, I consider it to be the cost of the item without expectation of any return. I am satisfied that I will get delivery without any hassles regarding customs duties.

 

But sometimes Amazon notifies me of a refund because the duties were less than they collected.  The last time was a couple o months ago. Over the years, I have never had them come back to ask for more because they didn't collect enough.   

[Straight8]

2 hours ago, dhupverg said:

The bottom line beef is no one can show me an invoice except the original seller.  If the duty is 10% +7% as stated above, then someone just lined their pockets.  I really don't care about the missing $20 or so, but I would like to know who ended up pocketing the money and why there was no invoice from anyone except the original seller for $105.

 

Everyone just pointed fingers at someone else in the chain with no accountability.  

If you don't care about the missing $20 or so, just move on. Really, time is so precious than to have to go through all that BS so satisfy your curiosity.

 

 

[rwill]

When I buy something from Amazon I just accept that is how much it will cost.  If I happen to get some of it back that is fine.  It usually takes a quite awhile before I get a message from Amazon that they are refunding some of the customs fees.

 

Then occasionally I get an email from Thai customs which is a bill saying I owe them some money.  It doesn't show what item it was for though.  

[Pdavies99]

I thought most knew that DHL is the worst to deal with when you have issues etc, they are unhelpful at all times and charge a fortune in fees and duties.

 

Best to find a different delivery option or order elsewhere.

[mirage]

I bought an item from ebay and paid the import tax at point of purchase. I was very surprised a few weeks later to get all the tax refunded.

 

[MrJ2U]

10 hours ago, dhupverg said:

Amazon added a "deposit for customs fee" of $45.

That's what they do.

 

I've gotten small refund occasionally.  It takes 2-4 months to show up as credit. 

 

If no credit then thats what Amazon handed over to customs.  

 

The shippers aren't getting the cash.

 

Your beef would be with Thai Customs.

 

Good luck with that. 

[Snailer1969]

4 hours ago, Pdavies99 said:

I thought most knew that DHL is the worst to deal with when you have issues etc, they are unhelpful at all times and charge a fortune in fees and duties.

 

Best to find a different delivery option or order elsewhere.

Yip DHL are the worst. I’ve returned multiple items due to their ridiculous costs. Any other shipper, normally no dramas

[Liverpool Lou]

18 hours ago, Barefootknobby said:

21 hours ago, Liverpool Lou said:

When DHL are contracted by a seller to ship a dutiable item from overseas, DHL acts as an agent of Thai Customs and collects the duty and VAT on it's behalf, plus a disbursement charge.  All that is clearly itemised on their receipt that is attached to the delivered package.

 

When a seller/Amazon collects the duty at source and it is added to the purchase price and paid up front, as in your case, the seller/Amazon is responsible for that information.   DHL Thailand will just deliver as duty paid at source without having access to the details as they did not collect the duty, etc..

Expand  

I ordered a sports massager from amazon, it arrived in bangkok, I was told by customs and excise I had to have a medical certificate from a hospital for them to deliver, within two days Amazon realised the unusual action by customs, immediately sent me a refund and an apology with a £10 voucher for my troubles, they took care of the return which I thought was good service. Note amazon refunds said they had never encountered this before in any other country lol

How lovely for you.   What has that got to do with my post that you quoted?

[Liverpool Lou]

20 hours ago, dhupverg said:

21 hours ago, Liverpool Lou said:

 

When DHL are contracted by a seller to ship a dutiable item from overseas, DHL acts as an agent of Thai Customs and collects the duty and VAT on it's behalf, plus a disbursement charge.  All that is clearly itemised on their receipt that is attached to the delivered package.

 

When a seller/Amazon collects the duty at source and it is added to the purchase price and paid up front, as in your case, the seller/Amazon is responsible for that information.   DHL Thailand will just deliver as duty paid at source without having access to the details as they did not collect the duty, etc..

Expand  

The bottom line beef is no one can show me an invoice except the original seller.  If the duty is 10% +7% as stated above, then someone just lined their pockets.  I really don't care about the missing $20 or so, but I would like to know who ended up pocketing the money and why there was no invoice from anyone except the original seller for $105.

"I would like to know who ended up pocketing the money"

You paid Amazon the duty charge, not DHL, so the conclusion isn't difficult to work out.

[chilly07]

You are lucky!  My experience of  Customs and DHL was that the cost of the item ordered tripled when  it reached them in Thailand.  I told them to  return to  sender and got a full refund  through  Visa. Purchased a similar  item in Thailand for a fraction of the  price! Moral is when in Thailand Bye Thai!

[Skeptic7]

Just wait for the Thai Customs Apologists. They'll tell you it should've been about $100 duty on your purchase. And that seems fair and justified to them. That it's your fault for "being lazy". ????

[JimmyJ]

On 10/21/2022 at 11:35 AM, Liverpool Lou said:

 

When a seller/Amazon collects the duty at source and it is added to the purchase price and paid up front, as in your case, the seller/Amazon is responsible for that information.   DHL Thailand will just deliver as duty paid at source without having access to the details as they did not collect the duty, etc..

"When a seller/Amazon collects the duty at source..."

 

 

Amazon does not collect the duty, they collect an  estimate of  the duty and tax, and state that if it is too much the overage will be refunded.

 

I agree with the OP that there should be an accounting and notification /confirmation of what was collected.

 

Agree with you that Amazon should provide it.

[JimmyJ]

23 hours ago, soisanuk said:

 Over the years, I have never had them come back to ask for more because they didn't collect enough.   

They state that the customer will not be charged anything additional (they will cover it).

 

That is (at least 1 reason) why they tend to overestimate greatly.

[JimmyJ]

The last post in the above thread has my calculation of what I paid in my 1st experience with Amazon's Estimated Import Deposit.

 

I called up  week or 2 after it arrived to ask the same question the OP did.

It felt like the CS rep hadn't heard of any of this previously - he asked me to hold so he can check with someone, came back what felt like much too quickly and told me it was collected in full, no refund.

I felt nobody had checked.

 

A few days later I got an email from Amazon stating the amount of my refund - detailed in the linked thread.

 

So the CSR had checked with someone who told him "Say that it was all collected" as a way of not bothering to check into it.

 

NOTE - I made about 7 Amazon orders in the same period of time.

I had first priced out a few weeks earlier what they would cost with Amazon including shipping and Estimated Import Deposits.

 

When I was ready to make the purchases (about 6 - 8 weeks ago) they were no longer collecting the Deposits for all except 1 item and that item now no longer has the Deposit collected.

 

So hopefully Amazon is no longer involved in collected the Estimates and the OP's dilemna will no longer exist.

[Mark1066]

On 10/22/2022 at 12:41 PM, Skeptic7 said:

Just wait for the Thai Customs Apologists. They'll tell you it should've been about $100 duty on your purchase. And that seems fair and justified to them. That it's your fault for "being lazy". ????

It's nothing to do with Thai customs, it's Amazon that charges the fees. When I pointed out to them they were adding import duty fees to items that were under the duty threshold here, they said, "Don't, worry, you will get your money back within 180 days", as if that made everything okay.

 

And yes, if you don't check what the applicable rate of duty is before you order goods to be sent here then yes, it is your fault for being lazy. Nothing to do with whether the duty is 'fair' or 'justified', it's to do with accepting responsibility for what you're doing, like any adult with a functioning brain.

[Mark1066]

On 10/21/2022 at 3:16 PM, Straight8 said:

If you don't care about the missing $20 or so, just move on. Really, time is so precious than to have to go through all that BS so satisfy your curiosity.

 

 

Amazon must love people like you. Just a thousand customers who think like that and they've made $20,000 by cheating on the import duty fees.

[Straight8]

On 10/27/2022 at 1:41 PM, Mark1066 said:

Amazon must love people like you. Just a thousand customers who think like that and they've made $20,000 by cheating on the import duty fees.

Read my reply to the OP's reply. My reply had nothing to do with what Amazon are doing or not doing.

 

 

[Straight8]

Just now, Straight8 said:

Read my reply to the OP's thread. My reply had nothing to do with what Amazon are doing or not doing.