Date: Fri, 20 Aug 2010 10:13:00 -0500
Reply-To: Alan Felder <dieseldoofus@GMAIL.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Alan Felder <dieseldoofus@GMAIL.COM>
Subject: Re: Import duties
In-Reply-To: <61134.62f11096.399fac3f@aol.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
Frank and all the others, thanks for this info. Trying to summarize all the
responses here - I normally won't buy anything from overseas that I can get
here, its just not economically sound. But, I couldn't find the front Alko
heavy-duty shocks stateside so that was the basis for the order, and the
heaviest items.
It is clear that the brokerage fees would not be the responsibility of the
vendor.
I'm wondering why certain shippers cannot discern from their agreements with
their outsourced customs brokerages how the fees will be calculated, and
build that into their shipping cost as the other shippers do. Maybe it
makes them appear less expensive, or at least competitive, for
international shipping. I still have no way of knowing if I have already
paid the brokerage fees when I paid for shipping, which was hefty I can
assure you.
With many vendors, this one included, the purchaser has no options as to how
the item is sent i.e. which carrier and by what method. If, in this case,
there was any statement that the purchaser would have to pay additional
brokerage fees it is buried deep within the fine print. As I said, I have
ordered and received items from Australia, Italy, France, Germany, Great
Britain, China, Canada, Japan, Maylasia (sp?), on more than one occasion
each and have never been presented with a separate invoice for brokerage,
regardless of the carrier, until now. Most, but not all of these, were
automotive parts both new and used.
One of my upcoming adventures in shipping will be from an eastern-bloc
country. That could be interesting.
On Fri, Aug 20, 2010 at 5:00 AM, Frank Condelli <RAlanen@aol.com> wrote:
> In a message dated 20/08/2010 12:05:18 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time,
> LISTSERV@GERRY.VANAGON.COM writes:
>
> Paul, almost got it right. The BROKERAGE FEE is the fee charged
> by the carrier to do the paperwork at customs of the receiver on the
> receiver's behalf, it is variable depending on the carrier. You can
> always opt to
> do your on brokerage although it is generally a PITA. Postal BROKERAGE
> FEES are ALWAYS lower that any other carrier. FedEx is next on the scale.
> DUTIES are duties and do not vary from one carrier to another. Duties are
> fees levied by the country of the receiver of the goods. Then there are
> TAXES levied by the Country and State or Province of your residence. This
> information is all coming from someone who imports and exports on a daily
> basis - ME !
>
> BTW, just received the Dennis Haynes, USED hitch, from Ryan in Cali. Came
> by UPS and the total due for Brokerage, Duty & Taxes was $22.92. I WAS
> surprised as I expected a lot more !
>
> >>>>>>>If you request foreign sellers to send items via postal mail, your
> duties/brokerage fees will be minimized.<<<<<<<
>
>
>
>
>
> Cheers,
>
> Frank Condelli
> Almonte, Ontario, Canada
> '87 Westy & Lionel Trains (_Collection for sale_
> (http://frankcondelli.com/trainsal.htm) )
> _Frank Condelli & Associates_ (http://frankcondelli.com/busindex.html) -
> Vanagon/Vanagon Westfalia Service in the Ottawa Valley
> _Vanagon Stainless Steel Exhaust Systems_
> (http://frankcondelli.com/exhaust.htm)
> _BusFusion_ (http://www.busfusion.com/) a VW Camper camping event,
> Almonte, ON, June 10 ~ 13, 2010
>
--
Alan Felder
Austin TX
82 Diesel Westy
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