Thread: Import Charges from UK

Do a search on here for 'dhl' - the little box on lower left of the page.

First entry will take you here:-

heads up - DHL Scam

All imports must go through Customs. So, if you wish to use DHL as your customs broker, then you have to sign a Letter of Authority for them to deal with Customs. Just because you used DHL to ship the goods in doesnt mean you are stuck with them as your agent. You can front to any Customs Broker and give them your Invoice , sign a Letter of Authority with them,and they can then broker the deal between yourself and Customs.
DHL are expensive, you should be able to get an estimate from another broker.
Usual costs are:
GST
Duty ( if required)
Customs handling
Terminal Fees
Customs Clearance Fees
Agent Fees

and a few more........

Shop around, some brokers are good and some should wear a balaclava!

Hope this helps

Cheers

Automotive Import Taxes are 5% + 10% GST = 15% for orders over $1K

Normally I get stuff via Fed EX, and if it needs duty paid, they ring me for a CC number and I pay the extra 15%

This week I got stuff sent via ICC and got stung for a range of fees. Even the CC fee was 4% + GST on top of that!

Here's what I got charged :
DUTY / GST / Aus Customs DEC Fee $492
Professional Service Fee $181.50 (inc GST)
Customs ICS Fee %16.50 (inc GST)

I paid by EFT to save $30 on the CC fees.

I could have saved over $1,000 if the local importer had brought in the items for me, but they kept delaying the order, until I finally ran out of time and had to air freight the stuff.

Still awaiting delivery.

Originally Posted by vonkprop

Hi, don't know whether this is the correct place for this, but here goes.
My son has just bought a new transfer case for his Defender from Ashcroft in the UK and it has been shipped to Perth via DHL. We were going to pick it up from them.

We're having all sorts of dramas with DHL, who want us to sign a Letter of Authority to deal with the customs and anything else that needs to be done
to get it cleared, but don't seem to be able to give us an exact figure on what this will cost.

Does anyone have any experience with dealing with customs and the import process?

An LOA is standard practice for any company that is dealing with customs on your behalf and is a legal requirement if the goods are over 1K AUD as duty and gst are payable, DHL should be able to give you the exact cost of the clearance but minimum for most companies is approx. $150 for a one off process.

Michael2 is not quite right, duty is 5% but not + gst to 15%, its ITOT (invoice total) x exchange rate = XX AUD x duty 1.05 + freight and insurance x 10% for GST.

In technical terms duty is calculated on FOB ( free on board ) price and GST is calculated on CIF value ( cost, insurance ,freight ).

So if the TC came to 1k AUD and shipping AUD$200 , insurance $2.50 (industry standard .25% ), expect it to cost AUD$1377.75 plus clearance costs.

Bought a transfer case from Ashcroft last year...ordered on Friday...was in the Vehicle the following Thursday....had to pay usual customs clearance etc...but no real drama....Ashcrofts paper work covered all.

Thanks Guys - for your help - I have called a couple of other Agents in Perth - one wouldn't deal with me on the phone I had to send everything by email (which I haven't yet).
The other one that I did talked to sort of puffed his chest out (I could just see him on the other end of the phone) and started rattling off
a bunch of acronyms the I didn't understand and he knew it. Said his fee for dealing with it would be $195 and then all the charges to pay, but could tell me over the phone exactly
what those are - wanted to "sign me up" before he did that.

This really remind me of furniture removal people - they send out a man in a suit with a clip-board
and all sorts of fancy brochures to get your business, but once they've got your stuff
in a container somewhere they can do what they please, cause what are you going to do?

DHL have the TC in their possession so they think they can treat you as they please.

Thanks again

One thing that really ****ed me off with DHL is that i paid for an express service yet when my new head arrived they outsourced the delivery to Auspost so i lost another day.

Originally Posted by loanrangie

Michael2 is not quite right, duty is 5% but not + gst to 15%, its ITOT (invoice total) x exchange rate = XX AUD x duty 1.05 + freight and insurance x 10% for GST.

In technical terms duty is calculated on FOB ( free on board ) price and GST is calculated on CIF value ( cost, insurance ,freight ).

So if the TC came to 1k AUD and shipping AUD$200 , insurance $2.50 (industry standard .25% ), expect it to cost AUD$1377.75 plus clearance costs.

This is not right;

GST is payable on Invoice total including freight.
Customs duty is payable on the invoice total plus GST.

All the DHL charges are so bogus. I bought in an Auto from Ashcrofts and they wanted over $1000- in assorted "fees" including $80- for "electronic advice notification". When quizzed it was to send an email across the office to tell someone that someone else had done their paperwork. I went down there and ended up paying less than $300-. And no duty or GST on over 5K worth of stuff. In fact over the last 3 years I've bought in around 10K worth of stuff and never paid duty or GST and would have less that $500- in "charges". The only charge I didn't mind paying was the inter company fees as co's don't always use their own planes in order to expedite shipping as quickly as possible.

Of course the best system is door to door as it always seems to cost less even though all the stuff is the same.