DHL and "Import Duty" for modular equip

[BertKoor]

california according to his profile.

Ah yes, my bad

[sjm]

Just to clarify - it isn't DHL holding you to ransom nor whom you are paying these fees to. They are import duties that you pay to your own government.

[foosnark]

Just to clarify - it isn't DHL holding you to ransom nor whom you are paying these fees to. They are import duties that you pay to your own government.

DHL does add their own fee for collecting that import duty, which is undoubtedly more than their administrative costs. In my case it was more than the import duty itself, but that's probably not true for larger amounts.

[whyterabbyt]

Just ordered $500 from Greece for Modular stuff...just got a ransom notice from DHL for $150!! for "Import Duty" with "we are sending it back in 5 days".

Am I stuck? Options? I'm kind of shocked and pissed right now, can't think straight.

So this is the first time you've had to pay import duty? Lucky f**ker.

[sjm]

Just to clarify - it isn't DHL holding you to ransom nor whom you are paying these fees to. They are import duties that you pay to your own government.

DHL does add their own fee for collecting that import duty, which is undoubtedly more than their administrative costs. In my case it was more than the import duty itself, but that's probably not true for larger amounts.

Interesting, I wasn't aware of that. The last time I had to pay import duty, it was exactly the amount on the government website. Not sure if that was shipped via DHL though, nor whether their policy differs by country.

[foosnark]

So this is the first time you've had to pay import duty? Lucky f**ker.

The US has been weirdly lax about this since forever. No state sales tax if you buy something from a different state (and often until relatively recently, if you bought it online or mail-order from your own state), and import duties were really only collected on some imports and not others, with a de minimis exemption that meant most consumers never directly had to pay them.

But economists have shown that most of the time when the US does introduce a tariff meant to protect a particular industry, it reduces consumer choice, raises consumer costs, and actually *hurts* the industry it was trying to protect (fewer jobs and lower salaries). And of course, some things cannot be produced in the US either because of climate, resources, or the long ramp-up time required for manufacturing. So nobody was in a big hurry to just slap a bunch of import duties onto consumer goods, foods, raw materials, electronic components, etc.

Chump, who has no understanding of economics, convinced Congress to grant him "emergency" powers, and has just sort of randomly declared tariffs with the assistance of a chatbot and a Ouija board, changing the rules on a regular basis, then changing them again and claiming he's made a fantastic deal (still worse than before he mucked around).

[Bunny_boy]

The US has been weirdly lax about this since forever. No state sales tax if you buy something from a different state (and often until relatively recently, if you bought it online or mail-order from your own state)

That's really mental. So if you lived on a state border / ordered online only you could save loads of money? Or in another way, states are losing out of a huge amount of income. What other means do the states use to generate revenue?

[pekbro]

But domestic, or pay, they’re the options for now (hopefully a temp thing).

Still going to pay one way or another, directly or indirectly.

[Constructed Identity]

It’s interesting to me to see if the final price from buying direct from a co. In EU will be more or less than buying from a US retailer who imported then added to the price. If I can get the ‘introductory offer’ on the Warp I will see about this shipping fee and then later see the price Perfect Circuit charges.

[meeks]

OK....Talked to DHL, it was roughly $100 for the Dreadbox NYX (plus a little rack unit, roughly $500 total) and since the NYX has a METAL CASE, it was an additional $50. So anything made of metal will be charges a certain additional percentage amount. So about 150/500 bucks making it 30% which is roughly what I paid in the good old concrete strip malls of the USA in Taxes for the last two years.

I will not be ordering anything abroad for some time...sorry all you cool companies that I love so much.

[BertKoor]

Business opportunity idea: sell modular stuff as kits. No metal boxes to ship to the US.

[foosnark]

That's really mental. So if you lived on a state border / ordered online only you could save loads of money? Or in another way, states are losing out of a huge amount of income. What other means do the states use to generate revenue?

If you are physically in a store and buy something, you pay the sales tax for the state the store is physically in (and whatever county/city taxes there also might be) -- which isn't reflected in displayed prices by the way.

If you order online or by mail, it used to be that no tax was collected at all. Then they decided, if you are buying something from the same state you live in (for some reason), you are supposed to pay sales tax. I don't know how well that actually gets enforced.

Many, but not all, states also have an income tax. There are often specific taxes on gasoline, cigarettes, hotel stays and other things, and some of those *are* included in prices and some aren't. Some states also have tolls for major highways

[Bunny_boy]

That's really mental. So if you lived on a state border / ordered online only you could save loads of money? Or in another way, states are losing out of a huge amount of income. What other means do the states use to generate revenue?

If you are physically in a store and buy something, you pay the sales tax for the state the store is physically in (and whatever county/city taxes there also might be) -- which isn't reflected in displayed prices by the way.

If you order online or by mail, it used to be that no tax was collected at all. Then they decided, if you are buying something from the same state you live in (for some reason), you are supposed to pay sales tax. I don't know how well that actually gets enforced.

Many, but not all, states also have an income tax. There are often specific taxes on gasoline, cigarettes, hotel stays and other things, and some of those *are* included in prices and some aren't. Some states also have tolls for major highways

Ah, misunderstood you about the physical shops - yes I remember trying to work out complex sums at the counter years ago in California.

That's very odd for online / mail as distance selling / buying is like 100+ years old, so that's a lot of missed revenue over the years (obviously it's increased exponentially over the last few years, especially since 2020)
It's odd that you don't pay tax on goods from different states - it should be really easy to calculate at the point of sale, or even just incorporated into the price of the goods.

It may not be the case, but by not collecting taxes from distance sales, would other taxes be kept at a rate that is higher than necessary? Not due to that reason, but more that if that sales tax is collected other tax rates might be able to be reduced.