(local) UPS outrageous disproportional fees !

You probably read my rant on some other post, so i thought i should open a new thread for it here... and blow some 3D steam

I had 2 last orders i was forced not to accept from our local UPS.

The first order of $102 - i was contacted by UPS and was told the overall fees including Duty tax+VAT+their trouble.. is $74 (!)
.... for one "piece of plastic".

The following week a second order arrived valued $51.9 ...
Local UPS charged me $64 (!) extra for it...
The UPS rep mentioned that i was a $1.9 above the no-tax limit of $50 so for that extra $1.9 .. ALL their fees apply .. total of $64 (!)


When i asked what were their fees on top the Duty tax of few percentages and the 16.5% VAT? - the rep answered "we have many fees like...opening a file on this package etc.."


This is flat out outrageous, disproportional , total B.S charges.

I'm not about to start a net-war with this local corporation.. but my lesson is i will never order above $45 per package/order.

In fact, right now i feel like ordering tons of packages valued the minimum of $25.. (just kidding Maartje)



Cheers,
Dizingof

Thanks Pete.

@dizingof
Sorry to bring bad news, but i doubt UPS can do anything to help, they are probably just obeying your country's law.

Here in Argentina it's much harsher than wherever you live though. Here the tax-free import limit is 25 US dollars PER YEAR, (on a single package, that means, you use your whole "tax credit" on the first package you get in the whole fiscal year, even if it's $5) The taxes here are about 50% of the CIF, that is Declared value + Insurance + Freight (yes freight is included) plus a AR$5 (~$1.5) fee to the customs officials for basically taking you to a small room, give you your package and a knife, see you opening it, listing every of it's contents and writing a bill in horrible handwriting (Great value!). Oh, i should add, customs sometimes ignores the "gift" checkbox in the customs declaration forms, and if there is no value or it looks like too low, the law says they have right to estimate the values themselves based on a table i couldn't find anywhere.

If you ship trough UPS you pay UPS do to all that (dealing with your customs, which, having dealt with my own myself, can range from meh to a pretty crappy experience, depending on who is in charge in the precise moment you go), which means an important fee like you listed. For people like me that worse than living in Argentina, lives in any place other than Buenos Aires, things can go worse since they don't bring stuff to the local customs, but are dealt by UPS employees in Buenos Aires. I have heard of many horror stories of exorbitant fees because you did not only have to pay UPS to deal with the customs you also have to pay the shipment from Buenos Aires to wherever you happened to live. That's why i avoid UPS and instead rely on USPS that ships to my local post office.

Lol, i can't believe i wrote such a long rant, hehe, but having a girlfriend abroad gave me some experience and hours of research on the topic.

Anyway, i think you should contact the authorities of your country and/or read up on the tax/import law in your jurisdiction. Maybe if you establish as an official business or importer you can get some tax cuts.

TL;DR
Import law in many countries suck for common people.... but they sometimes make some sense in the context they were created.

cyborg_ar,

You have my sympathy i wish your country all the best.
every young democracy has some growing pains. mine too.

In my country, the law is a tax free up to $50 per package, no
matter how many packages (once, a UPS guy brought me 2
packages at the same time each below $50 and they were both tax free)

Of course, there is the duty tax+16.5% VAT for packages above
the $50 mark, but on top that it seems UPS wants a share for
handling the release of the package from the customs.

The bottom line it looks bad and disproportional to the cost of the package.

I also really really doubt there is any customs tax on a "piece of plastic" !
just VAT , i can check that with UPS



@Pete - wow, you just dropped a bomb ..

A local shapeways branch ... i like the sound of it !
where do i sign up for a franchise?

Perhaps Shapeways can restrict the fees by finding appropriate taric codes ? On international order where the taric code is properly specified, my experience is custom clearance is quicker and cheaper.
(as it's then predetermined what's in it and how it should be taxed)

Not sure why/what UPS adds to the total..

I have great experience with fedex, quick, affordable and on most products I only have to pay VAT. No extra charges whatsoever.
(and as a small business you get a return on the VAT)

Would like to sign for a franchise too PETE.
My order is still in production, I guess i should just wait for my UPS surprise!!! Hahaha

phew lucky for me i live in the netherlands no import taxes or additional fee's just straight up model costs and done.

but going over 100% additional fee's on a package thats insane!!

Come to Las Vegas!!! Real Estate is pretty cheep here right now!

Felt I needed to reply here as well. Living in Canada we also get raped with UPS fees. I can take the duty and taxes as expected but as mentioned a close to 20% charge for "brokerage" fees is hard to swallow knowing there would be no charge like this if sent expedited, or express post. Would even be worth the extra few days wait and still have tracking and insurance. While it won't stop me from getting items printed here it is a hard pill to swallow in these times. I have no complaints on the quality or speed of service from any level here.

YES, sending trough the International Mail Service would be better for some as most of the time (at least here) the customs "brokerage" is done locally in the destination post office. It'd be nice to have the option to get the package shipped trough TNT Post even if it's slower.

It's possible that UPS fees are offsetting lower shipping rates than you would get through parcel post. I know that sending packages by Canada Post seems to be quite expensive. I believe Canada Post also charges a flat $5 brokerage fee on top of duties and GST (tax) for packages coming in by post, but when I tried to research UPS brokerage fees online it appeared that they started at $7.50 and went up with the value of the package, and there are other (possible) fees, e.g. for paying your duties up front, plus interest, and possibly others (fuel surcharges were mentioned somewhere). However, my one delivery by UPS so far only had duties and GST charged, so maybe the fees only kick in at a certain value. It's very confusing.

Also, I can't speak for the U.S., but I did pay duty on my package, even though it was described on the invoice as a "miscellaneous plastic item".

I think every one should check with their local UPS what is the limit
for a package value to become Tax free and when other chargers apply.

As i said, in my country i can import almost anything below $50
with tax free and no UPS extra charges.. even few packages arriving at the same time - as long as each package is cleared as below $50.

(Canadian resident). I too have issues with UPS (charging more for "gold" items - give me a break! and now I'm expecting a package over $100 - great!

I'm all for the latter few comments regarding us having shipping options. If ordinary mail means longer time but MUCH less cost then I will use that option!

However, I understand Shapeways would prefer to have a signature on arrival of goods.

Glenn

Hi all

I just had a meeting with our local UPS account manager and he advised me to tell you all that is it best to contact your local UPS in these cases. They can help you best. I am sorry that this answer does not help you very much. But please, if these strange things keep on happening, keep us informed, and mail us at our service address. Then we can keep UPS sharp as well. Maybe in the (near) future it will be possible for Shapeways customer to choose different carriers. We are always looking into to find other possibilities to constantly improve our service.

Hope this helps you out a bit,

Any update on this?
I would love to get some larger prints done, but am pretty weary after reading about the additional cost.

Go Shapeways!!

Call your local UPS branch and ask this simple question...
What is the highest value for a package you can import without any taxes and extra fees.

If you're lucky it's a $50 limit .. if not ask UPS what their fee is and estimated duty tax.

If you plan a larger print .... well.. i suggest you order it before your next vacation to Amsterdam.. and have it sent to your hotel

My Audio/Video Dock for iPod Touch 3G is in UPS warehouse for over 2 weeks... still waiting for it to be released to me...
Value: $102 (Black Detail) - UPS extra fees: $73... :confused

@dizingof: What country do you live in?

The "Holy Land".