Taxes and import duties going crazy in Germany??

Riccardo Turacchio said:
Well I just had the delivery guy at my door with my package and the rechnung/invoice
And I think I see where all this costs are going
They calculated 12 different type of items....even if eventually it was all electronic parts so falling under the same HS85
Then the hand tool was let's say another category.....but it would 5€ for that and not 41.65€ they are asking now....
So I didn't payed and probably they will send the package back....
I think I will need to write to Ugo and see if we can figure out a solution
Click to expand...
Your address is visible; you might not want to do that. 😉
 
I just finished to write another email to DHL and see if they can cancel the unjustified costs....that anyway didn't made the shipping smother but overly complicated
Let's see
 
Riccardo Turacchio said:
They calculated 12 different type of items....even if eventually it was all electronic parts so falling under the same HS85
Click to expand...
Ich würde reklamieren ...
I already did that a few times and DHL always was like "Oops, you're right, sorry about that".
Although, I'll add that here (Switzerland), I first get the package and the invoice shows up as a separate letter a few days later.
Also, I wasn't arguing about items, just saying "no fees at all, as it's below the taxable value". They always cancelled the invoice.

Edit: oh I see you did complain - good.
 
Fuzzonaut said:
Ich würde reklamieren ...
I already did that a few times and DHL always was like "Oops, you're right, sorry about that".
Although, I'll add that here (Switzerland), I first get the package and the invoice shows up as a separate letter a few days later.
Also, I wasn't arguing about items, just saying "no fees at all, as it's below the taxable value". They always cancelled the invoice.

Edit: oh I see you did complain - good.
Click to expand...
Also here in Berlin sometimes happens that I first receive the package and then the invoice coming even one month later....
The thing is, they can always "try" and eventually most of the people will just pay with no questions.....but I'm part of that maybe 10% that will always check if everything is right and justified....and 84€ for a 127€ value package just doesn't sound right
Exactly one month ago
We received another package from Tayda for a value of 290€ and DHL charged 73€....so how is possible that in less than a month I have to pay su much more for the same type of articles??
 
HS85 is a chapter of codes. The individual codes will be under that. For example, an unpopulated PCB is 8534.00, resistors are 8533.00, caps are 8532.00, and so on.

If you tried sending something commercially with HS85, then you're probably going to have a bad time.

There's usually a breakdown that you can get from DHL which has this customs declaration and you can see for yourself.
 
szukalski said:
HS85 is a chapter of codes. The individual codes will be under that. For example, an unpopulated PCB is 8534.00, resistors are 8533.00, caps are 8532.00, and so on.

If you tried sending something commercially with HS85, then you're probably going to have a bad time.

There's usually a breakdown that you can get from DHL which has this customs declaration and you can see for yourself.
Click to expand...
On the Total invoice
"Zusatspositionen Mit 12 Zellen" is what is making the invoice overly expensive (41.65€)
And I had to explain them with 4 days of emails what these " hand tool", "integrated circuits" and "lighting+installation hardware" were for....it really felt like a police interview
At the end basically only the hand tool was a different "zeilen"...just to say....
 
In the while I also wrote an email to Ugo @Tayda and see if at least for the future we can work it out in a different way at least to have a smother and more clear process
 
That sounds pretty normal. EU customs require detailed descriptions of any electronics coming in and if DHL has to do that for you, you'll pay through the nose.
This is why I've never bought anything from Tayda (and why all my enclosures are blank, no UV printing service for pedals in Europe).

I bought a pedal from the US and the Polish Post Office sent me a paper letter asking to provide a detailed description of the device, in Polish of course, while the package was held at customs.
It took a few weeks of red tape to have it released and that was a single item and the vendor had provided all relevant documentation proving compliance with EU regulations regarding electronics.
As always I had to pay about 25% between 23% VAT and import taxes.

In January I bought two Casio watches from Turkey. I used a shipping service that handed them to fedEx and they had to convince fedEx not to take the watches apart because they contain batteries and countries get nervous when digital watches with batteries cross borders (something something Bin Laden). Eventually FedEx billed me the usual 25% for VAT and import taxes.

When I buy from PedalPCB all I have to do is pay 25% when I pick up the box, no idea why exactly.
 
Man, I'm glad you get an easy question when ordering through DHL to Finland from Tayda where they ask if you want to declare it yourself or want DHL to do it (and charge big fees, of course). Self-declaring is a two minute process, if I order under 150€ I can just pick one of the items and declare everything as that, so it's usually ~150€ of pots or resistors.
 
Fama said:
Man, I'm glad you get an easy question when ordering through DHL to Finland from Tayda where they ask if you want to declare it yourself or want DHL to do it (and charge big fees, of course). Self-declaring is a two minute process, if I order under 150€ I can just pick one of the items and declare everything as that, so it's usually ~150€ of pots or resistors.
Click to expand...
I didn't saw the option earlier but I'm checking this direction now ...at least for the future...I also wrote to Ugo to see if we can find a better solution with the shipping
With my previous order, at checkout there was the option to pay a little extra just to have duties & taxes solved but this time only regular DHL express or UPS....I'm just too tired and poor to deal with this bloodsuckerz from DHL....so maybe I will take a break from building electronic stuff for a while and go back to build acoustic instruments to raise some budget for my stability...this was order was just a fucking nightmare...I mean these guys from DHL they even called to know how many layers were the circuits referring to my IC chips...It took 4 days of emails to make them understand that the package didn't had any circuit board inside but IC chips...and anyway why do I have to explain this kind of things to them ....like if up to the PCB layers were having an impact on the customs.... totally incompetents....and now they want me to pay for that kind of service???..
Hell no....I prefer to have it sent back
 
So the situation is getting pretty surreal here in Germany.
This morning at 9am I received another phonecall from DHL to remind me that I still have to pay this damn 84€ taxes( I would call it extortion)in order to finally have my package. I started to explain to the guy that I was already in contact with customers service trying to rectify the amount to pay because it didn't looked right, the guy on the other side started to defend himself saying: " hey I'm just the delivery guy, you don't have to talk with me about this...".....this really shows me how DHL and this all lobby of subcontractor are scratching the bottom of the barrel...
Seriously...a company like that that uses their delivery boys to enforce payments....? Is this the reality of things here now???
Seems more a Kafkian episode....
Anyway at the end there was no way to fight back and we agreed for a delivery on Monday
I said I will pay only when I have the package here at my door....
I don't know why but I still feel abused from this absurd bureaucratic procedures....to the point that maybe to rebalance things on my own way I will have to spend the rest of the year stuffing potatoes in the exhaust of every DHL vehicle I will encounter
Amen
 
Ask to see the customs declaration. You showed us the invoice from DHL earlier, but the customs declaration is where they put those 12 line items. What you would be disputing is whether those 12 line items on the customs declaration are correct or if they should be fewer.
 
For the future I'd recommend registration as Selbstverzoller at Deutsche Post. Then all DHL (not DHL Express though I believe) and Deutsche Post parcels will go to your local customs office, they'll send you a letter asking for an invoice, you print it out, drive down there and they'll fill out the forms for you (in my case at least). 10-15 minutes and you're out of there with your parcel. It's still a bit of a hassle but at least there are no additional "service fees", just Einfuhrumsatzsteuer and possibly Zollgebühren. Just be aware this won't help with UPS and FedEx. Their fees are similar to DHL and there's no way around it really. I hope Tayda brings back the DDP shipping options. That made life so much easier and it wasn't really that much more expensive.
 
szukalski said:
Ask to see the customs declaration. You showed us the invoice from DHL earlier, but the customs declaration is where they put those 12 line items. What you would be disputing is whether those 12 line items on the customs declaration are correct or if they should be fewer.
Click to expand...
They are "listed" like this ....12 pages of vaseline
 

Attachments

  • Screenshot_2026-03-06-14-05-12-878_com.google.android.apps.docs.jpg
    Screenshot_2026-03-06-14-05-12-878_com.google.android.apps.docs.jpg
    72.1 KB · Views: 10
  • Screenshot_2026-03-06-14-05-19-878_com.google.android.apps.docs.jpg
    Screenshot_2026-03-06-14-05-19-878_com.google.android.apps.docs.jpg
    76.3 KB · Views: 10
  • Screenshot_2026-03-06-14-05-25-326_com.google.android.apps.docs.jpg
    Screenshot_2026-03-06-14-05-25-326_com.google.android.apps.docs.jpg
    72.7 KB · Views: 10
lowpitch said:
For the future I'd recommend registration as Selbstverzoller at Deutsche Post. Then all DHL (not DHL Express though I believe) and Deutsche Post parcels will go to your local customs office, they'll send you a letter asking for an invoice, you print it out, drive down there and they'll fill out the forms for you (in my case at least). 10-15 minutes and you're out of there with your parcel. It's still a bit of a hassle but at least there are no additional "service fees", just Einfuhrumsatzsteuer and possibly Zollgebühren. Just be aware this won't help with UPS and FedEx. Their fees are similar to DHL and there's no way around it really. I hope Tayda brings back the DDP shipping options. That made life so much easier and it wasn't really that much more expensive.
Click to expand...
This morning Hugo wrote to tell me that DHL contacted him saying that they were trying to deliver the package but they were not able to find me and to act urgently.....???
As I said....they scratching the bottom...
How would you call this psychological pressure to just enforce a wrong payment....??
Burn Babylon burn
 
szukalski said:
Yeah, sorry mate. It's a tough one. I assume the process is the same with customs in any country, but there's a business for it in Germany.

You gotta declare the goods with a customs code (HS code). If the sender doesn't do it, then you can do it manually, or the carrier can do it on your behalf (and charge you for it). Declaring it manually is hard to find, and the carrier never makes it easy for you to do it (because they make money from it). DHL will do a number of line items for free, then start charging you.

The line items are the total number of different HS codes AFAIK. So if you have a lot of items in different categories, then it adds up. Ie. only resistors would be a single line item.

Solutions:
  1. Find a supplier who declares on your behalf. I only use Tayda for pots now, for this exact reason. LCSC for everything else.
  2. Self declare before you accept DHL to do it for you (read the fine print).
  3. Pay DHL.
In the current case, you are importing goods from outside the country and DHL is helping you to get it through customs.
Click to expand...
Do you also use LCSC for enclosures? I'm having a hard time finding painted ones in Europe as they seem to be out of stock in every store.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top