DHL shipping costs

[ruffrecords]

As you may know, in prtest at China's human rights record, I have started sourcing bare PCBs from India. They are more expensive than their Chinese counterparts and the shipping cost is a little higher but the qulity of the PCBs is much better. before I changed from China to India, DHL  had begun insisting the supplier declared the full cost of the PCBs on the custom declarations and then proceeded to charge import tax (VAT) on the imported boards plus a charge for collecting the VAT, all because the value exceeded the threshold below which duty is . I can live with that because it affects anyone who uses DHL for shipping.

However, I recently went to order 20 of the pocket oscillator boards I have designed. The quote I got from India was $19 for the PCBs but the DHL shipping charge was $47!!! I queried this and the answer was that is what DHL says it is I I checked my usual China source. From them the PCBs were $10 and the DHL shipping a mere $17 - pretty much as expected (the boards are only 50mm square).

So I queried it again with the Indian supplier pointing out that the DHL charge for the same PCBs is only $17 from China. All they would say is that is the price DHL gave them.

So, my question is, has anyone else seen any evidence of large price hikes by DHL?
Cheers

ian

 

[abbey road d enfer]

I can't answer your question strictly, but can you try an alternative, like UPS?

 

[ruffrecords]

I can't answer your question strictly, but can you try an alternative, like UPS?

I would if I could but at present the Lion Circuits in India only offers DHL but I will ask them for an alternative.

Cheers

Ian

 

[peterc]

I have also found something similar here in South Africa. I neede some packages shipped from the US to Johannesburg.

I would get a quote from our local DHL office and it would be, say $50. I asked the supplier to get a quote from their end, and it would typically $20 to $25.

Our local office was marking up 100% on the quote. This happened 4 times, and everytime it was the same margin.

It might be worth getting a quote from your local DHL agent to have the boards picked up in India.

Good luck!
Peter

 

[cyrano]

You can expect the same price hikes from the competition too. They all need to invest and due to US sanctions and Brexit, life turned a wee bit more complex.

I used to order small stuff from the UK all the time. A lot of Chinese warehouses over there. And a lot of UK companies that make good stuff.

Post Brexit, this turned into a customs gamble. Before, a cheap packet would just arrive at no extra cost. Now it passes customs. Usually, there's a handling fee from the transport cy; sometimes there are custom charges. Anything estimated over 30 €. And these can sometimes be prohibitive.

I remember a few PCBs, sent for free under warranty ended up costing us 60 € a few years ago. These came from the US.

Small electronics still aren't a problem. Like a 2€ thermometer. Customs has known about Chinese rock-bottom prices for a long time. It's complete gear that's affected. Like a desk, or a keyboard. Not only is the shipping cost prohibitive, the customs gamble makes it... Interesting?

I buy Chinese stuff like laptop batteries through a Dutch company. I tell them what I want and they find it. Usually. Of course, they make a tiny profit. That's well worth it for me to stay out of the customs gamble.

 

[emrr]

FWIW anything from the US to EU is 3-4x the price of EU to US.  The things I get from the EU always seem like very inexpensive shipping, likewise most things I quote from here to EU end the transaction.  It at least feels like there's a perception disconnect on what costs will be.  Shipping from China always looks too cheap to me by far, I would expect 10x from here to there.  It's never the same from one country to another, so I imagine there's a lot to do with shipping subsidies/fees/standards per region. 

 

[ruffrecords]

FWIW anything from the US to EU is 3-4x the price of EU to US.  The things I get from the EU always seem like very inexpensive shipping, likewise most things I quote from here to EU end the transaction.  It at least feels like there's a perception disconnect on what costs will be. 

That mirrors my experience too. A good example is Edcor. Their shipping costs to the UK effectively double the price of the product even before you get to pay import duties.

Shipping from China always looks too cheap to me by far, I would expect 10x from here to there.  It's never the same from one country to another, so I imagine there's a lot to do with shipping subsidies/fees/standards per region.

Certainly true for small stuff via China Post but that takes months to get here - probably does by ship. DHL Chin/UK has always been reasonable for such a fast service with tracking too.

Cheers

ian

 

[shot]

I think I read somewhere that chinese government co-finaces up to 90% of the shipping fee for small business in order to have their exports competitive. And that makes sense when you compare shipping costs from china verse other countries. It's impossible to have some small stuff from ebay with free shipping costs. You buy some phone rubber mask for one dollar and shipping is free. That's absurd!

 

[ruffrecords]

I can't answer your question strictly, but can you try an alternative, like UPS?

I asked the Indian supplier about FedEx as an alternative. The reply was FedEx charge $60 minimum - don't know if this is an Indian specific thing.

Cheers

Ian

 

[ruffrecords]

I think I read somewhere that chinese government co-finaces up to 90% of the shipping fee for small business in order to have their exports competitive. And that makes sense when you compare shipping costs from china verse other countries. It's impossible to have some small stuff from ebay with free shipping costs. You buy some phone rubber mask for one dollar and shipping is free. That's absurd!

I am not so sure. I checked Royal Mail tracked to China. A 750gm large letter cost less than £14 to ship to China which is close to the $17 the Chinese charge to ship PCBs by DHL.

Cheers

Ian

 

[gaztech]

I don't buy anything currently from India but I'm having serious issues with DHL losing parcels - and this is shipping from Europe to Malta. It's got so bad now that where possible I insist on UPS rather than DHL.

To date, with UPS, nothing has gone missing at all.

Do you have problems with stuff getting lost with them?

 

[JohnRoberts]

Everybody's shipping costs are increasing (fuel, labor, etc).

Some pass along the cost increases faster than others.

JR

 

[rob_gould]

Interesting first post!

 

[user 37518]

DHL is a really greedy company, I ordered some books from Europe some montha ago, in Mexico, books up to 1500USD pay no customs taxes whatsoever, I used DHL as a carrier. When the package arrived I got a ticket for $170USD to pay for taxes. After I contacted DHL I explained them that books are exempt from taxes, their answer was that I was correct, but that they have an internal policy (which they don't tell you anything beforehand) that any package over $300USD, regardless of whether it pays taxes or not, needs a customs form to be made by their own agents (how covenient), and in my case, the $170USD they were charging me for, were not due to taxes but to pay for the costs of making the customs form by their agents saying that I had to pay no taxes. Part of the cost included things like a charge for handling the box to open it....

 

[cyrano]

In fact, DHL is the best kind of courier delivery in the world.

This made my day! LOL. Did you really register here for such a feeble attempt at making publicity for them?

I've worked for both Fedex and DHL. I avoid DHL at all cost.

 

[ungifted]

DHL, fedex, ups etc outside EU and US are not the same thing as inside. As discribed above they will ask to pay extra money for "service" and it will be always overpriced. I can advise to ask your supplier for standard Int'l airmail: post service of India and Royal mail.