Pass on the customs fees to your customers to pay or pay them yourself?

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I'm shipping a product from China to the US through DHL. There may be a customs fee charged and I've got the option to either pay the customs fee to DHL before it is delivered or leave it for the customer to sort it out for themselves.

Which route is the better one? I believe from a customer service perspective it would be better for me to pay it, but I might need to charge the client more in that case to cover that cost.

Should I pass on the customs fees to my customers to pay or pay them myself?
#customers #customs #fees #pass #pay
  • Profile picture of the author copystud
    Depending on the fee: you might be better off integrating it into your price, after you've tested a hundred or so orders to see how often customs actually inspects the goods you're shipping.

    If you're doing high volume, it likely won't end up costing very much because the law of averages will work in your favor. The main thing to keep in mind is that they probably won't inspect your packages very often.

    Unless you label says "dangerous goods" or your country has a reputation for importing illegal cargo.
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    • Profile picture of the author CharlesClift
      We also air ship through DHL from our Hong Kong office to customers in the US and 99% of the time there is no extra customs fees. We have noticed shipping to other countries that there customs are much more strict then the US so about 50% of those shipments do get charged a custom fee. We are now partnering with SharperImage.com to carry our line of EcoBoomer products so we may also have to pre-pay customs fees just so their customers never get charged extra fees after their original payment to SharperImage.
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  • Profile picture of the author derekwong28
    I would let the customer pay the fee. Most inexpensive will go through US customs without a charge. However if they are applied, the charges can be very complicated and unpredictable. For example if you are shipping a gold watch. There may be a different tax rate for the gold case, the movement, and the strap.
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