TrollFatGuy wroteIsa Al wroteTrollFatGuy wrote@Isa Al I'm sorry I got a bit confused in your last post. You paid 70,000 LBP to DHL over the shipping fees? Or were they the shipping fees? Also you paid around 100,000 LBP instead of 240 bucks for doing it yourself? So 260,000LBP service fees?! Wtf...
No, this isn't the shipping fees. Shipping fees were paid separately when shipping from USA. the 70,000LBP were for a paper I got from DHL to clear the shipment from customs by my self. I am not sure why they charge me 70,000LBP for a paper called "Delivery order" if they won't do anything for me. Knowing that the shipping fees were completely paid before shipping it to Lebanon
DHL offered me to clear the item for me and deliver it to my home but they said their broker service fee is 240$ ( it surely doesn't worth it for such personal small shipment) and also 70,000LBP so if DHL will clear the laptop for me they would charge me 240$+70,000LBP+customs fees.
So instead I paid only 70,000LBP for DHL for the delivery order paper that I needed for the customs which includes item value and waybill and such details and I paid the customs which are around 270$ so clearing it by my self costed me around 320$ instead of 560$ if DHL cleared it on my behalf. And it took around minutes instead of 2-3 business days for DHL
This my friend is theft at its best. Good on you for taking initiative and sorting things out yourself. Thank you for your input as well; I am no longer as terrified as before when it comes to buying stuff from abroad and using DHL.
I don't know why I paid 70,000LBP until now but didn't have any other option.
UPS charge even more expensive fees and here was their email about how to clear my shipment if I ship it with them
The charges for clearance are as follows.
The cost will be for bayan = 220 usd
Delivery order = 60 usd
MinIstry approval = 25 usd (if needed)
Plus customs and duty depending on actual against official receipts ..
So still DHL the cheapest among the top 3 couriers DHL,Fedex, and UPS. Also if you want to include TNT but FedEx and TNT are operated by the same company in Lebanon.
So I would suggest you to clear your shipment by your self if it's something personal. Also bear in mind that they told me you can import only 1 shipment which costs over 1,000$ that will be considered "Personal" under your name. Not sure if 1 per year or what exactly but that's what I was told