• Lobby

  • Shipping from abroad (share your experience)

Johnaudi wroteShipping experience #2.

Pre-ordered from http://oculus.com the DK2, for the price of 350$, shipping to Lebanon costs 135$, so 485$ as a total online payment.

50$ were taken once ordered, and later-on they had taken the whole amount. (two months later after production)
Shipped/Billed On : 20/10/2014
Delivery took less than 3 days, which I found it quite fast, they used the UPS Saver plan.
http://puu.sh/crhx2/c52fab603d.png


And here's how the shipping got to me:
http://puu.sh/crhC5/03a52f9508.png

Delivered On:
Thursday, 23/10/2014 at 11:00AM

The address contained "Call +961XXXXXXXX for location", but I did include my dad's company ZIP code instead of 9999 9999, so they got it to there.

They took 100$ for customs.

The packing was better than the Fed-Ex one, it was more protective in terms of product. I didn't get any scratch nor indent whatsoever.
http://puu.sh/crif9/4b954f8d59.jpg
http://puu.sh/crigu/c56091d95c.jpg

Total: 585$
Deliverer: UPS
Wow it's good to see someone in Leb actually went the extra mile and bought one, if you are looking to sell it in the future shoot me a pm :) enjoy your oculus
7 days later
Manufactured PCB in China. 10 PCB with assembly (very simple 5x5cm PCB, just relay, microcontroller,connectors, resistors,capacitors) - $100.75 total
Paid in china for Fedex delivery - $38

First surprise: Package was subject to manual customs clearance.

Second surprise: Customs clearance charges (broker by Fedex) - $100
Additional delivery charges(WTF? From China to Lebanon $38, and inside Lebanon $50????) - $50
Customs charges - $50 (they valued product as 400.000LL, what the hell? how they value CUSTOM not-for-sale, prototype boards if all paperwork was given with them?)

I hope i can solve this question with Fedex next time, manager was friendly, but already it put all my innovations to risk, because customs clearance makes product design completely not profitable (on some products i need 5-8 sample releases, which is $2400, instead of $800). Usually _legal_ product design cost based on certain fixed tax values and estimations, that i should expect. I dont lie in customs declaration, and then they tax me fairly. But... it turned to completely insane values.
So, P.S. Rant. Innovations support my ass. No way Lebanon gets hitech industry here, importing equipment is a hassle, _especially_ anything sophisticated.
Well open a dispute and complain to the seller!
What's those boards' use anyway?
Seller? What seller has to do with Lebanon customs decision? He take care only about shipping and export customs fees.
Seller did all papers correct. Customs in Lebanon decided that boards has commercial value or undervalued.
Some sellers promise no tax.
In lebanon you can't do things right all the time, unfortunately.
NuclearVision wroteI meant what was he intending to build : )
then your question wasn't clear when you said " whats the boards' use "
anyway they are used for many projects , he mentioned micro-controllers and relays maybe some automation , that's just a guess unless @nuclearcat has something specific.

anyway the seller has nothing to do with the a-hole customs we got in lebanon
Maybe they thought you're gonna build a robocop or something !
MohammedSF wroteMaybe they thought you're gonna build a robocop or something !
Indeed, that's exactly what i thought! they raised the proce a little bit.
But really customs in lebanon are a real pain.
Specially for electronics. One would better not buy expensive items, but rather small gadgets.
I might understand consumer products or some factory grade equipment. But hobby tools and prototypes? Thats plainly stupid.
a month later
Anyone who bought from Newegg with a prepaid internet card like Esurf from Lebanon??
I am hesitating to buy Asus board from Newegg or Republic of Gamers that gives 1 year warranty but is more expensive by 50$
vegetaleb wroteAnyone who bought from Newegg with a prepaid internet card like Esurf from Lebanon??
I am hesitating to buy Asus board from Newegg or Republic of Gamers that gives 1 year warranty but is more expensive by 50$
Newegg refuses to accept non-american CC, even if you managed to get it they'll refuse to ship to an address different than the one registered with the card "american/card holder address"..

The same thing goes with Tigerdirect/CompUSA but they went too far blocking international access to their website.
Thanks!
I can use the ''Concierge'' thingy with Borderlinx then for Newegg but as I understood they will take about 25$ commission.
Do you know if the website ''Youbizmart'' accept international cards?
The Concierge thing is useless because they need 48h to place an order, the product I want is coming and going from the Stock every hour!
It's really a pity that only Tigerdirect and Newegg have the item I want in Stock and I can't use my Lebanese card.
Amazon is like in a coma since black Friday, the items I want disappeared completely.
My only choice is Youbizmart and I don't know why I don't trust this website.
Is it available on Best Buy? A few weeks ago, I was about to buy an item on Best Buy and found this http://www.bestbuy.com/site/help-topics/international-orders/pcmcat204400050019.c?id=pcmcat204400050019. Though I haven't tried it yet to see if it actually works. I also asked several other places and most of them tell you to directly contact the sales department. So you can also try that. They might make an exception for you since the current systems that force billing and shipping addresses to be the same are just for extra "security".
11 days later
UPS
Item: Raspberry Pi B+ Starter Pack
Item Price: $109.95
Item Weight: 1.63 lbs (0.739 kg)
Seller & Country of Origin: AdaFruit.com | USA
Shipping Method: UPS Worldwide Expedited
Shipping Cost at Checkout: $29.71
Shipping Duration: Approx. 1 week
Fees Charged upon Delivery: $41
Seller's Invoice
Note: A "Black Friday" discount of $16.49 was applicable at time of purchase.
Tracking
Customs and UPS Invoices
Note that UPS charged me an additional $15.20 for its local services and taxed that value an additional $1.52
Total Shipping Costs: $29.71 (during checkout) + $41 (on delivery) = $70.71

Pros:
  • Detailed, timely tracking
  • Called to inform me of additional costs and confirm delivery location and time
  • Gave me the original customs invoice
Cons:
  • Charged me an additional $16.72 for no apparent reason ("Disbursement Fees")
  • Package was sent through customs
------

FedEx
Item: Arduino Starter Kit
Item Price: $99.64
Item Weight: 1.9 lbs (0.86 kg)
Seller & Country of Origin: Arduino.cc | Europe
Shipping Method: FedEx International Economy
Shipping Cost at Checkout: $28.70
Shipping Duration: Approx. 5 days
Fees Charged upon Delivery: $21
Seller's Invoice
Tracking
FedEx Invoice
Note that FedEx did not charge me any additional fees like UPS's "Disbursement Fees"
Total Shipping Costs: $28.70 (during checkout) + $21 (on delivery) = $49.7

Pros:
  • Tracking
  • No additional fees other than the mandatory airport customs and VAT
    (UPS charges "Disbursement Fees", and DHL apparently charges "Clearance Fees" from previous posts)
Cons:
  • I wasn't phone-called about the package
  • They didn't give me the original customs invoice like UPS did
  • Package was sent through customs
------

UCS Netshopper
A service provided by UCS, the authorized UPS service contractor in Lebanon
ucslb.com - fb.com/NetShopperUCS

Item: Sandals
Item Price: $63.96
Item Weight (specified by seller): 2 lbs (1 kg)
Item Dimensions (specified by seller): 12.6 x 7.9 x 4.7 in.
Seller & Country of Origin: Amazon.com | US
Shipping Method: UCS Netshopper service
Shipping Weight (specified by shipper): 5.5 lbs (2.5 kg)
Shipping Duration: Approx. 2 weeks
(Note: they receive all shipments on 2 or 3 fixed dates each month)
All Fees Charged by Service: $65.79 (upon pickup from Ashrafieh office)
Note: I picked it up myself since they charge extra for delivering to your address (through Aramex I believe)
Seller's Invoice
Tracking
The provided tracking number is only for the shipment to UCS's US warehouse
UCS Netshopper Invoice
The fees are pretty ambiguous and clearance seems to be a min. of $10, even if 10% of the item price is less than $10.
Not clear which fees are the mandatory airport fees and taxes and which are UCS Netshopper service fees.
The one on the left is an estimate of costs before shipping. The one on the right is the actual invoice after shipping.
Total Shipping Costs: $65.79 (paid upon receiving package)

Pros:
  • Can perform the online payment, including through PayPal
  • You receive a custom US address to ship to, which is useful for items that only ship within the US
Cons:
  • Ambiguous fees
  • Not very useful tracking (there might be a way to track packages on their site though it's not very clear)
14 days later
Seller & country of origin : Amazon.com | USA
Service & Carrier: DHL
Item bought: book(cisco CCNA in 60 days)
Item price:63.65$
Item weight: 3.7 pounds
Shipping duration: 5 days
delivery option : Priority International Courier (averages 2-7 business days)
order placed:
order1 bbcode test
tracking details :
order2 bbcode test

order3 bbcode test

order4 bbcode test


total: 63.65 + 49.98 +37 = 150$
total: 63.65 + 49.98 +37 = 150$
Wow fadel, that clearance cost sounds too high.
On customs.gov.lb I don't see any significant customs on books.
If that $37.08 receipt is from the local DHL, I assume they charged you a fee for clearance too.
I'd call the local DHL office and ask them to break down and explain the "Clearance Charges" in terms of what amounts were taken as Customs, VAT, and DHL additional fees.

Also, note that Librarie Antoine can usually get you a book from abroad if they don't have it for a whole lot less extra charges -if you're willing to wait over a month.
That's a complete ripoff... Fuck DHL. You shouldn't have payed any sort of customs on books.

if you went with Shop and Ship (Aramex), you would have payed around 45$ for a 5 pounds book ~= 2.5kg, that's around 45$. I ordered books multiple times using Shop and Ship, I have never paid a single dime on customs or clearances. (Ordering books using Shop and Ship isn't a good idea given that books are a bit heavy)

Also, I'm pretty sure Antoine sells CCNA books, a friend of mine bought one some time ago.