GamblerGORD53

Even legit sites are gouging on shipping now with a charge on every item. They say they might adjust it when the order is assembled, might not either.
SJS was wanting 92E shipping with a hub, small bits and 2 tires. WTF, used to be 30E I think by Royal Mail.
I then instead got the tires from Chain Reaction in Ireland.

msu2001la

For those wondering about the import duty on internet purchased goods for US buyers, here's the US customs website:
​​​​​https://www.cbp.gov/trade/basic-impo...rnet-purchases

Packages whose declared value is under $800 ($100 if being sent as a gift to someone other than the purchaser) will generally be cleared without any additional paperwork prepared by CBP. However, CBP always reserves the right to require a formal entry for any importation and generally exercises this option if there is something unusual about the importation, or if important documents such as an invoice or bill of sale do not accompany the item.

tomato coupe

I would be happy as a clam if FedEx only charged $5 for brokerage services, but the reality is that they charge quite a bit more than that. I’ve been importing shipments on a weekly basis for three decades, so I’ve been through this hundreds and hundreds of times with many carriers and customs brokers. No one does customs clearance for $5.

spelger

remind me never to ship you anything in good faith.

2_i 

You should try freight. Everybody who touches the shipment adds a charge and the last entity that releases your goods demands a 'facility' or something similar charge (better called ransom), that was never declared before and that they likely determine by looking at you: you either pay it now in cash or we will be adding a storage charge for every day from now on!

tomato coupe

Dont get me started! I received a shipment yesterday from Brazil via United Freight. They hit us for two weeks of storage fees, because it took them more than a week to send the shipping documents to our customs broker.

msu2001la

In fairness, it does seem strange that a company like Fed Ex would provide a service like this to random customers (i.e. not someone who has an account set up with them) and allow them to take delivery of goods, then expect to get paid months later via invoice. I'm surprised Fed Ex doesn't either require payment to release the shipment, or require a credit card on file before allowing the shipment to occur. I've got to think they get burned on this often and the cost of chasing people down over relatively small invoices seems unlikely to be worth the effort.

I can't really think of many other business transactions where this type of good-faith arrangement exists anymore. Maybe healthcare, but even there they often require a credit card on file before they'll do routine/elective procedures.

indyfabz

Earlier this year REI accidentally shipped me two of the same (expensive) tent but only charged me for one. I informed it of the mistake and returned the second one after receiving a return shipping label.

gecho

Collection agency / failure to pay strike on your credit rating.


This thread turned into much more of a fecal show than I would have ever expected and for a totally unexpected reason. Has "everything is fake" culture spread so far in America that it encompasses all aspects of life there now? God help you all.

indyfabz

A lot is fake. Not 30 minutes ago I got a text telling me that “the address information on your package is incorrect and cannot be delivered.” It’s accompanied by a sketchy looking link that includes “uspregards”.

Obviously trying to make you think UPS or the US postal service. Oh well. Guess my address information cannot be delivered. (Note the poor grammar. What ARE they teaching in scammer school these days?)

Rick

I have never had a problem with extra duty fees. My shipments from Germany go from DHL to USPS. My shipments from England go from Royal Mail to USPS. My largest order from across the pond has been under 800. The OP should be careful for proof of the dept.

livedarklions

Must be nice to live in a country where you aren't subject to such fraud attempts daily. We're routinely bombarded with scam communications supposedly from large corporations pretty constantly. You'd be heading for trouble quick if you unquestioningly paid everything you got that had a corporate logo on it. You'd lose that money and find yourself on a list attracting special attention from scammers.

OP should definitely verify that it's a legit charge from FedEx, that's not society corroding "culture", it's just the reasonable thing to do.

BTW, a lot of scams used to involve getting someone in the US to wire money to Canada. Should we thank your country for our " culture "?

Bald Paul

FedEx will only deliver a package with duty taxes due on it if you have a valid FedEx account with them. Otherwise, you either pay duty or you don't get your package.

Duties-and-taxes | FedEx

msu2001la

People are suggesting the OP verify the situation before paying. This isn't some kind of crazy culture war position to take.

livedarklions

Seriously. I didn't question the bill for my share of the Jewish Space Laser. I just paid it because it was signed by George Soros.

(I believe being Jewish licenses me to make that joke.)

trailangel

Richard, I'm not asking you to do a damn thing for me.

tomato coupe

Society lives on this arrangement, i.e. unsecured credit cards.

livedarklions

More to the point, you've seen FedEx do this, right?

I think this arrangement looks odd to people like me who don't ship much stuff. I learned from you that it actually occurs with some frequency.

People run up bills with lots of service providers and, as you point out, credit card companies.

msu2001la

Unsecured credit cards are only issued after a bank approves an application that includes verified personal contact info and a credit check. Fed Ex is seemingly sending bills to people months after they bought stuff online, with nothing more than a name and delivery address. I'm assuming the OP doesn't have a Fed Ex account.

Surely you can see the difference here, no?

tomato coupe

Yes, we often received invoices like this from FedEx before we had an account with them.

tomato coupe

See above.

msu2001la

That doesn't answer my question.

A large company paying for services and then invoicing individuals after the fact with little or no verified information is not a typical business practice. Our society definitely does not "live on this arrangement".

tomato coupe

Unsecured credit cards and FedEx are operating on the same principle; they offer a service to the end user with the assumption they will receive their money after the fact.

Have you ever seen how many credit cards are issued during the first week of a college semester? They give them out like candy, with nothing more than contact info, to kids with absolutely no credit history. It's not much different than what FedEx is doing; they both operate with the assumption that they will lose a small percentage to defaults, but that most people will pay.

The bottom line is this: FedEx sends out these invoices all the time, and everything the OP has described is consistent with their practices.

himespau 

I don't know, it's probably cheaper/easier for FedEx to pay everything in bulk (probably monthly or quarterly and they may get a discount for doing it that way) and then invoice the customer after the bill. Those customers that don't pay get bundled into packs and auctioned off to debt collectors. Getting it all automated and done in bulk saves them time (and money paying employees), and allows them to meet their shipping target goals by not having to spend time tracking each customer down. The little they lose by non-paying customers/auctioning off the debt to collectors at a discount, they make up for in decreased employee costs. Just like how many stores accept a certain amount of shrinkage and have it built into their pricing model (while being annoyed at the theft) rather than spend the money for lots of extra security and lose customers due to a draconian image.

msu2001la

Unless Fed Ex is collecting a credit application with social security number and verifying identities, it's not the same thing at all.

You continue to miss the point that Fed Ex's practice of doing this is not typical, and someone approaching the situation that the OP described with skepticism is warranted.