Shipping Delays on tea

[GaoShan]

Oh well noted! This explains why a few of the other places didn't ding me with customs.

If it can help, here is a link to a website by Canadian government agencies that allows one to identify the duties applicable to a given class of goods taking into account the country of origin. This one is pre-filled with green tea from Japan, but you can easily search for something else.

https://www.tariffinder.ca/en/search/im ... 0902109020

The nice thing is, since the URL encodes the search parameters, you can pinpoint your search then simply copy/paste the URL to contest the brokerage determination. It is much more convincing to the person receiving your claim I would assume, and all they have to do is click the link, they do not need to be explained how to proceed.

This will undoubtedly help. I have to follow up with DHL... I knew it wasn't GST taxable, but I was under the impression duty was some other form of tax. Time to do some more researching.

@faj and @chadao, I'm also a Canadian who got dinged by DHL. I was able to get rid of the taxes, but not the brokerage fee. EMS or regular post are definitely the best options.

[faj]

@faj and @chadao, I'm also a Canadian who got dinged by DHL. I was able to get rid of the taxes, but not the brokerage fee. EMS or regular post are definitely the best options.

EMS to Canada is not available for the moment to the best of my knowledge, but yes. In pre-pandemic days, I received EMS packages in about one week, so almost as fast as DHL/Fedex, and was never charged taxes on either tea, or teaware. That would probably be my choice if it were available.

I will note that I recently used Fedex. They did not charge taxes nor brokerage fees. Only tried with tea, no teaware, but since teaware is taxable, I don't feel cheated if charged for it.

I think DHL is adding taxes they know full well they are not allowed to charge and will remove on demand, yet retain the brokerage fee they automatically add when doing so as it is "their policy". When done by small merchants it is called a scam, when done my a multinational company it is called large scale fraud.

[GaoShan]

@faj and @chadao, I'm also a Canadian who got dinged by DHL. I was able to get rid of the taxes, but not the brokerage fee. EMS or regular post are definitely the best options.

EMS to Canada is not available for the moment to the best of my knowledge, but yes. In pre-pandemic days, I received EMS packages in about one week, so almost as fast as DHL/Fedex, and was never charged taxes on either tea, or teaware. That would probably be my choice if it were available.

I will note that I recently used Fedex. They did not charge taxes nor brokerage fees. Only tried with tea, no teaware, but since teaware is taxable, I don't feel cheated if charged for it.

I think DHL is adding taxes they know full well they are not allowed to charge and will remove on demand, yet retain the brokerage fee they automatically add when doing so as it is "their policy". When done by small merchants it is called a scam, when done my a multinational company it is called large scale fraud.

I'm arranging a shipment from Wang Family Tea, and they said EMS to Taiwan is available again. However, I've yet to confirm this.

I got a few packages from FedEx before the pandemic and they charged customs fees about 50% of the time. However, I'd definitely choose them over DHL.

I believe people have started a class action lawsuit against DHL over their hidden and often unexplained fees. It does seem to be a policy decision. I fear that both tea and shipping will eventually become too expensive for ordinary people. At least I'm not into puerh!

[Janice]

I just received a package from Artistic Nippon. Toru shipped the package on Tuesday and it arrived today, Friday, in New Jersey. Here’s the price comparison:

EMS insured $36
DHL UNinsured $52
DHL Insured $77

Naturally I chose EMS.

169C78B8-3E0C-4128-83D0-2A7EC7B64B51.jpeg (53.59 KiB) Viewed 3534 times

I didn’t purchase the yuzamashi specifically for this pot. I added it to the order because I like the shape and buying it alone would have incurred a shipping charge almost as high as the price of the piece.

[debunix]

Yamada Sou houhin, I presume? So lovely.

I've been quite pleased with shipping times on my tea & teaware orders recently: an order from Vietnam took just over a week; I was a little surprised by how quickly items arrived from Artistic Nippon and from the Tokoname teapot catalog eBay site.