Quote:
Originally Posted by blankall
I'm sorry but claiming a ridiculous amount of money for "brokerage fees" when in most instances you are not actually doing any work is ripping you off. All businesses are motivated by profit; not all businesses rip you off at every opportunity.
The brokerage fees are being charged on top of the actual customs you pay and in many cases exceed the customs charges.
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do you know what you are talking about?
Brokerage is a service. they need to prepare an A8A for each shipment or depending on the value, they might be able to clear as an OIC. Mind you, its been a while since i was involved in courier imports, so they could be using different terminoligy now.
Either way, they need the technology to communicate electronically with customs, they put up a bond with customs that customs takes every penny of duty and taxes from immediatly upon clearance.
there is an example of two costs they have to factor in to their overheads in order to handle your shipment.
$40 for customs is CHEAP! on the cargo side, we typically charge well over $100 per entry.
also, when the freight arrives, there are other fee's that customs charges that have nothing to do with the transport. such as MPF, bond fee's and the list can go on and on.
typically, you should see 4 charges for clearance:
brokerage
duty
tax
advance fee
so how are you being ripped off? why not go and ask a commercial broker for their service to clear customs and i guarantee you it will be much higher then the $40.00 UPS or DHL or FDX charge.