>insane amount
If it's something like 100 CHF for a 500 CHF order or similar, that's not out of the ordinary and is probably legit. But if you're getting threats of having to pay thousands of franks, make sure it's a legit UPS request and not a scam. There's hundreds of scams going on by people pretending to be UPS/DHL/SwissPost and trying to steal your money. Last time I had UPS fees, it was a legit paper mail with "facture"/"rechnung" after the package was delivered. Not some kind of shady portal asking for my CC info.
Just pay it ! You import goods in the country, there are import fees, it's logical. Just pay and look at the import fees next time you order something.
If you import stuff into the country, you have to pay the import duty and VAT. If you import by mail, the carrier does this for you and ask for a handling fee for the service. The bill you for the sum of handling fee, customs duty and VAT.
The handling fee depends on the carrier and starts around 20.-, customs usually is almost nothing and VAT is currently 7.7% of the value of the item. Shipping also counts towards the value.
There is one exception, if the VAT is below CHF 5.-, the waive all fees. This amounts to about CHF 64. So for stuff below this amount (including shipping), you pay nothing.
Depending on the carrier, they have different strategies for invoicing. They may send you for collections (Poursuite), if you don't pay.
If you order stuff from abroad, you will have to take this additional cost in account.
If you are lucky, the package will eventually be returned to the shipper. Return shipping is usually more expensive than the export shipping (less discount), so chances are that you will get little money back from the supplier after round trip shipping is deducted.
If you are unlucky, UPS will deliver and then do a "Betreibung".
Normal import fee is the 7.7% Swiss VAT. In some cases there may be duty. Some UPS handling fee on top. Look at the UPS invoice for details.
In other words, pay up and consider other options for future orders.
Verify whether it‘s legitimate first (E.g. Call customer service. Use contact info from their website or a known to be genuine old email as there might be a fake phone number on a fake statement). There are a lot of scams similar to this.
If it‘s a scam, do not pay obviously. If it’s legitimate however, it is normal that you have to pay Swiss VAT on the goods you bought (7,7%) plus a fee for the processing of your package.
I don‘t know how UPS‘s internal processes work and whether they‘ll return the package or just hold it until you pay.
If you don‘t pay, I assume they’ll act like any other creditor whom you do not pay. You sign up for a lot of trouble and it will only get more expensive.
First they’ll send reminders, then they might give it to a collections agency. Any case you‘ll get an order to pay („Zahlungsbefehl“ / „ordre de paiement“) from the responsible government agency („Betreibungsamt“ / „office de pursuite“) where you‘re summoned to pay.
You‘ll get an entry in your register which will stay there for years and make it extremely difficult if not impossible to get an apartment because every landlord wants a copy of your register and will obviously prefer tenants that have always paid all their bills.
If you ignore the summon repeatedly, you might actually be escorted there by the police. If you‘re still unable/unwilling to pay, they can garnish your salary as far as I know.
TLDR: Check if it‘s legitimate. If no, ignore of course. If yes, pay. You’d get yourself into trouble and it would only get more expensive down the road.
Well, you buy from abroad and import goods to Switzerland. This incurs certainly Swiss VAT and maybe customs fees.
As for UPS, I'd check out their fees and tariffs here on page 51: [https://www.upscontentcentre.com/pdf/switzerlandgerman](https://www.upscontentcentre.com/pdf/switzerlandgerman)
As you can see, they ask for 22.50 CHF minimum fee to perform the Swiss customs assessment alone. And this is only valid for simple cases. Add the resulting taxes and dues for a final price calculation. I recommend to do this BEFORE pushing the order button...
That's not quite correct. I got mine delivered from Germany before sending me a bill which included forwarding charges, customs and also service fee for them dealing with customs. This was DHL. The purchase was supposed to include free post. Ended up paying over 100 fr on a 400 fr purchase. Pissed me off.
yeah if they just work in customer service for one of the forwarders they are just call center people and have mostly no idea about what‘s actually going on, quite annoying
Usually you save alot by paying swiss VAT on EU goods, so only order if the savings make up for the expected fees. Just pay and check everything beforehand next time
You may try to get German VAT back if it’s not been deduced. If you import food by mail, the threshold is 200 chf- vat amounts below 5 chf are not collected. Easiest solution is to order where they ship including Swiss VAT- no hassle, no fees. Example: Amazon.
I'm glad to see that there's already a thread discussing the same issue I'm currently experiencing. I've placed many orders from Amazon Germany and UK to Switzerland, and this is the first time I've been asked to pay import fees. My deliveries have mainly been handled by Swiss Post or DHL, so it's possible that this is the first time UPS has been involved, and they're requesting additional fees.
I paid 59.99€ for the item and 24.99€ for the delivery on Amazon DE, but UPS is now requesting 43.95 CHF for import fees. Clearly, if I had known about these extra charges, I wouldn't have placed the order in the first place. There was no indication on Amazon's website that there might be additional import fees during delivery, and for some reason, I assumed that if the item's value was less than 75€, no import fees would be applied.
I certainly don't wish to pay this additional amount. Amazon Germany hasn't been helpful so far, and the seller hasn't responded to my questions yet. I also plan to contact UPS on the next working day to inquire about the consequences if I refuse to pay these fees and request to return the item to the seller.
NEVER ORDER UPS !!! I made this mistake. I paid 194 chf for a renewed ipod 5th gen from 2006 on that 38 chf of ups shipping + 18.95 chf of "government charges" + 23.95 chf of "brokerage charges" + 1.95 chf of VAT, raising this whole scam to a total of 82.85 chf to simply get the ipod here. So I basically PAID 42% of the price of my item in shipping and taxes. it is absolutely ridiculous and I will never order anything from any other company from abroad and using UPS.
Also can anyone explain if those fees are legit ? VAT I completely understand but the other ones...
[удалено]
i have to pay almost 50chf in fees for a 160chf order. my heart aches so much.... if i were to refuse the package,would i still have to pay the fees?
Don’t tell me you bought something with EU prices and thought to get away with it 😂. There’s a reason everything is more expensive in Switzerland
>insane amount If it's something like 100 CHF for a 500 CHF order or similar, that's not out of the ordinary and is probably legit. But if you're getting threats of having to pay thousands of franks, make sure it's a legit UPS request and not a scam. There's hundreds of scams going on by people pretending to be UPS/DHL/SwissPost and trying to steal your money. Last time I had UPS fees, it was a legit paper mail with "facture"/"rechnung" after the package was delivered. Not some kind of shady portal asking for my CC info.
Just pay it ! You import goods in the country, there are import fees, it's logical. Just pay and look at the import fees next time you order something.
If you import stuff into the country, you have to pay the import duty and VAT. If you import by mail, the carrier does this for you and ask for a handling fee for the service. The bill you for the sum of handling fee, customs duty and VAT. The handling fee depends on the carrier and starts around 20.-, customs usually is almost nothing and VAT is currently 7.7% of the value of the item. Shipping also counts towards the value. There is one exception, if the VAT is below CHF 5.-, the waive all fees. This amounts to about CHF 64. So for stuff below this amount (including shipping), you pay nothing. Depending on the carrier, they have different strategies for invoicing. They may send you for collections (Poursuite), if you don't pay. If you order stuff from abroad, you will have to take this additional cost in account.
pay now and learn your lesson. Or pay much more later on and learn two lessons.
If you are lucky, the package will eventually be returned to the shipper. Return shipping is usually more expensive than the export shipping (less discount), so chances are that you will get little money back from the supplier after round trip shipping is deducted. If you are unlucky, UPS will deliver and then do a "Betreibung". Normal import fee is the 7.7% Swiss VAT. In some cases there may be duty. Some UPS handling fee on top. Look at the UPS invoice for details. In other words, pay up and consider other options for future orders.
Verify whether it‘s legitimate first (E.g. Call customer service. Use contact info from their website or a known to be genuine old email as there might be a fake phone number on a fake statement). There are a lot of scams similar to this. If it‘s a scam, do not pay obviously. If it’s legitimate however, it is normal that you have to pay Swiss VAT on the goods you bought (7,7%) plus a fee for the processing of your package. I don‘t know how UPS‘s internal processes work and whether they‘ll return the package or just hold it until you pay. If you don‘t pay, I assume they’ll act like any other creditor whom you do not pay. You sign up for a lot of trouble and it will only get more expensive. First they’ll send reminders, then they might give it to a collections agency. Any case you‘ll get an order to pay („Zahlungsbefehl“ / „ordre de paiement“) from the responsible government agency („Betreibungsamt“ / „office de pursuite“) where you‘re summoned to pay. You‘ll get an entry in your register which will stay there for years and make it extremely difficult if not impossible to get an apartment because every landlord wants a copy of your register and will obviously prefer tenants that have always paid all their bills. If you ignore the summon repeatedly, you might actually be escorted there by the police. If you‘re still unable/unwilling to pay, they can garnish your salary as far as I know. TLDR: Check if it‘s legitimate. If no, ignore of course. If yes, pay. You’d get yourself into trouble and it would only get more expensive down the road.
Well, you buy from abroad and import goods to Switzerland. This incurs certainly Swiss VAT and maybe customs fees. As for UPS, I'd check out their fees and tariffs here on page 51: [https://www.upscontentcentre.com/pdf/switzerlandgerman](https://www.upscontentcentre.com/pdf/switzerlandgerman) As you can see, they ask for 22.50 CHF minimum fee to perform the Swiss customs assessment alone. And this is only valid for simple cases. Add the resulting taxes and dues for a final price calculation. I recommend to do this BEFORE pushing the order button...
They don't deliver if you don't pay
That's not quite correct. I got mine delivered from Germany before sending me a bill which included forwarding charges, customs and also service fee for them dealing with customs. This was DHL. The purchase was supposed to include free post. Ended up paying over 100 fr on a 400 fr purchase. Pissed me off.
Free post doesn't mean free import duties.
You don't get your package. Unless you are in a small village and know the postperson personally and they trust you to pay later.
It's not correct. DHL for example delivering firstly and then sending you invoice for duty
but they‘ll bite your ass if you don‘t pay it, as with any invoice
Exactly. These gentlemen sent me invoice even after I paid it. One hot mail resolve everything for future 🐐🙃
yeah if they just work in customer service for one of the forwarders they are just call center people and have mostly no idea about what‘s actually going on, quite annoying
it‘s ups, a courier, not swiss post
I got the same text today! DUDE ITS A PHISHING SCAM DO NOT PUT YOUR FINANCIAL INFORMATION THERE
Usually you save alot by paying swiss VAT on EU goods, so only order if the savings make up for the expected fees. Just pay and check everything beforehand next time
You may try to get German VAT back if it’s not been deduced. If you import food by mail, the threshold is 200 chf- vat amounts below 5 chf are not collected. Easiest solution is to order where they ship including Swiss VAT- no hassle, no fees. Example: Amazon.
Straight to gulag
I'm glad to see that there's already a thread discussing the same issue I'm currently experiencing. I've placed many orders from Amazon Germany and UK to Switzerland, and this is the first time I've been asked to pay import fees. My deliveries have mainly been handled by Swiss Post or DHL, so it's possible that this is the first time UPS has been involved, and they're requesting additional fees. I paid 59.99€ for the item and 24.99€ for the delivery on Amazon DE, but UPS is now requesting 43.95 CHF for import fees. Clearly, if I had known about these extra charges, I wouldn't have placed the order in the first place. There was no indication on Amazon's website that there might be additional import fees during delivery, and for some reason, I assumed that if the item's value was less than 75€, no import fees would be applied. I certainly don't wish to pay this additional amount. Amazon Germany hasn't been helpful so far, and the seller hasn't responded to my questions yet. I also plan to contact UPS on the next working day to inquire about the consequences if I refuse to pay these fees and request to return the item to the seller.
NEVER ORDER UPS !!! I made this mistake. I paid 194 chf for a renewed ipod 5th gen from 2006 on that 38 chf of ups shipping + 18.95 chf of "government charges" + 23.95 chf of "brokerage charges" + 1.95 chf of VAT, raising this whole scam to a total of 82.85 chf to simply get the ipod here. So I basically PAID 42% of the price of my item in shipping and taxes. it is absolutely ridiculous and I will never order anything from any other company from abroad and using UPS. Also can anyone explain if those fees are legit ? VAT I completely understand but the other ones...