Paying import fees to DPD

[hubner]

Has anyone had to pay import fees, VAT etc to receive an overseas delivery from DPD.

https://dpd.cccollect.co

It's not DPD but another company that processes the payment but it seems they only take Paypal or a bank transfer?!

Not only that, they charge £9.69.

[Paul H]

Be thankful it wasn't Parcelforce, they charge £12
I don't think I've dealt with DPD but I've had a few things sent via UPS and Parcelforce, pretty straightforward and they've paid the VAT and and import duty on your behalf.  The fee doesn't seem unreasonable, though if it was a low value item it can seem disproportionate.  You always have the option to reject it, though what happens then is between you and the seller.

[hubner]

But surely UPS, Parcelforce, DHL etc take credit/debit cards?
.
Anyhow, it's not my parcel. I was going to use their debit card. They don't have a Paypal account nor online banking.

So it's either they go into their bank to make the transfer or I'm going to pay it online and get the money back from them later.

[Phil W]

In PayPal you don’t need an account, you can pay via credit card.

[hubner]

I clicked the "Pay by Paypal" button which then went to https://www.paypal.com
and it said: log into Paypal, but I didn't notice you can scroll down and then there's: or pay by debit or credit card!

But a major company like DPD shouldn't be using Paypal as the only online payment.

[citoyen]

But a major company like DPD shouldn't be using Paypal as the only online payment.

Why not?

[hubner]

FFS I've just have spent 2 hours trying pay using Paypal as guest, using 2 different cards, 2 different browsers, making sure to allow all cookies, scripts etc etc, each time I got "Payment not found". 

The item on the invoice was declared as USD21.75, add £10 "admin" fee, VAT seemed to be worked out from £25 and the total price is about £30!

And now they've told me it was a gift from a friend!

VAT

You pay VAT on goods sent from non-European Union (EU) countries and EU special territories (eg the Canary Islands) if they’re:

    gifts worth more than £39
    other goods worth more than £15

Gifts

To qualify as gifts, goods must be:

    described as gifts on the customs declaration
    for a birthday, anniversary or other occasion
    bought and sent between individuals (not companies)
    intended for personal use

[Ivo]

Did you check if it's a genuine email from DPD? There are lot's of phishing mails using these sorts of themes. They aim at collectiong your login details of either paypal or your credit card.

[Frank9755]

That url is not on DPD's website and my first thought was that it looked scammy.  But, having done a bit of research (I do a lot of work in the parcels industry so useful to understand this), I think the url is genuine.  There is a company called CC Collect which DPD and some others use to collect customs payments, and it is their URL. 

But the main thing is were you / your friend expecting a parcel?  If not, then it is almost definitely a scam.  The first thing to check is that the link actually goes to the site that it says it is going to.  You can normally do this without clicking it by mousing over it in your email programme.

[hubner]

Yes they were expecting the package, they got a text message with a link that logs them onto the website.

In the end, I paid it using a third browser (Chromium) with all add ons disabled and all cookies allowed. Even then, when I clicked "pay" which then goes to the Paypal login page, the "pay by debit or credit card" option didn't always appear. Maybe that's why I didn't notice it originally.

Their customer service page is not secure
http://www.cccollect.co.uk/
There goes your name, email address, phone number.

[Frank9755]

This version is secure:

https://www.cccollect.co.uk/

[Asterix, the former Gaul.]

But a major company like DPD shouldn't be using Paypal as the only online payment.

Why not?

PayPal was founded by Elon Musk.

[citoyen]

But a major company like DPD shouldn't be using Paypal as the only online payment.

Why not?

PayPal was founded by Elon Musk.

Right. I assumed hubner's objection to PayPal was a question of security.

If it's a question of ethics, you have to ask whether the alternatives are necessarily preferable.

[fuaran]

Musk doesn't own Paypal any more.

[Asterix, the former Gaul.]

PayPal was founded by Elon Musk.

And 6 others; it was a team effort.

Nobody remembers the others.

[hubner]

This version is secure:

https://www.cccollect.co.uk/

The "customer service" link at the bottom of https://dpd.cccollect.co goes to http://www.cccollect.co.uk/

I'm sure when I previously tried to change http to https manually, the website didn't load, although it does seem to now.

I've got the "HTTPS Everywhere" add on in Firefox, which is I thought is suppose to stop unsecure sites from loading. I just check its settings and it's set to allow unsecure sites to load, I don't know if that's the default setting or I changed it and forgot.

[Greenbank]

PayPal was founded by Elon Musk.

And 6 others; it was a team effort.

Nobody remembers the others.

The only others I could remember were Peter Thiel and Max Levchin, none of the other 3.

Thiel is also behind Palantir, which is another company founded on dubious morals.