Thread: Iherb and DHL shipping into Australia

This is from Iherb this morning regarding DHL Shipping

Dear iHerb Customer in Australia,

Here's some great or semi-great news for you:

1- If you have ever used DHL as your shipping method, there is a chance you may have been billed a surprise $47.00 quarantine fee by DHL. This is the fee that Australian customs charges DHL when they randomly inspect iHerb packages.

Effective today, DHL has agreed to absorb the $47.00 quarantine fee associated with your order. Unfortunately this cannot be applied retroactively to past orders. Please note that this fee is separate from other import fees/taxes you may have to pay.

2- Also, starting this coming Monday, we have been informed that international airmail shipments that normally take an average of 10 business days to Australia will arrive 2-3 days sooner. As you may know, this shipping method is limited to orders weighing 3 pounds (1360 grams) or less, and a value of $80.00 or less.

3- Take advantage of our April sale while it lasts: 10% off any order of $60.00 or more!

Kind regards,

The iHerb Team


Obi

I used regmail, and it came the next monday I ordered my things.

DHL must be losing a shitload of business if they're changing it now.
Thanks for the info obi1

I used reg mail to, been waiting around 10 days so far, I hope its still coming through, is there anyway to find out where it is when its sent by 'untrackable' regular mail?

Originally Posted by robbo

I used reg mail to, been waiting around 10 days so far, I hope its still coming through, is there anyway to find out where it is when its sent by 'untrackable' regular mail?

That's the beauty of no tracking, you have no clue :) till you get a fine from customs.

But also look at it from DHL perspective, every time customs decide they want to sticky beak in side our packages they charge DHL $47 i don't know about you guys but every package i have ever ordered from iherb has been opened by customs. Thats enough to put them out of business as they are ALWAYS taking a loss!!

All because we live in a live in a nanny state where even though we are adults we are treated like children by our government and told what we can and can't put inside our bodies. Blame the government/customs not DHL

I never received that email from Iherb.

If customs truly charged $47 each time they open a parcel then so would the APO. Besides, how can anyone truly justify charging a fee because they opened a legitimate parcel with nothing illegal in it. It's just a bogus fee by DHL imo

Well i don't know first hand but i deal with useless govermant/public servant departments in my work and they do that stuff all the time, i.e. by law stick there nose in things then charge the company some ludicous fee for it all

Bit off topic, but what can I do about my iherb order, its been a long time for something so small, I only order a sleep tab mix, I havent received anything from customs in the mail yet, is there anyone I can ring or something I can do to get info?
thanks

check the ingrediants for banned substance.. It will take a LONG time to get the letter

melatonin, its natural relief for insomnia, nothing in there thats banned, I checked prior. If it has been stopped how long does it take to move it on?
cheers.

Not illegal but you can be asked to provide a perscription for it as i think it's a controlled substance like pretty much everything here, at this rate you'll need a perscription for protein powder too soon, i've imported it a few time with no issues

......and so the bullsh#t goes on. So you have a company claiming to "absorb" a $47 fee from customs. Yeah right. And using Lynx spray will get me laid by a figure model.

This is a complete random guess but I imagine that what is happening is that customs will charge them a flat fee for processing a "container" of packages. Whatever that may be. They then decide to make a profit on that by doubling it or tripling it or whatever and charging you. So they make a profit for being charged for a customs service, which, as it happens, your taxes pay for. This is much the same as buying something cheap on eBay then paying a huge whack to get it delivered when you know it only costs about $4 to post the item.

So you use FedEx and, well kiss my arse and call me Charlie, but FedEx are so badly organised that they forget to charge you the $47. Right???

OK. I better stop now. My coffee is kicking in.

Well maybe someone from customs can shed some light on this i think i remember someone on the board worked in customs. Trust me hogan gov departments do charge shit like that all the time i wouldn't be surprised. What makes you so sure they don't? do you have some special insider info we don't?

I reckon it has to be bogus DHL fee otherwise why would you absorb a $47 fee that's twice the amount of what you charge in postage, doesn't make any sense!

When I first ordered off iherb I used DHL - but changed to UPS International as DHL billed me - which btw I refused to pay - have had no repercussions from DHL since
UPS is also generally cheaper - especially for larger orders

mac