Shipping Fees Explained

From time to time, we get asked questions about shipping and what additional fees people should expect when ordering from us. This can be a complicated subject, so we thought it would be best to properly cover the topic in a blog post in order to explain how it works and give a couple of common examples.

Summary

As DAME is a UK-based company, all orders placed with us are sent out to our customers from the UK, so customers who order from within the UK will have the cheapest overall shipping. However, if you order from outside the UK, you will likely have additional fees to pay when importing the parcel into your country. As the exporter, it is our responsibility to ensure the correct documentation is present on the parcel, to ensure it can be processed by the customs agents as swiftly and easily as possible.

DAME is not responsible for charging customers any import fees, as the shipping fees that we charge only cover posting your order and the materials used to package it. DAME does not receive money from any import fees that the customers pay, as the money instead goes to either the shipping company as a handling fee or to your local government as Import Duty and VAT.

Handling Fee

This is charged by the courier company, usually UPS, to cover the time needed to process the parcel through the import stage, along with any payments that are needed. Handling Fees are only charged if there is any Import Duty or VAT (otherwise known as Government Charge) due, so the shipping company will usually pay these charges, then claim them back from the customer in addition to their Handling Fee for doing so.

Handling fees are a flat-rate fee that is added based on where you live, for example UPS charges £12.20 GBP for the UK, $12.00 USD for USA and €13.25 EURO for the EU.

Import Duty

This fee is charged depending on what you are trying to import into the country, with its value set at a rate that ensures the imported goods are a competitive price to any similar goods produced domestically.

As the exporter, it is our job to provide the current Harmonized System (HS) code, product description and country of origin for each item in the parcel to ensure you are charged appropriately. If we do not provide any codes, it is up to the customs agent to determine what the code should be, which in-turn might include opening the parcel to check the contents. Alternatively, they may simply use a generic code with a high fee, usually resulting in you being charged more than you should.

At the time of writing, masks are charged 0% to import into the EU and the US, while skinsuits are 12% for the EU and 16% for the US.

VAT

When buying an item in a shop, you would usually need to pay Value Added Tax (VAT) when doing so. This goes towards funding your government and is added to sales from all companies over a certain size, though when importing from another country, you are charged VAT on all parcels regardless of the size of the company they came from. For the EU, the first country which processes the parcel is the one which will collect the VAT payment.

The amount of VAT charged depends on where you are. At the time of writing EU VAT is at 20%, while for the US, the equivalent system varies per state from between 2.9% to 7.25%.

VAT is usually charged last, so will cover the cost of the goods, any import duty and all handling fees. There is usually a VAT threshold that must be meet before it is applied to the parcel, but due to the typical cost of orders, we expect that all orders we send out will be above this threshold.

Examples

All examples are correct at the time of writing, please use up-to-date conversion rates, import duty and VAT when estimating how much you will pay for importing goods.

Example 1 – Mask Order

The first example will be a mask by itself, at £550 GBP, being sold to somebody in Germany.

Upfront, the customer will need to pay for the mask at €654.93 and shipping at €42.87 (including insurance), totalling in at €697.80.

Once the order is ready, we will ship it and the customer will need to pay:

• €13.25 Handling Fees to UPS
• 0% Import Duty for the mask
• 20% VAT of both the cost of the mask and the handling fee, being 20% of €668.18 or €133.64 to their local government, collected by UPS

In total, we estimate that the customer would end up paying €844.69 to buy the mask and get it to them in Germany, €697.80 of which is upfront and €146.89 during delivery.

Example 2 – Skinsuit Order

The second example is a skinsuit at £150 and wash bag at £5 being sold to someone in Texas USA.

Upfront, the customer will need to pay for the skinsuit at $198.22, wash bag at $6.61 and shipping at $49.55 (including insurance), totalling in $254.38.

Once the order is ready, we will ship it and the customer will need to pay:

• $12.00 Handling Fees to UPS
• 16% Import Duty for the skinsuit, being 16% of $198.22 or $31.72 to their local government, collected by UPS
• 8.4% Import Duty for the wash bag, being 8.4% of $6.61 or $0.56 to their local government, collected by UPS
• 6.25% VAT of both the cost of the skinsuit and washbag, the import duty for the skinsuit and wash bag and the handling fee, being 6.25% of $249.11 or $15.57 to their local government, collected by UPS

In total, we estimate that the customer would end up paying $314.23 to buy the skinsuit and wash bag and get it to them in Texas, $254.38 of which is upfront and $59.85 during delivery.

FAQ

Can we under-declare the value of a parcel?

No, doing so would be tax fraud and would get us in a lot of trouble legally if we were to do so.

If an item is on sale, what value is used when exporting?

We will use the cost of the item at the time of sale, if it was brought at a discounted price then we will use that discounted price on all paperwork.

What country do you ship from?

All products sold on our website are shipped from the UK, but the country of origin may differ depending on where the item is made.

Will I still need to pay any shipping fees if I am in the UK?

No, shipping fees are only due on parcels being shipped internationally. As we are shipping from the UK, your parcel would not need to be imported, so there would be no additional fees to pay.

I have been charged a different amount to what I was expecting, what can I do?

Outlined here is what we expect the import fees to be, but it is down to the customs agent handling your parcel to set the amount to be paid, so it might not line up with what you expect. If it is very different to what you expect then contact UPS to discuss it and get further details. You can dispute the fees with UPS if you wish, though doing so may delay the delivery of your parcel.

Are you going to sign up to IOSS or other similar schemes?

No, we are not currently planning to sign up to any VAT schemes like IOSS for the EU. As a small company, it is hard for us to keep up with all of the relevant requirements for schemes like that, so it is better for us to instead focus on making better masks for everybody and rely on UPS to continue to collect any fees during delivery.

I have not been charged any import fees, is this correct?

Not all parcels will have import fees assigned to them and instead they may be allowed to pass through without any issues. From what we understand, customs agents are given percentage-based quotas for how many parcels from each country should be charged import fees, this is mostly to ensure that parcels are imported in a timely manor and are not held by customs for too long. There is always a chance that you may be lucky and not be charged any import fees at all.

Where can I look up Import Duty for my country?

Most countries have an official website where you can search the HS codes and find a list of charges per country, for the EU this can be found here while for the US you can download the relevant documentation here.