DHL + Buying From Abroad - BEWARE OF IMPORT TAXES AND KEEP ALL YOUR RECEIPTS

 Back in July 2012, I bought an iphone off Spanish ebay for one of my iphone developers in India (I bought it from ebay in spain and sent it to india becasue the price of iphones in India is more expensive than in spain)

The iphone project ended so the developer has sent the iphone back to me through DHL Express and was supposed to have arrived this morning and it did not materialise, so I checked on the DHL tracking site to find that it arrived last week and the status of the delivery is "Clearance Delay" and the note against it says "DHL needs to contact the Receiver but contact details provided are inaccurate or insufficient to make contact".

So, no problems, I find the number I need to call at DHL and after speaking to two people, I find that the phone has been held in customs (or dhl customs) as apprently there is no bill of sale for the item and they cant release it as I need to prove that I was not purchasing it from Inida and having it deleivered to Spain. (guilty before being proved innocent?).

Of course I explain to the lady at DHL that the phone is actually my own phone I did not buy it I was just getting it back.

Nevertheless, she tells me that I need to produce the receipt and proof of payment for the iphone otherwsie I will have to pay IVA on the item plus the asscoiated charges for processing the IVA.

So I have had to spend over an hour digging around to find the relevant ebay receipts and bank transfers made etc plus scan them and put them into an eamil and send them off, in the hope that its enough.

So, the 15 minute phone call to their 902 number + the hour or so preparing paperwork + the dealys on getting my phone back, its starting to become expensive.

Who is paying me for this? DHL got paid a nice hefty fee for delivering the package so they are not out of pocket.

So, all I have to say is that if you buy anything anywhere, whether its second hand or new, and you are sending it anywhere, make sure you have the receipt or you might have to talk to some arrogant DHL arsehole and prove that the item being sent is actually yours.
 

DHL are entirely correct.

In additiion, it is not their fault (or their problem). This is all standard stuff when sending/receiving anything from outside the EU. You refer to "DHL Customs", it is not DHL Customs, but Spanish Customs. DHL are simply acting as broker on your behalf.

You need to send them the invioice for the 'phone showing that IVA/VAT was paid. It would help if this clearly has the phone serial number on it.  Otherwise, they (Spanish customs)  will charge it again, plus other duties and costs. The item should have been clearly declared as a "re-import". There are special procedures for this, and it is the shipper's responsibiity (not DHL's) to ensure that the correct paperwork is provided.

DHL are correct. Spanish Customs are correct. These are the procedures. The fact that you did not research them, or know them is not their problem, it's yours. DHL are actually helping you with customs here. It could be worse - you could be dealing with them direct.

This was all done very, what's the word? -  naively. When the phone was sent to India it should have been sent with documentation for Indian customs. Then the recipient would have had documentaion showing where it came from, duties paid, etc. Then sending it back to Spain would have been relatively easy - accompanied by a copy of the documents showing its history. It would have been best to use a tariff heading "for repair" as strictly speaking once it was imported into India it became an "Indian" phone and no more deserving of tariff free, IVA free, etc importation into Spain than any other phone from India. If the woman at DHL doesn't bill for all this administrative hassle, and gets the phone delivered, someone is lucky and owes her a bunch of flowers.