Aramex now wants KD2 for custom clearance?
I just got the following email from Aramex. I really hope they don’t mean from now on I need to pay ANOTHER KD1 on top of the KD1 I am already paying for packages that go to customs.
Hello,
This is the most recent update with regard to Kuwait Customs: As per Kuwait Customs Authority in their directive number 94, effective immediately, all shipments undergoing clearance (Tasfiya) now require a 1 KWD government stamp fee. This stamp fee is being imposed on all Express shipments including Shop and Ship packages pending customs release as of today.
We thank you for your understanding and look forward to your continued support. For more information on Kuwait Customs please contact us at kwi@shopandship.com
Shop and Ship Team
Update: It’s confirmed, they will be taking KD2 on every package for customs clearance. KD1 which they were taking before and now another KD1 for customs clearance stamp. Now my question is what is the KD1 we were already paying for? I thought we were already paying KD1 for customs clearance.
Update2: The extra charge is in effect starting right away. How do I know? I just got an SMS saying that my package weighing 0.15lb (that’s 68 grams) is out for delivery and the charge including customs is KD5.150. That’s for a package weighing under 100 grams… talk about expensive!
greedy bastards
Amen to that !
Thats what I thought when I got their email! We are already paying KD1 for customs! So they are saying that customs want another KD1!! I dont understand this!
:/ mhmmmm
Aaaaah yes Business !!
we should demand a receipt from aramex from the customs authorities.
Also there are other sites, which now allow you to package your items into 1 package which saves such charges for example myus.com
I actually had a word with an Aramex rep this afternoon, regarding a package of mine which has been stuck in customs for over 6 days now. He did mention to me that they had an issue with customs, which has been solved and that I should receive my package by tomorrow. However there was no mention of an additional charge. Raising the price in small increments has now become a trend and I am afraid to say that it will continue and this is just the beginning.
we all know Aramex that’s not new to us. They will keep rising the prices because people (not me) are still dealing with them! Just stop dealing with Aramex and see what will happen.
How much more expensive is MyUS compared to Aramex? I remember it being more expensive but since Aramex keep increasing their prices the difference should be a lot less now.
it becomes cheaper, especially, if you have package combining facility.
every year ..same thing .
my shipment didnt arrive yet .. 14 DAYS IN ARAMEX HANDS .
I have 9 packages on the way that’s now an extra KD9 with no extra benefit
Somebody should really punch them on the f’n teeth
I guess I’ll stop ordering from Aramex then. I can wait until my next trip to buy stuff from outside the country.
We need to have competitors for the same kind of service here in Kuwait , otherwise Aramex will keep increasing every year knowing we don’t have that much of choice.
Aramex pretended that the first KD 1 was for clearance but in fact it was for them; now when the real clearance fees showed up, they had no choice by saying that the Tasfiya is at 2 Kd.
It doesn’t make sense anymore,sometime i buy an item for 30$, with the shipping and the new 2 KD, i’ll end up paying the same amount as the item itself.
We need an alternative.
Greedy as usual .. say bye bye to ordering items of a value less than 10KD cause its not worth it any more specially cause they don’t do package combining even if you do your best to send all at the same they will screw u up by shipping them on different dates.
I think we can all make a difference if we get united ..
Do you remember the internet issue?
Raise a campaign against those bastard and give them the lesson they deserve.
Mark please lead such a campaign !
Why lead a campaign for them to lower prices? They’re not a monopoly, there are at least 3 or 4 other options. Only thing is Aramex is cheaper than them anyway even with their price increases…
Can you please list the other mailing options. And what mail consolidation companies are there ?
DHL EasyShop
MyUS.com
ushopweship.com
Posta Plus MyBox http://www.postaplus.com/myBox.aspx
Bongous.com
usa2me.com
Thanks. I have to check out their rates.
Nor were the ISP’s a monopoly… but they did all get forced into reducing their prices to rational levels.
i agree
I would actually suggest a campaign involving the M.O. Commerce to start excluding personal packages from custom inspections.
This makes better sense, and they can have a set of rules to make sure people (i.e. commercial companies or re-sellers) don’t abuse the personal aspect of the exemption.
I remember back in the day when I used to order from amazon and had it delivered via DHL, you only paid for the shipping. No extra charges at all. Plus, the packages were in Kuwait within a few days.
I can’t understand how better this all was back in the 90′s. I also can’t understand how services get worse rather than improve over time.
If they were lying about he customs clearance charges before, then they owe Everyone 1 KD per package.
Let’s see. They deliver an avg of 1000 packages per day and at 1 kd per pkg, thats 1000 kd per day. Thats a lot of money.
I am no longer ordering through Aramex, but still no new way to deliver
Packages are randomly held at customs.
When your package is held in customs, Aramex makes you pay the entire customs fees and they keep the 1KD.
When they don’t get held, they simply keep the 1KD.
Now that every package is getting a 1KD stamp, Aramex is simply passing these costs to the customers (and keeping their 1KD).
Are all packages getting 1 Kd stamp, even if ordered through a different shipping service [ ie kuwait post , dhl , etc ? ]
it’s a service charge for “you-live-in-a-desert-and-you-need-us” charge.
An interesting question would be, is this charge for Kuwait customers only or does this apply to all regional Aramex branches?
Still less expensive than using direct FedEX shipments but I have to say FedEX is much faster [average 3 days]
DHL much?
I understand that there needs to be a clearnace fee or something like it, but isn’t this absurd when even recieving documents requires a clearance fee? I’m talking about 4 A4 pages in an even thinner envelope.
What are they clearing exactly? Shouldn’t there be specific items to which clearance is required?
Also, since Aramex just got word of this, and were not notified prior to our packages being stuck there, shouldn’t the new fee be unapplicable?
This is probably my last ever purchase through any forwording service. It’s just not worth being screwed over like this. :/
what about if its just a magazine? Will I still have to pay that extra KD 1 ? Or is it only for boxes?
Earlier Books and Documents were never charged any clearance fees. Hope the new stamp fees don’t get applied for books.
in the future we will pay for a ticket n hotel much cheaper than order online :)
ana kuwaiti ana :(
If they take the extra kd, and things get done a lot faster, I’d be ok with the charge. I’m not sure that’s the case.
I am a disgruntled former Agility employee; however, the one thing they were good at was customs clearance. They should look into offering an Aramex type service for Kuwait.
I sent 2 identical packages from the States on my last trip: one via Aramess(Aramex) and the other via APO. The one to the APO box arrived in 4 days. Aramex took 2 weeks and was ridiculously expensive.
When are they going to privitize the postal service in Kuwait? Seriously – how long do residents have to wait for a service that delivers???
I just got similar message as Mark’s KD.5.15/-. It was KD.3.15 on their website. Crazy…
and…the package was sleeping for more than 10 days in customs, as per Aramex.
Yeah the same happened to me. Ridiculous.
I also remember ordering an ipad2 case and aramex doubled its weight
للأسف الشديد ان اول دينار هو عبارة عن رسوم مفروظة على الشركة انها تدفعها على تخليص الكونتينر بالكامل وهو من حساب الشركة للجمارك العميل ليس له دخل بالموضوع ولكن تم تحويل الموضوع على عاتق العميل لتقليل الخسائر والمشكلة انه حتا الان لا توجد اي دلائل على احقية الشركة فيها والشيء الثاني ان اي تخليص من الجمارك لازم يكون فيه ورقة خاصة في كل شحنة تخلص من الجمارك
Practical Suggestion :
File a complain in Consumer Protrection Committee (حماية المستهلك) ..
They know how to do their job and it usually works for me .. I’m going to complain and hopefully some other people do as well so that they make sure that something is wrong about this damn company !
Hi,
Mark,, can you please put out a price comparison listing with other forwarding agents like you did previously? At least we’ll get a fair idea.
Did anyone receiving items from agents other than Aramex get a similar message or faced this charge in their shipping?
They will only bring prices down after they lose business. They claim 2nd gies to customs well they should supply customs receipt for EACH package!
it’s 2011 but it feels like 2001 nothing change since then…
-1
it went backwards
Let’s demand from Aramex to provide us the custom clearance reicepts of the 2 KD rip-off. Lets not accept the packages until they shows us the proper documents. Prices of fish is decreasing because the costumers refuse to pay the ridiculous prices. Why can’t we do the same? Once we do, Aramex will cave in.
*show us
Aramex increased their price by 1KD, big deal!!!!! so what?
Look at the new post on this Blog .. They DOUBLED the prices since 2005 .. That’s the deal (…) !
Its obvious that e-commerce harms some people so they don’t want us to shop online instead we should go to the avenues and 360
There’s a good update here Mark http://aboflan.com/11275.html Hope it helps with all the misconceptions and clarifies things a bit more for the sake of everyone’s sanity…
hmikail
What I undestand from the your link is, they are paying 1 KD for each Package now, which is the new law.
But they are paying 1 KD only for clearing 60 packages, and then taking 1 KD from each customer!
Same for the 45 package receipt! 45 KD stamps, and 1 KD clearance!
If they are paying 1 KD for the clearance why don’t they devide it by the number of packages and then charge it to the customer? No, instead they are charging each customer 1 KD!
What they are doing now is the same as restaurants’ service charge! they are paying salaries to the waiters to do their job. If we don’t pay it, they won’t serve us?
I like to add:
I have an account with DHL easyshop. I used it many times. the items had to go through customs and were tax free. I didn’t have to pay any custom clearing fees! it’s their messenger(mandob) job to clear it, and he is getting paid to do this job.