People, I may have a problem with my goods

They were personal effects, 10 text books, 1 laptop, 2 shirts and 2 shoes. I sent these items to my younger sister. The books were her personal items anyway. The package was less than 8kg.

Now i check the DHL waybill and it seems stuck in Lagos for 11 days now. Now i am hearing I have to pay import duty!

What sort of thing is this? has anyone experienced such with the nigerian customs?

any ideas anyone,

Yes. I had to pay N7000 for a laptop I sent using USPS. The irony is if you travel with 10 laptops as part of your luggage, you don't have to pay anything to the customs.

Yeah it has happened to me sometime I sent some Jeans to people in Nigeria, they seized it in Lag and had my cousin pay about =N=18,000.

If the laptop is brand new you might have to pay some fee as import duty. If it's not a new one you might have some story telling to do with the custom guys to convince them.

Had an experience like this when someone I know sent three brand new laptops from the US to the UK via post to cut down the cost of sending them directly to Naija via DHL. Backfired when we received a letter from the UK post office saying we had to pay import duty on the three laptops and cost of import duty on each one was actually the cost of sending them directly from the US in the first place.

I am surprise are experiencing this with DHL, thought it is peculiar to items sent thru EMS or post office. Had nasty experience with EMS and ve vow never to send any item thru them. Even if custom charge you or not for duty, post office official still collect N1500 for handling charge.

This is normal, import duties must be payed for dutiable goods and DHL will inform you by whichever means you chose when preparing/registering your package for delivery.

I think you can pay at Zenith Bank and bring your teller to the Customs Office to claim you goods. I had a horrible experience shipping Flash-Drives I found the package opened and they claimed they were searching for dangerous items and 11 Flash-drives went missing. Just be careful shipping small items that can easily get lost or stolen at Customs.

Same thing happened to me. I sent my brother a brand new iphone4 via DHL and was surprised to hear from him that he had to go the customs office (i think it was) to pay some crazy exorbitant amount in the name of duty. I was furious . I insured it together with other add-ons i sent in the package, and i'm sure as they sat with their huge beer/peppersoup bellies and saw the large amount on the bill, their greedy minds must have been calculating how much egunge they could make off it. I've been told you can pay less if done off the books , if you catch my drift.

I'm afraid you just have to grin and bear it.

From my experience, it is not customs holding up your delivery; it is NDLEA.
i have had to endure such delays to get my phones delivered to me through FEDEX. I had to go there to negotiate a bail for my items.
It is a shameful thing when NDLEA begins to question you about duty on am imported item. thankfully, i am versed in clearing matters so i was able to deal with them effectively.

This is very pathetic. I would have opened a thread for this earlier because these NDLEA guys at the Airport in Lagos are really doing many things wrong. They had held my laptops twice for c;lose to one week because i insisted i wasn't paying any dime as bribe. I think we should all add our voices together and do something fast about this. Their job is to look out for drug peddlers and not to disturb Nigerians who are going about their legitimate businesses.

I had an almost similar experience. A friend of mine sent me a refurbished laptop from Spain. I was patiently waiting for the delivery to be made to my home address as indicated in the parcel in Spain but to my dismay they just brought me a piece of paper which read that I should come to their office (UPS) at Mafoluku and pick up my parcel in person. When I got there I was directed to the NDLEA office behind the main building. I was asked by the officer in-charge to produce the following:-

1. My ID Card
2. Senders Passport number
3. Senders evidence of means of livelihood in Spain (Documents from his employer)
4. Fax number of Sender
5. Telephone number of Sender
6. Income tax clearance from the sender.

Well, I couldn't provide all these since the guy was doing me a favour by giving me a Laptop. When I told him he was furious but there was nothing he could do. I went back home sad. I came back after two days as a friend advised that the officer was actually waiting for me to negotiate with him knowing fully well that there was no way on mother earth that i could provide the needful. I saw the officer and told him that I was ready to negotiate for the release of my Laptop. He made funny excuses but when he saw how serious I was, he opened up and at last I got the Laptop after parting with N20K. The value of the Laptop in Nigeria as at that time was about N40K.  I also had to pay another N7k to UPS office for the release. That was my experience. Now, I know better than to have a friend or relative send me anything from abroad. It's not worth the trouble.

y Xpirience was buying a used Ipod on Ebay from the US, I had to pay£17 to collect at ROyal mail, so bro, its same problem worlwide, duties had to be paid for dutable goods.

In any proper country, duties has to be paid.

Mine was not termed DUTY. It was sheer extortion by NDLEA officials.

EMS is the best option. The standard is 1,500 naira and off you go with your stuffs. I think DHL bargains with the custom in faking import duties. i had a similar experience two times in one month and at the end you negotiate price with them.

If your stuffs are not duty free, you will pay for them. Thats normal to me.

some people are confused



by law some goods has to pay duty in every in the world

becoz of corrupt officials and a corrupt system people think that its bribe all the way when some of it its duty required by government

so now some people cant seperate duty and bribes

very few courier companies would pay duty for you, you have to pay yourself

Mine was just one unit of used laptop and I was made to part with N27k almost the price of a fairly used one in Nigeria. I was of the opinion that laptop is DUTY-FREE in naija during the reign of OBJ Pls help

i work with a freight sevices compnay, we charge freight services door to door, and no more, yes all the duties and everything is in there. but we don't pick up less than 10kg. pls next time call the Nigerian based airfrighter to pick up your cargo for you right from the senders. it saves alot of stress. Not the big ones like DHL OR FEDEX OR UPS. Those ones has turned to our Nigerian post office where cargo miss everyday

If you take the risk and devalue the package and mark it as gift, no one will charge any customs whatever.

I have sent items with DHL in the past and there was no issue except that the DHL guy would ask for some tips when it is delivered. They claim they used it to sort the immigrations or whoever.

Thank God this hasnt happen to me. I've sent laptops, clothes to 9ja on several occasions and never had to pay any extra fee. I pay the pple in charge of my items instead and all the clearing fee is included in what they charge so i dont pay extra.

@Poster,

Customs duty is calculated on dutiable items based on:
1.Cost of the goods.
2.Insurance.
3.Freight charges.

The sum total of these three costs are added up to form customs duty which are of two types:
1.specific duty which is based on weight,number of units or volume.
2.ad-valorem duty which is calculated as a percentage of the value of the goods,that is the sum total of the cost+insurance+freight x a specific percentage.

It is not rocket science,the problem is that Nigerians refuse to pay the correct taxes,thus opening themselves up to exploitation by corrupt officials.
Infact the Customs tarriff is the same the world over.the problem is that a Nigerian will pay appropriate duty in Cotonu,but will come to Lagos and be looking for stupid short cuts,thus opening themselves up to be fleeced.
Go on the Customs website before you import anything to make sure you don't import  prohibited goods,because what is legal in Britain may turn out to be illegal in Nigeria.
A word is enough for the wise.






.

Important you evaluate customs duty before sending goods

its similar to sending goods through the port, only faster

Applicable in other countries too.

Although Nigerian factor would add the odd illegal bits and bob

knotty:

From my experience, it is not customs holding up your delivery; it is NDLEA.
i have had to endure such delays to get my phones delivered to me through FEDEX. I had to go there to negotiate a bail for my items.
It is a shameful thing when NDLEA begins to question you about duty on am imported item. thankfully, i am versed in clearing matters so i was able to deal with them effectively.

this is not encouraging at all. So how do guys who import on a regular basis do so. @knotty pls can u give us tips to enable us deal effectively with them.

knotty:

From my experience, it is not customs holding up your delivery; it is NDLEA.
i have had to endure such delays to get my phones delivered to me through FEDEX. I had to go there to negotiate a bail for my items.
It is a shameful thing when NDLEA begins to question you about duty on am imported item. thankfully, i am versed in clearing matters so i was able to deal with them effectively.

this is not encouraging at all. So how do guys who import on a regular basis do so. @knotty pls can u give us tips to enable us deal effectively with them.

@Akolawole

In any proper country, duties has to be paid.

I hear you.
And this is why I have always wondered how certain couriers are able to offer a flat rate - £6/kg, say - for a "door to door" service.

I  have always found it curious that multi-nationals like DHL and Fedex operate by a different set of rules, collecting import duties/taxes accrued before releasing items,  when WaZoBia Haulage does not necessarily level such charges.

Does anyone have a handle on why we have this variance?
I was once told by an insider that the likes of WaZoBia Haulage have simply mastered the art of circumvention - where import duty is concerned - but have never really found the time to verify this claim, hence the question.

Next time,tell the sender of the goods to write gifts on the package and undervalue the goods

bomboyi:

Next time,tell the sender of the goods to write gifts on the package and undervalue the goods

If anything happens to the goods, insurance will cover value stated by you alone.

@Bomboyi,
It may intrest you to know that the Customs has a valuation department that has a data base of all goods produced world wide,andtheir cost price.
This under payment and under valuation only leads to your further exploitation by corrupt officials and then you will come on to NL and start crying that the security agents are corrupt.
Stop cutting corners and pay the correct duty for your own good!

Write on the waybill that the item is used and is a gift, then devalue it. nothing is going to stop it from getting to you except some delivery men who are used to stealing items from the warehouse and sometimes during delivery.

customs are the senior brother of police so you guys should not bother sending those goods unaccompanied or you will have to pay egunje