Hart audio (shipping fees) - for people outside the US SUCKS

Equipment / Electronics / Gear / Accessories Source Gear / Other
1

To be clear im not bashing Hart audio, they make a great product IMO, but would really like for them to offer more shipping options for folks outside of the US, which is why I’m posting here hoping that more people would ask them to look into other shipping options (I just sent an email to them)

Basically, if you live outside the US you have to choose between two options:

  1. UPS -fast, but extremely expensive, and I’m not just talking about 30+ $ i pay for shipping, but UPS will also charge you “Suprise Fee”,( they call it a release fee + computer fee) normally another 35+ $ (And not those aren’t taxes, just BS fee from UPS)

  2. USPS’ First class international - Which is cheaper but “the customer would have to accept the risk in the event that usps loses the package in transit”, basically if the shipment gets lost, you are f*cked…

I get that shipping outside the US is a nightmare, but there has to other possibilities that would be viable both for them and consumers.

So for those that can, please email them, and maybe if enough people ask they would look into other options

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2

I am with you. Have been eyeing hart cables for a long time but eventually had to pick other options available in europe. But if there is a possibility I would love to put my hands on them.

3

like a said, Email them maybe just maybe they will look into other options
BTW they are really nice cables :smiley:

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Got mine in late 2019 delivered to the UK and I can’t remember it being that expensive to post tbh.

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A85C55EF-F7D6-47F9-80B2-B275A9A4CD464416×3312 1.61 MB

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Maybe the UK isnt as bad, but i just payed 90$ in taxes, shipping and “other things” for a 130$ shipment of cables

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6

@brux is part of the Forum, so maybe he can chime in to give us more info.

Also, the forward company I use in the US charges 3 dollars for every 100 for a full value insurance. I thought Hart had any options like this, strange.

7

Hey man, if you don’t know your sh*t, the customs will take advantage of you.

As a reviewer, I received a lot of packages, so I quickly learned how not to be taken advantage of. I once paid more on taxes and customs fees than the claimed value of the package.

I live in Serbia, and here everything above 50 euros of value is valid to be charged by the customs. This is how it usually looks when the package gets shipped by big companies like FedEx, UPS, or DHL:
10% customs fee
20% PDV (taxes)
40 euros forwarding agency

I personally believe that what you are calling “surprise fee” or “other things” is actually the forwarding agency fee. You have to understand that when a package gets shipped by UPS, DHL, FedEx, you must pay a forwarding agency to go through the customs clearance process. By law (at least in Serbia), you, as a legal person, cannot start the customs clearance process — a forwarding agency has the permit to do that. Otherwise (when shipped by local post), there is no forwarding agency required. That’s why I avoid DHL/UPS/FedEx at all costs. Not only is their service on the same level (speed) as the local post, but I actually found it to be slower and much more unpleasant. Not to mention that it comes with bonus fees :wink:

The “good” thing is that the forwarding agency charges a static fee, it is not based on the value. It will be 40 euros for a 50 euro package, and will be 40 euros for a 1000 euro package. Which means it is not exactly convenient when you are ordering small value stuff.

Also, if you are unlucky, the customs will estimate the shipping and either charge you that estimated amount, or will charge you taxes on their estimation of the shipping. This is what happened to me when I paid more for the fees than the stated value of the package… and they didn’t even ask me to tell them or show them proof of shipping costs. Basically they made up that the shipping cost 130 euros (from Slovenia to Serbia. lol)

Recently they (the customs) tried to take advantage of me, but since I am not as uneducated as I was before, I stopped them. You just have to read the law and use it in your favor, much like you would build a case in court. The customs know that people are uneducated, so it is not hard for them to take advantage of them (depends in which countries, but here in Serbia they seem pretty corrupt).

Hope this helps you for future international ordering =)

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8

it’s not related to any tax or government body, iv’e checked (this isnt my first time dealing with this).
And the response to refusing to pay these fees will be to a swift “return to sender”, without getting any sort of refund for the delivery (again ive already had to deal with these kinds of things in the past)

I order from Amazon , Ebay, Aliexpress and a variety of sites (of varying sizes), regularly, a fair amount of them get delivered via DHL, FedEX and other services and there in most cases, i pay the shipping fee and everything is smooth sailing advance without a single issue (maybe a slight delay for “exotic” items) and have only hit these “surprise” fees with UPS.

And I understand that a part of that is because of Hart Audio’s size as a company, but it’s not like I’m asking for some weird shipping method, I just don’t need UPS 3-day shipping.

Im fine taking a much slower shipping method, but with Hart Audio stand on "accept the risk in the event that USPS loses the package in transit” while somewhat understandable it’s also unacceptable to me as a consumer, which is why I’m hoping that with enough folks they might look into other shipping methods or even charge an additional fee as an “insurance fee” ( i don’t mind if the money goes to them over UPS, and that i know about it ahead of time)

2 Likes
9

Interesting. I didn’t receive anything with UPS in a while, so I’m not sure if they are charging this fee because of COVID-19 and the more difficult times everybody is in at the moment.

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Nope, it was in shipments before COVID.
first time i ordered from Hart was in 12/1/2020, 2 months before shit hit the fan and i still got hit with same charges.

1 Like
11

Even more interesting.

It’s just funny how you get better service from a local post company than one of those giant shipping companies.

12

well lets not go that far :slight_smile:
Local post office is even more of a nightmare, losing packages, delays , sending it to the wrong local post office, damages and so much more. the Israeli post office is known for being a certified nightmare.

I’m assuming the fees are mainly related to the speed of the shipment, basically paying for an expiated customs clearance and delivery

1 Like
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Even. More. Interesting.

I found that foreign local posts never lost a single package of mine, and even delivered packages when the big companies didn’t (to be more specific, it was at the beginning of the COVID-19 nightmare). And I never had any unnecessary fees.

It’s interesting to see how it is quite different in every country. While in my case I’ve had positive experience, you didn’t.

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Worth pointing out that hart audio is just a one-man operation as far as I know… and he tries to keep his shipping and prices pretty low and reasonable overall. It might be a bit much to ask him to handle the logistics of shipping all over the world. I still order cables and interconnects from him and the quality is still there.

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15

I think this is less of an issue with Hart Audio and more of an issue with our crappy global shipping lanes. Unless you’re a huge corporation shipping at a mass scale and in regular / large increments you’re getting absolutely raped on shipping right now.

I work in FP&A in a large US based e-commerce company (multi - billion in rev) and we’re bent over a barrel by UPS / Fedex for small parcel domestic rates. I mean absolutely bent over a barrel with no KY given.

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Pretty sure its not a 1 man show but i do release its an extremely small operation which is why asking the community to chim in, if enough interest then it won’t be just me being pissed about being overcharged but a shipping company it would be a legitimate business inquiry that could warrant looking into.

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I agree to some extent while they are no where near the size of larger companies i sttill think its possible to find a better way to ship things (you can find folks on Etsy or other much smaller websites) - like i said i dont mind paying extra for insurance and waiting a few weeks if it mean i can get a product at a decent rate with no surprises and that the company can cover their loses in case of a missing shipment

18

I’ve spoken to him a few times a couple years back before he got the Zeos shout out… if it’s not one-man now… it at least was not that long ago.

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I think as far as making the cables themselves its all him. but as far as logistics and support im pretty sure he has at least 1 other partner (back in Jan when i asked for a 2pin, the emails i got back were from Hanna)

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Okay sure.