I was planing to order some PCB carriers and at "checkout" page, I was shocked to see a 90% tax. Destination was United Arab Emirates. I asked seller about it. He was surprised too and told me that there is nothing from his side. It's all about Ali-express.
So I talked to Ali-express online help agent and she was unable to explain it; insisting that it's custom duty by UAE government. After three days they send me an email consisting of some useless stuff and case closed.
UAE usually impose 5% custom duty for normal imports. This item is not listed any banned or any special category. There is 5% VAT some handling fee of AED20 and , but they collect it all at the time when you receive your parcel. I've received some electronic components from LCSC China a couple of weeks ago with only 5% tax which was paid at receiving time.
I don't know what kind of tax this is at Ali-express? It almost doubles the price of items and at receiving end a 5% import tax of UAE government is also waiting for you. If somebody have any information about it , please let me know. May be I'm missing something normal.



Second thing is about their "choice" option and "Free shipping". At advertisement page an item is showing "Free shipping" but at checkout page it's showing Shipping charges. I increased the quantity to cross their minimum limit for "choice" eligibility but shipping charges still appear. Their online help acknowledge this mistake and then just a good bye.
In the past, I never had any complains about Ali-express and preferred to purchase especially using their "choice" option but now it makes purchasing unfeasible .

 

Could it be due to the Mid East war, possibly an easy way of stopping people from placing orders for the region?

 

Could it be due to the Mid East war, possibly an easy way of stopping people from placing orders for the region?

This happened before Middle East tension. Other platforms like Amazon and other vendors are working as usual. I checked with Post Office parcel handling people. They conformed that they collect only 5% custom duty at the time of receiving parcel and AED25 for handling fee which is independent from taxes. I don't know where this 90% amount is going and why?
Ali-express is a large international platform. How they can do it? May be I'm missing some thing but it ruined my purchasing excitement at this platform.

 

This happened before Middle East tension. Other platforms like Amazon and other vendors are working as usual. I checked with Post Office parcel handling people. They conformed that they collect only 5% custom duty at the time of receiving parcel and AED25 for handling fee which is independent from taxes. I don't know where this 90% amount is going and why?
Ali-express is a large international platform. How they can do it? May be I'm missing some thing but it ruined my purchasing excitement at this platform.

I sympathize with your unfortunate disposition. I too am suffering from no longer having access to aliexpress electronics.

I can no longer buy from aliexpress, I live in hawaii. I used to buy all kinds of electronics for my hobbies from them, as there was no way to beat the price. However, after the tariff wars began last year, aliexpress dramatically changed for me, it is basically impossible for me to buy anything. In a few cases, an item will still ship, but it is not the better option for me, I have to choose amazon or ebay for price (very unusual, as these are merely sellers who purchased from aliexpress and are reselling with a markup), or in most cases "this item does not ship to your location", which is I assume is because aliexpress will not assign a custom price for me, but it will cost too much to ship to my location. For now, it is impossible for me to buy from aliexpress. (which is too bad, as there is virtually nowhere else for me to buy affordable kit pcbs and components). I don't think it is directly associated with the conflict in the middle-east, I think it is because of the dramatic impacts of the tariff wars.

 

The golden years of unfettered World commerce have been thrown upside down. How long will it last, will we go back to those heady days?
These are the real questions

 

I sympathize with your unfortunate disposition. I too am suffering from no longer having access to aliexpress electronics.

I can no longer buy from aliexpress, I live in hawaii. I used to buy all kinds of electronics for my hobbies from them, as there was no way to beat the price. However, after the tariff wars began last year, aliexpress dramatically changed for me, it is basically impossible for me to buy anything. In a few cases, an item will still ship, but it is not the better option for me, I have to choose amazon or ebay for price (very unusual, as these are merely sellers who purchased from aliexpress and are reselling with a markup), or in most cases "this item does not ship to your location", which is I assume is because aliexpress will not assign a custom price for me, but it will cost too much to ship to my location. For now, it is impossible for me to buy from aliexpress. (which is too bad, as there is virtually nowhere else for me to buy affordable kit pcbs and components). I don't think it is directly associated with the conflict in the middle-east, I think it is because of the dramatic impacts of the tariff wars.

I'm making and providing custom PCBs to customers as a side business (and to educate myself and to gain more experience) at very reasonable price and with a little profit. But since now manufacturing cost is almost double, my customers are also shocked.
What I didn't understand is that no one is taking responsibility of such high tax rate. Ali-express says it's from Govt and the Govt says we are taking only 5%. What a jock.

 

The golden years of unfettered World commerce have been thrown upside down. How long will it last, will we go back to those heady days?
These are the real questions

IMHO, this probably will not last long. Users all around the globe are affected in someway. When I talked to the seller he was surprised too.
In my place, $100 actual price+$90 unknown Tax+$20 Shipping+$5 customs duty+$6 Handling at destination.
So $100 becomes $221. LOLz. How long it will be acceptable.

 

This happened before Middle East tension. Other platforms like Amazon and other vendors are working as usual. I checked with Post Office parcel handling people. They conformed that they collect only 5% custom duty at the time of receiving parcel and AED25 for handling fee which is independent from taxes. I don't know where this 90% amount is going and why?
Ali-express is a large international platform. How they can do it? May be I'm missing some thing but it ruined my purchasing excitement at this platform.
[/QUOTE

I'm making and providing custom PCBs to customers as a side business (and to educate myself and to gain more experience) at very reasonable price and with a little profit. But since now manufacturing cost is almost double, my customers are also shocked.
What I didn't understand is that no one is taking responsibility of such high tax rate. Ali-express says it's from Govt and the Govt says we are taking only 5%. What a jock.

perhaps there is as problem somewhere in aliexpress, and the tax rate is unintentional. I think you should try to communicate with aliexpress about it, maybe it will be fixed?

 

The golden years of unfettered World commerce have been thrown upside down. How long will it last, will we go back to those heady days?
These are the real questions

I'm afraid the damage to world trading is immense and will last for years after the current US administration is gone. [Resisting the urge to add several adjectives.]

 

perhaps there is as problem somewhere in aliexpress, and the tax rate is unintentional. I think you should try to communicate with aliexpress about it, maybe it will be fixed?

I had a comprehensive conversation with their instant chat agent. I shared these screenshots and she was unable to provide any justification. First she insisted that this is imposed by UAE government and when I told her about information I got from govt officials and also a screen shot from internet then she accepted to forward this issue to a special team that looks after these matters. She admitted the mistake about "Free Shipping" and problem with their "Choice" model but with no appropriate action. She told me that they will contact me via email and closed the chat by requesting me to just leave a positive feedback for her service. (Just tried to give me a lollypop. LoLz )
After two days I received an email with useless stuff stating that how they calculate and apply the taxes, shipping and other charges etc. Probably this was a ready-made note because they didn't address the actual problem at all.
In nut shell they finay said "This is from government".
And government didn't declare any such big amount of tax. They say it's only 5%. (which is quite reasonable).
I'll try to check it out from some other account and from some other country. Let see what happens.

 

I had a comprehensive conversation with their instant chat agent. I shared these screenshots and she was unable to provide any justification. First she insisted that this is imposed by UAE government and when I told her about information I got from govt officials and also a screen shot from internet then she accepted to forward this issue to a special team that looks after these matters. She admitted the mistake about "Free Shipping" and problem with their "Choice" model but with no appropriate action. She told me that they will contact me via email and closed the chat by requesting me to just leave a positive feedback for her service. (Just tried to give me a lollypop. LoLz )
After two days I received an email with useless stuff stating that how they calculate and apply the taxes, shipping and other charges etc. Probably this was a ready-made note because they didn't address the actual problem at all.
In nut shell they finay said "This is from government".
And government didn't declare any such big amount of tax. They say it's only 5%. (which is quite reasonable).
I'll try to check it out from some other account and from some other country. Let see what happens.

it sounds like they are not collecting and forwarding taxes, but are just charging for huge taxes and pocketing the money.

 

it sounds like they are not collecting and forwarding taxes, but are just charging for huge taxes and pocketing the money.

But now the question is how to clarify and stop this nonsense? I've sent a email to UAE customs department a week ago but ,as expected, they didn't reply. They don't care of matters at individual level. This is a known issue about them.

 

since you are ok with open boards, why not use din rail clips instead of carriers?
your designs are no longer locked to specific lengths of carriers... for small boards one is enough.

 

But now the question is how to clarify and stop this nonsense? I've sent a email to UAE customs department a week ago but ,as expected, they didn't reply. They don't care of matters at individual level. This is a known issue about them.

if it's genuinely a scam then there's really nothing you can do but not shop at aliexpress anymore. it had it's day, I guess that day is not today. I have a long list of good experiences, where I could not have found a good source for some components or some other components, and aliexpress was the perfect place, where people listed all of these old unwanted components at reasonable prices and reasonable shipping (well, reasonable considering my normal spending potential), and I built all kinds of hobby things. But, in the last two years it changed from still working to completely useless for me. If they have a bug, then it should fix itself soon enough, but it might be a lot of work or maybe there is malice (lots of employees of large companies are malicious in their work), but recently many youtubers are saying that reputable chinese companies scammed them in incredible ways (check out derbauer on youtube, where he tried to import copper and aluminum plates and was scammed of 40,000euro by reputable distributors), so perhaps the tariff war has sparked a trade war where scamming is a major weapon. After the derbauer video, I would expect even the biggest chinese company to scam, because at the level he was scammed, it would have to be government direction.

 

since you are ok with open boards, why not use din rail clips instead of carriers?
your designs are no longer locked to specific lengths of carriers... for small boards one is enough.

I've already completed some of PCBs. These carriers also come with transparent top covers. The idea was to keep the width of board constant and length will be flexible. Seller gives an option to provide a raw 1m length with desired length size cutting at very reasonable price. Seller himself is very cooperative and really takes care of customers.
Rail clips you've suggested are very good idea but it may need a little re-design my PCBs to make space for mounting screws. Many other DIY options are available around but 90% tax scam is still there.