Making money in little bites

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Forums › Finance and wealth management › Making money in little bites

nunz

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#196639 7-Jun-2016 17:10

Is it me getting old or are we slowly getting eaten up financially in small bites?

Apps are one thing, $2 here, $3/month there, $15 per month to spotifiy, multiply by three kids etc etc etc.

But recently I've been noticing lots of funny little charges for nothing creeping into bills. Banks have been doing it for years and had their ears pinned back to a $15 per unarranged overdraft fee, dishonoured cheque fee, too many withdrawals fees, you walked into a branch and smiled at us fee, by the commerce commission ($15 wont be investigated as it falls below a threshold for investigating if it is a fair charge for recovering or recouping costs that reflects actual costs of recoup).

However just got a $USD350 item sent from Australia and pinged for GST and Excise costs ( $350 x 0.67 exchange rate) = $NZD522 so

GST = $78.30 ( from IRD)
Import Transaction fee = $42.81 (from customs)
GST on import transaction fee = $6.43 (ird again)

but then the kicker ....

Disbursement Fee of $10.00incl from DHL.

A disbursement fee is a charge from DHL for 'fronting' the money for duties etc to customs on your behalf.

Three things wrong with that:

1 - They dont front the money, it is paid later, as customs has them on a deferred payment system - onbills in periodic bulk lots.
2 - $10.00 is an unreasonable amount as it doesn't reflect interest for 24 - 48 hours or less, or the true cost of finance, or charges or costs
3 - It is a fee charged to the receiver, not disclosed to the sender, making it an addition to the contract after the fact - naughty naughty - trying to bleed both ends.

How many lots of $10 per transaction are DHL making per day, over and above what they charge the sender? that could be a lucrative little earner.

I told them to stick their fee, and to be fair they have, but how many funny little charges are creeping in, inflating purchases? I notice a lot more 2% credit card surcharges now days too - I didn't think Visa let merchants do that?

Oh crud - customs just rang up and now want another $70 for an inspection I didn't request / know about, get advised of etc etc etc. Plastic device - hardly likely to carry bugs when it is brand new straight from the factory.

UHD

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#1567292 7-Jun-2016 17:27

It is best to understand the terms for any contracts you enter, if you don't like it then choose not to enter the contract.

Geektastic

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#1567542 7-Jun-2016 23:06

I agree that there is a huge move to multiple small charges, especially in mobile gaming.

It's also irritating (but proof that companies do not pay tax, their customers do!) when for example VF get pinged with a levy from the Telecommunications Council or some similar nonentity and they simply add it to our bills!

networkn

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#1567544 7-Jun-2016 23:20

Geektastic:

I agree that there is a huge move to multiple small charges, especially in mobile gaming.

It's also irritating (but proof that companies do not pay tax, their customers do!) when for example VF get pinged with a levy from the Telecommunications Council or some similar nonentity and they simply add it to our bills!

Why shouldn't they ? If your raw costs increase, it's an almost certainty that you will pass these costs to your customers too right? Or are you saying you just wear the costs and make less money ?

richms

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#1567546 7-Jun-2016 23:27

I fully support the passing on of that levy, as it makes it quite clear to anyone who pays a telco bill that they are supporting the rural internet, so when the rural people complain they can have that charge pointed out to them that they are already being supported.

As for the customs charges, they are all published by customs, which is why I make damn sure anything I import is under the threshold, and by quite a bit after being stung by the rates changing so much and me not noticing since I was paying in USD anyway.

You can get your own customs codes and stuff to do your own clearance. $10 to not have to deal with that is a small price to pay if you are not doing it every day IMO.

Richard rich.ms

mattwnz

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#1567573 8-Jun-2016 00:30

NZ is becoming more and more user pays. Basically companies are trying to work out ways of hooking up a pump to your wallet, in getting a set fee from you on a monthly basis. Thisis why companies like Spotify, Xero, Apple , Microsoft, Netflix (insert any company that offers subscriptions and are dominant in the market) are so valuable.

Geektastic

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#1567683 8-Jun-2016 09:10

networkn:

Geektastic:

I agree that there is a huge move to multiple small charges, especially in mobile gaming.

It's also irritating (but proof that companies do not pay tax, their customers do!) when for example VF get pinged with a levy from the Telecommunications Council or some similar nonentity and they simply add it to our bills!

Why shouldn't they ? If your raw costs increase, it's an almost certainty that you will pass these costs to your customers too right? Or are you saying you just wear the costs and make less money ?

All their costs are similar, but our bills do not have breakdowns for our contributions to running their vehicles, paying their staff, paying their rent etc etc.

Why that one in particular?

Also, I doubt whoever imposed it intended that it should simply be dumped straight on the customers in quite that way.

AliExpress

Shop now on AliExpress (affiliate link).

Geektastic

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#1567685 8-Jun-2016 09:12

richms:

I fully support the passing on of that levy, as it makes it quite clear to anyone who pays a telco bill that they are supporting the rural internet, so when the rural people complain they can have that charge pointed out to them that they are already being supported.

As for the customs charges, they are all published by customs, which is why I make damn sure anything I import is under the threshold, and by quite a bit after being stung by the rates changing so much and me not noticing since I was paying in USD anyway.

You can get your own customs codes and stuff to do your own clearance. $10 to not have to deal with that is a small price to pay if you are not doing it every day IMO.

It would if it said "Levy to pay for rural internet"....!

At the moment it looks like "Levy to fund the existence of some body that needs more of your money" or "Charge someone made up to scalp a couple of dollars a month".

Aredwood

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#1568127 8-Jun-2016 17:52

Add the electricity authority to that list. I don't like paying extra on my power bill. Just to pay for a website that says I can save money by switching power companies.

nunz

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#1568615 9-Jun-2016 12:37

richms:

I fully support the passing on of that levy, as it makes it quite clear to anyone who pays a telco bill that they are supporting the rural internet, so when the rural people complain they can have that charge pointed out to them that they are already being supported.

As for the customs charges, they are all published by customs, which is why I make damn sure anything I import is under the threshold, and by quite a bit after being stung by the rates changing so much and me not noticing since I was paying in USD anyway.

You can get your own customs codes and stuff to do your own clearance. $10 to not have to deal with that is a small price to pay if you are not doing it every day IMO.

> $10 to not have to deal with that is a small price to pay

You have missed the point.

1 - The sender pays DHL, not the receiver (me). This is an extra bite at the pie.

2 - This isn't a charge to deal with customs, this is a finance charge - purely finance - for the privilege of DHL fronting the money to customs on my behalf.

And then the kicker - DHL don't front the money - They get deferred invoices from customs so by making me pay before delivery, they actually get use of MY money to earn interest, not me using their money - as such this is FRAUD. it is a charge for a service not received or provided. It is a pure click of the ticket using lies and falsehood.

I dont think I can be any more blunt than that other than to say it must surely constitute theft of some type.

marlinz

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#1568626 9-Jun-2016 12:47

nunz:

Is it me getting old or are we slowly getting eaten up financially in small bites?

Apps are one thing, $2 here, $3/month there, $15 per month to spotifiy, multiply by three kids etc etc etc.

But recently I've been noticing lots of funny little charges for nothing creeping into bills. Banks have been doing it for years and had their ears pinned back to a $15 per unarranged overdraft fee, dishonoured cheque fee, too many withdrawals fees, you walked into a branch and smiled at us fee, by the commerce commission ($15 wont be investigated as it falls below a threshold for investigating if it is a fair charge for recovering or recouping costs that reflects actual costs of recoup).

However just got a $USD350 item sent from Australia and pinged for GST and Excise costs ( $350 x 0.67 exchange rate) = $NZD522 so

GST = $78.30 ( from IRD)
Import Transaction fee = $42.81 (from customs)
GST on import transaction fee = $6.43 (ird again)
but then the kicker ....

Disbursement Fee of $10.00incl from DHL.

A disbursement fee is a charge from DHL for 'fronting' the money for duties etc to customs on your behalf.

Three things wrong with that:

1 - They dont front the money, it is paid later, as customs has them on a deferred payment system - onbills in periodic bulk lots.
2 - $10.00 is an unreasonable amount as it doesn't reflect interest for 24 - 48 hours or less, or the true cost of finance, or charges or costs
3 - It is a fee charged to the receiver, not disclosed to the sender, making it an addition to the contract after the fact - naughty naughty - trying to bleed both ends.
How many lots of $10 per transaction are DHL making per day, over and above what they charge the sender? that could be a lucrative little earner.

I told them to stick their fee, and to be fair they have, but how many funny little charges are creeping in, inflating purchases? I notice a lot more 2% credit card surcharges now days too - I didn't think Visa let merchants do that?

Oh crud - customs just rang up and now want another $70 for an inspection I didn't request / know about, get advised of etc etc etc. Plastic device - hardly likely to carry bugs when it is brand new straight from the factory.

Heres a money saver for you https://www.spotify.com/nz/family/ $19.99 per month for up to 6 accounts