Customs regulations are different for each country. Odds are they are way simpler in your country.
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Well, I don’t know. I haven’t received any e-mail yet with offered alternatives for the L5 
and Purism’s FAQ is saying “USPS Priority Mail International or DHL for international shipments” 
In Germany, you do not have to pay the DHL fee. You can deny their services and go pick up your package at customs yourself and pay the VAT and taxes (whichever applies) there. Done this a couple of times.
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Nice! @Torrone and others, please start to make difference between DHL Express and regular (cheap) DHL package. I explained this already somewhere here within Forum. Thank you @Dwaff on your update, as this means Purism pays for the delivery by means of more expensive package delivery service (without extra fee for the customer) with tracking number (helps in terms of directly contacting Customs, by phone initially if needed but with email correspondence exchange as main way of your purchase proof, etc.)! And, I’m confirming that this DHL Express delivery works very same way here in Germany as in Poland, as already explained in above related post from Dwaff.
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How did you manage to do that? Where to deny their service, when and how?
When the items arrived at customs in Berlin, DHL sent me a notice about the arrival and offered to handle it for a specified fee. I took the opportunity to deny the offer and contacted the mentioned customs office directly. When you go for pick-up, make sure you carry cash, as in my case, credit cards were not accepted (at the time). Last 2 items I picked up that way were PinePhone and ~ a month ago a PineTab.
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It is different for each country. Here in Finland I can have DHL (or some other delivery company) handle the customs but it is quite easy to do it yourself over the net. I fill in the declaration, pay the fee and the post office will deliver the package. Fairly fast procedure.
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When I was clearing pinephones I’ve figured even CZ made a progress towards online clearance. I’ve got a paper letter from them initially, and needed to fill in some forms (and scan them) and attach some evidences of the purchase. One of the form was to register me an online account so the rest of the communication (even response to the first paper mail) was over internet. So yes, fairly easy, just one online interaction.
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I effin hate DHL Express. DHL Express guy usually just shows up at your doorstep and expects the exact amount in cash. Ugh
It will turn out just fine if and when you receive your DHL tracking number. You should have chance to pay for necessary VAT in advance, actually you need to react in advance as I don’t think that driver of DHL Express van will even load your long awaited package for you (in direction where you’ll wait for it), if necessary not payed in advance.
For example and if you are in Germany, and as @Caliga already recommended (somewhere in this Forum), I’d register here as soon as needed (if not already).
nope, it turned out just as I predicted. Despite having an active account on dhl.de (and adding the tracking number to the receiving packages!) the driver just rang the doorbell and asked for the money in cash. No email in advance, no opportunity to pay in advance. Nothing.
As I didn’t have the money in cash with me I asked him to come again tomorrow. DHL Express is an utter shitshow, at least here in the southwest
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Can’t you refuse to accept their services? They came once for the cache to friend of mine and he refused to pay. So they returned the package back to the customs hub where he picked it himself for the half of that price.
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I had the same experience as @drs, but the delivery man was kind enough to drive me to the bank and back.
Total amount charged was 125 EUR, mostly taxes. The postmen does not have change and no opportunity to bill a credit or master card.
That’s in fact a very uncommon and surprising procedure, not unlikely to fail. I thus called DHL Express to ask what to do about it. The answer was, that Purism could provide DHL with an email address of the recipient, who is then informed in advance about the amount and offered an option to pay cash-free. That is an option at least. Otherwise, one better keeps some cash at hand, as soon as the delivery is announced.
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I thought I’d drop in an unrelated-to-Librem note that might help people judge whether refusal to accept is a viable option for them.
I recently had something sent to me that should have been delivered by DHL Express. The item didn’t arrive when it should have and was registered as refused by recipient in their system. Nobody had tried to contact me. I quickly moved to correct this but this didn’t stop the item from being returned to the sender. Fortunately, a representative from the sender’s excellent customer service department arranged for a replacement to be sent and the order arrived the second time. I was fortunate that there was no import duty to be paid in my case.
So, be careful if you refuse the item unless you can be sure that importing it yourself is the fallback option.
Really, given the amount of complaints about DHL Express I’ve seen, I would hope that another service could be used to deliver these phones. The poor service impacts what should be a good experience for customers.
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That is true, the item in the customs hub will be held for two weeks (at least in my country) and then returned back to sender if not claimed. So it si important not just to refuse but also to claim.
Edit: but you can claim it even via email (again in my country).
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My package is currently in “Leipzig” and has had the following status since 5 a.m. this morning:
"More details
Further measures in the customs clearance process are necessary. "
I asked my “service provider” whether i had to provide any further information. However, it seems that the location is well overloaded, so there are delays in Leipzig.
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@david.boddie: If the customer is notified by e-mail about the date of dispatch and the track number of the order, will this not be enough in the case of DHL Express?
Enough to get it delivered, or enough to make sure that it isn’t returned?
I can only say that in my non-Librem-related case, knowing when it was shipped, following the order using the tracking number, and being aware that it should have been delivered on a certain day didn’t guarantee anything about the delivery. Different countries and cities within those countries may result in a different experience. In my case, I contacted DHL Express and told them of the mistake, but despite reassurance that the parcel would not be sent back, it was still sent back to the sender.
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I have learnt to request that my phone number is printed on the address label. It helps if the delivery guy can phone me if there is any problems. This is of course depending on the country and the delivery guy. Some try more than others.
I learnt it the hard way when a parcel was left for a month in a warehouse and the transporter did not notify me nor the sender.
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Been there, done that. Called customer services. Got oral instructions on the phone to visit:
https://www.dhl.de/express/dhl4you?sendungsnummer=XXX
which is essentially your permission for DHL to clear customs for you. (also you need to upload your bill and documents…)
P.S. One would think that link is prominently visible in lots of DHL FAQs, but it is barely discoverable at all.
P.P.S. And lastly, Germans will need the Zolltarifcode (or whatever that is in German, with 11 digits):
8517 1200 00 0 Telefone für zellulare Netzwerke oder andere drahtlose Netzwerke
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