I ordered a 1908s Phillipine dollar from eBay. Got this reply after payment: "Thanks for your payment. Can I have your contact number/ cellphone for DHL ecommerce mailing purposes only? I wish you good health which is the most important thing now. Regards," Never saw this before, red flag?
They have no reason to know your phone number. It's irrelevant to the transaction, not sure what to make of it.
We order and despatch from our shop in Spain to most of Europe, many of the carrier services require a contact number of the receiver so they can arrange an alternate delivery if there is no-one at home when they try to deliver
While I haven't done it often, I've requested a phone number a few times for extremely expensive shipments via USPS Express Mail (yes, there's a place for it on the address label).
I ship a lot international and as far as receiving it's not bad volume either. DHL wants your telephone number to contact you for import duties and processing fees. That's what that's about. Same goes for other discount international shipping. You'll get hit with it when it comes in and have to pay it for them to finish the delivery. I had a DHL shipment last week it was tile from italy. Value was $10K and DHL had it on hold until I paid $46.29. And I paid like $1200 for the initial shipping. Technically DHL doesn't need it. If he gives you the tracking you can stay on top of it and contact DHL for what they want to charge you for formalities. And finish it yourself.
Just a bit more info. if they don't have your phone number they literally were not in a hurry to contact me, and they had my number on the shipment and email. so If you don't provide one you really need to stay on top of it and chase them, and even if you do have it on the shipment, still keep an eye on them, because they will let it sit on a hold for days until they get around to notifying you, and rack up additional storage charges. UPS or FedEx generally will include the import filing in the total cost of the shipment, if you opt for that. Worst case, they send you a bill later from Supply Chain Solutions in the case of UPS, or whatever Fedex has for the entry fees. And I'm not sure, but I think they charge like $20 for clearance filing, and $20 for the single clearance, then depending on the country, a small amount for the value of the shipment.(or a large amount in the case of China imports) I've had a 25% customs charge on a $50,000 shipment from China in a container last year. that sucked. I think my latest DHL shipment was likely $6 in fees owed on the value of the shipment, and like $40 for DHL to handle the clearance and single entry. Not sure what you are buying, but I never buy internationally for myself for this reason, Most of what I'd buy isn't worth the single entry and paperwork costs. Not sure what you'd be worried about, they have your address, your phone number isn't that big of a deal. Worry if he's asking for your EIN, TIN, or SS#. ' It's less likely to be delayed with you watching it and them also notifying you to not generate additional fees. And Yeah, if they are using DHL, there's going to be additional fees on the import.
Great info, thank you! I went ahead and sent the phone number, but will stick with US sellers in the future.
Well I have purchased quite a bit of coins from Europe/UK. I've had positive experiences from that. I probably won't buy a whole lot of things from China though.
Good info on that. I guess I'm not familiar with that particular shipping service. I assume DHL is a higher quality means of getting merchandise to its destination?
We have a number of carriers we use, there are no import taxes within the EU but it is mandatory to give contact info of the receiver. When the carrier tries to deliver and is unable, generally they will call and enquire if the receiver will be able to accept the delivery later same day. If not, package goes back to the hub and will be tried again next day. It is a service that is acceptable to our clients. EDIT Import taxes do apply if the product ordered is sourced from outside the EU, China for example
Sorry, but you’re wrong. DHL and other German carriers often require you to provide the recipient’s phone number for international shipments, at least for higher service levels. @Mkm5 that’s not a red flag ;-)
Thank you for the information! I guess I was just trying to keep out of the robocall queue by not giving out my number whenever I can avoid it. I've only been bothered by two robocallers lately, hoping for zero!
I later found that out after my first reply to the OP Most of the time I have purchased from an ebay seller in Europe wasn't via DHL shipment in my experience.
Just last week I received a package that belonged to someone a couple of streets over from me. The shipping label had her phone number on it so I was able to contact her to come get the package. First time I have ever seen this, but I guess it does happen! I don't think I would be comfortable with it but it might be normal in some over seas locations.
