Just one more remark:
Maybe the topic thread could be changed.
The way it looks to me, there is customs and VAT to be payed on delivery.
That’s something depending on what you ordered and the value of it (sometimes the shipping costs are included in the value) and not on the carrier.
It’s no DHL fee, as they only do collect that money for the state and can’t keep it.
While I agree, that customers hardly ever read the toc of a homepage, that’s not important here, as it is not something put down in the toc of any online shop etc.
It is simply rule of law in you own country. When I buy something from overseas, I have to know, that I will be required to pay customs and taxes on delivery or when picking up the parcel at customs.
Furthermore I always should check before ordering, if it is allowed to import the stuff I have placed in my shopping-basket. Otherwise I might be in trouble once the parcel arrives in my country.
With regard to Switzerland I don’t know, if there are countries from which importing stuff does not result in tax and customs, but you can check here for more information:
and here:
On the second page I found this statement:
Jede Sendung aus dem Ausland ist grundsätzlich zoll- und MWST-pflichtig.
Es besteht keine spezielle Wertfreigrenze wie im Reiseverkehr, sondern nur eine Abgabenfreigrenze
EDIT:
Just read, that there is a fee by the Post for making the customs-declaration.
Maybe that’s the “extortion” fee:
Still, that’s not on DHL, as it concerns other carriers as well:
FĂĽr Briefe, Pakete (Post, GLS und Hermes) und EMS Import
Possibly FedEx and UPS might differ there, but I have no idea if that would be any cheaper.