Mailing ebay SGS's to US hostel

[Catal]

Perhaps this is not quite the right forum, but it's close enough.

I'm going to stay in a New York hostel for a week after Thanksgiving, and I want to use the opportunity to grab a couple of Samsung Vibrants on the cheap for me and my brothers.

I assume that the particular Vibrants do not have to be unlocked, as I could do that myself.

I plan on starting bidding on Ebay about a week before I'm supposed to arrive in NY, and I project an average cost of $300-$320 for a mint Vibrant. I will have to change my PayPal delivery address to that of the hostel, and coerce the seller to time the delivery so that it arrives when I am present at the hostel.

The hostel says that they do accept deliveries for their inmates. I plan on contacting them a day before the packages are to be delivered to them, just to inform them that I am indeed a client.

I could drop the packaging before I return to SA, and I do not expect to pay any customs duties since the total cost is still below R10000 (is that right?) and I could say that the phones were gifts.

I've never done this whole exercise before, and perhaps I feel that things will not be as simple as that.

What am I missing?

[Catal]

Seems like this is going to be one of those 'answer it yourself' threads.

Airport duties and VAT doesn't have to be paid if the total value of your imported items are below R3000. Then, as I understand it, you can pay a flat rate of 20% on the value exceeding R3000, for South Africa.

So I'm thinking, I can say one of the three phones has been bought in SA before I left, and the total cost of the other two phones will then be R4500. I will declare those two phones upon entering SA again, and pay (R4500-R3000)*0.2=R300 flat rate duty.

When arriving in SA, how do the customs guys know in any case what you've brought with you. Their dogs just sniff the baggage collection area for weed, and as I remember you are not scanned or searched again. And let's say you've won a new camera in a Thanksgiving raffle, why do you have to pay duty on it when you enter SA again?

I'm imagining the two extremes now: 1) I stand in the red isle with my 2 second hand phones, and as I finally reach the customs officer, he sneers and condescendingly laughs at me as he kicks me out of the line.
2) I decide not to declare anything, and as I victoriously reach my car outside the airport, suddenly sirens start wailing as the SARS customs taskforce roll in hot and heavy, pinning me to the ground and kicking me in the head.

Back to the Android part of my question, am I correct to say that I can unlock the T-Mobile phones myself?

[Catal]

For future reference, I would like to conclude this thread with a description of my experience.

Firstly, it is hard to get a US ebay seller that will agree to ship to an unconfirmed address, about 1 in 15 sellers I'd estimate. I was lucky to find a seller that would ship to my hostel, a 2-week mint Vibrant with screen protector attached from the start, for a grand total of $315 and free shipping. The seller timed the delivery to reach the hostel when I was present there, so I received it without any problems. The phone was at that stage still locked to T-Mobile.

So last night I rooted and flashed Axura2.1 and the SuperIO kernel, this was my first day actually using an android device, so I'd have to say rooting and flashing is pretty easy. After inserting my Vodacom sim, I had the sneaky suspicion that I actually need to be connected to the US cellphone network in order to unlock. No, this is NOT necessary. I received an unlock code from my seller (neat huh?) and I unlocked the phone without effort.

I also managed to find an Igo Stowaway Bluetooth keyboard on ebay, and a couple of extended vibrant batteries, which were also delivered to my hostel. I bought a BlueAnt T1 Bluetooth headset (it has A2DP) at a Radioshack in South Beach, Miami, and my oh my, what a beautiful piece of tech, absolutely lovely. With 2.2 the bluetooth keyboard works by default, and I can have both the headset and keyboard working at the same time. The keyboard has no lag whatsoever, and the headset reconnects flawlessly after reentering bt range again. All in all a very smooth experience and great combo.

Regarding customs at the airport, I'd have to ask, what customs? There was not one person to even see me exit the airport after I went through passport check, not one. No customs agents or airport personnel, no one.

Great success!

[milomak]

Good job agent

[CeRRaNo]

I'm with you, up until the unlock code part? How did the sell send that to you?

[Catal]

The seller requested an unlock code when she still had the phone, so she just emailed it to me after I bought the phone from her.

[DJNgoma]

I'm with you, up until the unlock code part? How did the sell send that to you?

It's quite easy to retrieve it off the phone, right now there is a master overwrite which gives you the option to create your own unlock code. Any US Galaxy S advice, I'm glad to help

[Maddmatt]

You can get an app on the Market to unlock the SGS phones:
http://www.appbrain.com/app/samsung-galaxy-s-unlock-tool/com.clarkehackworth.SamsungGalaxySUnlock

Couldn't be easier :)

[CeRRaNo]

That's just crazy awesome. Androids and unlocked phones for the win

You can get an app on the Market to unlock the SGS phones:
http://www.appbrain.com/app/samsung-galaxy-s-unlock-tool/com.clarkehackworth.SamsungGalaxySUnlock

Couldn't be easier :)



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