Beware customs

This is ridiculous, and to those who are parroting on about it being ok need to wake up and grow braincells.

Rules and duties are in place for a reason, yes - but this is exploitation and basically extortion.
 
diabolus said:
So we are talking about an effective 50% tax on imported goods?


So for every R100 , you will pay

R20 ~ (the duty valuye on the goods)
[-]R10 ~ (the arbitrary 10% )[/-]
R18 ~ (the VAT which is on the final sum of above , effectively 18% instead of 14%)**

=[-]R48[/-] R38

Seriously where the F is all this money going? What is customs doing with that 10% ? Things like this makes me want to break the law and dodge taxes left right and center.


It is ironic that "ATV" really should mean "Arbitrary Tax Value"

**Isn't that kinda against the meaning of VALUE ADDED TAX ? How can they tax the tax? What value is it adding? So they artificially tax the product and tax the inflated value? Isn't that against some tax law?
Click to expand...

The 10% is used in the calculation of the VAT i.e (value + 10%) * 14%.

Still ridiculous.
 
whatwhat said:
Thanks to the internet the world is getting smaller. If I can get the item shipped with customs cheaper than local, my money is going overseas. I have no loyalty to support any shop.
Click to expand...

And if it's a product that needs to be repaired after a few months? Or you receive a defective product?
We give our clients up 2 years warranty on some of the products we sell.

Also, there are a lot of products that need to be physically tested/reviewed before you buy them. We sell such products.

Hence, you sometimes do need a brick and mortar shop , that offers 100% customer service and product backup warranty and support.
 
These kinds of arguments have been going on for at least a decade, as I am aware.
Generally, importing stuff, on your own, if you don't know the tarriff book and import methodologies, its gonna cost you.
SARS will be scrutinizing now, they want more moolah remember?
 
The reason behind import duties is fair. Why would SARS want you to buy from overseas where your money goes abroad and they miss out on firstly income tax on the profits the supplier makes and secondly the output VAT on the sale? Thirdly it is a method of leveling thre playing field between local supploers and those from abroad. Local suppliers have to add 14% to the the price for you as customer while you can get it from abroad without that 14% (in the absence of import duties).

If you feel import duties are unfair you first have to question the taxes imposed on local suppliers because import duties are there to match those taxes.
 
Stefanmuller said:
The reason behind import duties is fair. Why would SARS want you to buy from overseas where your money goes abroad and they miss out on firstly income tax on the profits the supplier makes and secondly the output VAT on the sale? Thirdly it is a method of leveling thre playing field between local supploers and those from abroad. Local suppliers have to add 14% to the the price for you as customer while you can get it from abroad without that 14% (in the absence of import duties).

If you feel import duties are unfair you first have to question the taxes imposed on local suppliers because import duties are there to match those taxes.
Click to expand...

Not quite. You still pay 14% VAT on imports, on top of the import duties and customs clearances!
The reason why this is in place, is to make our government richer.
 
Stefanmuller said:
The reason behind import duties is fair. Why would SARS want you to buy from overseas where your money goes abroad and they miss out on firstly income tax on the profits the supplier makes and secondly the output VAT on the sale? Thirdly it is a method of leveling thre playing field between local supploers and those from abroad. Local suppliers have to add 14% to the the price for you as customer while you can get it from abroad without that 14% (in the absence of import duties).

If you feel import duties are unfair you first have to question the taxes imposed on local suppliers because import duties are there to match those taxes.
Click to expand...

...and I was just talking about braincells. :whistle:
 
My experiences have been much more of a lottery than well calculated tariffs. but the fumiest story I heard was of someone who tried to import little 50ml paints for art. They were charged for importing industrial paints and the duties were more than double the cost of the paints. They took it up with SARS who subsequently refunded the whole amount.
 
I have found that they often classify stuff incorrectly, and charge higher duties than necessary.

It is usually not worth complaining, for example UPS charge a R300 admin fee for a complaint, and the process can take two years or more.

So I tend to leave it, although I have successfully appealed in the past. For example when they levied duties on a camera lens as if it was camera equipment (vastly different duties).

I often wonder whether they do this deliberately, or whether they are just stupid.

But the main problem is when you have mixed shipments (they tend to tax the whole shipment at the rate of the highest rated item), or when the descriptions are not detailed enough.

So I try not to have mixed shipments, even if this results in higher mail costs.
 
Petec said:
And if it's a product that needs to be repaired after a few months? Or you receive a defective product?
We give our clients up 2 years warranty on some of the products we sell.

Also, there are a lot of products that need to be physically tested/reviewed before you buy them. We sell such products.

Hence, you sometimes do need a brick and mortar shop , that offers 100% customer service and product backup warranty and support.
Click to expand...

RMA'S are not subject to customs duty or at least shouldn't be.
 
I bought a flippen vinyl wall sticker for about R80 and now they want me to pay another R55 on top that for "import duties".

Told them to shove it :mad:
 
whatwhat said:
Thanks to the internet the world is getting smaller. If I can get the item shipped with customs cheaper than local, my money is going overseas. I have no loyalty to support any shop.
Click to expand...

+1 , More and more people are turning to the internet for purchasing, and if they manage to buy the import at lower costs than locals are offering the item , then tough on the locals.
i.e. If after shipping, import duties and tax, i am still saving R1000 or more on a purchase,as opposed to the local price, then i know what my wallet is telling me, buy international.
 
I bought plenty things online " Aliexpress" haven't been caught yet *touches wood:erm:,
i noticed on the package it is marked as a gift
 
It's totally hit-or-miss in my experience with importing stuff.
Sometimes they'll look at a package marked as "gift" and at most only charge a token amount, and other times they'll quite easily charge you double or triple the value of the item.
 
I've had hit-or-miss experiences with import taxes as well.

I've imported quite a few things from ebay, and I've never been charged import tax from them (maybe because the items were cheap?). But from other sites like Zavvi, they nail me hard with taxes.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top
Sign up to the MyBroadband newsletter
X