Buying and importing Headphones from AMAZON.COM

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zdesignzi9250

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Hey guys, i hope you can help me out here -

what are the charges related to this product when it reaches south africa, will i pay import duties and vat or just vat, What price is the VAT based on? the value of the item, or the value of the item including shipping?Also who do i pay the VAT too? Will my package be delivered to my door???

Thanks in advance
 
Amazon nowadays pre-calculate the expected import tax for you, and then deal with customs for you. This do however mean that they charge more than customs would.

You can test this by doing the actual check-out process and stop before you do the last confirm step.
 
Also, I think they stopped shipping headphones to SA sometime last year. But again, the checkout process will confirm.
 
I've said this time and again.

Most of the stuff sold on Amazon.com IS NOT sold by Amazon

They have 3 models of sale
1) Sold by Amazon -> Stuff actually warehoused and sold by Amazon
2) Fulfilled by Amazon -> Stuff warehoused by Amazon and shipped by them but owned by another company
3) Sold by 3rd party -> Stuff warehoused, shipped and sold by another retailer but sold on Amazon.com

2 & 3 make up almost 90% of the stock on Amazon.com

If an item is shipped to SA depends on the SELLER. Not Amazon.com UNLESS it is SOLD by Amazon

Also most items are sold by multiple retailers on Amazon.com. You can see them by clicking the xx new button. Usually something like 23 New. Then it'll list the retailers and the price THEY charge for the item. If the item shows Domestic and International shipping they almost always are willing to ship to SA. If only Domestic they won't ship here.

Even items SOLD by Amazon will STILL show items sold by 3rd party or Fulfilled By Amazon.

This model does really seem very complicated to most people I post this info here every time and yet people will still come here and say an item isn't shipped here. Then I click on the XX New button for that item and find someone willing to ship here, it isn't that hard to understand really...
Amazon will select the retailer priority from the XX New based on the following criteria:
Amazon, Fulfilled by Amazon, Cost

Just look for a retailer that will ship here, isn't that hard.
 
I found Amazon to be fine but customs can be the bitch.
I paid 80% more on an item once due to customs.
What I do now is get the package sent to a friend overseas and get them to mail it to me.
 
Gnome said:
I've said this time and again.

Most of the stuff sold on Amazon.com IS NOT sold by Amazon

They have 3 models of sale
1) Sold by Amazon -> Stuff actually warehoused and sold by Amazon
2) Fulfilled by Amazon -> Stuff warehoused by Amazon and shipped by them but owned by another company
3) Sold by 3rd party -> Stuff warehoused, shipped and sold by another retailer but sold on Amazon.com

2 & 3 make up almost 90% of the stock on Amazon.com

If an item is shipped to SA depends on the SELLER. Not Amazon.com UNLESS it is SOLD by Amazon

Also most items are sold by multiple retailers on Amazon.com. You can see them by clicking the xx new button. Usually something like 23 New. Then it'll list the retailers and the price THEY charge for the item. If the item shows Domestic and International shipping they almost always are willing to ship to SA. If only Domestic they won't ship here.

Even items SOLD by Amazon will STILL show items sold by 3rd party or Fulfilled By Amazon.

This model does really seem very complicated to most people I post this info here every time and yet people will still come here and say an item isn't shipped here. Then I click on the XX New button for that item and find someone willing to ship here, it isn't that hard to understand really...
Amazon will select the retailer priority from the XX New based on the following criteria:
Amazon, Fulfilled by Amazon, Cost

Just look for a retailer that will ship here, isn't that hard.
Click to expand...

Problem is, the vast majority of the retailers DO NOT ship to SA. Usually the ones who do are more expensive. As you said, very few of them are actually from Amazon directly. And then, those few items which are actually "Dispatched from and sold by Amazon" change as well. As an example, I bought In-ear phones from them a while back, which stopped working in the first 3 days. I returned them and got a refund (including shipping both ways which was nice) but then tried to order the same item again, again sold by Amazon. Suddenly they couldn't deliver to my address anymore. So the only real way to be sure is still to go to the checkout.
 
zdesignzi9250 said:
Hey guys, i hope you can help me out here -

what are the charges related to this product when it reaches south africa, will i pay import duties and vat or just vat, What price is the VAT based on? the value of the item, or the value of the item including shipping?Also who do i pay the VAT too? Will my package be delivered to my door???

Thanks in advance
Click to expand...

Tax works as follows:

You pay 14% tax on 1.1 x (Value of item excluding shipping)
Some goods attract additional duties (Google duty schedule for more info on this, the list is extensive) which have additional percentage tax
Finally shipping to your door:
Everything bought on Amazon.com is going to be shipped to the address you specify by either DHL or Fedex.

eBay for example they may use airmail which is delivered by the Post Office. Generally it is better to shop those to a PO Box that you can monitor for delivery slips.

Just about everything will attract 14% VAT cost at Customs. The only thing that won't are items that come VIA Post Office (ie. things bought on eBay) where the package isn't large enough to attract attention or marked clearly with a purchase price.

DHL and Fedex ALWAYS declare the value of the item and therefore you will ALWAYS pay tax on them guaranteed.

On the Amazon checkout screen they'll tell you if they included customs cost already.
 
When browsing categories on amazon, select "amazon global eligible" on the left hand side to filter items shipped to SA. I bought a set of headphones from them last year.
 
You can also order from EBAY. Ebay also provides international customs handling and shipping. Note that for cheap items the customs/VAT charge will be 0. While SARS actually often does charge VAT on cheap items, items as cheap as R250 or less, if you ship via EBay Global Shipping Programme - which is handled by Pitney Bowes you pay zip.

For example this item:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-Sennhei...pt=US_Video_Game_Headsets&hash=item3a8bccbd0d

US $23.99
Approximately ZAR 259.45

Shipping:
$35.35 (approx. ZAR 382.31) International Priority Shipping to South Africa help icon for Shipping - opens a layer | See details

Import charges:
$0.00 (amount confirmed at checkout)

This means the item is shipped from the seller to Pitney Bowes Inc and then from them to you, via FedEx. In the case above you'd only pay $23.99 + $35.35. The shipping is steep because it's a couriered delivery.
 
MrWireless said:
www.importitall.co.za, www.have2have.co.za and www.wantitall.co.za can do all of this for you - they all provide Amazon import services!
Click to expand...

I would avoid these guys. Takealot had a nice Amazon import service which was cheaper and took longer. But these guys overcharge. If you want to be sure rather use Ebay with Global Shipping or Amazon Global Shipping. Alternatively if you want to save more find a seller which ships USPS insured. If you pay with PayPal they have to deliver the goods to you. If they're lost they have to reship or refund. They carry the loss. Broken items are more complicated. You have to return item to seller first, as per Paypal.

A more secure way of shipping is to use EMS. They deliver to your door and correct customs charges.
 
Thought i'd try my luck here. Im looking at a new set of headphones. Was looking at the Audio-Technica ATH-M50x . Now im not sure if there is a easy way to get this here via amazon and dhl or postal delivery, or if there is a local store in SA which sold these. Any advice would be appreciated :).
 
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