Costs involved with importing

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Dylan_G

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Hi guys.

I plan on buying a tablet soon and I'm weighing up my options. I've found this which seems suitable.

I've found a few guys selling these tablets locally but there's also the option of buying it from the manufacturer (based in China) from the above link.

Now, the price of the unit is $139.90+$26 for shipping = $165.9 = R1477.84 (Google conversion) but the local guys are selling for R1999. The manufacturer says that they can put down the value of the package as $50 which I believe helps reduce taxes/duties in some countries.

I would like to know what other costs would be charged as I have never imported anything and have no clue about the process or costs. Basically, is it worth it to buy from the manufacturer or should I just pay the few 100 rand difference to the local shop ?
 
Never lie to customs, they have a knack for sniffing out real values for items.

You will end up paying at least 14% vat on 110% of the product value and a small ~R30 admin/handling fee on top of it. There should be no specific custom duties on this product.
 
Customs also ask for the invoices these days so you are likely to get into trouble if you misrepresent the costs.
 
ld13 said:
Never lie to customs, they have a knack for sniffing out real values for items.

You will end up paying at least 14% vat on 110% of the product value and a small ~R30 admin/handling fee on top of it. There should be no specific custom duties on this product.
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Don't mess with customs they have really jacked up their systems in the last few years. The vat amount is right for electronic but the clearance fee is usually close to R100 on top of that.
 
Shayd said:
Don't mess with customs they have really jacked up their systems in the last few years. The vat amount is right for electronic but the clearance fee is usually close to R100 on top of that.
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I've yet to pay more than about R30 for warehouse/clearance fees. Although most of my packages are smaller and goes through with about a R 12.50 excl. clearance fee.
 
I import good often and used to import various cheapy tablets before I moved to branded stuff.
I always play by the rules with customs and always instructed the supplier to not ever put an amount different to what I paid on the invoice.

One occasion I purchased an 8" Herotab for around R1,900 including shipping. The supplier did not listen to my instruction and put $50 on the invoice. Custom requested my proof of payment which I sent with no issues and was used to this. Next thing I get a notification from the clearing agent that I have to pay a R2,200 fine because my proof of payment did not reflect the invoice.
There is nothing you can do here. Pay and get your goods, or pay to have it sent back.

Now I request a copy of the shipping invoice before they release the package.
 
Beachless said:
Customs also ask for the invoices these days so you are likely to get into trouble if you misrepresent the costs.
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Agreed. My last 3 packages from China were all stopped and I had to provide an invoice/proof of purchase to customs before they would release the goods.
 
Mike Smit said:
I import good often and used to import various cheapy tablets before I moved to branded stuff.
I always play by the rules with customs and always instructed the supplier to not ever put an amount different to what I paid on the invoice.

One occasion I purchased an 8" Herotab for around R1,900 including shipping. The supplier did not listen to my instruction and put $50 on the invoice. Custom requested my proof of payment which I sent with no issues and was used to this. Next thing I get a notification from the clearing agent that I have to pay a R2,200 fine because my proof of payment did not reflect the invoice.
There is nothing you can do here. Pay and get your goods, or pay to have it sent back.

Now I request a copy of the shipping invoice before they release the package.
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Who do you normally ask for this...? And do they provide it without issues...? I have recently also ordered a few cheap things off Ebay from Chinese sellers and from experience they just do what they like.
 
How are you paying? In your planning, make sure you use the right exchange rate. There's a spread of 35-40 cents between USD Buy Rate and Sell Rate, for example. It makes little diffs on small transactions, but it catches many people.

I import and deal in currency every day.
 
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Zenbaas said:
Who do you normally ask for this...? And do they provide it without issues...? I have recently also ordered a few cheap things off Ebay from Chinese sellers and from experience they just do what they like.
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If they won't send me the shipping invoice for review then I won't order. So far no probs though.
Just tell them SA customs are strict and you need to make sure the shipping invoice is correct.
 
Mike Smit said:
If they won't send me the shipping invoice for review then I won't order. So far no probs though.
Just tell them SA customs are strict and you need to make sure the shipping invoice is correct.
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Aaaah you meant from the supplier. I see. I will ask and see if they are willing to oblige at this point :/
 
Zenbaas said:
Aaaah you meant from the supplier. I see. I will ask and see if they are willing to oblige at this point :/
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You don't need that. When you made the purchase a print out of the online invoice will do. Just print that out. That's good enough.

Also I don't think it's legal for customs to fine you because of what the sender did, unless they have proof you asked them to do this.
The sender will get in trouble with his government and postal authority for that. You can't be responsible for the actions of someone else, who is beyond your control.
 
Arthur said:
How are you paying? In your planning, make sure you use the right exchange rate. There's a spread of 35-40 cents between USD Buy Rate and Sell Rate, for example. It makes little diffs on small transactions, but it catches many people.

I import and deal in currency every day.
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When paying by PayPal or on sites like Amazon who do their own currency conversion (optional) you can actually see how much ZAR you're paying. Of course you only see this at the time of payment.
 
Mike Smit said:
If they won't send me the shipping invoice for review then I won't order. So far no probs though.
Just tell them SA customs are strict and you need to make sure the shipping invoice is correct.
Click to expand...

I've never had that problem. Ever. EVen when customs stopped an item because the declaration was way off, they asked for the invoice, got it and released the item. Mind you, this is SAPO, and not some clearing agent. I would avoid clearing agents unless they're cost effective or you're importing semi prohibited substances, such as medicines. EVen there you don't need clearing agents, just a permit from an authority like the MCC.
 
Will be buying local. Thanks for all the advice guys.
 
Dylan_G said:
Will be buying local. Thanks for all the advice guys.
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Buying foreign only makes sense if the item is unlikely to fail, is not available locally or the price difference really is significant. In my case I'm usually 1 and 2, and very rarely 3.
 
Space_Chief said:
When paying by PayPal or on sites like Amazon who do their own currency conversion (optional) you can actually see how much ZAR you're paying. Of course you only see this at the time of payment.
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Just be careful when a 3rd party like PayPal/Amazon does the conversion on their side - the last time I did a slew of transactions I found that the bank actually gave me a better conversion rate! :D
 
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