How to buy Amazon specials that don’t deliver to South Africa

[Jan]

How to buy the best deals from Amazon that don’t deliver to South Africa

South Africans looking to score big on discounts during Amazon’s Prime Day sale can sign up for a package forwarding service to buy products that don’t ship directly to the country.

Amazon's renowned annual sale for its Prime subscription members is set to take place on 21 and 22 June this year, and will offer over two million deals on a wide variety of products across all its categories.

This includes specials on fashion, home, beauty, and electronics, with major brands like Levi’s, iRobot, Samsung, and Redken participating.

According to a recent survey conducted by Finder, numerous South Africans plan to participate in this year’s promotion.

 

[rvZA]

MyUS.com. Now have suites in both US and UK. Can pay import duties at time of shipment, so no surprises when it arrives. Over and above this, MyUS is much faster and more efficient than AGS. FTW.

 

[Tacet]

MyUS.com. Now have suites in both US and UK. Can pay import duties at time of shipment, so no surprises when it arrives. Over and above this, MyUS is much faster and more efficient than AGS. FTW.

Their client service is also much better.

I wanted to bring in a firearm holster. AGS got the package and labelled it as unacceptable. I asked if they can reconsider (it is debatable whether a firearm holster is a firearm accessory). They 'reconsidered', relabeled it as a "belt" and happily informed me that they cannot ship belts.

I sent MyUS a mail to ask if they can ship the same holster. They sent it to their compliance department to investigate. Their compliance department ruled that they may indeed ship it.

I asked AGS to forward the package to MyUS. It took about three weeks before AGS managed to send on the package.

MyUS received it, and sent it on to me in about 4 days. No issues, no hassles. They gave me the option of which carrier to use, whether I want to pre-pay the import tax...

AGS - support is via their (useless) local offices
MyUS - support is vial (functional) mail

 

[crysis]

AGS is useless, especially their customs clearance process. Very slow and unorganised. They also wont bother contacting you if there is an issue, you have to speak to them after your package didnt move for three weeks.

 

[eg2505]

am definitely a Noob when it comes to shipping internationally,
whats the best service to use if I buy something on Amazon UK store to ship to SA?

 

[jdido87]

Hi All

Not entirely related but I ordered some goods which was shipped from China and reached SA shores in 2 days via DHL. Customs in Cape Town blocked it for a physical inspection after I paid the duties. Is there anyway to speed up this process or is it a waiting game. DHL's estimated delivery remains for this Friday or is that a useless indication.

 

[rvZA]

Their client service is also much better.

I wanted to bring in a firearm holster. AGS got the package and labelled it as unacceptable. I asked if they can reconsider (it is debatable whether a firearm holster is a firearm accessory). They 'reconsidered', relabeled it as a "belt" and happily informed me that they cannot ship belts.

I sent MyUS a mail to ask if they can ship the same holster. They sent it to their compliance department to investigate. Their compliance department ruled that they may indeed ship it.

I asked AGS to forward the package to MyUS. It took about three weeks before AGS managed to send on the package.

MyUS received it, and sent it on to me in about 4 days. No issues, no hassles. They gave me the option of which carrier to use, whether I want to pre-pay the import tax...

AGS - support is via their (useless) local offices
MyUS - support is vial (functional) mail

I tried AGS a few years ago. Shipped 3 parcels. Not single one took less than 8 working days. One took about 30 days. Endless problems on all 3 parcels with customs. Dropped them after the third parcel and upgraded my MyUS subscription to the $7 packages. Have been with them ever since. Never experienced any problem or had a parcel gone missing with them. Had a couple of minor issues with Fedex locally and one or two import duty issues with DHL. But that was that.

 

[rvZA]

am definitely a Noob when it comes to shipping internationally,
whats the best service to use if I buy something on Amazon UK store to ship to SA?

Go for MyUS.com

You get an address in the US and the UK.

You can use their free service, which means that you must ship your package to SA immediately when it arrives at your locker. Else, you can pay $7 a month, and you can stock up on purchases for 30 days, keep them all in your locker and ship everything in one go at the end of the month.

 

[K3NS31]

No love for Scott's Shipping?
SA based, reasonable pricing, mostly. Don't need to be signed up for a US based service.
Very responsive on this forum.
(Disclaimer - I haven't used them for ages)

 

[rvZA]

Hi All

Not entirely related but I ordered some goods which was shipped from China and reached SA shores in 2 days via DHL. Customs in Cape Town blocked it for a physical inspection after I paid the duties. Is there anyway to speed up this process or is it a waiting game. DHL's estimated delivery remains for this Friday or is that a useless indication.

Once it gets blocked for inspection at customs, then it is out of the hands of the shipping company. SARS may inspect the package, and sometimes they may even get other regulatory institutions involved. Could take a few days to a couple of weeks. You cannot speed this up.

 

[rvZA]

No love for Scott's Shipping?
SA based, reasonable pricing, mostly. Don't need to be signed up for a US based service.
Very responsive on this forum.
(Disclaimer - I haven't used them for ages)

Don't know the service. Do they not also use services like MyUS and/or AGS and only act as a middle-man? Or do they actually have physical locations globally where they receive your parcels?

 

[dunkyd]

Use Scotts Shipping. Stop buggering around with fly by nights

 

[dualmeister]

Download DHL Africa eShop App

Use DHL Africa eShop To Shop Over 200 US/UK Brands Online. Products Ship At Lowest Rates & Directly To You. Download The DHL Africa eShop App & Shop Now!

www.africa-eshop.dhl

 

[ScottulusMaximus]

VAT and duties on common items
Item	Duties
Digital camera	7%
Gaming console	7%
Monitor	0%
Smartphone	7%
TV	25%
Video camera	7%
Video game discs	7%

wrong

Unless I am mistaking, VAT is calculated at 110% of the original value on imports. I.e. 16.5% effective?

Also that ^^^, and don't forget you're charged VAT on the duty amount as well.

 

[G.A.S]

Unless I am mistaking, VAT is calculated at 110% of the original value on imports. I.e. 16.5% effective?

 

[jdido87]

Once it gets blocked for inspection at customs, then it is out of the hands of the shipping company. SARS may inspect the package, and sometimes they may even get other regulatory institutions involved. Could take a few days to a couple of weeks. You cannot speed this up.

Its just POE cameras. Hopefully it goes quick.

 

[rvZA]

Its just POE cameras. Hopefully it goes quick.

In that case it will likely just be SARS who will open the package and ensure that it was the correct items as per the manifest and also making sure the declaration and payments are correct. Should normally take a day or two for this process.

 

[jdido87]

In that case it will likely just be SARS who will open the package and ensure that it was the correct items as per the manifest and also making sure the declaration and payments are correct. Should normally take a day or two for this process.

I did notice on the DHL duties invoice that was sent to me for payment the value was understated on the invoice. I just assumed its how it should be. Its only my second time importing something. The first time I was refunded because the shipment never arrived only for the Post Office to notify me many months later that its ready for collection.

 

[greg0205]

Just popping in to show some love for postbox-courier.

I see your MyUS and Scotts posts and I'm happy for y'all, but I won't be changing forwarding company anytime soon.

 

[vaalpens]

Whats the latest with SARS etc requiring an importers code for more than 3x international shipments for private use?