Importing a GPS locator ??

[Malcolmt]

Hey Guys,

I HAD an old bakkie till last weekend, it wasn't insured coz of its age and condition.

The bakkie has been replaced after digging deep into my savings and is insured.
Iv'e found a few GPS location devices available directly from Chinese companies.
Prices are damm good and I could put one on my bikes and car, and track on my phone.

Has anyone imported these devices, is there anything I need to watch out for ?
Would I get hammered with duty at the post office ?
And as they wont be ICASA approved is there a chance of them being confiscated ?

Cheers
MalcolmT

 

[skusku]

I will comment on my experience.
I have imported hundreds of parcels from china. Ranging from R20 to R2000 per parcel on small items. This is all normal shipping which takes 15-40 days for delivery. The most I have ever paid for customs was about R130, and the cheapest was about R10, about 80% gets by without customs charging for it. Everything was electronic components and none of the completed items has been ICASA approved, and they never got confiscated. If it is big packages, customs will get their hands on it, and for that reason best is to use DHL or similar where customs is probably the 14% Vat that gets charged. Hope it helps

 

[qwertydudeza]

Hey Guys,

I HAD an old bakkie till last weekend, it wasn't insured coz of its age and condition.

The bakkie has been replaced after digging deep into my savings and is insured.
Iv'e found a few GPS location devices available directly from Chinese companies.
Prices are damm good and I could put one on my bikes and car, and track on my phone.

Has anyone imported these devices, is there anything I need to watch out for ?
Would I get hammered with duty at the post office ?
And as they wont be ICASA approved is there a chance of them being confiscated ?

Cheers
MalcolmT

Then what, if they car is stolen, you can track it on your phone? Good luck on getting the police to go recover it from your tracking device. Rather pay R99/month for a tracker with a tracking service in SA

 

[ttygt]

Yea, there really are cheap-ish tracking company's out there. It's worth it.
But most are not true GPS trackers. They are just GSM trackers, so if your trok is in a dead spot, is gone.

All these Chine things are also just GSM. You might as well buy a cheap android phone, wire it permanently to your car's juice(many many ways) and use standard android locate tools. Obviously pay as you go dim and small monthly top-ups also.

 

[rorz0r]

Even if a tracker has a GPS there's no way for it to communicate if it's stuck in a GSM dead zone.