Importing USB memory sticks from China

[seahunter]

Hi Guys
I am new to this forum so please forgive me if this question is in the wrong place.
I am interested in importing usb memory sticks from china
Has anyone an idea what the customs and duties are on these electronic items ?
Any advice will be welcome

 

[chicken247]

I hope you are getting them dirt cheap. Almost every taxi rank in the land has a street vendor selling them.

 

[Se@n]

Memory sticks are duty free, you will be liable for vat and disbursement. Be warned though, its a messy business, flooded with fraudulent suppliers in the east and many established competitors locally as well as pricing having been driven down to the point that unless you can move real volume you are not going to make much.

I of course could have jumped the gun and you are importing for personal use...

 

[itareanlnotani]

I wouldn't bother importing memory sticks.
The pricing here is pretty similar to China.

You can check retail pricing in China on http://newegg.com.cn or http://jd.com

In China usb sticks are called upan - u盘
If you read Chinese, you can check taobao ( http://www.taobao.com ), but I'd avoid the lower end priced stuff, as there are a lot of fakes. If its too good to be true, its too good to be true...

You can ship airfreight 1 week from China for 150RMB/kg, usb disks weigh virtually nothing, so you could ship 30-40 pieces.
Customs here can be rather random on charges though. You may get hit for clearance charges, you may not.
In order to check the tax + duties for a product, you'll need to check the HS Code (Harmonised Standard Code) for the product.

USB Sticks are computer accessories, and zero duty, so you just pay tax on the shipment + clearance charge.

If its for personal use, you can bring in a small amount duty free - can't remember offhand, but its a few hundred rand I think.

You'll also need an import licence and vat number if you're doing it properly.

 

[itareanlnotani]

I would suggest instead look at ram and video cards.
The margins on both of those are far far higher in a number of instances.

I often import ram for clients here for Mac Pro's, and am *substantially* cheaper than say... Core/iStore.
Its usually a bit more esoteric than the usual DDR3 though (Mac Pro's are Xeon, so its ECC).
Older ram is harder to find here too, and I have lots of 4G ddr2 667's that I get to sell.