Ordering off Aliexpress? Advice?

so I placed an Order on the 14th. 3 small IPS displays that I could not find anywhere else.
I have a tracking number, but no idea who its with.
I will need to pay customs but no idea how and to who.
my last tracking update is arrived at line-haul office. that was on the 18th.

expected delivery is only the 17th of Nov so not sure if I should even bother trying to figure out who is delivering it.
 
Don't worry you will receive them, received 5 SMS's today from my PO to collect and those arrived at line-haul around 03 Sept 2024
 
Mirai said:
They subcontract other couriers to drop off EMS. You pay the guy in cash at your door.
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Total noob here with a quick question on EMS.

Does the parcel touch SAPO at any point in time?

There's an item I wanna get that's only on Aliexpress but I can't bring myself to go via the Standard Aliexpress shipping as I don't trust SAPO. To me SAPO is like a black hole, any parcel that touches it is never to be seen again. My experience at least...

The other routes (Aramex, DHL etc) are way too expensive. Like 20X the price of the item - which is not worth it at that point.

But EMS pricing is not too bad. So can I pull the trigger?

Also, outside of customs and the "door price", are there any other fees?

Thanks in advance :)
 
Moonlit8377 said:
Total noob here with a quick question on EMS.

Does the parcel touch SAPO at any point in time?

There's an item I wanna get that's only on Aliexpress but I can't bring myself to go via the Standard Aliexpress shipping as I don't trust SAPO. To me SAPO is like a black hole, any parcel that touches it is never to be seen again. My experience at least...

The other routes (Aramex, DHL etc) are way too expensive. Like 20X the price of the item - which is not worth it at that point.

But EMS pricing is not too bad. So can I pull the trigger?

Also, outside of customs and the "door price", are there any other fees?

Thanks in advance :)
Click to expand...

EMS goes via SAPO. It used to be super reliable and was my go to method for American and Japanese deliveries But that was before 2017. I've only had one item delivered by EMS recently, and that was something someone sent me in a personal capacity and that item arrived by a third party courier that, SAPO subcontracted. I think that was the last mile though. Otherwise it uses their EMS/Speedservices hubs, so like post office but the highest priority.

It gets tracked through their service, via the usual postal tracking.

EMS should be insured and traceable so Aliexpress should refund you if the item does not arrive. It should be the highest priority service. In my recent case I think it took up to 2.5 weeks from Japan, where in the past EMS from Japan would take 4 days.

There are no other fees except for the disbursement fee/VAT and duty, i.e. what DHL or FedEx/Aramex charge. Disbursement is lower than courier.

I think if I remember correctly, EMS to SA was disabled by at least some foreign postal carriers in the past, 2019-2023. Currently it seems to be permitted.
 
Mirai said:
EMS goes via SAPO. It used to be super reliable and was my go to method for American and Japanese deliveries But that was before 2017. I've only had one item delivered by EMS recently, and that was something someone sent me in a personal capacity and that item arrived by a third party courier that, SAPO subcontracted. I think that was the last mile though. Otherwise it uses their EMS/Speedservices hubs, so like post office but the highest priority.

It gets tracked through their service, via the usual postal tracking.

EMS should be insured and traceable so Aliexpress should refund you if the item does not arrive. It should be the highest priority service. In my recent case I think it took up to 2.5 weeks from Japan, where in the past EMS from Japan would take 4 days.

There are no other fees except for the disbursement fee/VAT and duty, i.e. what DHL or FedEx/Aramex charge. Disbursement is lower than courier.

I think if I remember correctly, EMS to SA was disabled by at least some foreign postal carriers in the past, 2019-2023. Currently it seems to be permitted.
Click to expand...
Eish, at least the item is insured so that's good. And I'm guessing the refund (if it comes to that) is the item cost + delivery fee on Aliexpress, right? I'm guessing customs & other payments outside the platform won't get refunded.

Just to confirm, I don't have to run around looking for a SAPO office, right? They'll (whether SAPO/3rd Party Courier) deliver straight to my door?

Thanks for the level of detail @Mirai much appreciated.
 
Moonlit8377 said:
Eish, at least the item is insured so that's good. And I'm guessing the refund (if it comes to that) is the item cost + delivery fee on Aliexpress, right? I'm guessing customs & other payments outside the platform won't get refunded.

Just to confirm, I don't have to run around looking for a SAPO office, right? They'll (whether SAPO/3rd Party Courier) deliver straight to my door?

Thanks for the level of detail @Mirai much appreciated.
Click to expand...

EMS gets delivered to your door. The only hold up could be if they don't trust the invoice in which case you'll have to email them the invoice or go with the invoice and credit card to the local depot, eg in Cape Town that's Capemail and get the item.

If they miss you, you will have to collect at the local post office. They should call you ahead on the day of delivery with the amount of cash you must have on hand. It may be possible to re-schedule delivery at that point or not.

I think you pay customs after the item arrives, so if an item does not arrive you don't pay any customs, as you pay the delivery driver.
 
Are there also VAT charges on AliExpress orders similar to Shein and Temu?

I'm only used to paying the R36 odd at the PO.
 
Spontaneous spinach said:
Future readers.

Ordered a motorcycle radiator that weighs+- 2kg/3kg
Paid: 15th of September
Delivered: 1st of October

Used E-EMS which is a slightly cheaper and slower version of EMS

Clearance and stuff came to R114 for a R1356 order / shipping was R1000
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Just curious - which courier was used for last mile?
 
Moonlit8377 said:
Just curious - which courier was used for last mile?
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Seems like a small business , never heard or seen this courier vehicle before but i prefer this method as the courier was a friendly old uncle.

Apparently he delivered to my home before but i can't recall so hopefully he continues getting more work from the post office.
 
Spontaneous spinach said:
Another order i used Cainiao super economy which stop tracking once tracking states arrived at inline-haul office which means i am the mercy of my local post office?
Click to expand...

Yes. I had one of those and it arrived after about 3 weeks.

It is actually trackable on the CAINAO / MailAmerica's number. You can use the SAPO tracker.
 
Spontaneous spinach said:
Seems like a small business , never heard or seen this courier vehicle before but i prefer this method as the courier was a friendly old uncle.

Apparently he delivered to my home before but i can't recall so hopefully he continues getting more work from the post office.
Click to expand...

It wasn't the old orange EMS van eh?

operator_logo_ems_102.jpg
 
Spontaneous spinach said:
It was some Xtreme something couriers , I honestly thought it was some fibre subcontractors
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They seem to subcontract to others. They had their own EMS drivers before and even did Saturday deliveries at times, which was a shock.
 
Mirai said:
They seem to subcontract to others. They had their own EMS drivers before and even did Saturday deliveries at times, which was a shock.
Click to expand...
That's the reason i prefer subcontracting to small businesses , buffalo courier sometimes sub to random couriers here and sometimes i get my packages on Sundays and even deliveries as late as 9pm at night.

Heck one day a courier pulled up in a Toyota Tazz😂
 
Spontaneous spinach said:
That's the reason i prefer subcontracting to small businesses , buffalo courier sometimes sub to random couriers here and sometimes i get my packages on Sundays and even deliveries as late as 9pm at night.

Heck one day a courier pulled up in a Toyota Tazz😂
Click to expand...

No, that was back when these were SAPO employees. I kid you not they delivered on Saturdays to clear backlogs at times.
 
ok heres a question

Same store on Aliexpress sells the same items with either free shipping or paid for shipping

1. item cost R98.29 - Aliexpress standard shipping (No tracking) 168.50

2. 1. item cost R202.65 Aliexpress standard shipping (No tracking) Free

This will most likely come via SAPO - can someone clarify for me?

Will tax be charged on the item price ?

so i

1. - 98.29 X 45 + VAT = +/- R51
2. 202.65 X 45 + VAT = +/- R104

or am i missing something here

TIA
 
Last edited:
I'd rather buy as much as possible of what I need from friends and family who have businesses or shops nowadays.

Ubuntu works.
 
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