Ordering off Aliexpress? Advice?

airborne said:
What item is it and what is the invoice value and what are they trying to charge you for duties?
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It was for a remote control. The cost was about R45 + R130 for courier fees. The duties were about R86, almost twice the cost of the remote. If their website showed a breakdown of how the fees (e.g. admin fee + sars duty) were calculated, this would not have been an issue. The slightest bit of transparency would go a long way.
 
Username: said:
Bullshit
Bunch of thief's no way to contact them at all.
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Good luck contacting any clearance agency in SA buddy.

Maybe I should rephrase they are “ considered “ one of the decent providers?

I have never had a problem with them, order arrives on time every time.
 
sgs said:
Is there really no way of getting an invoice or some form of breakdown of the charges charged? Because this seems totally excessive. (Did the totals above include shipping?)
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Funny thing is it was all free shipping on AliExpress but then you get hit with the SpeedAf handling fee

I would also like to see a breakdown of the charges but not quite sure how to do that. I get a WhatsApp notification from SpeedAf which takes me to a payment link - no invoice

I think cheaper items (R100 - R300) get hit more since a standard handling fee is being applied so it’s feels disproportionate.

Additionally each order is treated separately if you buy from multiple vendors/stores

Would love to hear from members who have orderered more expensive / larger quantities of items
 
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bobcpt said:
It was for a remote control. The cost was about R45 + R130 for courier fees. The duties were about R86, almost twice the cost of the remote. If their website showed a breakdown of how the fees (e.g. admin fee + sars duty) were calculated, this would not have been an issue. The slightest bit of transparency would go a long way.
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That's about right, the duties include a R65 odd disbursement fee.
Metrokilderkin said:
Funny thing is it was all free shipping on AliExpress but then you get hit with the SpeedAf handling fee

I would also like to see a breakdown of the charges but not quite sure how to do that. I get a WhatsApp notification from SpeedAf which takes me to a payment link - no invoice

I think cheaper items (R100 - R300) get hit more since a standard handling fee is being applied so it’s feels disproportionate.

Additionally each order is treated separately if you buy from multiple vendors/stores

Would love to hear from members who have orderered more expensive / larger quantities of items
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If the orders were all sent in one parcel you should only be charged one handling/disbursement fee.
Something is out with your duties but getting hold of these fkn idiots is near impossible and even if you do manage to speak to anyone they are thick af, absolute bottom of barrel totally clueless idiots.
 
Remember before SpeedAF or Imilie there was only the post office, you waited 2 months if not longer if you ordered from Ali – I bought many items over the past years from Ali, I had to wait months for my retro and gadgets to be processed.

So do you want to wait months for something ( that might not even make it through our broken post office system ) or pay a handling / customs service fee and actually get what you bought and paid for ?

Problem is people want to buy cheap but now it’s not cheap and more reliable and quicker, if anyone is to blame anyone them blame TEMU as they are the ones that started the trend by using local handlers for customs etc as people were complaining the items never arrive or disappear in our 1st class postal service.
 
I bought some screen protectors on the 27th of August they arrived at the local post office on the 17th of August. Cost about R40.
 
An update on my order as well, I received the other two packages at the post office this morning so have received all three, SpeedAF delivered on the 31st of August only received the other 2 packages today so 3 weeks later even through on tracking apps they landed in South Africa at the same time on the same flight.

SpeedAF are also way overcharging on customs charges paid them R267 for an alldocube iplay 70 mini ultra case worth R197.86 (with R152.35 shipping) but paid the post office R462 for the tablet itself + the SD card (paid Ali R4785,32 + R152.35 shipping) and a 512GB SD Card (paid Ali ZAR788.76 + free shipping).

Still all in all pretty impressed even with our postal service and they are certainly much cheaper if you don't mind waiting a bit longer.
 
On 6 September I ordered 4 telescope eyepieces that I can’t get get, it was from 3 different stores,
They put it in two packages, the first one was deliver today with 3 eyepieces and hopefully the 4th one is delivered today as well, it is out for delivery.

Cost was R989 including delivery. . It was handled by speedway and they charged R100 and R130.
FNB took R24.84 as a payment fee.


It’s not cheap, but better than using the post office.
 
DarkStarMonday said:
Remember before SpeedAF or Imilie there was only the post office, you waited 2 months if not longer if you ordered from Ali – I bought many items over the past years from Ali, I had to wait months for my retro and gadgets to be processed.

So do you want to wait months for something ( that might not even make it through our broken post office system ) or pay a handling / customs service fee and actually get what you bought and paid for ?

Problem is people want to buy cheap but now it’s not cheap and more reliable and quicker, if anyone is to blame anyone them blame TEMU as they are the ones that started the trend by using local handlers for customs etc as people were complaining the items never arrive or disappear in our 1st class postal service.
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People don't mind paying the courier disbursement fee, it’s when they get the duties way put and there's no way to question it that's a problem.
 
MattyW said:
An update on my order as well, I received the other two packages at the post office this morning so have received all three, SpeedAF delivered on the 31st of August only received the other 2 packages today so 3 weeks later even through on tracking apps they landed in South Africa at the same time on the same flight.

SpeedAF are also way overcharging on customs charges paid them R267 for an alldocube iplay 70 mini ultra case worth R197.86 (with R152.35 shipping) but paid the post office R462 for the tablet itself + the SD card (paid Ali R4785,32 + R152.35 shipping) and a 512GB SD Card (paid Ali ZAR788.76 + free shipping).

Still all in all pretty impressed even with our postal service and they are certainly much cheaper if you don't mind waiting a bit longer.
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Is the Post Office now charging an R80 odd handling fee on each parcel?
 
SykomantiS said:
My last item off aliexpress was bought the and paid the 9th Sept, and I received it 8 days later- the 17th Sept.

Happy with the service and item. Courier is listed as Imile.

Import duties and taxes amounted to roughly 30% (R138 or something on a R460 item- item was listed as free shipping).
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Nice, I am still awaiting with imile:

1758618949889.png
 
airborne said:
That's about right, the duties include a R65 odd disbursement fee.

If the orders were all sent in one parcel you should only be charged one handling/disbursement fee.
Something is out with your duties but getting hold of these fkn idiots is near impossible and even if you do manage to speak to anyone they are thick af, absolute bottom of barrel totally clueless idiots.
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airborne said:
That's about right, the duties include a R65 odd disbursement fee.

If the orders were all sent in one parcel you should only be charged one handling/disbursement fee.
Something is out with your duties but getting hold of these fkn idiots is near impossible and even if you do manage to speak to anyone they are thick af, absolute bottom of barrel totally clueless idiots.
Click to expand...

Yea that’s the thing with AliExpress. You have multiple vendors / stores similar to Etsy/Amazon

For my order all four items were from different stores so each item get processed separately, charged customs separately and delivered separately. So now the courier will come to house 2-3 times to deliver four small parcels 😂.

The consolidation should ideally happen on AliExpress side (similar to how Amazon does it) and then consolidated parcel gets processed and delivered.

But for the total landed cost of items it is still cheaper than Amazon / Takealot for some items - in my case it’s accessories for an older car

For example I got dynamic mirror indicators for a Golf for total landed cost of R400 whereas the exact same product from a local supplier is R700 - 800.

So yea the fees are all over the place but for some items it’s cheaper overall.
 
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Metrokilderkin said:
The consolidation should ideally happen on AliExpress side (similar to how Amazon does it) and then consolidated parcel gets processed and delivered.
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AliExpress does apparently consolidate orders for certain products and for certain destinations. (It sounds like you can filter on products that support this, but I haven't seen this myself - so assuming this is not available for shipping to South Africa).

An example: I recently purchased 2 items from the same seller. They shipped together in, you guess it, two parcels with 2 tracking numbers from the same warehouse. (So there's an extra SAPO service charge right there that I didn't expect.)
 
airborne said:
People don't mind paying the courier disbursement fee, it’s when they get the duties way put and there's no way to question it that's a problem.
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I’ve never had over the top taxes or fees.

I ordered my 8bitdo Xbox mouse and keyboard and paid R600 customs and delivery included and it was still cheaper than sourcing it locally, not just cheaper but a good 60% cheaper than what you would pay at a local shop.

I bought an outdoor lte router about 2 months back, R600 and R150 customs and delivery. Local resellers you pay R2000.

I think people need to manage their expectations to what is real honestly, yes I have had 1 incorrect item sent to me last year but that was sorted out within 3 weeks and correct item delivered.

I’m not going to burn everyone at the stake now !
 
bought my first items last week. Placed my order on the evening of 17th.

This morning I got the requests to pay the duties.

compressor control valve R314 duties R177
Oneplus cellphone charger R282 duties R103

Items should get to SA this week and hopefully delivery next week.
 
ahf said:
I think R81.40 for all HA-ZA parcels and the small parcels R41.40
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How can you work out beforehand what a parcel will be defined as and why do they even have that differentiation?
 
sgs said:
AliExpress does apparently consolidate orders for certain products and for certain destinations. (It sounds like you can filter on products that support this, but I haven't seen this myself - so assuming this is not available for shipping to South Africa).

An example: I recently purchased 2 items from the same seller. They shipped together in, you guess it, two parcels with 2 tracking numbers from the same warehouse. (So there's an extra SAPO service charge right there that I didn't expect.)
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I normally request that they make up one parcel before I do the payment, two orders but in one parcel so I only pay for one at SAPO
 
airborne said:
How can you work out beforehand what a parcel will be defined as and why do they even have that differentiation?
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Check the tracking number never had any luck from the seller beforehand which shipping method they going to use.
 
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