PostBox-Courier.com how to

Lord Nikon6 said:
@DVDL, thanks for the info. Did TNT handle the tax and you paid them on receipt, or did you have to go in to their branch to pay the customs fees?
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They emailed me the invoice after phoning them when I saw the parcel was at customs. Paid via EFT - I don't know if you can pay on delivery, probably possible.

ripclaw said:
DVDL, did Shipito include the original invoices for your purchae(s)?
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They only included their invoice which basicly contains the following information:
- "Commercial Invoice" template with Shipito details
- The shipped-from (the depot you chose) and shipped-to (your) addresses
- Other shipping info (weight,size etc)
- Declaration of goods and value (which is completely up to you - you enter this info on your Shipito account page)
- Calculated total (Declared Value + Shipping cost)

SARS Customs calculated duties/VAT on the Calculated total.

*Note that it is possible that Shipito didn't include the Amazon invoice due to Amazon not sending an invoice with the order (marked as a gift) - so I it's possible they include your invoice if the original seller includes one.
 
Although I had a reasonably good experience with Shipito/TNT, I'd rather make use of PBC as soon as they are available again. They are much simpler (and possibly a little cheaper) and I like the personal communication with Gary.
 
DVDL said:
Although I had a reasonably good experience with Shipito/TNT, I'd rather make use of PBC as soon as they are available again. They are much simpler (and possibly a little cheaper) and I like the personal communication with Gary.
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Definitely! And it just feels simpler with Gary.
 
DVDL said:
Yes, before Shipito ships out the parcel you need to declare the value of your parcel.
I shipped my Amazon order as a gift and declared the value of the parcel on my Shipito account page (I understand if you read "oooh I can under-declare my goods!", but remember that SARS customs will not be shy to slam you with a fat penalty should they decide to try and find the actual value of your parcel and find it under-declared)

I paid about R300 VAT/Import duties on a $80 declared parcel (tablet/smartphone covers etc).

Also with regards to Shipito, note that they can place your account "on hold" before actually shipping the parcel. This is easily/quickly cleared by uploading some form of ID and filling in some forms (all on a secure page with the right privacy policies). This is due to many previous incidents with people smuggling illegal goods into/out of countries, and they just want some form of ID for their records.
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The US services seem pretty retarded with the ID and red tape. It's far simpler with Japanese ones. Buyee/Tenso let's you also declare the item and write your own description. For 500 yen extra they can repackage your item really well - and they do this beautifully. They ship by EMS or FedEx but they recommend the cheapest method. EMS usually works out great from Japan.

Noppin.com
Buyee.jp
japonicamarket.com are the ones I used.

Japonica has a nice snipe bidding service, as has Buyee. Noppin also has a shopping service. Someone will buy the item from a Japanese website if the Japanese website does not accept foreigners directly. I also have a great contact who can go to events for me and pick up rare items and do lotteries and so on. She once had to take the first morning train to Kyoto on a Saturday morning but she got the limited edition item. :)

EMS is usually a safe bet. As long as item is insured, it should be ok. Of course under-declaring items will also get you less insurance.
 
ripclaw said:
Definitely! And it just feels simpler with Gary.
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I agree. I'm not actually looking to change but I needed some stuff urgently and Gary wasn't ready yet.

I prefer less red tape.
 
It doesn't look good shutting your business down for what has been a month now, without any update on what is going on or any progress towards a solution.
 
I think he's coming back to live here so maybe he's preoccupied with that.

It will be a pity if this service ceases to exist.
 
UPDATE:

Spoke to Gary just now. He is definitely going to get his service operational again but he wants all his ducks in a row before he goes live. As suspected, the move to CT has taken more of his focus but he assures me it will be up soon.
 
This has happened before, at least once. They always sort their problems out and come back online.
 
hilton said:
UPDATE:

Spoke to Gary just now. He is definitely going to get his service operational again but he wants all his ducks in a row before he goes live. As suspected, the move to CT has taken more of his focus but he assures me it will be up soon.
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Awesome news. Gary is a really standup guy from my experience. Would suck to lose his service because of the excellent customer service he provides.
 
Feedback for the Stackry courier service.

Wednesday 9th
Parcels arrived at depot, received email
Opted to consolidate
An hour or two later, received an email confirming the physical consolidation and the exact shipping cost. Paid that via PayPal.

Thursday 10th
Parcel left the New Hampshire depot

Sunday 13th
Arrive in Joburg

Wednesday 16th
SAPO delivered the parcel to my door and I had to pay via EFT.

Goods cost R10k, local US shipping was free. Stackry shipping fee was just over $200 and SAPO charged me R1400 VAT and R37 clearance fee. Delivery was for free.

So long story short, not bad at all. Goods took five (5) days to arrive here (6 from when they initially arrived at the depot) including the weekend. The shipping service offered a delivery time of between 4 and 8 days so it was very good.
 
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hilton said:
Feedback for the Stackry courier service.

Wednesday 9th
Parcels arrived at depot, received email
Opted to consolidate
An hour or two later, received an email confirming the physical consolidation and the exact shipping cost. Paid that via PayPal.

Thursday 10th
Parcel left the New Hampshire depot

Sunday 13th
Arrive in Joburg

Wednesday 16th
SAPO delivered the parcel to my door and I had to pay via EFT.

Goods cost R10k, local US shipping was free. Stackry shipping fee was just over $200 and SAPO charged me R1400 VAT and R37 clearance fee. Delivery was for free.

So long story short, not bad at all. Goods took five (5) days to arrive here (6 from when they initially arrived at the depot) including the weekend. The shipping service offered a delivery time of between 4 and 8 days so it was very good.
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that actually does sound quite good, thanks for the update! I might actually go that route.
 
$200 shipping is not that bad, for a package of that size, fedex will easily charge over $300
 
The one good thing about Stackry is that they only charge you $2 per parcel to consolidate with a cap at $20. They also have the option to either include or not include the original shipping invoices so if you want to be creative with customs then obviously choose the latter.

Oh and the Post Office delivered straight to my door and I paid via EFT.

Pretty easy all round actually.
 
hilton said:
The one good thing about Stackry is that they only charge you $2 per parcel to consolidate with a cap at $20. They also have the option to either include or not include the original shipping invoices so if you want to be creative with customs then obviously choose the latter.

Oh and the Post Office delivered straight to my door and I paid via EFT.

Pretty easy all round actually.
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I just checked, my stick will cost about $181 with fedex express, not sure how much they add to that price, but it seems fairly good so far.
 
Does USPS Express deliver to my door, or do I have to go to my local Post Office?
 
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