Proliferation of international warranties increasing online retail competition in South Africa

[Jan]

Warning for South African online stores

An increasing number of trademarked products are getting international warranties, making it more attractive for South African online shoppers to buy goods from major overseas marketplaces.

The development could prove a major challenge for local retailers, who will find it difficult to compete on product pricing.

 

[Lupus]

Shampies

 

[Mirai]

That's the case with iPhones, isn't it. If you buy an official one in any country, Core has to service/repair/replace it.

 

[pstation]

That's the case with iPhones, isn't it. If you buy an official one in any country, Core has to service/repair/replace it.

Tried that once with my US iphone and Core said they didn't have parts. Apple in the US was pretty helpful though, and offered to mail another phone to SA and would allow me to drop off the old iphone when back in the states.

 

[Mirai]

Tried that once with my US iphone and Core said they didn't have parts. Apple in the US was pretty helpful though, and offered to mail another phone to SA and would allow me to drop off the old iphone when back in the states.

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Is this still the case? Because the GSM format was replaced by CDMA.

 

[pstation]

Is this still the case? Because the GSM format was replaced by CDMA.

Still is. The iphone models do have different variations and support different technologies. The US iphone for example no longer supports physical sim cards and supports different frequencies compared to the SA/intl version.

Samsung is probably worse in this regard though. Depending on the region the phone is running on a totally different SoC (Qualcomm vs Exynos)

 

[Mirai]

Still is. The iphone models do have different variations and support different technologies. The US iphone for example no longer supports physical sim cards and supports different frequencies compared to the SA/intl version.

Yes, but that's just the modem/radio. The rest of the phone, such as the battery, screen, USB-C socket are standard parts.

Samsung is probably worse in this regard though. Depending on the region the phone is running on a totally different SoC (Qualcomm vs Exynos)

Yes but again there are only two variants, Exynos and QC. And again, the rest of the parts are identical, eg if you crack your screen the screen of the Exynos is identical to the QC.

 

[Okty]

Online shoppers who frequent international e-commerce stores like Amazon.com may be aware that it is often possible to find products sold in South Africa at a fraction of the price

At the time of publication, MyBroadband found the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra 256GB was selling for $1,101.72 (R19,420) on Amazon.com, with all taxes, shipping, and delivery included.


The cheapest price we could find for the same model from a South African store was R21,699 on Takealot.com.

That sure is some fraction...

 

[Swa]

Yeah no, what additional costs? When you order abroad you pay duties on the full amount and it's often still cheaper than local where they only pay on the cost price.

 

[DrJohnZoidberg]

I just don't understand why this happens so often. It really makes no sense that I can can import a one-off item including tax and import duties, have it shipped here in a week or two and still have it be cheaper than the product is locally. Sometimes it even arrives earlier from Amazon than it does from a local retailer.

I can understand for specific niche items that don't see large quantity imports but for mass imported goods it just makes no sense.

Take for example the recent PS5 Pro. You can buy it locally for R19,500 and have it arrive mid December, or you can import one from Amazon in the UK and pay R17,500 with priority shipping and have it arrive mid-November. How on earth can it be so much more expensive here when even the UK price isn't great!?

 

[Bad Ballie]

South Africa still enjoys a much higher profit margin then it's European counterparts, this will never change due to misguided greed on the part of the corporate companies, and will be their downfall in the long run. I will buy good cat the cheapest price point every single time, even if it means putting companies out of business locally.