ld13
Honorary Master
They have. But as far as I recall they were quite a bit better in the past. Email responses have become increasingly delayed over the years. I would rather give them a call if I were looking for instant answers.
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Raspberry Pi Taxes?
- Thread starter Sysem
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- import raspberry pi taxes
They have. But as far as I recall they were quite a bit better in the past. Email responses have become increasingly delayed over the years. I would rather give them a call if I were looking for instant answers.
xera
Expert Member
The post office told me to phone this number: 0860 111 502
I paid R68.15 custom fees for mine..... I had a clear case, power supply, my pi in my package.... It was also opened and it was sealed again with white tape that has blue writing on it saying SARS Custom Office Durban......
I think this SARS Customs guys are just trolling to be honest..... I also IMPORTED a chinese tablet worth R2000 from china and the duties was less than R100 I had to pay....
Good luck trying to reduce that price... You can phone 0860111502 its the post office call centre and they will give you the customs office number which your parcel passed through.
I have the Durban number somewhere here. Good luck with that they ALMOSt NEVER answers the phone.
Another thing you can do is get some one @ sars to re evaluate the tax by suppling a invoice that you got from raspberry foundation. You could also tell them its for research.... They might lower it for you but that is a long shot.
I think this SARS Customs guys are just trolling to be honest..... I also IMPORTED a chinese tablet worth R2000 from china and the duties was less than R100 I had to pay....
Good luck trying to reduce that price... You can phone 0860111502 its the post office call centre and they will give you the customs office number which your parcel passed through.
I have the Durban number somewhere here. Good luck with that they ALMOSt NEVER answers the phone.
Another thing you can do is get some one @ sars to re evaluate the tax by suppling a invoice that you got from raspberry foundation. You could also tell them its for research.... They might lower it for you but that is a long shot.
X-Gamer
Expert Member
I paid no taxes and the RPi (no acc.) was couriered to my door. No Post Office involved. They have lost parcels of mine in the past so I will never use them EVER again.
Well all the new orders you don't really have a choice... They ship via normal mail now looks like... I paid and opted for DHL delivery but it came via post office.
Roadrunner
Expert Member
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Customs operate like the mafia these days.
They frequently hold imported goods for ransom for no legal reason, and will only release it when the supplier who imported it paid them.
They frequently hold imported goods for ransom for no legal reason, and will only release it when the supplier who imported it paid them.
koeksGHT
Dealer
No taxes, ordered 2 for R880 with 2 USB cables and cases. Was told to collect in back section. Was surprised 
D4N
Expert Member
That's BS. I would ask them for some credit
GarethC
Well-Known Member
Do this. If I recall correctly electronics goods are customs free. As others mentioned you are still required to pay VAT. The way this is usually calculated is they look at the value of the items listed on the package (if none is given I think they make something up), they multiply this by some dollar:rand exchange that isn't particularly favourable and then multiply it by 14%.
On top of this they charge a handling fee which is usually only about R20 (can't remember exactly).
When I received mine I didn't have to pay any taxes, it seems like luck of the draw a bit. But I advise finding out what values they used to calculate how much you owe, and deal with it from there.
wrt to post/delivery. No one paid postage on their orders from RS for delivery of the raspberry pi. It's all supposed to be included. Originally they specified that it would be delivered and many of the orders in the first 4 months were delivered, they have since decided it's better (i assume just cheaper) to post the packages. This is their decision, and although I don't think it's right, they're still getting the package to you for free.
ld13
Honorary Master
They charge you VAT on 110% of the value of the package + a small clearance fee of R15-R30 depending on the size of the package.
Thanks. Whats the best way to get it re evaluated? And how would I get refunded? Or do I get it re evaluated before collecting it?
I ordered a Tortilla press from Amazon.com and got nailed with a more or less 40% import duty. Their excuse was that it was for a business. I told them I only ordered one item, for myself. They then said that I shouldn't have ordered it from a business website. I tried to tell them that Amazon.com is not a "business" website but eventually gave up.
Let's make this one point clear : DHL has made an habit of charging processing fees for customs clearance. They have been applying this fee randomly for years. This is an international pattern specifically tagging DHL as the culprit who are exploiting it as a means of income.
I think you guys should pester RS as well, maybe they will start to consolidate the deliveries to South Africa and then forward locally. A fair amount of the electronic components they sell are sold ex-stock from the UK.
GarethC
Well-Known Member
Thanks
Get it re-evaluated before collecting, I wouldn't want to try get money back from them. I imagine the best way would be to phone them and find out who you need to speak to and who you can send your invoice to to get it done.
I don't know anything about this, but here we're talking specifically about packages coming through customs via standard postage. Although they are originally posted by DHL, these don't incur the extra R100+ that DHL charge when delivering packages that are taxed.
I really wish we could order directly from the local RS components, but it seems like there's still too much international interest and not enough supply for them to do this yet.
ld13
Honorary Master
Why EMS? Just call your local customs office.
Yes just call sars customs office closest to you. I think you get customs office in all port coast areas aswell as all airports. just phone 0860 111 502 and ask them what customs office your parcel went through by providing the tracking number starting with II and ending with ZA I think. They will provide you with a landline number and you call that number. They are usually a bit dumb but you do find some people willing to help out....
ALSO remember that you only have 21 days to collect it at the post office or it will be sent back to SARS Customs and then you are looking @ MORE fees
If you've ever read the descriptions in the harmonized tariff codes you'd know why it can be difficult for customs officials to figure out into which category to place something. It's some South African thing either, they're international.
Some goods it is obvious under which code they belong, others much less so.
I must just be incredibly lucky with no parcel ever having been customs for long, whether by post or courier, other than one time when some idiot at DHL claimed there was no invoice so they couldn't process it. I sent them a copy and it was processed immediately. Or maybe it's just Cape Town's customs that works well. Then again my most recent package landed in Johannesburg and was processed there, in and out the same morning.
Sometimes it's better than the rate I actually paid, other times a bit worse. It's not far off.
Find out what code they put it under, go through the codes and figure out which you think it belongs under and have them re-assess it. It's definitely an error if the duties are more than the hardware.
It makes no difference to the classification anyway.
It's a standard fee, all the courier companies charge this. In fact for years DHL was by far the cheapest.
GarethC
Well-Known Member
Someone mentioned that VAT gets charged on 110% of the value of the package, so this may be why I thought I'd been getting terrible exchange rates.
gregmcc
Honorary Master
Damn customs are a joke. It's a hit and miss affair.
I'm waiting for my 3 pi's to arrive. If I have to pay hundreds to customs I'm going to go and burn down the place!
I'm waiting for my 3 pi's to arrive. If I have to pay hundreds to customs I'm going to go and burn down the place!