What will Amazon sell in ZA?

Gnome said:
You postulate this as if this is the biggest blocker for business in this country?
But why do you think this is a problem?
Every country in the world has customs, most are significantly more onerous that SA (especially EU and to some extent the US also)

And what import restrictions do you mean, because I literally buy stuff daily from other places in the world.
I have deliveries near daily from overseas, I order from Amazon.com, AliExpress, eBay, Digikey, RS, Mouser, etc. constantly.
Some courier, some post office.
To date, not a single thing has ever been denied or restricted by SA customs.
I've even had wrong assessments by customs and sent it back and STILL got the parcel with significantly reduced customs.

SA customs doesn't care unless it is on a restricted list, like firearms, nuclear materials, animals, plants, etc. (thing you can probably buy with a permit anyway).
They just want their cut, that is all they are about.
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European customs are now clamping down on small shipments. Small items via post office get through but couriers seem to be hitting everyone for even small amounts. Governments around the world are scraping the barrel. It's the same as digital purchases, most now process South African VAT or whatever VAT as per the country you're in.

SA actually has heavy restrictions. For example import max 3 shipments per year without registering. And you need permits for things such as second hand goods, although customs never checked.
 
Tinuva said:
That only works if the sender under declare. When I got something off ebay, I definitely had to pay the full customs tax.
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Americans don't pay duty for items under $500 or so, can't remember the exact amount but that's a loophole Temu and Shein take advantage of.
 
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Gnome said:
How is that a heavy restriction?
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I don't have to register as in importer in Europe for myself. In SA when I did that I had to fill in forms which required company numbers and names. It is retarded. And it was one day I had to waste because I do personal online shopping like the rest of the world. SA is a police state. This is a holdover from the National Party.

Also technically all used items require a specific import licensed for used goods.
 
Tinuva said:
We have all the variety we could ever want. Just go aliexpress and a new world awaits you :p
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Yeah I mean the normal people to scared of importing stuff.

And Amazon I would expect would at least level out pricing to the same or such a level where it doesn’t make sense to do it yourself.
 
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Let me ask this, do you think that Amazon opening a local brance will force the rest to shape up and begin to offer discounts?

Amazon is a pretty big player, almost like Walmart
 
Gnome said:
Any chance you could detail the problems?
And what are the pain points?
Btw. I totally believe you, I'm not asking you to defend yourself here, it is all about it is like dealing with them.
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Their system is quite horrendous to work on so many terms what you have no idea mean and then there is no explanation on what they mean. Their staff now don't get back to you when you email them. They have 3 different protals you need to work on and you basically have to do everything from capturing Their invoice, the consignments weight and size, you need to give them the courier vehicles number plate... Our product is sold in the US and UK on Amazon via the distributor there but we had to create a local catalogue. They provided us with an excel document that was like 72 pages long that you need to fill in. Half the terms you have no idea what they talking about on the form and when you fill it in it gets rejected and it doesn't tell you why. Listing our 13 products took like 2 weeks and over 20 admin hours
 
Also just as an FYI Aamzon said they won't have special pricing and won't compete with local retailers. They will just match 1 local retailers price
 
Anyone know when Amazon shopping will be live in SA? Has the launch date ben released ?
 
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