I tested the waters with clothing items. I haven't really bought clothing much, but thought I would test this customs things out outside of the general things I purchased previously.. so here goes
I bought a dress (for the missus), 3 pants, 2 jerseys, 5 T-shirts, a wooly winter hat for my daughter, a beanie and a pair of sneakers for my kid, a shoulder bag, 3 pairs of sunglasses, and a cheap watch valued at around R150, a bathroom caddy, a chewing mat for the rabbits..
The total came to R551. Now I had credit available, and some coupon codes, hence the totals only came to that amount.
Without credit and coupon, the total on all the items came to R2400.
Customs totalled R714. Now, obviously here, I paid more for customs, than for the actual items (R551)
So, I don't know if it was said here, but it does seem, that Temu is using the actual values of the items, and that is what is being declared to customs.. On the R2400, at R714 I paid around 30% to SARS. Would I still consider it worth it? Yes definitely!
With all discounts/credit my total came in at around R1265. If I had to purchase those exact items locally, it would have cost me around closer to R3000 to R4000 + so it's not all that bad.
Sorry, I know it's a long post