My experience so far: This year I have ordered a huge amount of stuff from overseas - mainly China. I have already received 20 separate packages via SAPO with more still on the way. Some small packages were delivered to my post box at home with nothing extra payable. Some packages went to my local PO with no duties or VAT payable; some went to the PO and I had to pay duties and VAT based on the value stated on the parcel. A few of them required a trip to Capemail to collect where you have to produce proof of purchase from whatever website so they can see the actual amount that was paid as the Chinese generally understate the values by quite a lot. The delivery time has varied between one and two months from ordering, with most of it being spent while the package is already in the country. So far, not a single package has gone missing. . I spoke to one of the guys at Capemail and he was saying there is so much stuff coming in from overseas because it is so easy to order online these days, that they have a huge backlog. They randomly decide what gets inspected and charged for and what goes straight to the Post Office as they are not able to inspect everything. I have found all the staff there to be extremely helpful with queries on the location of a parcel as long as it has been processed. If it has not yet been processed, then there is not much they can do, due to the volume of stuff in their warehouse.
