Bringing in goods from the UK

[lukes_handle]

Hi all I'm needing some help, at the end of the year my girlfriend is going over to the UK and I'm looking for a new saddle and have heard rave reviews for the Charge Spoon and Scoop alike. Over in the UK they are not badly priced compared if I bought a decent Fizik or Selle Italia here. It's not the lightest but I'm willing to sacrifice the extra 100 grams for a comfortable ride, it will make me faster being comfortable anyway.

 

So I was thinking of ordering off an online store through their UK system because almost all of them offer free postage to the UK and getting her to bring it back. My question is a) Will they accept the foreign credit card? (I know it was a hassle with itunes before the South African store opened) and b) What is the story with bringing ti back in her language? Will it still get taxed? How much is the tax? Is there a way to avoid this happening?

 

Or is there even anywhere locally that stocks them?

 

Thanks in advance 

[shaper]

If you have issues with your credit card (which you probably wont), open a paypal account and link it to your card, then pay with paypal

[Odinson]

There shouldn't be any VAT, duties, etc complications. Just have her shove it in her bag. 

 

They don't tax you on souvenirs bought from overseas, so why would they want to on a saddle?

[pgp]

There should be no issues. I have done it a lot in the past. Just remember you pay much more vat in the UK than here and under the right circumstances it may be cheaper to buy and ship. I usually only do clothing that way. You do have an allowance to bring stuff in without duties, but I am not sure what the amount is these days.

[Paul Ruinaard]

Vat in the UK is as high as 20%. If you import it you dont pay VAT.

 

Be careful of using Parcel Force if you import as they use SA Post Office who is on strike

[georges]

Hi,

 

I recently enquired about exactly the same thing with Evan's Cycles.

 

Your girlfriend naturally can buy the saddle or anything else for that matter and will be subject to the vat at 20%. However the bike shop will assist her in completing a vat refund form which she can claim back on the way back at the airport.

[Daniel J Méssem]

Vat in the UK is as high as 20%. If you import it you dont pay VAT.

 

Be careful of using Parcel Force if you import as they use SA Post Office who is on strike

 

You still pay SA Vat if bringing it in via courier / post (unless its under R200 or something like that)

 

Some of the places will ship free to SA on certain value, and in some cases its cheaper to get the free shipping and pay SA vat instead of UK vat 

[Paul Ruinaard]

You still pay SA Vat if bringing it in via courier / post (unless its under R200 or something like that)

 

Some of the places will ship free to SA on certain value, and in some cases its cheaper to get the free shipping and pay SA vat instead of UK vat 

True - Vat works out about 15%.

 

Be very careful of free shipping as it is normally Parcel Force which uses SA Post Office locally, which is on strike and has a huge backlog. See the other posts on the hub about this.

 

If you cant courier something in via DHL do not do it until this strike is over.

 

I have R5k worth of goods from UK sent by Parcel Force (which is Royal mail )  sitting somewhere in the system since 16 September and no clue when I am likely to see it.

[lukes_handle]

Hi all thanks for the replies, because it's not an expensive saddle it won't qualify for free shipping to SA and when I go on the UK site it is listed for a tad more which I presume is the difference in VAT? 

 

For example the Spoon is £24.99 on UK site with free shipping to UK and on SA version is £21.45 but shipping is £7.99 but that's standard so useless at the moment. I would get it delivered to her brother who she is staying with and she would bring it back. Not bothered by getting 20% VAT back because it's still almost half the price of decent, comfortable saddle here.

[Velouria]

If you cant courier something in via DHL do not do it until this strike is over.

 

I have R5k worth of goods from UK sent by Parcel Force (which is Royal mail )  sitting somewhere in the system since 16 September and no clue when I am likely to see it.

 

Yup - spent the extra cash on DHL yesterday when ordering from CRC.

[Daniel J Méssem]

True - Vat works out about 15%.

 

Be very careful of free shipping as it is normally Parcel Force which uses SA Post Office locally, which is on strike and has a huge backlog. See the other posts on the hub about this.

 

If you cant courier something in via DHL do not do it until this strike is over.

 

I have R5k worth of goods from UK sent by Parcel Force (which is Royal mail )  sitting somewhere in the system since 16 September and no clue when I am likely to see it.

 

Have had free UPS from merlin cycles before, never take Parcel force myself

 

Vat is 14%, but then you also have to add the clearance fee, think DHL is R150

[BigW]

Have had free UPS from merlin cycles before, never take Parcel force myself

 

Vat is 14%, but then you also have to add the clearance fee, think DHL is R150

 

Merlin's minimum charge for UPS to SA is £25.

 

All carriers add a "disbursement fee" of usually between R100 and R200.

 

It is a good idea to track the parcel online, and try to get the carrier to pre-clear the parcel before it arrives. I have had parcels hang around a logistics warehouse a few miles from my house awaiting clearance, for longer than it took them to get there from the US West Coast.

 

Also, for some unknown reason SARS calculates the VAT on 110% of the value of the goods (excluding shipping) so you effectively pay an extra 1.4%. Admittedly, this is not a lot of money on smaller purchases.

[Velouria]

Merlin's minimum charge for UPS to SA is £25.

 

All carriers add a "disbursement fee" of usually between R100 and R200.

 

It is a good idea to track the parcel online, and try to get the carrier to pre-clear the parcel before it arrives. I have had parcels hang around a logistics warehouse a few miles from my house awaiting clearance, for longer than it took them to get there from the US West Coast.

 

Also, for some unknown reason SARS calculates the VAT on 110% of the value of the goods (excluding shipping) so you effectively pay an extra 1.4%. Admittedly, this is not a lot of money on smaller purchases.

A wonderful post explaining the intricacies of Customs Duties: here

 

The steps to calculate the total duties and VAT are:

 

• Calculate the Rand (ZAR) value of the invoice (including shipping). This should be done by converting the foreign amount (INV) into ZAR using the SARS exchange rate (ROE) for the date of export. This is the customs value.
• Calculate the import duties, using the amounts in Capricorn's list (ID%), based on customs value. These are the Duties (D).
• Add 10% to the customs value from step 1. Multiply this new value by 14% to get the VAT amount for the goods.
• Add 10% to the Duties value from step 2. Multiply this new value by 14% to get the VAT amount for the duties.
• Add the Duties amount from step 2 to the two VAT amounts from steps 3 and 4 to get a the total amount payable to SARS.
• Add the clearing fee (usualy R25 for SAPO and R100 for UPS) to the step 5 value to get the total amount you have to pay.

All of the above expressed in algebra:

 

• CV = INV x ROE
• D = CV x ID%
• VAT_Goods = (CV x 1.1) x 0.14
• VAT_Duties = (D x 1.1) x 0.14
• Total_SARS = D + VAT_Goods + VAT_Duties
• Grand Total = Clearance Fee + Total_SARS

And, converting back to English, these are the actual percentages you will pay to SARS for the stuff on Capricorn's list:

 

cycling shorts (classified as clothing) : 67.3%

shoes, socks, (bags?) : 61.6%

Gloves, bike cases, (bags?) : 50.0%

Helmets (fullface or other) : 44.3%

Knee pads and other protective equipment : 38.5%

plastic bottles : 32.7%

whole bicycles : 32.7%

Goggles, sunglasses : 15.4%

bike components : 15.4%

cycling electronics : 15.4%