Capetonians combining orders to save on delivery costs from Germany?

[EddieV]

On 5/30/2021 at 4:37 PM, bob1978 said:

I wonder if it's worth getting my Xhosa neighbour to email and phone SAPO customs dept. and explain that she had asked me on her behalf to order the parts for her Son's Birthday etc...  Nothing to lose now????

(I'm using AGS now when purchasing from Bike24 and BikeComponents.de)

The last time I used DHL from Germany was in 2018. And as mentioned above DHL is not DHL Express. DHL is contracted by the German Government for their local postal system.

I used to try and intercept the SAPO parcels as they land in SA, and collect from the Epping Sorting Facility, taking cash to settle taxes.

These are the email addresses I used:

Phillipine.Ramashetsa@postoffice.co.za
Ndivhuho.Sikhala@postoffice.co.za
Rhulani.Mthembu@postoffice.co.za

Quote your International tracking number and request an update of the parcel status, request cost, and then if you are lucky collect from the Epping Sorting Facility(next to Grand West Casino).

 

 

[Eddy Gordo]

22 minutes ago, MORNE said:

SAPO is just a dinosaur. Ze Germans, like others,  obviously preempted that "snailmail" was a dying industry and reinvigorated it by basically turning it into what we know as a courier company. Perfect example why state owned enterprises are just a 5hit idea. They are so stuck in the 1950's it's not even funny.  If they sold SAPO to the private sector i'm sure it would be turned around into a perfectly reliable courier business within no time. But then the same could be said for all the other failing ones lol. 

Failure to adapt I say.

For example, telkom and pay phones. It could of been a massive turnover, but they decided to can the whole system. In USA the payphone is right up there as one of the top earners.

[Pure Savage]

On 5/29/2021 at 6:41 AM, Wayne pudding Mol said:

This particular company use DHL paket which is basically the German postal system who in turn connect with SAPO  - very difficult to explain to the Germans that a postal system doesn’t work

its also difficult to ask them to upgrade to standard DHL but I have done it 

No saving is worth using our postal service 

I had the same

[bob1978]

12 hours ago, EddieV said:

(I'm using AGS now when purchasing from Bike24 and BikeComponents.de)

The last time I used DHL from Germany was in 2018. And as mentioned above DHL is not DHL Express. DHL is contracted by the German Government for their local postal system.

I used to try and intercept the SAPO parcels as they land in SA, and collect from the Epping Sorting Facility, taking cash to settle taxes.

These are the email addresses I used:

Phillipine.Ramashetsa@postoffice.co.za
Ndivhuho.Sikhala@postoffice.co.za
Rhulani.Mthembu@postoffice.co.za

Quote your International tracking number and request an update of the parcel status, request cost, and then if you are lucky collect from the Epping Sorting Facility(next to Grand West Casino).

 

 

Thank you very much for that info????

[bob1978]

So I got confirmation from DHL tracking that my parcel was being dealt with at customs in Joberg, so I drove to cape mail in Epping with my international tracking number to explain my concerns. It had been captured on the system and was told it would more than likely arrive by the end of next week. I wont hold my breath but Deon the gentleman who I spoke to gave me this email address cptinternational@postoffice and told me to address the email to him if i didn't hear anything by friday next week.

[BogusOne]

6 minutes ago, bob1978 said:

So I got confirmation from DHL tracking that my parcel was being dealt with at customs in Joberg, so I drove to cape mail in Epping with my international tracking number to explain my concerns. It had been captured on the system and was told it would more than likely arrive by the end of next week. I wont hold my breath but Deon the gentleman who I spoke to gave me this email address cptinternational@postoffice and told me to address the email to him if i didn't hear anything by friday next week.

To give you some hope.... Ordered some stuff from Germany and it was actually not that bad. 24days total transit time delivered to my door this afternoon via SAPO/EMS. They even drove with me to the nearest atm as i didnt have cash on hand to pay the fees. In total 16 days from online shop to JHB then 8 days from Jhb to my door in Cpt. ????

[bob1978]

Well I hadn't heard anything by thursday last week so I sent an email to cape mail Friday 2am addressed to Deon and friday morning I was woken up by gate security for a delivery.  SAPO had come and we drove to the nearest atm and I handed over r420 customs tax ????. This story had a happy ending which with all the negative stories I didn't expect. I do feel rather jaded now to order again without door to door courier service though. When I explained the horror stories Deon at Cape Mail that I'd heard on this thread about lost or non received parcels. He looked through a book and told me there was roughly a 4 month backlog on large parcels. He said the biggest reason mail gets lost in the system is down to poorly or inaccurately labelled parcels with the fault being the sender.  He gave that Wish online company as an example, saying that only until recently did they use the correct tracking numbers. He said when it comes to registered or recorded mail and then he just shook his head and said no more, mmmmmm.  This topic should have been 'HELP NEEDED IMPORTING INTO SA". I did send an email to BIKE-COMPONENTS.de to ask what i had to do to get orders from them delivered to my door without SAPO involvement but they said they couldn't help????. Thank you for everyone for your help and advice, it's been emotional, as Vinnie Jones would say.

[MORNE]

26 minutes ago, bob1978 said:

Well I hadn't heard anything by thursday last week so I sent an email to cape mail Friday 2am addressed to Deon and friday morning I was woken up by gate security for a delivery.  SAPO had come and we drove to the nearest atm and I handed over r420 customs tax ????. This story had a happy ending which with all the negative stories I didn't expect. I do feel rather jaded now to order again without door to door courier service though. When I explained the horror stories Deon at Cape Mail that I'd heard on this thread about lost or non received parcels. He looked through a book and told me there was roughly a 4 month backlog on large parcels. He said the biggest reason mail gets lost in the system is down to poorly or inaccurately labelled parcels with the fault being the sender.  He gave that Wish online company as an example, saying that only until recently did they use the correct tracking numbers. He said when it comes to registered or recorded mail and then he just shook his head and said no more, mmmmmm.  This topic should have been 'HELP NEEDED IMPORTING INTO SA". I did send an email to BIKE-COMPONENTS.de to ask what i had to do to get orders from them delivered to my door without SAPO involvement but they said they couldn't help????. Thank you for everyone for your help and advice, it's been emotional, as Vinnie Jones would say.

so the best thing you could do aswell (if they don't already) is contact the seller and ask them to provide you with a commercial invoice of the package. aramex global shopper forces you to do this regardless. But customs need this...otherwise the package will just sit in limbo. If there is no description/value/sending adress etc....you are leaving it up to a random worker to decide what it is and how much it costs. And that also tends to make things get hung up. 

But open a aramex global shopper account. it's quite painless (well I havent had issues yet) and the relative peace of mind is worth the double vat you pay lol

Edited June 24, 2021 by MORNE

[MORNE]

ps, glad it worked out for you this time. It's risky business though(through SAPO) so don't let one or two good experiences create a false sense of security. Not worth it especially if you are talking about higher value items.

[Eddy Gordo]

Lack of details on the packaging is the biggest problem. NS Bikes sent me stuff a few years ago. When I asked the post office about the parcel, they had already sent it back. Apparently the as no details on on the box for the recipient. However all the paper work was in those plastic envelops stuck to the box. It would seem the staff at the post office are too lazy to take the papers out of the box and check. So everytime I order from overseas, I ask them to right my address details on the box in a large font. Never had a problem yet.

[Mountain Goat]

I have been looking into this and Amarex global shopper definitely seems to be the best route despite the double VAT. One nice thing with Aramex global shopper is that you can get around the geo-locking issue.

If purchasing from Bikecomponents or Bike24 it looks like sending the package to Switzerland and then to SA with Aramex Global shopper will be the cheapest as Switzerland has a VAT rate of 7.5%.

I am not 100% clued up on the Aramex process, is this possible?

[MORNE]

9 minutes ago, Mountain Goat said:

I have been looking into this and Amarex global shopper definitely seems to be the best route despite the double VAT. One nice thing with Aramex global shopper is that you can get around the geo-locking issue.

If purchasing from Bikecomponents or Bike24 it looks like sending the package to Switzerland and then to SA with Aramex Global shopper will be the cheapest as Switzerland has a VAT rate of 7.5%.

I am not 100% clued up on the Aramex process, is this possible?

Ive not experimented with it this way. I usually just send it to the closest aramex in that country, then to SA. You have to take in account that that also usually means almost 0 local shipping costs initially. It is usually something like 1 or 2 Euro to get it from the store to your forwarding adress. The moment I think you send it across a border you’ll trigger the customs process for that country and might end up paying double aramex fees. I might be wrong though.

[Wayne pudding Mol]

12 minutes ago, Mountain Goat said:

I have been looking into this and Amarex global shopper definitely seems to be the best route despite the double VAT. One nice thing with Aramex global shopper is that you can get around the geo-locking issue.

If purchasing from Bikecomponents or Bike24 it looks like sending the package to Switzerland and then to SA with Aramex Global shopper will be the cheapest as Switzerland has a VAT rate of 7.5%.

I am not 100% clued up on the Aramex process, is this possible?

You pay the vat at the country or origin and you pay vat at the destination with global shopper 

I find this service excessively expensive 

[MORNE]

Just now, Wayne pudding Mol said:

You pay the vat at the country or origin and you pay vat at the destination with global shopper 

I find this service excessively expensive 

It is in some instances. But if you dont have other choice it’s worth it. Also, geoblocking is not a thing when using it so theres that. If you want something and want it now….well, yes. Lol.

[quintonb]

So some good news for me after nearly 3 month, my local post office has my parcel.

I will collect over the weekend.

I know most of us knock and dislike the SAPO but the people at my local office have been super helpful. They have been in contact with me weekly and called earlier this week to say it has arrived. 

Would I buy again using DHL Paket, no, its just too stressful when spending rather large amounts of money not knowing if it will arrive or not. But I'm glad I have my parts.

[Mountain Goat]

@MORNE  it would be interesting to see if it works, shipping to Switzerland is about 5 euros more expensive and free in some instances. When checking out you won’t pay German VAT and it automatically includes Swiss VAT and duties. DHL will handle the first leg of the shipping on behalf of the seller and then Aramex the second. 

 

30 minutes ago, MORNE said:

Ive not experimented with it this way. I usually just send it to the closest aramex in that country, then to SA. You have to take in account that that also usually means almost 0 local shipping costs initially. It is usually something like 1 or 2 Euro to get it from the store to your forwarding adress. The moment I think you send it across a border you’ll trigger the customs process for that country and might end up paying double aramex fees. I might be wrong though.