Purchases from Aliexpress

[Michael S]

Also had to pay Speedaf R395.3 in duties & handling for a R860 handlebar.
They seem to move quick, but add on quite a bit in handling and clearance costs. 

I would pay it anyway to avoid SAPO though. 

 

[JohanDiv]

Ordered this bib from Aliexpress last week.

 

Cost: R485.

Shipping R135.

Just got the Meili Logistics & SpeedAF customs invoice: R 491.

I know it is a clothing item and usually that is a bit more at customs (I always bugdet 30-50% of clothing item price), but over 100% ?!

[Dusty]

Normally 45% plus vat, so is too high. Did your purchase include courier on payment?

[JacquesJ]

44 minutes ago, JohanDiv said:

Ordered this bib from Aliexpress last week.

 

Cost: R485.

Shipping R135.

Just got the Meili Logistics & SpeedAF customs invoice: R 491.

I know it is a clothing item and usually that is a bit more at customs (I always bugdet 30-50% of clothing item price), but over 100% ?!

Same here, did a bit of querying and seems like duties is 45% and the vat needs to be added.

Also looks like vat is on the total price...(price + 45% + another 10%). Was around 80% in my case. According to that cals iMile is adding another R50 to R80.

 

 

[JacquesJ]

On another topic.

I was just notified that the courier delivering my package has been hijacked. They were here two days ago but I was at shops, and they did send a photo of my gate, so I'm certain someone was at least trying to deliver on Wednesday .

Aliexpress immediate processed a refund, and Absa confirmed as well, so all good there.

 

Question...what is the process w.r.t refunding the duties and vat? iMile logged something and said theyll process a refund, but the lady wasnt super clear on whether she was referring to the duties or the refund done by Aliexpresss. Anyone have any experience? Im assuming thats my loss for now, but holding thumbs iMile has some insurance or something. 

[michaelbiker]

Aliexpress is now shipping via courier thank goodness. So a lot more options than Temu which has been pretty hit and miss on quality for me. Duty payments are a bit of a crapshoot. Still worth it IMO. I just ordered a spindle-based power meter for R1800 and paid R540 in duties. Will see if it is any good. Might be complete garbage but I'll return it if it is.

[quade]

Yes, I've had 2 items arrived this week from AliExpress 

Customs on small items is stupidly high

Its not unusual to pay 100% duty on lower value items 

No visibility on what they charge 

 

Temu has been a lot cheaper on customs in my experience 

[michaelbiker]

1 hour ago, quade said:

Yes, I've had 2 items arrived this week from AliExpress 

Customs on small items is stupidly high

Its not unusual to pay 100% duty on lower value items 

No visibility on what they charge 

 

Temu has been a lot cheaper on customs in my experience 

It depends, I have found if Buffalo is delivering you get hammered. Speedaf is a lot cheaper for some reason. It does also matter what you are buying of course.

[warick_wrx]

I have also ordered a few things lately off Ali. Most if not all have shipped with Speedaf. If the item was cheap as in under R600 there was a minimum fee of R100 to be paid. This was for items that do not attract duties. For more expensive items the charges varied. For instance on a R3400 bicycle part vat and clearance amount was R800 so a little more than the standard 16% vat charge. However was still worth it in terms of overall cost. 

Edited February 7 by warick_wrx

[quade]

19 hours ago, michaelbiker said:

It depends, I have found if Buffalo is delivering you get hammered. Speedaf is a lot cheaper for some reason. It does also matter what you are buying of course.

Speedaf have in my experience been a lot more expensive

But I've only had Buffalo with Temu

Either way, it's a gamble on customs, but it does generally work