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Pure XTC, on 05 July 2010 - 12:36 , said:
cycling shorts (classified as clothing) : 67.3%
shoes, socks, bags : 61.6%
Gloves : 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 : 15.4%
bike components : 15.4%
cycling electronics : 15.4%
shoes, socks, bags : 61.6%
Gloves : 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 : 15.4%
bike components : 15.4%
cycling electronics : 15.4%
Quote
Also, what have been peoples experiences with ordering with CRC. Ive only heard good things but is there anyone out there thats been pinged for import duties with hidden costs etc.
Always select a shipping method that allows tracking (e.g. Parcelforce) - this reduces the chance that someone at SAPO will steal your order.
There's a couple of possibilities where you may get minor hidden costs:
- The ZAR price on CRC does not always use the correct exchange rate. Rather calculate the payment amount using their GBP amount (at checkout) and an up-to-date exchange rate. Be aware, that even then, the actual price will be determined by the rate at the time when your transaction is processed.
- If you pay by credit card, your bank adds 2.75% or so for currency conversions.
- The SARS rate of exchange is higher than the normal daily rate. Use their published rates for your calculations of duties.
- SARS doesn't always use the correct exchange rate when doing their conversion calculation - they tend to use the rate for the day of arrival, rather than the day of shipping. Sometimes this has benefited me sometimes, other times not. It usually doesn't make too big an impact (unless Julius gets elected as president between you ordering and your parcel arriving).
There are two areas where you can get major hidden costs:
- SARS decides that items in your order should fall under a different tariff heading than what you assumed in your calculations e.g. you think something should be bike parts at 0% duties, but SARS decides it should be clothing at 45% duty. I believe you can challenge this, though, but it takes a lot of time.
- Composite orders. If you bring a shipment containing e.g. a mixture of clothes and parts, SARS should charge separate duties for the clothes and the parts but there's a risk that they'll apply the clothing duty to the entire order. Again, you can challenge this but it delays your order.
