Freddy-Bl00D
Im wondering if any forum members have experience with buying guitars on ebay? Generaly SA doesn't use ebay that much but there are a few great deals... But theres alot of extra cost to get the guitar in the country? Hoping someone can share some wisdom on import tax etc.
Bob-Dubery
This matter arises on GFSA from time to time. See
http://www.guitarforum.co.za/guitar-gear/import-duty-customs/ for one such discussion. Here
http://www.guitarforum.co.za/guitar-gear/purchasing-instruments-off-ebay-and-shipping-to-sa/ is another. You can search for more using the forum's search tool.
There are two broad issues here really - customs and shipping.
It seems that
for guitars you pay VAT at customs based on the invoice value.
Shipping will be at your cost and will vary according to the shipping agent used and the point from which the guitar is despatched. You should consider taking out sufficient insurance to cover your purchase price.
You should check before hand in case the rules have changed. The shipping company, or their local representatives, should be able to give you up to date information.
There is a school of thought that says that unless you are saving a lot of money it's probably better to buy locally, even from a shop where you can play the guitar, look at the guitar and know exactly what you're getting. Cost it out carefully first so that you can make an informed decision.
makepeace
TBH, the rates for duties and clearing aren't bad at all. I got my Harmony Archtone (huge guitar) off ebay and I paid R450 for duties and clearing and about $50 for shipping (did take a while though). Considering whats involved, ie moving a large object such as a guitar several thousand K's and into a country, its not bad. Duties will depend on the cost and class of your item obviously. You can try and find the exact rates and formula's they use to work this out, but its not all cut and dried from my experience of researching the topic.
Regarding shipping, the prices on the ebay shipping calculator are accurate, however they vary greatly from item to item depending on which methods the seller prefers, item size, transit time, etc. If you prefer low costs over punctuality, ask the seller to use the cheapest possible shipping method, and make sure its insured.
You didn't ask for an opinion on whether you should buy locally vs overseas, but for certain things, for example specific vintage guitars, its the only option.
Freddy-Bl00D
Thanks a million BOB & Makepeace... Im still in the brainstorming area... I recently almost bought a Fender Strat Plus but the neck was in bad shape so I decided not to go through with the purchase but after a month of research on the strat plus and looking at a million photos and videos and reviews I pretty much fell in love with the guitar and I cant talk myself out of it I just have to get one!! So Im looking at the Strat Plus Deluxe or Ultra on Ebay....
So if I buy the guitar for say between R8 000 and R10 000 then a extra R2 000 on the side should be enough to cover al the extra cost?
I'll do some research but the forum members opinions always help me make up my mind..
giggsy
I bought a guitar for a dollar last year. Shipping was close to a grand, so was worth it. But then customs charged me R1500 which I wasnt happy about - was expecting about R500. I ended up writing them a letter saying that I won a legitimate auction for a dollar and would never have bought it if I had known I would be charged so much, yada, yada. They ended up dropping all the fees ? Now I am not saying that this would work again, just wanted to let you know my experiences.
makepeace
Cool story. I would think that might happen again, as they probably screwed you for having an "understated" value on your goods. What guitar was it out of interest?
giggsy
makepeace wrote:
Cool story. I would think that might happen again, as they probably screwed you for having an "understated" value on your goods. What guitar was it out of interest?
Yeah, I think that was the case. It was a 'handmade' LP by a Taiwanese luthier - very cool guitar, but I did basically buy it to resell it and in the end did almost triple my money.
Freddy-Bl00D
Suddenly it's impossible to find a reliable seller that ships to SA... It says shipping worldwide but then at the bottom it says "Excludes Africa" Guess Africa doesn't count as part of the world.
aja
Freddy-Bl00D wrote:
Suddenly it's impossible to find a reliable seller that ships to SA... It says shipping worldwide but then at the bottom it says "Excludes Africa" Guess Africa doesn't count as part of the world.
In those cases you should contact the seller directly. They do not like credit cards or even paypal, but you could do a direct bank transfer as an option. But there may be bank costs involved and you are at more risk if the deal goes south
makepeace
Yeah its a tough task trying to get a guitar you want on ebay.. First i went about bidding the "analogue" way and lost a couple of auctions, and then I couldn't find anyone who would ship the guitar I wanted to SA. You just have to keep asking sellers if they would be prepared to ship to you. Also, I would try as hard as possible to get them to accept paypal, international money transfer doesn't look very straight forward from what I've read.
Freddy-Bl00D
Im sticking to the Paypal sellers, offers more protection... I found a descent seller on ebay... Im in the middle of an auction now.. The auctions tend to annoy me actually but i'll give it untill 1July, if by then I havnt won a descent auction i'll go for the more expensive Buy it now option... But i'm bidding on Gibsons even though My plans were to get a Fender ???
G-Man
There are forwarding P/O Boxes that I have been urged to open by E-bay sellers, they ship it to the address in the States and it then gets forwarded to you here in S.A. I'm not 100% on it though so I wouldn't want to part with huge wads of cash until I was certain.
Freddy-Bl00D
Wel im not doing the ebay buy anymore... I gave in to the urge and bought a new Fender American Deluxe :? but thanks for al the info wil be using it in the future ?
G-Man
Ok, time to revive this one, a thousand apologies....
So, upon my travels I have discovered THE guitar that I really, really want. Locally I can order one from my music store , to which it lands in at about 14k. The next option is takealot.com where it comes to about 12k. As you have guessed, there is a third option, which is of course eBay.
So without counting my chickens before I've checked which farm I'm on, I know that this will probably not work out exactly as I plan, seeing as the item is on auction with, as far as I can see, no reserve. Openning bid is 300$ and it ends on Monday (R2300 give or take). It's a trusted seller who accepts paypal payments.
If I can bid on it below $500 then I'm going to go for it, I haven't seen anyone in the country with one so it's not like I'll find it on Gumtree anytime soon. But what has always bugged me about these Ebay sales is this: Where does the VAT come in to the picture? I have read countless threads where people pay this when "they picked it up" but from where? I live in a sleepy little town on the KZN south coast, would they ship to my address and I pay at my Post Office, or would I have to mission to Durbs or JHB to collect it and pay the VAT there? There is no clarity in the other threads.
So basically I'll be paying around 4-6k with shipping and VAT if the bid is as low as it looks to be heading, which is awesome as I have some gear I can sell to offset the expense. Is there a flaw in my thinking?
Any help would be awesome coz I'm confused.
Sebber
G-Man wrote:
Ok, time to revive this one, a thousand apologies....
So, upon my travels I have discovered THE guitar that I really, really want. Locally I can order one from my music store , to which it lands in at about 14k. The next option is takealot.com where it comes to about 12k. As you have guessed, there is a third option, which is of course eBay.
So without counting my chickens before I've checked which farm I'm on, I know that this will probably not work out exactly as I plan, seeing as the item is on auction with, as far as I can see, no reserve. Openning bid is 300$ and it ends on Monday (R2300 give or take). It's a trusted seller who accepts paypal payments.
If I can bid on it below $500 then I'm going to go for it, I haven't seen anyone in the country with one so it's not like I'll find it on Gumtree anytime soon. But what has always bugged me about these Ebay sales is this: Where does the VAT come in to the picture? I have read countless threads where people pay this when "they picked it up" but from where? I live in a sleepy little town on the KZN south coast, would they ship to my address and I pay at my Post Office, or would I have to mission to Durbs or JHB to collect it and pay the VAT there? There is no clarity in the other threads.
So basically I'll be paying around 4-6k with shipping and VAT if the bid is as low as it looks to be heading, which is awesome as I have some gear I can sell to offset the expense. Is there a flaw in my thinking?
Any help would be awesome coz I'm confused.
I've bought a couple of guitars off ebay, one was a brand new Fender Custom Shop Strat which the seller shipped directly to SA. I live in Joburg northern suburbs so I had to go to the Bryanston Post Office to collect, and I paid a lot less in VAT/import duty than I was expecting. I believe it'll go to your main regional post office for collection and VAT/duty payment, but as to where that might be in your case I couldn't possibly say... perhaps pop into your local post office or Postnet and ask?
G-Man
Ok thanks man, so you paid at the Post Office itself then? That sounds good, but I will check with the Post Office and see how it works. ?
AlanRatcliffe
Have you checked shipping options with the seller? That can add another $150 - $300 on to your cost, depending on who they ship it with.
If it's a courier company like UPS or FedEx, they will deliver right to your door, and you pay them COD for the VAT and other charges (clearance fee, disbursement fee). If your town isn't on one of their delivery routes, they will subcontract another courier company to get it the last leg to you - the only problem there is the third party courier will not be able to collect the duties COD, so the big courier will want you to EFT the money before they send it with the subcontractor.
USPS is easier, because that uses the postal system - slower, but usually a lot cheaper and you pay the duties when you collect from the PO. However, guitars in cases and boxes can sometimes be a little larger that the maximum size that USPS handles, so sometimes a courier is the only option.
If you take the price of the guitar and estimate 15% as the as a ballpark for the duties/VAT then add the shipping, you won't be far off. If it works out a lot more than that, chances are good they have miscalculated and you can query it. Just be aware that with the Post Office, if you query duties they send it back to SARS and you have to go collect/sort it out there (usually the closest big town - like Durban).
G-Man
Thanks Alan
I'm just waiting for a response from the guy about shipping, previously the rate has been between $100 and $120 for shipping, so with V.A.T I'm looking at around 5-6k in total, which is half of what I would pay anywhere else. I just hope that everything goes according to plan, unlike my guitar world tab book fiasco, jeez that sucked. I'll post a pic of the guitar if anyone's interested after Monday, just paranoid about giving away too much while the auction is going ?
G-Man
Ok so I need some help and quick if I am going to win this auction...
The seller quoted me an astronomical ($800) amount to send it over but admits that he has never sent anything that size over to SA before, so he admits that he may have made a mistake and has said that if I can find a cheaper way to send it over then he'll use that. I was quoted $120 by another seller earlier this month so I know the rough estimate.
Any ideas where I can start looking online?
I have 4 hours.... lol
Thinking about pulling the plug on this...
AlanRatcliffe
To be honest, I'd say it's up to the seller to find shipping that makes the deal viable. He has easier access to the courier companies in his country than you do. That sounds like FedEx or UPS Overnight Express or some such. Tell him to check out the options with USPS.
What size/weight are we talking about here? And what town is it coming from? USPS has a shipping calculator (
http://ircalc.usps.com/?country=10386) - I did a quick check and came up with a price of $434 - that's kind of the maximum you should pay.
