Ebay orders? How long?

Visashi

Hi,
I ordered a set of CS69 pups from ebay...It has been about 6 weeks and the tracking just stays on "in transit". Post office customer care is completely useless in helping me find the parcel. Has anyone ever ordered from ebay? How long did your order take? What was the VAT and handling fee? I payd 2500 including postage with USPS. Im getting worried il never see my sweet pups...

NorioDS

Visashi It Finally arrived.

Awesome!

Visashi I ordered a set of CS69 pups from ebay

Right! Now you owe us a sound clip ?

NorioDS

I won't ever order like that again. USPS is great but once it hits SA shores... you're lucky if you ever get what you paid for.

Rather use Aramex Global Shopper. They ship to an address in Hong Kong, USA, UK, etc and then ship to ZA. Full tracking, etc.

I mean to each his own but I haven't trusted SAPO since their last few strikes about 4 years ago. So much damage and lost parcels. And I've never received 2-4 parcels sent from the US via USPS coz it's locally handled by SAPO.

But that doesn't help you right now. For your current situation... you can expect to wait as much as 3 months. You normally have to get a local tracking number once it hits ZA. So you phone SAPO with your USPS tracking number and they give you the local one. Then hound them at least weekly.

Good luck and let us know how it goes, bud.

Voodoo

NorioDS

Please elaborate how Aramex works?

Let's say I want to buy a set of Fralin pickups in America. Do I just provide my American Aramaex address to the seller (Fralin, EBay seller, etc.), they ship it there and then Aramex ship it to South Africa from there?

Do they skip SAPO? How does customs clearance work?

V8

It depends - where the seller is, what shipping company/options used and where it's being delivered.

I've gotten bits in quickly - 3 days from the UK - but I did pay for expedited services via FedEx (pricey!) which included pre-customs clearing and tracking. I'd reccomend going for courier w/tracking for anything of value.

Things coming in from China can be 3-12 weeks, US Stewmac orders can also take a while (6+weeks).

In Cape Town, I know that a contact at CapeMail (where our customs clearing happens) can occasionally help get things moving this side.

morph

I ordered a Fishman pickup in December, it arrived in March, following the tracking on http://www.southafricanpostoffice.post/.

Phone the call centre, hang on forever and eventually they will give you a local tracking number. They were able to tell me where the package was. Once they confirmed it was at the local post office I went to collect it. Be prepared to pay R24.00 per parcel extra for international clearing.

TurboVark

Select sa post office in the list, then just type in your tracking number and "submit"
It will then show you where in South Africa your package is, if it has arrived, otherwise, it will just give an error message of some kind. I use it often, and have always been able to tell me when and where my parcel is.
By the way....I think 6weeks is a bit early for USPS so it might not have arrived in the country yet.
Here is the link:
https://www.parceltrack.co.za/

Visashi

It Finally arrived. Took 2 months which I suppose is quite fast in comparison to what others have waited.

Visashi

NorioDS Theres a comparison vid coming your way!

NorioDS

Visashi NorioDS Theres a comparison vid coming your way!

Nice! ?

nick_D01

really great to hear your pickups arrived. happy playing ?

NorioDS

Voodoo

Pretty much hit the nail on the head. This completely side-steps SAPO but not customs. Not sure about how that part is handled as I haven't used this yet! Just have a buddy who uses it. My guess is that you pay when it hits SA.

A lot of folks get stuff sent as a "gift" to avoid that. Not legal and not recommended but it is something that happens ?

Voodoo

NorioDS

Thanks! Sounds great, I'll use it next time, I'll most likely order some Fralin pickups soon. Will report back.

Visashi

NorioDS hi, can I get in contact with your friend that does the shipping that way? I would love to get more information about the procedure

NorioDS

Voodoo Nice, look forward to hearing about your experience! It's so frustrating living where no one wants to ship!

Visashi

Voodoo let us know what they sound like...

NorioDS

Visashi Cool, I've asked him if he's keen to help. He's not on here yet.

Voodoo

Visashi will do!

Order placed and will (according to FedEx) be delivered at the aramex address today.

NorioDS

@Visashi My bud says to be careful of importing instruments. CITES on rosewood could mess you up.

Other than that, I just know he orders in tech stuff (aquarium lights, gadgets, etc) without any issues.

I'll update if says anything else ?

soundbase

NorioDS Does that mean if I order a new guitar from the US with a Rosewood fretboard it could be problem? What happens? Do you get charged more to try bring it into the country?