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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.

    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.

    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/

      10 days later

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

      Visashi It Finally arrived.

      Awesome!

      Visashi I ordered a set of CS69 pups from ebay

      Right! Now you owe us a sound clip ?

          really great to hear your pickups arrived. happy playing ?

          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?

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

                  5 days later

                  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

                    Visashi will do!

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

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

                            @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 ?

                            13 days later

                            Pickups delivered earlier today! Order was placed on the 29th of March, so I'm very impressed with Aramex.

                            I'm going to let Foster install the pickups next week, can't wait to test it out!

                            Great news! Looking forward to the sound clip ?

                              a year later

                              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?