# Importing From Alibaba



## Snape of Vape

Afternoon muggles,

So I thought I'd have a look at what Alibaba has to offer, sure there are many fakes/clones/copies/impersonations/rubbish/potatoes that are sold on Alibaba, but I was wondering if anyone has used this and imported stuff from there?

http://ecigs.en.alibaba.com/

What does the import tax look like? I can't imagine it being that cheap without a surprise extra "fee" coming in from nowhere?


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## johan

SAPO calculates 14% on the invoice value plus about R26 clearing fee


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## Andre

Those who import mostly do from here.


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## Snape of Vape

But nicotine is a no on import? I think I should get family to buy me that boa's bounty juice (or whatever it's called) and send it. Sure that would work? Are there many fakes of that? Anyone perhaps that has ordered that in the UK before? 

I found a place, something alien vision juice? 

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk


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## Derick

Snape of Vape said:


> Afternoon muggles,
> 
> So I thought I'd have a look at what Alibaba has to offer, sure there are many fakes/clones/copies/impersonations/rubbish/potatoes that are sold on Alibaba, but I was wondering if anyone has used this and imported stuff from there?
> 
> http://ecigs.en.alibaba.com/
> 
> What does the import tax look like? I can't imagine it being that cheap without a surprise extra "fee" coming in from nowhere?



There are also tons of scams on Alibaba, so be careful - we have bought stuff from there, bottles etc. and the price you can see there you can roughly double by the time it reaches SA - shipping is expensive if you bring in small quantities and some companies don't accept paypal as payment - you have to do a foreign exchange transfer - only something you can do if you are a SARS registered company (we are).

But yes - its 14% vat when it lands here and a Customs processing fee that can vary depending on size of the package, but usually around R26 as was said.

Other things have import duties attached to them - usually things that are already available in SA, so they try and limit imports (like t-shirts for example)

e-cigs has no import duty, so only the 14% vat applies

If your import is valued at lower than R400 (including shipping) then no vat is charged either - in these cases they usually forgo the R26 as well

China is famous for under declaring their products to customs, so for example you pay R3000 for something they will declare it as a $10 value - which you might think is a bargain, but if customs become suspicious they can ask for your invoice - and when your invoice does not match the declared value, not only do you have to pay vat/import duties on the invoice value, but you pay heft penalties as well (as much as 100%)


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## johan

@Snape of Vape I agree 100% with @Derick 's posting above - rather make use of locals guys and you will save time, disappointment and money due to the fact that they've been through the mill and know their suppliers and authenticity of their products. I spend a lot of time per year in China as well as importing non-vape related stuff from china - alibaba was created for the in-unformed USA buyer that think he buys a bargain, their prices are ludecrous and products are of sub-standard.


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## Snape of Vape

Ok thanks guys. I saw they were selling some batteries and such at good prices, figured getting 10 units in wouldn't be the biggest problem if there are some hiccups.

I'll then make a plan to get some of that bounty juice


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## Andre

Importing juice from vendors can be tricky. You have to make sure they are prepared to do the labelling and packaging customs friendly. Should your family send you Boba's Bounty (a few vapers on this forum will do almost anything to get their hands on that), get them to mark it as aroma oils or the like. Maybe even remove the labels from the bottles. I have a suspicion that Boba's Bounty is 100 % VG, which is hard on coils and wicks in tanks such as you are using.

Reactions: Like 1


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## Snape of Vape

@Matthee - Surely if the family sends it they can pack it as anything? Or even just put it in another box? 
I read about 3 different liquids that were highly rated that I'd like to try, just can't remember all the names. 

Really? Why specifically hard on my coils/wicks? Any suggestions? Who is the original company that made that flavour, do you know perhaps? As I'd like to get as close to the real thing as possible.


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## Andre

Of course your family can pack it as anything. Just bear in mind that if it is anywhere identified as containing nicotine you could have problems as nicotine may only brought in under permit of the Dept of Health, strictly speaking. In practice seems to me they just add a lot red tape and tax. So, not prescribing what you should or should not do, just that there might be some risks.

Boba's Bounty is an Alien Visions product. It is 100 VG. VG is thick and wicks slowly and tends to clog coils and wicks. So you will need to dryburn and clean more regularly and probably replace more regularly as well. Tobacco juices exacerbate this as it tends to gunk up coils quicker than other juices. Just a reality - many, many peeps love Bobas.


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