International Shipping

[HealthCabin]

Good morning guys. Just wanna know did anyone buy ecig products from overseas, US, UK, China or any other countries. If yes, may I ask you following questions?
1. What kind of products did you always buy: ejuice, battery, hardwares except battery?
2. What kind of shipping method did you choose: Regular airmail, DHL, UPS, EMS, Fedex, and so on?
3. Did you meet any custom problems, for example: heavy tax?
Thank you guys.

 

[Rob Fisher]

I buy from the USA and I buy everything from Mods to atties and juice.

I send the purchases to a company (MyUS.com) in Florida that hold the parcels till I'm ready and then I FedEx it.

Courier charges are HIGH and then I have to pay 14% vat so this is certainly not a cheap method but it's fast and secure!

 

[HealthCabin]

I buy from the USA and I buy everything from Mods to atties and juice.

I send the purchases to a company (MyUS.com) in Florida that hold the parcels till I'm ready and then I FedEx it.

Courier charges are HIGH and then I have to pay 14% vat so this is certainly not a cheap method but it's fast and secure!

So, you always use Freight Forwarding Company to ship your products? Why not ask the store to FedEx it directly?

 

[Rob Fisher]

So, you always use Freight Forwarding Company to ship your products? Why not ask the store to FedEx it directly?

Each store is different and some will ship it and other won't... and plus it's more economical to group a few shipments together rather than trying to ship one item via Courier.

 

[HealthCabin]

Each store is different and some will ship it and other won't... and plus it's more economical to group a few shipments together rather than trying to ship one item via Courier.

I see, good choice.

 

[Derick]

With our postal service always on strike it is not really feasible for South-Africans to use normal post - I have waited as long as 6 months for a parcel to arrive from China when using EMS - 5 of those months it was sitting in a storage area here in SA.

So we end up paying for FEDEX, DHL, UPS, TNT or any of those - sometimes the shipping costs more than the product you are buying, but that is just what we have come to accept.

 

[HealthCabin]

With our postal service always on strike it is not really feasible for South-Africans to use normal post - I have waited as long as 6 months for a parcel to arrive from China when using EMS - 5 of those months it was sitting in a storage area here in SA.

So we end up paying for FEDEX, DHL, UPS, TNT or any of those - sometimes the shipping costs more than the product you are buying, but that is just what we have come to accept.

That's too bad, we alway worry about the shipping costs, very expensive to SA. As a company, did you meet any custom problems to import so many ecig products?

 

[Derick]

That's too bad, we alway worry about the shipping costs, very expensive to SA. As a company, did you meet any custom problems to import so many ecig products?

I doubt we import large enough quantities of hardware to raise any flags with customs

We are however a small company and we do not do a lot of hardware, we are more into the DIY e-liquid side, so importing is for DIY flavourings etc - which carry no limitation whatsoever.

Last year November a company's stuff was seized, but they took the case to court and got their stuff released - the judge ruled that e-cigs regulation is not in place and that he (the judge) sees it to be the same as the gums and patches and there are no import restrictions on those.

Since then I have heard nothing about any ecig products that have been held or confiscated by customs, but we are all waiting for SA regulations to eventually come in, I just think the market is not really big enough to impact their cigarette tax yet (Around R13 Billion annually) - soon as it does, I'm sure they will start looking at taxing on ecigs to line their pockets. (but that is just my speculation)

The only thing we ever had inspected/held back by customs was back in the day when we brought in some ss mesh, they found it very suspicious and we had to write all kinds of explanations before they would release it to us

 

[HealthCabin]

I doubt we import large enough quantities of hardware to raise any flags with customs

We are however a small company and we do not do a lot of hardware, we are more into the DIY e-liquid side, so importing is for DIY flavourings etc - which carry no limitation whatsoever.

Last year November a company's stuff was seized, but they took the case to court and got their stuff released - the judge ruled that e-cigs regulation is not in place and that he (the judge) sees it to be the same as the gums and patches and there are no import restrictions on those.

Since then I have heard nothing about any ecig products that have been held or confiscated by customs, but we are all waiting for SA regulations to eventually come in, I just think the market is not really big enough to impact their cigarette tax yet (Around R13 Billion annually) - soon as it does, I'm sure they will start looking at taxing on ecigs to line their pockets. (but that is just my speculation)

The only thing we ever had inspected/held back by customs was back in the day when we brought in some ss mesh, they found it very suspicious and we had to write all kinds of explanations before they would release it to us

I see. We have shipped products to SA via EMS & DHL occasionally, maybe once or twice a month. And DHL always told us do not ship ecig to SA out of the custom problems. Anyway, we succeeded.

By the way, why does the post system always be on strike, for salary, working condition?

 

[Paulie]

I see. We have shipped products to SA via EMS & DHL occasionally, maybe once or twice a month. And DHL always told us do not ship ecig to SA out of the custom problems. Anyway, we succeeded.

By the way, why does the post system always be on strike, for salary, working condition?

The main issue is the post office in SA was not run correctly by management and staff were not being payed sufficiently for the jobs as well as quite a few of them did not have permanent employment. This is according to news articles and the facebook page. Its a common problem in South Africa that if there are unions and unhappy staff involved then you will see plenty striking and downtime.

 

[Derick]

I see. We have shipped products to SA via EMS & DHL occasionally, maybe once or twice a month. And DHL always told us do not ship ecig to SA out of the custom problems. Anyway, we succeeded.

By the way, why does the post system always be on strike, for salary, working condition?

yep, we have ordered from you before, but it was probably almost 2 years ago - and some of the stuff(nicotine) was witheld by EMS and sent back to you - to your credit you refunded us

That was early days though before ecigs were very common in SA

 

[HealthCabin]

The main issue is the post office in SA was not run correctly by management and staff were not being payed sufficiently for the jobs as well as quite a few of them did not have permanent employment. This is according to news articles and the facebook page. Its a common problem in South Africa that if there are unions and unhappy staff involved then you will see plenty striking and downtime.

Thank you, I see.

 

[HealthCabin]

yep, we have ordered from you before, but it was probably almost 2 years ago - and some of the stuff(nicotine) was witheld by EMS and sent back to you - to your credit you refunded us

That was early days though before ecigs were very common in SA

Oh, meet a friend here. You're welcome to buy from us again. haha