The South African Revenue Service are having a revenue drive and it’s leading to delivery delays. David Jinks of Parcelhero who gave us the heads up and advises that shippers must be very careful to give correct export values.
If a parcel is detained, the South African Revenue Service will request for the commercial invoice and bank proof of payment so it’s going to be a whole heap of pain for anything that looks like the value has been under-declared.
Of course under-declaring customs value, labelling products as a ‘gift’ or ‘sample’ is one of the oldest tricks in the book for cross border trade. It’s illegal though and often can lead to the recipient simply not receiving their parcel, delays and/or an over-estimated true value duty bill passed to the recipient.
eBay of course protects feedback nowadays so long as you specify in your description that the buyer is responsible for all customer and duty charges so there’s no excuse. Also you won’t have to worry if you’re shipping items via eBay’s Global Shipping Program as any duties will be pre-paid up front by the buyer and you as the seller don’t have to worry about the costs.
