Buy local vs import · South Africa
Importing to the South Africa: is it actually cheaper?
We haven't priced individual products for South Africa yet — but the checker works on any South Africa product link right now: paste one and we read its price, match our US price of record, and do the landed-cost math below. Here's how importing to South Africa works.
How importing to the South Africa works
- Import VAT
- 15% on the US price + shipping (CIF), above a R 500 de-minimis threshold.
- Duty
- 0% — Consumer electronics — smartphones, laptops, tablets, cameras, headphones — fall under HS chapters 84/85 and attract 0% general customs duty under South Africa's SACU/ITA schedules. (Note: a proposed measure would apply ~9% only to smartphones priced above ~R2,500, but mainstream imported phones/laptops are duty-free; other categories like apparel 40% or jewelry 45% are far higher.)
- Forwarding
- MyUS, from the US — about 5-12 days.
- FX
- R16.5/USD mid-market + 3% card spread, as of 2026-10-11.
Every verdict is computed only from these figures — it's never for sale, and we're not a shipping company, so we don't earn more when you import.