How do I get stuff delivered when Amazon will not ship to my address in South Africa? [Solved]

Have you also been disappointed by Amazon when you decided to place that order and then found out that your great deal could not be shipped to your address in South Africa? 
The error/important message goes something like this: “Important Message: <<Your item name>> cannot be shipped to the selected address.  This item cannot be shipped to the address you selected. (Learn more.) You may either change the shipping address or remove the item by clicking Delete.”If you were like me, I screamed some loud swear words into the Universe… it didn’t help my shipping problem. but it did make me feel a little better :)

In my example, the original price direct from Amazon was the equivalent of R710 – I estimated about R100 to get it delivered to South Africa… plus unknown import duties and VAT.  As it turned out, my article didn’t attract any SARS import duty – just 14% VAT. 
So, if I was able to get it from Amazon, then my bill would have been R710+R100 (delivery) + R99 (14% VAT) = R909.

I then went on the hunt for alternative solutions which could bypass this problem.

I had heard of other sites that I could tell Amazon to ship to, then they would redirect the parcel to my South African address. 
One of these is MyUS.com.  There’s an initial membership fee of $10 (see here to compare membership options).  They take 10% (min $10) for the service fee (if paying by credit card).  Plus you pay for shipping to South Africa – I have heard their shipping rates are quite pricey – but fast.  Don’t ignore the SARS duties and taxes when it arrives in South Africa. 
So, if I was to get it from Amazon and ship it to MyUS.com, then my bill would have been R710+R100 (delivery to MyUS.com) + R93 (=$10 service fee) +R93 (=$10 account setup) + say R250 (shipping to SA) + R99 (14% VAT) = R1,345 (which is R436 more than getting it directly from Amazon.com).

Another local site is ImportItAll.co.za where you can search for the product in the USA and UK.  This site is run by the well trusted NGR computers team.  I was lucky enough to find my product listed on the web site and the price was R1,141 = R59 (delivery to Cape Town) = R1,200 which includes all SARS duties and VAT (which is R291 more more than getting it directly from Amazon.com).  Delivery takes 10 to 20 working days though  This beats MyUS.com in price.


Another local site is Have2Have.co.za which allows you to request any product – my product wasn’t listed on their web site, so I decided to ask them to source it and provide me a quote for the item. 
I used this page to request the item: http://www.have2have.co.za/getmethis.php?store=amazon and within 2 hours, the item was listed and ready to be ordered.
The price was R1,060 = R70 (delivery to Cape Town) = R1,130 which includes all SARS duties and VAT (which is R221 more more than getting it directly from Amazon.com). 

So, there you have it – 2 great options to getting items imported into South Africa – even when Amazon refuses to do so… and without bothering your family or friends abroad.

Note: when purchasing items outside of South Africa you will probably not be able to use the warranties from agents in South Africa – they will probably say that these are “grey imports”.