Review Aliexpress.com - Feedback Thread

Can you detail the costs? I'm looking to buy some retro hardware that's only available on eBay.

Sorry don't remember, shipping tends to change from seller to seller, duty can be free or it can be as high as 200%, in this case IIRC it was about 40-50%. Also you might know this but some sellers only sell through the ebay program, this means they will ship to ebay and ebay will ship to you, this increases the time by a big margin. This might also increase costs but these sellers won't ship directly to you, so the only way to buy from them as a buyer in India is either through ebay shipping program or using a forwarding agent in the US, if what you are buying is from the US so that was new to me this year. I was okay with it, at least I got what I wanted, I couldn't find it anywhere else so I didn't mind. Of course YMMV and all that.
 
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Following it for electronics. Have bought some 2-3k worth electronic items and never got customs issue.

Duty is a hit and miss in India, sometimes you get it and sometimes you don't. A lot depends on different factors that I don't even know. One important factor is the shipping method used. In general normal "post" doesn't usually charge duty, the "better" the shipping method, the more likely duty is charged. Also the other is more commonly known which is what the item is and what amount of currency it is declared as, so that factors into the duty charged and of course needless to say, the more expensive the item the more chances that duty will be charged when shipped.
 
Businesses are encouraged to import and resell as that keeps the wealth circulating within the country.
It is foreign currency aka $ not wealth.

There are no taxes for personal items, even electronics or phones if you're bringing them with you on a flight, again presumably because you're bringing something valuable here that'll eventually be resold and help recirculate money inside the country.
See above. There is a limit to what you can bring as "personal items" because no limits will cause "$ loss & tax loss" to the country. For example, bringing LCD/LED TV as personal item from abroad was stopped a few years ago due to rampant misuse. Similarly, you now need to open the box seal & not bring it as seal packed item if bringing stuff like phone or electronics items & of course if you are bringing half a dozen iphones then expect to be questioned by customs.
 
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Yeah, personal items implies it's not sealed. Sealed items are risky to bring, I've never done that, but if you can prove it was purchased significantly before your travel date then customs is waved, I forgot what it was, likely a year or six months.

Then there's something called Transfer of Residence. Some relatives send over their entire house furnishings every few years, from chandeliers to TVs to sofa sets, from the Middle East. No duty whatsoever, everything is sent by cargo and takes a few days to reach your doorstep.

I have other relatives that visit only once every three years so they can bring a bunch of stuff under that Transfer of Residence. Each time they do it under a different family member's name, which was actually suggested by a customs official. This won't work if you've taken up foreign citizenship and surrendered your Indian passport (OCI is fine).

That's what I did in my last return trip in 2018, brought over 100kg of electronics after spending a few years abroad. Laptops, phones, desktops, monitors, etc. I kept the purchase receipts in a binder but it wasn't necessary, the customs area was empty when I arrived at 4am so I just strolled out to the exit following the rest of the passengers with my four suitcases that were marked with a chalk X (means the scanner flagged them for inspection).

But the frequent traveller courier service that I mentioned is usually just smaller items like phones or perfumes. Seals broken, boxes are stuffed with underwear in the checked bags and the phones are with the person in a pocket or carry-on. Perfumes would be packed into something else, usually feminine hygeine packaging to deter thieves.

I was a little brazen when I took part in it, because I was younger and careless so I just stuffed things in between towels and jeans and wrapped the suitcase with plastic wrap at one of those wrapping machines at the entrance of the airport.
 
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