Since January this year, my friend Leigh and I have been totally obsessed with buying from US based fashion store Forever21. I told you guys about my first purchase back on 20 Jan over here and then did another follow up post after our first order arrived over here. We were so thrilled with the fact that we were getting on-trend items at crazy good prices and without having to sacrifice too much on quality… this was just too good for words…
Since then we’ve had a string of successful purchases and every time we were lucky enough that it just arrived, about a week later, to our doorsteps, without any questions asked. There was once we had to pay a very small customs charge, but it was still super cheap. We thought we had struck gold and that we would never have to set foot in an actual store again! (OK, that’s a total lie – shopaholics need regular fixes, but at least we’d need to shop in-store a little less)
But our most recent order sadly crushed all that happiness, kinda like that moment when your triple scoop ice cream topples over and falls to the ground. 
I first picked up that something was different when I got an email from courier company Globeflight informing me that our parcel should be arriving soon. Firstly we had already been waiting much longer than usual and then all our other orders had been coming through via DHL, so I wasn’t sure how Globeflight had now gotten involved with this specific shipment.
A week later they emailed me again, informing me that our parcel needed to go through customs clearance. I figured, oh well, we always mentally prepared ourselves that this was a risk associated to buying from overseas sites, so this was a bummer, but just one of those things really. I just wanted to pay it and get it over and done with. BUT unfortunately it wasn’t going to be that simple. First Globeflight said that the invoice Forever21 attached to the shipment was incorrect. I sent them my invoice infomation along with our PayPal payment confirmation, but they said that this wasn’t good enough. They needed to source it from Forever21 directly, an excercise which ended up taking quite some time. Then they said that customs now wanted to check our stuff to make sure it’s not counterfeit goods. Why would it be counterfeit all of a sudden? It’s from a reputable store and you’ve been able to source the correct invoice info & proof of payment? Anyways, I just had to go with the flow it seemed. Yet more time passed…
Eventually after weeks of waiting and following up daily (otherwise I wouldn’t hear anything), Globeflight said they could send me the invoice of what we needed to pay for the customs and then as soon as they’d received confirmation of payment, we could get our stuff. Yay finally! (or so I thought)
Now before I show you the invoice – I want to note a few things:
- The rand value of the clothing was about R2280.
- We had also already paid $78 on Forever21 for international priority shipping
- Customs on clothing & accessories is supposed to range from 30 – 45%, then they also charge you another 10% as an import fee + VAT. This is the part I was expecting…
This is what I received:
The R1390.96 amount I was OK with. One thing to note though is that they take the value of the item, then add the 30 – 45% plus the 10% and then they charge VAT on that new total amt (not on the original amt). So it works out a little more than you expect.
BUT – it was the other charges adding up to R1372.06 (incl VAT) that had me totally confused. I mean, what the hell was all that about!?! R450 for as a documentation fee!?! The worst part was when I queried it I was told that if I didn’t pay asap, they would start charging me for storage. So wait, it took you over 3 weeks to get to this point and now you also want to start charging me for storage!?! Aaarrgggghhh. Our stuff was being held hostage.
We considered telling them to destroy the clothes, we didn’t know whether we actually even wanted it anymore… but in the end we decided to just pay up to finally bring an end this horrible experience.
I now feel like even though I thought I had wrapped my head around the whole customs thing and I was well prepared, I still got totally blindsided with regards to all the other stuff. For me personally, I don’t think I’ll be buying abroad again anytime soon. But hey, we had a good run at least.
I wanted to share this with you guys just as something to keep in mind if you’re currently considering making any purchases yourselves. You might get lucky like we did at first, but then again you might also hit this level of poo which will leave you hating your purchase forever and ever. 
So just be mindful really. Prepare yourselves for the worst, and then some more… and maybe a little bit more than that… then I think you’ll be OK.
xxx
Thanks for this! I’m such a Forever 21 fan, and I’m moving to SA in March. I’ll be there for sure 1 year, from a fellow fashion lover, what should I pack in that suitcase that I won’t get in SA??? I would find your inputs really valuable. I’m already feeling queasy about leaving my wardrobe & makeup behind!
Actually… the fashion game is stepping up quite a bit here in Cape Town (as well as other major cities in SA). We now have Zara (Yay!) and soon we’re also getting Topshop. Cotton On recently opened a super store here which is amazing. And most other well known brands are available here (just at a cost). I wouldn’t stress too much about the packing thing, we’ll have you covered on most common things. There may be some cult beauty brand or something we don’t get – but even on that front our big department stores now import most things. In short – you’ll be fine and you’ll love it here.
I also heard a rumour that one of the online stores here in SA are looking at bringing in Forever21 stuff, so I’m holding thumbs for that. Then my world will be complete…
Customs here in SA does this with most things. They need to steal from the people of this country and this is the easiest way to do it. Customs here are nothing more than lowlife thieves.
I’m super negative about the whole process now as well…
Reblogged this on And Lollipops and commented:
The joys of online shopping have no limits – or so I thought. Read about my darling Karisa’s lousy experience. Not fair, I tell you! Not fair.
Epic Fail! My heart bleeds for you, my babe. I know how much you & Leigh love Forever 21. Fortunately this hasn’t happened to me yet but it doesn’t mean that it won’t. If you don’t mind, I’m gonna reblog this post onto mine as a ‘be warned’ simply because I punt online shopping so much.
O ja for sure, go for it. At least this serves as a good example of how things could possibly go wrong…
That’s really a shame! I don’t buy clothes in SA. Whenever I go home to the USA, I buy all my clothes for the year if I can. I also haven’t gotten many packages from family- they think it’s too hard.
Lucky girl. American ladies have way more options. SA is so behind on the affordable fashion front.
My business involves importing, it used to be a pleasure however recently it has become an absolute nightmare to bring goods in. My last goods took over a month (not ideal for a small business to wait that long for stock) and I got charged serious fines for the amount on the documentation also being incorrect. Funnily enough, DHL was also involved in the handling of this!
I’ve had big issues with DHL: incorrect charges, late deliveries, deliveries of my packages to complete strangers!
Pathetic really.
looks like the cost of being buggered around by Globeflight. I havent had the displeasure of being subject to their service before, but by exclusion, I can very assuredly say i’ve never been ripped off like that on the numerous occasions I’ve had to deal with USPS, UPS, and DHL.
UPS is my personal favorite, as the local chapter of DHL is a lazy bunch squatting on their thumbs. The only reprieve is their delivery guy. But I digress.
Shocking stuff Karisa. but the bigger pity is the fact we don’t have similar stores in here ZA, and to think those 45% customs charges are intended to ‘protect the local textiles’ industry. Errm, right.
I totally agree. I’m all for protecting local business, but then make sure SA folks at least have options. Our clothing costs in general are crazy. And the quality of our low cost fashion is mostly terrible. It just seems to be we are being ripped off at any opportunity…
Very frustrating indeed. Instead of trying to stop us from buying overseas, why not rather focus on doing things to improve local production instead? They seem to have their logic out of whack.
low cost fashion is a poster child for oxymorons in this country. Compared to Europe, while the entry level textile industry is not quite fashionable, the clothing is worthwhile! Passes the tumbledrier test year in year out, as opposed to our local stuff that gets ripped and threadbare within weeks. This from items labelled as ok for use in tumbledriers. More like oh k..
but I’ve been giving your customs nightmare some more braincycles: over 100% in additional costs. Yikes?
A couple of things:
1) how would they know it’s counterfeit goods?
2) Why would such a small consignment even reach the counterfeit squad’s radar?
3) there’s a possibility of a scam here, whereby it becomes cheaper for you as the customer, to rather have the items destroyed than to pay double for your purchases. This then begs the question: if destroyed, where is the proof it was?
4) Custom inspection fee: why is this charged? I’ve never been charged this despite many occassions that my packages have been opened and sealed with customs tape.
5) Documents fee: exactly how many books were printed and did you receive them all? what the hell is that charge?
6) Storage fee: I can sort of understand this:legal opportunism. But the follow up thought is; what happens if you dont claim your goods? Do they ship it back to the sender, legally compel you to pay up and take receipt of your items, or confiscate your goods? In the latter instance, what happens to goods? Do you get the jar with ashes, or do you just sponsor someone some good taste clothing?
It sounds like the cost of your goods was being hyperinflated, and I’m more than a tad concerned that this is a scam posing as legitimate taxation. New courier and suddenly prices go through the ceiling? Right.
This is onerous,and incredibly beyond reasonable. I hope you take this up with Wendy Knowles. I think a little independent digging is needed.
Leigh actually had a contact who looked into it for us – apparently these are legit charges which could be levied. It was just very douchy of them to decide to pile it all that on.
The counterfeit claim was absolutely ridiculous. But dealing with the guy at Globeflight was like talking to a bloody wall. He just kept repeating that its out of his hands and standard practice if customs deems so blah blah blah. Painful to say the least.
We considered asking them to destroy the stuff… But the thought of the staff then possibly having free reign over it worried me too much. I didn’t want to give them that satisfaction. So that’s why we decided to rather accept delivery.
It’s possible that there’s some sort of “agreement” between Globeflight and Customs. Somebody is benefiting big time, and its certainly not us or local business.
Customs inspection fee? That’s like a cashier charging you to ring up your goods. Mahusive WTF
Haha. I know! So irritating…
Yikes!!! that is absolutely shocking! Is Customs starting earlier than normal to collect for their Christmas bonus???
Someone’s living large, that’s for sure…