Probably the main driver for my direction in import shopping and also the reason for this blog is the cost.
Comparatively, the cost of item is lower when compared to Singapore which is supposed to be the hub in Southeast Asia. But that is not very true. Even at the cheapest place, the venerable Sim Lim Square, the cost is still higher than importing even with the shipping included!
Without going into the nitty gritty on business costs, let's look at some of the things we need to look out for when import shopping.
- Cost of Item
- Shipping
- GST
Without further ado, let's look at the first one:
Cost of Item
Of cos, this is the main driver of everything. So what is cheaper than local that made me do import shopping? Almost everything!
Of cos, this is the main driver of everything. So what is cheaper than local that made me do import shopping? Almost everything!
For example, the first generation Nexus 7 32GB 3G costs me around S$300 to import versus S$399 when it finally reached local retail. A pair of Levi's Men's 501 Jean cost me US$33.74 vs S$199 over here! I'm also a big fan of buying refurbished or factory reconditioned items. I'll touch more on it on a later post.
But on the other hand, certain items can actually cost more if you import it. A good example will be the Asus PCE-AC66. It is hovering around US$110 - US$137 and the local price is S$139. After the conversion and shipping, it ends up being more expensive than local!
As you can see, one of my favourite site to compare prices to is Amazon. Used to look through Ebay as well but things are quite subjective and the prices can vary to the extremes.
Shipping
A very important aspect that makes up the total cost of ownership of an imported item. You can ship direct from the online retailer or go through forwarders.
A very good money saver is the AmazonGlobal Saver program, once you hit US$125 on eligible items, its free shipping all the way to Singapore, yes! All the way! You have to put up with the estimated shipping wait of around 3 weeks, but usually items will reach within 2 weeks.
Otherwise, you have to rely on forwarders. Again, do your homework. Try to calculate the shipping costs with forwarders versus direct from retailer. From my experience, most of the time, forwarders will be slightly cheaper, especially with the various discounts you get every now and then with them.
GST
This is a pretty sensitive topic, so I'll just keep a neutral stance and you can decide for yourself.
The law states that you'll have to pay a 7% GST for imports that is more than S$400 inclusive of shipping. For example, if you buy a very heavy item say a rock that is S$200 but the shipping is $201, making the grand total S$401, you will have to pay S$28.07 of GST. Realistically speaking, sometimes, it is more worth it to split the shipping rather than combine and pay for the 7% GST.
Otherwise, you can always take the "other" way which is to under-declare on the value. But again, there are risks involved. One, should the item goes missing during transit, the insurance will only pay you based on your declared value. Which means, if you under-declare a S$500 item to say S$100, and if something happens to the item, the forwarder will only pay you S$100, according to your declared value and you kinda lose S$400. Two, you are trying your luck with the law.
That kind of sums up everything with regards to import shopping. And the bottomline is: Do your homework! Compare and research!
