Hand Carry Services For Spare Parts

[rangerover]

Guys,

I need to establish a cheaper source for parts for my BMW from singapore when the requirement arises. I have shops / suppliers who i can purchase from, but they charge a lot for dhl courier. Is there any contact or service that offers hand carry services through ppl coming from singapore and charge for the weight? I Dnt knw if this sounds completely off, but i am confident that there should be such a system

[xXx]

Guys,

I need to establish a cheaper source for parts for my BMW from singapore when the requirement arises. I have shops / suppliers who i can purchase from, but they charge a lot for dhl courier. Is there any contact or service that offers hand carry services through ppl coming from singapore and charge for the weight? I Dnt knw if this sounds completely off, but i am confident that there should be such a system

No you are not off, there's a set of people who go to India and Singa on a weekly basis. They get so many custom orders from shops in petta to bring down electronics, car accessories and clothing articles.

[Devinda_Z]

isn't customs wise to the game? faces must get familiar with time ne

[Sifaan]

isn't customs wise to the game? faces must get familiar with time ne

must be a little something in it for the customs as well

slighly deviating, but I have twice seen people buying boxes of cigarettes at Colombo departure duty free (that's the box that holds 20 cartons - or maybe it was even bigger - so that's at least 4000 cigarettes per box), each person buying 6 boxes and stuffing it into bags; they fly to chennai, fly back, take the stuff thru customs and sell it in black market. at the time B&H was selling for Rs. 200/pack, the smuggled stuff was available for Rs. 160/pack.

the point I'm trying to make is when there are rackets like this for large scale imports of heavily taxed items like cigarettes, no big deal for someone to get a racket going for car parts!

To OP, I think I saw in forums somewhere a figure of Rs. 1200/kg mentioned. Anyway, in my experience euro car parts are cheaper in UK (dealer or ebay) than Singapore (water pump from a dealer in UK was ~9000 and was quoted ~16000 in Singapore) although might be harder to get parts down from UK.

But if you are willing to pay tax (~40% of declared value, if you are able to get an undervalued invoice the effective tax would be less) then EMS may be quite a cost effective option (I got a PS pump from Isreal, cost 35$ for EMS and was in Sri Lanka in <4 working days).

If you would get a lot of stuff at once, you could consider doing a trip yourself to Singapore (or Malaysia if they have the parts) on AirAsia and bringing it yourself - and you get a free holiday as well

[rangerover]

Any idea how to get in touch with some of these guys? do you think shops in singapore have such contacts to arrange these services?

[MadMMX]

Any idea how to get in touch with some of these guys? do you think shops in singapore have such contacts to arrange these services?

Rangerover - what type of parts are you looking for ? Personally have found parts to be much cheaper from UK.

Cheers,

[rangerover]

Rangerover - what type of parts are you looking for ? Personally have found parts to be much cheaper from UK.

Cheers,

Generally small items like abs sensors,brake pads and pad ware sensors, oem filters for servicing etc. Ya i found ebay to be quite cheap as well. Is there any other place except ebay that one can source parts to SL cheaper?

[Sifaan]

Is there any other place except ebay that one can source parts to SL cheaper?

not necessarily cheaper, but some parts are not to be found on ebay... and sometimes on ebay the parts you find are not original (e.g. I couldn't find original brake pads)

for brand new parts, http://www.partsreunited.co.uk/ you can request the parts you want, and they email many dealers and they will get back to you. I got replies from about 6 places and ended up ordering from 2 places (some parts were cheaper at one than the other). but these places are unlikely to post to Sri Lanka, probably you'll have to send to someone in UK and get them to transship. (both places did accept payment by Sri Lankan credit card though).

small tip for ebay... even if you don't find the part you're looking for, you might find someone breaking the same/similar car; if you give them the part number they might be able to sell you the part (but onus on you to check that the part from the car matches what you need...)

as another alternative, you could also check ebay germany, provided the part is not affected by left/right drive... I found some stuff on ebay france but shipping via UK was more practical for me

[madmax]

isn't customs wise to the game? faces must get familiar with time ne

Custom officers are 'in' on it too...

Edited September 16, 2010 by madmax

[Devinda_Z]

Does anyone have a contact or know of a way to get down small parts available on Ebay?

[Komisiripala]

I use Aramex shop and ship. Decent prices for small parts.

[CJ5]

Any idea how to get in touch with some of these guys? do you think shops in singapore have such contacts to arrange these services?

You can send me for the job!!!

[MasterDon]

Does anyone have a contact or know of a way to get down small parts available on Ebay?

Devinda why not use the normal postal services for small parts?...Once the parcel arrives customs will tax a small fee once they realise it's for personal use...

[Devinda_Z]

Just looking to get hold of a gear knob etc...

[Sylvi]

Komisiripala,

You are perfectly correct. Aramex is the cheapest today. I have had tried all currier services the delivery of goods some are very quickly.

As they have their own Air craft’s. I have selected the said currier due to cost factor. They use normal Cargo Aircrafts.

There are few personal curriers who travels to Dubai, India, Singapore, Japan professionally operate this.

Some passengers go on to closest location come back on the same flight. Custom officers help them.

Reward is given to them in their homes.By the currier.

That is how all Clubs are operating for imported Liquor. Which they pay little and sell them for 4 times the cost.

Devinda_Z. Can contact Custom officer, To find a currier.

Sylvi Wijesinghe.

[H.C]

As MD said use normal shipping method like USPS for those small stuff.For me, most of the items reached to home adress including somewhat big packages like 4ngk irradium plugs, OEM cup holder for Eg8,glow gauge cluster, etc.

[Pericles]

Does anyone have a contact or know of a way to get down small parts available on Ebay?

Are we still taking Singapore like the OP? Watchman might be able to bring for you.

[Gummybr]

Does anyone have a contact or know of a way to get down small parts available on Ebay?

Sorry if I'm late in replying.

Upto now I have got down 2 phone covers, iPad cover, Lights for car, iPhone accessories, Brake Pads through ebay and they came straight home. The Brake Pads weighed more than 5kgs I think. But when my cousin wanted to get a cup holder for the car he was charged tax.

I think its ll in how the shipper describes the items inside. Anyway tax on normal vehicle spare parts will be around 30%of value shown on the declaration, but in case of rubber items it will be more in the 50% range.

I dont think your gear knob will be an issue here.

[vishkid]

Eitherway (if taxed or not), massive savings if you buy elsewhere ... I know, the most obvious statement ever.

But just to give a flavor of the savings, here is a sampling of stuff I recently bought from US in my baggage.

Timken hub assy for Mazda 3: $ 38.20 vs LKR 32,000 (panchikawatta/pepiliyana)

Goodyear Drivebelt + ACDelco tensioner : $ 14.00 + $ 46.00 vs LKR 11,500 + LKR 24,000 (panchikawatta)

OEM Mazda break pads : $ 34.00 vs LKR 16,000 (Pepiliyana)

OEM Mazda break shoes: $ 15.80 vs LKR 12,000 (Panchikawatta)

Obviously, free delivery for the lot - from Amazon - within US, but I think I attracted a little sales tax shipping to NY.

The whole lot weighed nearly 10kg and TSA actually had opened my bag to check the contents, but no issues in SL.