Oppo: any good?

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Ian, the Oppo is just over R8k and the courier fees are about R900. I am not sure how much the VAT and import duties will be. However, the local supplier charges R15k for the BDP-95, so there are significant savings to be had by importing. Will post my impressions of the player in this thread, but kurtg will probably get his BDP-95 before mine arrives. Let's hope he will give us an overview.

[slovo]

My Oppo BDP-93 arrived yesterday, and I must say, I am extremely impressed. Fabulous image quality and
sound much better than I expected. Still waiting for the region free hack to arrive, and then I am set.

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My Oppo BDP-93 arrived yesterday, and I must say, I am extremely impressed. Fabulous image quality and
sound much better than I expected. Still waiting for the region free hack to arrive, and then I am set.

Slovo, you lucky dog. Hope you enjoy your new toy. Now, please tell us: where did you buy it; how much did it cost; what system are you running it in; how would you describe the sound/picture; and how does it compare to other blu-ray players that you have heard?

[slovo]

I bought it off Amazon US (shipped via MyUS.com). Difficult to work out the exact landed cost as I brought in quite a lot of different stuff in one shipment. The player was R3,500 ($500) and the VAT+DHL delivery was R680. The multi-region hack was an additional €80 including shipping. This hasnt arrived yet.

I cannot really compare it to other BDP players, as this is the first I have owned. I am building up an audio system, and still need to buy an AV amp and 5.1 speakers.

In terms of 2 channel sound, the Oppo is really good for the money, although not a patch on my Plinius 101 CD Player.

[mickyc]

for those that are interested i have found an OPPO reseller in the UK that will ship to SA for £80. so the VAT on the BDP 93 will basically cover the cost of shipping.

Anyone have any idea what customs would charge on a player?

 

[chrisg]

Amazon often charged me about 25% on their $ purchase price for import fees on various electronic goods. This is more or less our  VAT plus 10%.
Take it as rough estimate on import duties.

[slovo]

Hi chrisg

Amazon does not charge import fees, the SA customs authorities do. There are no duties on Blu Ray Players. All I was charged was the VAT and the DHL clearance fee (R80 - the Post Office would be R25).

[chrisg]

Hi Slovo,
If you were to buy from Amazon directly, not using MyUS (and provided Amazon has no shipping restrictions to your shipping address in SA) you probably would be charged import duty fees as it happened to me on more than one occasion (not with blue ray player). I have all my deliveries from Amazon.com set to expedited delivery (UPS or DHL) and courier needs to clear all custom duties prior to delivery. This is probably why Amazon charges import duty fees.
MyUS is for sure better way of importing as international shipping restriction from Amazon do not apply. Besides, I think you were lucky with custom duties on your OPPO. We need good luck from time to time 

[chrisg]

My next OPPO will be  import. 14% vat  is what we paying anyway. Warranty is a problem but I have faith in OPPO quality. And I have to renew my wife's MyUS account...

[slovo]

Hi chrisg

There are two issues here:

1) The South African customs authorities will charge an importer according to the type and value of a good, as set out in the schedules to the Customs and Excise Act (or the Tariff Book). It makes no difference whatsoever whom you purchased the good from, hence it is a moot point whether it was purchased at Amazon, via MyUS etc. Amazon does not charge import duty fees, SA Customs do.

2) What are the duties? I may well be wrong, but as I understand it, a Blu Ray Player would not attract any duty, regardless from where it is imported, as this falls under §85.19 of Schedule 1 (Video Recording or Reproducing Apparatus). Vat, clearance fees, etc. would still apply.

[ara]

Well altough what happened to chrisg have never happened in my entire time of buying with Amazon it can happen:

Customers outside of the EU

For dispatch to countries outside of the EU, VAT will not be charged. These packages may however be assessed for import or customs fees, depending on the laws of the particular countries.

Customs or import duties are levied once the package reaches the destination country. For certain destination countries, Amazon.co.uk will estimate and collect an import-fees deposit during the checkout process. These funds will be used to pay the import fees on your behalf to the appropriate authorities, when your package reaches the destination country. The estimated import-fees deposit will be displayed in the order summary in the checkout.

If an estimated import-fees deposit is not displayed in the checkout order summary, additional charges for customs clearance will have to be borne by the recipient. We have no control over these charges and cannot predict what they might be. Since customs policies vary widely from country to country, you may want to contact your local customs office for further information. See Customs Information.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=502576#outsideeu

So chrisg you are based in SA correct?

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Vat, clearance fees, etc. would still apply.

Just got a call from UPS and was asked to pay R670 for clearance fees, etc. on the Oppo BDP-95. Since the player was R8k, this is much less than I expected.

[milesgopal]

Just got a call from UPS and was asked to pay R670 for clearance fees, etc. on the Oppo BDP-95. Since the player was R8k, this is much less than I expected.

hi
can i ask who u bought from?
thanks

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hi
can i ask who u bought from?
thanks

Hi

I bought the Oppo from Audiocom International in England. Go onto their website and check the various options and modifications on the BDP-95 that they offer. I got the MR/MZ modification done. You'll end up paying just more than half of the price that the local distributor charges.

[chrisg]

Ara,

My main shipping address is Randburg, South Africa. I am based in South Africa. It happened to me twice: Logitech Harmony One remote and Bose Computer Music Monitors. Both shipments from Amazon US.
I think way to go is to use MyUS account as Slovo  did with his OPPO. Main reason that a lot good electronics  (and very often heavily discounted) are not available to me due to shipping restriction from Amazon (for whatever reason). Got dreaded red message: "This item cannot be shipped to your default location" when proceeding to checkout. MyUS account gives US shipping address to Amazon so none of such restriction would apply.
As for the import taxes, I don't care, they have to be paid one way or another. We sometimes get lucky when customs officials are lazy, poorly trained or recovering from yesterday blues.