online shopping?

[winter]

i'll be moving to the cairo area next year from the US. Here in the US, I tend to purchase quite a few items, like certain clothes or books, from the internet, thru ebay/amazon/elsewhere, because it's just easier, or the items aren't common in local shops.

If you order things to be shipped to you, does egypt charge customs? If so, how much?

As I said, the things I order will be typically books, movies, and some clothes. I won't be ordering huge things like TVs or pianos!

I'm just a little worried that I'd be restricted to buying only locally made items, if the customs fees are overly priced. I don't mind paying a little -- I know I'll have to pay something for my "pickyness" -- I'm just worried that the fee might be ridiculous.

Thanks for the info!

[MaidenScotland]

Yes you will be charged customs and you can also wait weeks for it to clear customs, but on saying that I know someone who had a book sent via Amazon as a present and it just arrived at their door. There are good books stores in Cairo and of course the AUC has a book store. DVDs- you definately will pay customs on these for the simple reason they can be copied and sold on the black market. You can buy black market good quality DVDs here. I would also imagine that clothes would be subjected to customs.

[winter]

hm~
so in the case of books, maybe it would be easier to just keep giving my friends in the us money and having them buy me books from amazon as "gifts"? i suppose they would be marked as such for customs purposes? i've heard of that happening in other countries...

the reason i ask about buying online is because i don't really read bestsellers or a lot of the stuff that bookstores would carry. not to mention i am a huge anime/manga fan, and while you can find that stuff online either scanned or streaming, sometimes you just want to own the actual item, y'know?

ah, well...

thanks very much for the info! you've been a big help!

[MensEtManus]

Not many Anime fans in Egypt, so you'll be truly in the minority. Anyhow, in terms of shipping things from the US to Egypt, I've found the following methods that might be helpful to you:

1) As you said, have a friend buy the things for you and ship them. Use USPS (it translates to EMS in Egypt) and the customs are very reasonable. DHL/FedEx have outrageous custom expenses and administrative fees. UPS/TNT are decent, but again USPS is the best in terms of fees. Have the friend always put down an insignificant amount (books for $1, CDs for $1, etc.). Also, the idea of "gift" is very good. The main reason we use the aforementioned tactics, is because regardless of what you declare, the Egyptian customs will arbitrarily decide for you the cost of the goods.

2) Open up an aramex account. Buy the things from amazon and send them to your aramex account in the US. Aramex will then ship your items once it has a big delivery to Egypt. In other words, aramex becomes that friend in scenario 1, but you pay to have that friend.

[winter]

thanks for this info as well!
you're helping out a lot today