Jeff,
I purchased the Gof patterns CD some years ago - from Amazon. It was
held up somewhere (post office, customs?) for about 4 weeks and then
it cost me a fortune - I thought I paid import duty (but have
forgotten / erased all the gory details from memory). In the end it
cost me more than buying the book at Exclusives (I think they sold it
for a while).

Other people have brought from Amazon and got their book delivered and
paid nothing.

My understanding (and I would like to be corrected) is
(1) any book you buy overseas is subject to SA's extortionate import
duty (you should declare it at customs, etc, etc)
(2) a lot of people get lucky and do not get their goods slapped with
extra charges
(3) Amazon do not operate in SA due to SA's unique view on post al
services and tax.

Regards
David
PS there have been a number of campaigns to change the tax regime
apropos professional books. I think universities have tried for years
and people like Terry Bell have tried and failed. The government
brings up some tortuous and dotty logic about creating exceptions.
Certainly, while working overseas I could afford to buy books with the
money I had in my wallet (40 pounds hurts, but I could do it). I do
not normally carry around 1000ZAR for the equivalent here. This is a
liability for the SA software industry.


On 10/6/06, Jeff Mutonho <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> I recently bought a java book from Amazon.Now the book is at the post office
> , but apparently I have to pay R45 to collect it.Is this normal?
> I've bought books before from Manning and was never asked to pay anything
> extra at the post office.
>
> --
>
>
> Jeff  Mutonho
>
> GoogleTalk : ejbengine
> Skype        : ejbengine
> Registered Linux user number 366042
>  >
>


-- 
David Hislop
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
+27 21 913 6519

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