₦airaland Forum

SpeedRacer:
True , have they called you for your item , did you pay custom duty ?

No duty. Collected it yesterday.

Alozera:
Just tried it..
Still not working

Ok, GTB's loss.

SpeedRacer:
Are you telling me your order used 2 days to get to Nigeria ??because i want to faint o, delivery date says August 25 or so

DHL can blaze when it feels like.

You may get it earlier. It is always good to under promise and over deliver, than the other way round.

adeniranfam:
Yeye bank, I will abandon them soon. I'm waiting for this ordeal to finish. I still find it difficult to understand why a bank will impose a restriction on international usage of cards. I just hope other banks will not imitate them and it's obvious that they are losing a lot of clients.
Just imagine the way they are reducing the amount to be spent on international transactions, it's ridiculously and the bank is in a dicey position.

It's sad to see the way good things usually end up in this country.

SpeedRacer:
Fam
This DHL is expensive but if you find a seller that's willing to negotiate it's totally worth it because now my parcel is in Germany, the way it's moving e just dey sweet my belle and I don't think of the premium I paid any longer do it, I just want Nigerian customs to have sense .


As from now on before I place an order i will chat seller up and look at his response time also because I chatted a lot of them up on midnight of Sunday/ Monday and only he responded promptly some are just replying to my Dhl enquiry now, meanwhile shipment don dey Germany o

DHL blazes

SpeedRacer:
Total halt

I wouldn't be surprised.

What next? $50

IYGEAL:
Which of these is the better and more efficient?

It depends on the make. Not the type that matters. But often the cheap TL type is often more inferior compared to type with transformer.

Olamed89:
This life is good with competition, and remember no champion 4ever, imagine if deres no competition,pple wit power for call themselves God,imagine d mighty gtbank now coming back to their senses gradually after loosing many customers,campagn after election.after zenith bank don gain customer finish, I just received a text message now, just look at d screenshot below

Got the same message...who will try first to get the current ₦ rate

Tokenism:
Please what is Access bank rate and what is zenith bank rate?

Zenith is ₦390/$ while access hovers around ₦410-₦445

BigTableShaker:
I thot as much.
I tried Access but their OTP never came.
My Zenith is my everything, I don't ever want to put it's details online.
Anyways, thanks bro.

Access works too. Just that Access rate is high. But if you are sure it's AE, your card details are safe.

BigTableShaker:
My Gtbank card is not buying anymore on AliExpress
each time I try to buy, I got an error message "Decline"
what can I do?!

Try Zenith as GTB has suspended their dollar use on naira debit cards.

Jayveed:
Can I get your WhatsApp number incase any other questions arise.
Thanks

I don't do WhatsApp, you can always PM me. But I'm always here. So ask away so we can learn from each other. Gracias.

anonymousey:
Good morning.
Please when you go to banks for dollar what's the rate they give you?
Also how does it work? How straightforward is it? Are there any special requirements?

Not really straightforward, but I've got friends as bank managers who handle it for me.

Jayveed:
Wow thanks bro....really appreciate it
Since what I'm importing is nothing of value(earpiece) I'm sure it'll highly unlikely if I'm going to pay the import duties

Ok, that may likely not be taxed.

ceaser:
Thanks.

So do you in most cases source for the dollars from banks to pay up or you just pay with the MasterCard debit card and the bank deducts the naira equivalent as it obtains with most users of AE on here?

I sourced for dollars to make payment for orders above $500 or I can decide to max out several cards telling seller to split payment

ceaser:
Thanks for this bàbá. I've always believed that Alibaba thingy is strictly reserved for big time commercial importers and not few items meant for personal use.

I go definitely need more tutorial and guidance as I continue the foray into that Alibaba niche.

Edited:

• But the "Alibaba payment method with credit card" option you selected is not the same as using the MasterCard debit card on AE, is it?
• And is there anything like Buyer's protection on there, in case a deal goes south?
• What's "PI"?

Debit card or ATM card is what I meant. The PI is proforma invoice which gives the breakdown cost of item , shipping and handling fee (if any). You can use this PI to source dollars from bank for bank payment.

See sample below

Jayveed:
Thanks a lot...you don't know how long I've been searching for this kind of information.
So you're saying I might pay and might not?
And if I was to pay does it depend on the weight of the material?
What I'm importing is like a quarter of a kilogramme.

No, what you pay import duty on is not based on weight, it is often based on value. Eg if you use DHL or FedEx on Apple products like iPhone, it'll be hard not to pay duty. How much does an average phone weigh? I've received a 7kg item that costs nearly $700 but I paid no duty. But if I was to import iPhone 11 Pro Max, they'll surely hammer me import duty. Also, I think they check the value of the product declared, that is why most Chinese will under default never quote the real cost of a product on their invoice unless otherwise stated

Jayveed:
Seems you've been in this business for long.
I'd like to know the amount you paid for the import and customs duties so I can prepare ahead

Paid import duty of 14k on the 10kg pack. I guess custom can't just let that pass without charging it. Haven't paid any other custom duty on the other packages. Import duty is random. You can pay import duty on same package that others will get free. The custom people are so random, but I've noticed that you are more likely to pay duty on goods shipped by DHL than other courier services in my experience. That does not mean the others are free of duty, custom duty in Nigeria is VERY random.

adeniranfam:
How did u get agency

Word of mouth. Won't recommend the agency though due to how it went down.

chocolatee:
pls what is the cost of shipping in alibaba and can you recommend any shipping agency

Cost of shipping varies from store to store. Here are some few examples:

I've shipped 10kg package for $175 via DHL, item worth $500

I've shipped 1kg package for $40 via DHL, item worth $45..very important item

I've shipped 2.2kg package for $38 via FedEx, item worth $113

Funny enough virtually all sellers will tell you that FedEx is costlier I don't know how one seller like that
shipped the 2.2kg package for $38!


I use shipping agency for very heavy stuff, I can't recommend any agency as all of them comes with one wahala or the other.

ceaser:
Bro, how do you do your purchases on Alibaba? Is it in anyway similar to what obtains on AE?

It's kinda similar, but I think it gives you the buyer more work but it is more flexible.

1) Search for the goods you like.

2) Contact seller.

3) Negotiate both the item price and shipping fee. This negotiation is where the most work lies in. You'll see a seller that has, say lithium batteries 100AH to 250AH with price $4 to $300 (1-50pcs). But when you ask the seller the cost of one piece of 250ah, the seller will tell you $558, a cost not covered by the range. The next thing the seller is asking for your name and email address. Most firms may have like 20 salespersons. The only way they track the price offered to you is via that email provided. Notice the different salespersons can give you different prices for the same goods! So you better really know the price of what you are buying. Notice in the screenshot below one of the salesperson added a dollar to the cost of the charger. And also knew that Danny has given me a PI

4) Some sellers will even get you cheaper shipping method, but most of the time I don't use it as some of the shippers they'll get for you have no presence online and no guarantee what happens after your goods get to them.

5) I'm never in a hurry when dealing with the Alibaba sellers, we can spend 5 days negotiating till I get a fair deal. Apart from that, it is similar to AE, just that AE is more suited for retailers. While Alibaba is for people buying in bulk. Even stores with MOQ of 1 are still hesitant to sell that one when contacted.

SpeedRacer:
Hello please this is my first time using Dhl, tried to track it on dhl website but it says invalid although seller says the tracking number will change in a couple of days on track 24 it says shipment awaiting pickup .
How many days till it gets to dhl or it gets to Nigeria

I have once had to wait 9 days to see the DHL tracking of a goods sent via DHL by an AE seller. But that was the only time I used DHL from AE and it was in the middle of the pandemic and seller ended up using FedEx. These days I buy mostly from Alibaba and the maximum it takes is just a day to show. I have had same day tracking of a package sent out that same day. I think AE shipping is a bit slow as it appears it goes out in batch. Alibaba is faster as the seller does the dispatch...and most of the sellers I met there are in a freaking hurry to dispatch the goods and get their dollars

Try tracking via 4px site shown in attached image.

Meister:
I was called last week to come collect my order that arrived Nigeria June 14th so this your estimate is flawed

I guess you missed the "or so days" in the post you quoted...in logistics nothing is cast in stone. I have had shipping delayed by 14 days by a "reputable" logistic company in the country for shipping within Nigeria. They said the vehicle broke down or something along that line.

sapienman:
Hello house.

I noticed that Yanwen is now the king of speed when it comes to shipping, particularly small items.

I have a question though: Do items shipped via Yanwen deliver to states beyond Lagos?

I don't want my item to get stuck at Lagos.

All post that gets delivered to Lagos can also be delivered anywhere in Nigeria. Just do a plus 5 or so days to the date it arrives Lagos to the day it gets to you.

ojeysky:
Certainly a lead acid should not be on the list of batteries for such a project. LTO and Lifepo4 or any other lithium chemistry will full my list of options.

Ultimately this is a project for the pros and the recommendation of @NiyiOmoIyunade is in order. I hope he will keep us posted though (assuming it works out), just to learn about all the ingredients that finally cooked the soup.

If I second this will it it be too much recommendation for one person?

For real, he is the one I'll think of too. It's a huge project that deserves someone that knows how it goes.

SpeedRacer:
Used Stanbic card not certain of the rate yet but it was more than the estimate Ali was showing in Naira

Check your account balance, do a minus of the old balance and the current balance and note the value, then divide the value by the USD amount of the item you bought to get the charge equivalent of the ₦ per $ value charged by Stanbic.

FYI: Aliexpress prices in naira is usually lower than the bank card rate exchange as most of the time they use ₦382/$ or something around that range for their calculation, a rate no bank uses; at least not at the moment.

SpeedRacer:
Just bought 2 Samsung screens from another seller
Negotiated DHL from 55000 naira to under 15000 naira he says 23 days max and if the previous screen arrives before then I'd probably sell it and refund or let post office return it .

That's some good negotiating power. Is the seller on Alibaba or AliExpress? Well done

Decryptor:
Oya... Try them and eventually cry later

I don't get this

Decryptor:
You can't purchase online internationally again as a Nigerian. Just buy whatever you need from Jumia and as usual, expect a fake or defective order

To the best of my knowledge Zenith bank still works.

adeniranfam:
But I could see people recommending zenith on this forum

Used Zenith four days ago and it worked fine.

zeestone99:
You need an ac coupled system.

I agree with you.

Midex88:
Hmmmmn

Unquote the post, it looks scammy..

feflo:
It simply means a test to ascertain if the panels can still deliver the rated amps or something close to it. Remember they are used panels, I need to ensure the condition is good before use..
It involves hooking them up to a battery and checking to see how much Amp it could deliver to the battery. The battery is hooked up to a load so it doesn't get to float quickly

Many thanks

Ok, that is a good way of testing. Keep up the good job.

feflo:
Subjecting used solar panels to rigorous integrity tests

What does this integrity test entail? If you don't mind, can you get into more of the details of this testing? Thanks.