LebGeeks

xazbrat

Member

Re: How to import smartphones the cheapest way

Great post! Thanks.

Note: I got a phone (sony) shop-and-shipped from amazon a couple month ago, and all the fees I payed to the delivery guy, I didn't need to register anything.

how much did you pay for customs? Not delivery charges.

I am interested in this too--if it works, could order a phone from anywhere to a S&S account, even Aliexpress,  and skip the headache and hassle.

AVOlio

Member

Re: How to import smartphones the cheapest way

But with this new phone registration law,  acquiring the phone this way with S&S can make the phone unusable after a couple of months because it wasn't registered.
So you will need to do it eventually.

mmk92

Member

Re: How to import smartphones the cheapest way

My recommendations are:
- Paying full price locally (try to support businesses you feel are legit)
- Getting a brand new previous gen phone
- Getting a good deal on a used phone
- Getting someone to bring it with them from abroad (bu5 you'd still need to register it with MoT)

LifeEngineer

Member

Re: How to import smartphones the cheapest way

Great post! Thanks.

Note: I got a phone (sony) shop-and-shipped from amazon a couple month ago, and all the fees I payed to the delivery guy, I didn't need to register anything.

Buy a Loto! You're lucky!

Jerome

Member

Re: How to import smartphones the cheapest way

Great post! Thanks.

Note: I got a phone (sony) shop-and-shipped from amazon a couple month ago, and all the fees I payed to the delivery guy, I didn't need to register anything.

how much did you pay for customs? Not delivery charges.

I think it was the standard 30000LL, with 16000LL delivery and whatever other fees.

EDIT: Phone is Xperia XZ1 compact, not available in Lebanon (like every decent compact phone).

Last edited by Jerome (October 15 2018)

themike10452

Member

Re: How to import smartphones the cheapest way

Great post! Thanks.

Note: I got a phone (sony) shop-and-shipped from amazon a couple month ago, and all the fees I payed to the delivery guy, I didn't need to register anything.

how much did you pay for customs? Not delivery charges.

I am interested in this too--if it works, could order a phone from anywhere to a S&S account, even Aliexpress,  and skip the headache and hassle.

You still have to go through this even if you use S&S. My phone arrived last week (Monday morning) with Aramex, I had to pay them 175$ to do the MoT registration and customs clearance. I could've went down myself to clear it but I don't want to waste my time. The phone is still in customs to this date, I don't know how much longer it will take. I can't recommend buying a phone from abroad unless it's something you really want and can't find here, it will cost you time and money.

NuclearVision

Member

Re: How to import smartphones the cheapest way

I think Jerome didn't pay or need to register because he imported his phone before this regulation was active, it is fairly new.

nas93

Member

Re: How to import smartphones the cheapest way

What if you're buying a brand new iPhone Xs from a local store? What are the fees? I've searched online but couldn't find anything.

NuclearVision

Member

Re: How to import smartphones the cheapest way

What if you're buying a brand new iPhone Xs from a local store? What are the fees? I've searched online but couldn't find anything.

what do you mean? this is for buying phone from abroad. Please forgive ne if i misunderstood, i've had a busy day today.
Any phone i buy locally is expected to be registered on the network, unless the seller illegally imported  it.

nas93

Member

Re: How to import smartphones the cheapest way

What if you're buying a brand new iPhone Xs from a local store? What are the fees? I've searched online but couldn't find anything.

what do you mean? this is for buying phone from abroad. Please forgive ne if i misunderstood, i've had a busy day today.
Any phone i buy locally is expected to be registered on the network, unless the seller illegally imported  it.

I mean stores like Phonefinity had a disclaimer that you have to pay fees in Libanpost when you buy from their store, what are those fees? Are they 11%

duke-of-bytes

Member

Re: How to import smartphones the cheapest way

What if you're buying a brand new iPhone Xs from a local store? What are the fees? I've searched online but couldn't find anything.

what do you mean? this is for buying phone from abroad. Please forgive ne if i misunderstood, i've had a busy day today.
Any phone i buy locally is expected to be registered on the network, unless the seller illegally imported  it.

I mean stores like Phonefinity had a disclaimer that you have to pay fees in Libanpost when you buy from their store, what are those fees? Are they 11%

I didn't find anything like that on phonefinity.. Can you please show us?

hkbazzi

Member

Re: How to import smartphones the cheapest way

Nice post.
Did you pay for parking?

Note: If your day at work offsets the price of the broker then go for the broker. Because you will be technically losing two days of work to get this shit done. That's not mentioning the 10k steps you'll do because they no longer allow you to use your car to go from building to building.

did it on foot

AVOlio

Member

Re: How to import smartphones the cheapest way

This is the official ministry site where you can check if your imei number has been registered in their database or not.
You can also download the official decision "karar" of the minister about this law.

AVOlio

Member

Re: How to import smartphones the cheapest way

I bought a used Oneplus phone recently and i got the 90 days notice sms.

So i did not import the phone, what should i do now?

Since the phone is with me, is it enough to just follow steps 4,5,6 in this guide and have my phones IMEI's registered?

Last edited by AVOlio (November 10 2018)

AVOlio

Member

Re: How to import smartphones the cheapest way

I called the ministry today, told him my case,
He said I still need to go to the airport and get an official paper (I think it's the paper that hbkazzi was talking about) and I have to pay the customs in order to register it.

Honestly I refuse to pay for customs, and I will keep this phone as a secondary phone for gaming only with Hotspot from my note 4.

NuclearVision

Member

Re: How to import smartphones the cheapest way

Let's hope the next minister cancels this ... If there's any..

Sasuke

Member

Re: How to import smartphones the cheapest way

So basically there's no point in having someone bring you the phone from abroad, knowing that you still have to pay the customs for it prior to registering the IMEI, even after you receive the actual device.

mmk92

Member

Re: How to import smartphones the cheapest way

@AVOlio, I think they confused your case with a phone that has been imported and is held at customs.

According to the MoT message and Alfa support, the law requires us to pay the fee through LibanPost and not through the Airport.

AVOlio

Member

Re: How to import smartphones the cheapest way

@AVOlio, I think they confused your case with a phone that has been imported and is held at customs.

According to the MoT message and Alfa support, the law requires us to pay the fee through LibanPost and not through the Airport.

No I made it clear to him that I have the phone with me.
But he said I still need to go to the airport and pay.

Libanpost doesn't have any info about this topic yet, that's what they said.