Virtually all backpacks or backpack systems are subject to a whopping 30% import tax. These taxes are supposed to protect local manufacturers by giving them a competitive edge against the rest of the globe. It works well to protect local businesses and jobs, but unfortunately in a situation like this, where there is no local competition for a product like fstop gear, it just enriches the tax collector.
If you consider the cost of the Tilopa in America at $399, you can calculate the correlating local price by multiplying it by x1.45 (15% VAT + 30% import duty).
$399*US price x 1.45*tax = $578
$578 x R18.40*exchange rate = R10 653
Our price R8 595
*based on prices and exchange rate as Feb 2023
We know it’s tempting to buy it in the US and have it shipped here, but you will be slapped with the same 45% taxes when it has to go through customs. It is also worth noting that in a small market like SA, importers have smaller margins because we cannot benefit from the economy of scale as similar brands can in the large first world markets.
We barely scrape a profit on this brand - we import it because like most photographers, we tried multiple bags from multiple brands and hated every single one. Fstop gear is the only company that makes a comfortable, practical, high quality backpack for adventurous photographers.
