Would probably be the best choice I guess

Hey i brought an ihone from ebay.

I get a letter, asking me get permit from SIRIM.

I'm now very confused with the all the process
I pay RM350 for SIRIM today..Then SIRIM ask me go to 'pusat mel and kurier klia' to get my phone.

After i get the phone, do i need to go back to sirim to test the phone?
becuase after i get my permit number, the staff told me need to get the phone and return to SIRIM to test,,,...





P/S: actually i very regret now. it cost me too much
summore dunno how much the custom tax. i goin to klia tomolo

This post has been edited by s3ng: Feb 28 2008, 05:28 PM

Wow, hearing all these customs problems is making me very hesitant on asking my friend to post it back here. I think I'll just ask him to unbox it and take as if its his personal belonging. But I have to wait till May/June. It's the wait that's going to kill me.......

Looking at the thread title, are there other than US iPhones in Malaysian market now?

As for the Sirim mess, you need the right person to bring it in i guess.

wow.... so troublesome even to get an iPhone... it's like smuggling in the illegal stuffs :S :S
somemore malaysia's tax is damn high.... no wonder we malaysian could not enjoy most of the 'cheap' things from outside !! darn....

somemore msia government always claim no $$$$, doubt it very much now !

I'm trying to take the risk of ordering one soon, too.

Would it be possible to declare it as a gift?? Like, really wrap it in present form and with birthday card (and I MIGHT order it during my birthday lol!!)? Will they charge tax and need SIRIM to approve as well?

BTW I once declared a RM20k stuffs with just $100 insurance just to avoid tax, it arrive to my house safe and sound muahahahaha...It's not electronics, though...

This is so true I've observed the same pattern as well usually small boxes get through without problems... on the otherhand my bigger parcels tend to get stuck even the items are non-taxable and properly are declared...

They just tengok kotak only then waste your time to go all the way to LCCT there and collect

Simple way to get around paying tax or sirim.

First declare the original value of your package, if the package gets lost you'll get reimbursed for your missing phones... no risk.

Ask the shipper/friend to put the iPhone in recovery mode... and remove all the wrapping plastic before sending to Malaysia.

Then print yourself a fake eBay listing (easy to do). Put the winning bid at a very low value US50 or something believeable.

The eBay listing description describe it as customer return unit broken iPhone for parts cannot boot and cannot make calls.

Then if the phone gets stuck in customs just tell them you purchased it for parts/fixing (cuba nasib) then sirim approval is not necessary because the iPhone is broken.

Show customs the eBay listing as proof and demonstrate the iPhone really can't be used.

If customs ask why you insure so high, tell them you're smart. If the post office or courier lost the package you get reimbursed for a brand new phone.

I also always wondering such situation will work even it's real.

Say I already got iphone and taxed and blah blah, then I send back to US for warranty (let say), the if send back to me, tax again????

I think if wrappings and stuffs looks slightly used I think no big problem gua...

One word la, they're greedy...

Yes it does more than once but I wont admit to doing it (its illegal kekeke)

You can show proof of RMA you'll get away...

STEP OF GETTING IPHONE (if you buy online)


U receive two letter.
1st letter - ask you go to SIRIM Shah Alam get permit
2nd letter - ask you go to Pusat Mail dan Kurrier KLIA (opposite LCCT) to take your phone.


1. Go to SIRIM Shah Alam Building 9, fill up the form and pay RM350 (fixed price). According to the staff, this is a new charges for IPhone. When u fill up the form, you need to declare the phone value in the form. If possible, 'pakat' with the seller. Declare as low as possible, because this value will sent to Custom KLIA later.
** this is my 1st time doin all this, and i did not pakat with the seller, so i just put the real amount


2.U will get a resit and SIRIM will ask u go home and wait to get the permit number. After few hour, SIRIM will call you and give you the permit number.

3.With the permit number, now u can go to KLIA to collect your phone.

4.On the counter, give them your SIRIM resit and permit number. Then need to to pay 10% tax + Rm18 for a form. (Therefore, if u declare RM 1500K in SIRIM, u need to pay RM 150 + RM 18) I think u can neg. the price at here (but i not sure). if u want to neg. the price, you need to go to the custom counter and talk with the pengawai custom (i think).

5.After u agreed to pay the tax, then go to the custom counter. They will ask you collect your box (next counter). Then open the box in front of them and show them the phone. They will inspect the phone and ask u pay the tax on different counter (no worries, all counter is very near). After pay the tax, they will stamp and sign all the document.

** so far, i did not encountered any problem with the staff in sirim and custom. they did not said this is illegal stuff or something like that.. maybe because i pay all the fees and tax accordingly.

6. After u get your phone, maybe u want to try try your phone first because you have waited so long. Then, go back to SIRIM with all the document and your Phone for them to test and lekat the "SIRIM" approve sticker. They will need 3 or 4 days to test, so u need to leave your phone there.

After that, the phone is all yours now!

** i not sure what will happen if u skipped the last step. The moment you pay the fees at SIRIM, they already open a file for u. I think if u skipped the last step, the will call u or *maybe* black-listed u or something (not sure)



** after i go home, i observe the slip in the box, The box is marked as "gift" by the sender. and with description "cell phone". If you ask the seller write other description (maybe toys or ipod), i think it will more troublesome.
because when u open the box in front of custom, if they found out is a phone, they will ask u go to SIRIM shah alam to get permit 1st (which mean u need to go from KLIA to Shah Alam). but it all depend on u want to cheat or not... just my 2 cent



P/S - you need to waste a lot of times travelling 3 times to SIRIM, 1 times to KLIA and pay a LOOOOOOOOT of toll!!! + petrol + your 2 days annual leave



i hope all this information is useful for u all. When i get stuck few days ago, i couldnt get any answer from here. Summore, some1 at here told me i need to pay around Rm1700+ for the custom tax!! anyway, my phone is in sirim testing now, goin to get back my phone this coming wed... hehe




all the best!

This post has been edited by s3ng: Mar 1 2008, 05:16 PM

Just received a call from POS Malaysia 1/2 an hour ago informing me that my 16GB iPhone has arrived from US but is in Customs custody now.
Waiting for the 'official notification' from them on how to proceed.

Should've bought it here and save myself all the hassles!

Tax should be okay as I had 'pakat' with the seller to undervalue it. My greatest concern is the SIRIM cost and the unbearable wait for SIRIM's clearance.

A word of advice, if it's available here, just go for it.

lol
too trouble some la if bring in by post

lucky me i got helped by bus driver to bring in one..
hassle free.. and can by pass all tax+sirim thingy

to bus driver, u know who u are

bro just a question what courier you use?

Uhhh, yuck? Got SIRIM sticker now on iPhone? Hopefully no glue residue on your iPhone, i'd hate to get that off.

And Iori, you are most welcomed.

deanja92 - no worries, u will get you phone soon

ioriamd - agreed. i will never buy any handphone from online again. i did not know SIRIM got charge and so troublesome.

=Hanxz= - USPS (Express Mail International). hey..i wondering if i use other courier such as UPS/FEDex/DHL, will i able to skip the custom and SIRIM charges? btw, i just saw that u selling iphone, if i know that earlier, i will probably buy it from u... sigh.. coz when i bought online, if i need service,. i dunno who can help me


stringfellow - the sticker worth RM350!!! hahah ..the most expensive sticker i ever paid!

Dude sorry to hear your sirim/custom problems... sigh it can be a real biatch to go back and forth...

I've been to the customs counters before starting from 1 where you meet the pos officer and he hands you your parcel then the last counter is to pay tax

Once I was even asked to go up to the second floor to speak to some pegawai tinggi and open my PSP parcel for inspection.

Luckily every time I've been there I managed to get away from paying taxation.

Even if you correctly declare it also customs might not believe you... I purchased an external CD Writer long long time ago shipped from the US and customs tahan my package.

When I called to explain its computer peripheral and not taxable they dun believe me... POS Malaysia demanded some processing fee to act as an agent to help get my package out but I told them GTFO.

Kena drag all the way to where LCCT is now (when I was there LCCT not built yet) open the box and they still insist its a VCD player and taxable.

I had to shove the product manual in their face before he believed it was a CD-Writer... and di lepaskan kastam but wasted my time, petrol and toll for nothing.

owww...i thought that u got misunderstood the posts at the first page. it is said a maximum of RM1.7k including the phone price itself la. but it will not reach that number (myb tens of ringgits below it).

buy from Oregon this city is tax-free...

i am always buying from Oregon and get it shipped through Oregon...

I think can request the seller declare it as gift so that you can escape the tax....that's what i am doing now and it is quite effective...

Got the iPhone finally. So guys, my story goes like this....(in point form!)


1. received letter from POS Malaysia
2. went straight to SIRIM (Shah Alam). Paid RM 350. Got the permit number half an hour later and it was at 5.00pm (kudos to SIRIM staffs for the extra effort of filling up the necessary forms for me and working after office hours!). I did asked about taking the iphone back for the label but the nice lady there said and I quote "biasanya kalau 1 unit saja, customer tak datang hantar pun" so I took it that it wasn't really necessary.
3. went to Pusat Mel & Kurier near LCCT 2 days later- presented SIRIM's receipt and a 'modified' ebay invoice, paid the 10% tax which was calculated from cost price+shipping cost+fee for a mandatory form. (USD199+USD60+RM18). Again I was treated well there and that was it. The iphone was finally mine

All in all, plus toll charges and gas I spent about RM2700 (+/-).

Based on my experience, it's just soooo much better to buy it here even if it'll cost RM200-300 more than eBay cost. Saves you a world of trouble.

If you still prefer to buy direct from USA and have shipped here, remember to 'pakat' with your seller to undervalue it to as low as possible.
How you deal with the invoice, I don't need to tell you...

Then again, without 3G, I feel a bit lacking especially when my N82 can make video calls and my iPhone can't. Maybe I should have gotten myself an iPod Touch instead and stick to my 3g phone.



p/s: I did asked the seller to mark it as a gift...it was no good.

This post has been edited by deanja92: Mar 27 2008, 01:31 PM

RM2700 or RM1700??

8 gb or 16gb?