I've been buying LFC shirts from the LFC store for the past 10 years +
I have never been charged an import duty in the past, not once. I make my purchase from the store with the customary number 8 on the back and the name to go with it.
I have just bought a shirt for the 2014/2015 season and I paid a total of R903.00 for the shirt from LFC, but I have now been charged an additional R702.00 for import duties. (It seems the South African Revenue Service needs to more money to buy Jacob Zuma an additional kraal for his home in Nkandla)
I'm kinda shocked I have to pay a 45% import duty, plus VAT, plus a freakin disbursement fee of R150, just to buy an item from LFC directly. As far as I know I don't have a choice doing this because you can't get the printing done anywhere other than from the LCF store. So buying it from a retailer is not an option.
So here's a business opportunity for someone in the UK. Start a delivery service to SA (there are plenty of SA LFC fans here, trust me!) where you ship goods without declaring that its football shirt. I've been told that SARS sees football shirts as a luxury item and they impose the maximum import duty on these, effective from the 2015 tax year. That means that every football shirt that will imported, will be charged 45% duties.
Me thinks there is a business opportunity in here somewhere.