Many people land onto my blog while looking for information about doing their purchase on Ebay. Why? Most probably because the blog contains valuable data (found nowhere else on the Mauritian web) and on top of that, very active participation and numerous helpful contributions on the behalf of my blog readers.

If you have missed that blog article, I highly recommend you to go through it first and all the comments there (Over 200!)

• http://www.yashvinblogs.com/ebay-mauritius/ and
• http://www.yashvinblogs.com/ebay-info-for-mauritius/
• also, the blog post about Amazon : http://www.yashvinblogs.com/amazon-now-ships-to-mauritius/

Updated info about eBay/Amazon purchases and Custom clearance

About a week ago, I was informed about some changes at the Central Parcel Office and that’s the reason why I had to write an updated post to share these precious bits of information I gathered at the Central Parcel office while politely questioning a customs officer.

What has changed?

1. A permit issued by the ICTA is necessary to clear all transmitter/receivers/routers from the customs. In short, everything which uses wireless transmission/frequencies to operate.
2. An Import Permit issued by the Ministry of Commerce is needed to clear any USED/REFURBISHED items from the customs.

The custom officers are only applying the existing laws. These permits have long been in our constitution but they were not applied, until now. From what I have learnt, these measures are now strictly taken into consideration to control the entry of purchases into the island and also, to ensure that items are not forbidden by law.

How to get the permit(s)?

You should know that YOU cannot directly apply for an import permit. Only registered Custom Brokers can complete the procedures by acting as some sort of intermediary between the you and the ministry of commerce. It takes 1-2 days for the permit to get issued.
Now, the permit delivered by the ICTA is a bit more PITA.
Don’t know what it means? You should probably learn by yourself if you go through the steps, but anyways, I will help you.
PITA = Pain In The Ass.
Why? It can take up to 2-3 weeks for the ICTA to process your request.

New to items clearance from the customs?

I will briefly go through some main points that were discussed on the previous post dedicated to Ebay/Mauritius :

• Any purchases above Rs10,000 need to be cleared out of the customs by a Custom Broker
• Any purchases above Rs1,000 are taxable, 15% VAT.
• Items like bags/cigarettes etc have additional duty. For example, 30% on bags + the 15% VAT.
• A post office storage fee of Rs50-Rs100 is claimed for any item delivered at the Central Postal Office.
• Small and cheaper items usually get delivered by your postman or you may need to fetch it at the nearest post office (no charges to pay for)

What you need at the customs?

• Your National Identity card
• Your Paypal receipt or any other receipt/bank statement which shows the value of the purchase (very important)

Some prohibited goods.

1. Guns (Including stunt guns/Pain ball guns) or any other kind of weapons or you may find yourself behind the bars and your house searched immediately after the parcel is opened for verification purposes.
2. Sex toys. Not all of them but because I do not hold enough knowledge into the topic, I forgot those specific things which cannot be imported.
3. Laser pointers > 1mW

Whenever you are ensure, do give a call to the customs office to inquire. The phone numbers are available on this page itself.

Note that you may need medical certificates to prove that you need some medicines(drugs) and all drugs are verified and approved by a pharmacian at the customs. (I think that was what I was told).

Where is the Central Parcels Office located?

That’s a question which I regularly need to answer (just like tons others on this topic.)
The Central Parcels Office is located at the back of the Post Office headquarters of Port Louis. The Postal Museum (that old famous stone-made building) is just 50metres away.
If you are travelling by car, you can use the Caudan Parking or the one found at the Granuary (just at the back of the post office). Rs25 for the first 2hours.

Some useful phone numbers

• Mauritius parcel office : 213-4813
• Customs (Post office): 216-3506
• Bureau d’exchange :212-0150
• EMS : 213-4813
• MRA Tariff Unit : 202-0500 (Call there to get details about duties applicable on products)

I know that many among you will probably be looking for the contact number of a Customs Broker to get your item cleared. In that case, you can drop me a message and I will contact you asap.

Do you have any questions?

Just as I mentioned above, I receive lots of questions either through the blog or by mail. However, lots of people contact me without reading the article and related comments. (btw, many thanks to all those people who contribute to the posts.)

I would politely ask you to go through my first article first, and if you still can’t find the answers to your questions on that page or on this new blog post, do not hesitate to post it here. This said, I have closed the comments section on the previous post, and all questions will now be replied here. If you really want to get an answer fast, the best thing to do is to comment on the blog.

Have a nice time shopping online!

Related Posts:

• Buying on eBay from Mauritius
• Prix des caméras à Maurice, un monde de différence.
• The greed for photography equipment
• 1st ebay purchase = My Camera Nikon D5000!
• Price of Petrol (March 2011 – II)

The government has unexpectedly announced a temporary decrease in the price of petroleum products today. The new prices are as follows :

Essence : From Rs51.30/L to Rs49.30/L

Diesel : From Rs43.50/L to Rs41.20/L

Points to note :

• This decrease has been made possible by reviewing the amount of Hedging Loss that Mauritians pay for each litre.
• This the 2nd price update for the month of March 2011.

I was quite shocked by the speech of Pravind Jugnauth on MBC. He made a comparison with the UK, where the prices of petroleum products were decreased by 1penny, and he also stated that the population showed much satisfaction following the decrease of 1penny. This said, he added that Mauritians should notice the effort done by our government by applying this decrease, which is much more than that of UK.

How can he compare Mauritius to UK? We are totally in 2 different worlds and I find those people doing those comparisons really sick! There’s a different cost of living, salary and so on…

Lastly, did he forget that Mauritians are paying for the errors made by the ones taking the decisions in the board of the Automatic Pricing Mechanism? By decreasing the amount we pay, he is not doing any flavor to us! We don’t have the choice and we will be paying it afterwards!

Totally stupid speech from the ti-cretin! He missed out on a fine opportunity to keep his mouth shut!

Related Posts:

• Price of Petrol (March 2011)
• Price of Petrol (Dec 2009)
• Rise and fall in the Price of Petrol (Nov 2009)
• Price of Petrol (May 2010)
• Price of Petrol (April 2010)

Complete b*sh*t.

While listening to the radio some minutes ago, I heard that the Central Water Authority (CWA) have announced that the special restrictions concerning wastage of water have now been lifted, at least temporarily. As per their say, the heavy rainfall of the last days have been beneficial to our reservoirs as well as boreholes. It looks like the most serious drought faced by Mauritius may soon be over.

According to the regulations what were valid since the 5th January 2011 :
No person shall without reasonable excuse, use any domestic supply or non domestic supply through a hosepipe, sprinkler or any similar apparatus, or in any wasteful manner

1. To wash any vehicle
2. To wash any pavement, building or part of any building
3. To water any hedge or lawn

I still can’t find the logic why they are now allowing wastage of water in the above mentioned forms while they said that water distribution in some regions will still be under control for the forthcoming days.

Isn’t constant and reliable water supply more important for our domestic use (and for drinking)? Blindly allowing people to waste water while some regions are deprived of this basic necessity for hours?

Anyways, I will finally be able to wash my car after nearly 6-7 weeks LOL. and what abt you?

Related Posts:

• Watering roads during the worst drought
• Buying on eBay/Amazon from Mauritius (June 2011)
• Price of Petrol (March 2011 – II)
• Price of Petrol (May 2010)
• Price of Petrol (April 2010)

Yes, it followed the “yoyo” trend, i.e. going up and down every month…

The price of petroleum products for the month of May 2010 are

L’essence :Rs 46.65/L -> Rs 43.15/L (-Rs3.50/L)

Diesel : Rs 34.40/L – Rs 36.95/L  (+Rs2.55/L)

The monthly review of prices has been carried out much later than usual because of the general elections held on the 5th May 2010.

Related Posts:

• Price of Petrol (April 2010)
• Price of Petrol (March 2010)
• Price of Petrol (Feb 2010)
• Price of Petrol Jan 2010
• Price of Petrol (Dec 2009)

I thought that both prices will remain unchanged this month

L’essence : Rs 43.40/L ->Rs 46.65/L

Diesel : Rs 34.40/L – Unchanged

Here’s the graph from yashvinblogs :

I bet that the next review of prices on 2nd or 3rd May 2010 will be either a decrease or unchanged for both essence n diesel

Related Posts:

• Price of Petrol (March 2010)
• Price of Petrol (Feb 2010)
• Price of Petrol (May 2010)
• Price of Petrol Jan 2010
• Price of Petrol (Dec 2009)

Le bras de fer qui oppose la MBC à la MTC par rapport à la diffusion des courses hippiques sur les chaînes de la MBC continue. Cependant toute l’histoire a pris une nouvelle tournure.

Le directeur de la MBC a annoncé avoir soumis une nouvelle proposition à la MTC car la MBC a revu le montant qu’elle demandait à la MTC.

Le coût pour la journée a été ramenée à apprx Rs48, 000…

Pour rappel, la MBC avait décider de rehausser le coût de la transmission qui était initialement de Rs30,000 par journée. Cependant, la MTC avait proposé Rs100, 000 mais la MBC n’était pas d’accord avec ce chiffre et réclamaient ainsi Rs200,000 par journée.

Apres tout ce cinéma, la MBC annonce avoir trouvé des partenaires/sponsors, permettant ainsi de descendre le coût à Rs48, 000…

Le conférence de presse tenue aujourd’hui montre clairement que la direction de la MBC essaie tant bien que mal de s’expliquer tout en ‘mendiant’ pour que la MTC accepte cette offre…

“La balle est maintenant dans le camp de la MTC”  - fin de citation de Dan Callikan, directeur de la station nationale de télévision… Le discours du directeur de la MBC était pfff.

Je pense que la MTC tranchera en faveur des turfistes Mauriciens car rien ne pourra remplacer cette partie de la culture Mauricienne qui consiste à “passe ene zournee guette souval gallouper Champs De Mars!”

Qu’en pensez vous de cette histoire? Quelle sera le mot de la fin?

Related Posts:

• No more live broadcast of horse racing on MBC
• My day at Champs de Mars
• New tv channels as a sign for a MBC fee increase?
• Dossier MBC on Road Safety
• Buying on eBay/Amazon from Mauritius (June 2011)

Announced a few minutes ago :

L’essence : Rs 43.40/L – Unchanged!

Diesel : Rs 32.65/L – Increased to Rs34.40/L

Big thanks to Tushal (mentioned his name to get comments n give him credits) but also to l’express (yeah, they do publish true news too, mostly )

Related Posts:

• Price of Petrol (April 2010)
• Price of Petrol (Feb 2010)
• Price of Petrol (May 2010)
• Price of Petrol Jan 2010
• Price of Petrol (Dec 2009)

Hullo everyone,

This year I started the last semester of my LLB at UOM, and one of the modules I am taking is Jurisprudence. Word was that it was a very strange subject, because it concerns the philosophy of law. Impossible! Its an oxymoron, was my first thought.

BUT, the good news was that the one teaching us is Judge Bhushan Domah, who is a brilliant, brilliant man, with an amazing outlook on life and a very different way of thinking. I remember our very first class, when, halfway during our lecture, one of my classmates told him: “Sir, I have a stupid question to ask.”

Mr. Domah replied, “Go ahead. I’m sure it’s not stupid.”

My friend goes, “How does it feel to be a Judge?”

And Mr. Domah grins, “I thought you were asking a stupid question!”

In line with this very singular approach to law, he asked us last week to talk to people about law and lawyers, know what they think of this matter, see how their views differ from those who are in this field. This, according to Mr. Domah, will help us better understand the philosophy of law.

So, people, I want to know :

• What do you think of law, lawyers and the legal profession in general?
• Did any of you ever contemplate becoming a lawyer?
• Do you still? Why, or why not?
• Do you believe, as does the lady who sews my churidars, that “avocats menteurs”?
• Why, according to you, do we need laws at all?

Answers to these questions, and anything else you might want to add, would be most welcome and very enriching.

Thank you all in advance!

Related Posts:

• Magistrat condamné par la justice
• Buying on eBay/Amazon from Mauritius (June 2011)
• Price of Petrol (March 2011 – II)
• Washing allowed while water supply restriction maintained
• Are these police officers to be blamed?

L’essence : Rs 40.40/L. Rs 43.40/L.
Diesel : Rs 32.65/L -  Unchanged

Related Posts:

• Price of Petrol (April 2010)
• Price of Petrol (March 2010)
• Price of Petrol Jan 2010
• Price of Petrol (May 2010)
• Price of Petrol (Dec 2009)

Sorry for being late to post the first price update for the year 2010.

I just learnt that price of L’essence has dropped while that of diesel remained the same.

They are as follows :

L’essence : Rs 41.65/L – > Rs 40.40/L.
Diesel : Rs 32.65/L

Good nite everyone!

I will never be able to understand the logic used by the APM ;

While the price of petrol is on the rise worldwide, they are decreasing it in Mauritius. And its true the other way round too!

Enfin, pas p plaigner Just a small comment!

Related Posts:

• Price of Petrol (April 2010)
• Price of Petrol (March 2010)
• Price of Petrol (Feb 2010)
• Price of Petrol (May 2010)
• Price of Petrol (Dec 2009)