Hi,

I wouldn't mind sending a small amount of case. But, I sure wouldn't send a check or a credit card number via the mail.

See the earlier note on this same forum (link below). I think most things must surely get through, but the warning I get from South African expats is "don't send anything in the mail that you can't afford to loose, including and especially bank or credit information."

FedEx seems OK and Western Union too, but for some reason the South African postal system gets a bad rap, for employee theft. Is the bad reputation deserved? I can't say for sure, but I do belive ID theft is on the increase globally, and I don't want even a 1% chance of it happening.

So, I might try $11.00 in cash, it is not a great amount to lose and should it dissappear it is better than losing a checking account number or credit card number.

Joe

Here is a link that might be useful: Earlier Discussion, Sending Money to South Africa

Of course $11 is low risk, but the chance of your cash 'getting through' the postal service is slim, I'm afraid. My first thought is, 'Who wants you to pay cash through the post?' That sounds a bit dubious. The other thing is, if you'd like to try sending cash, obviously don't include coins and send in a padded envelope so that nobody can detect there's cash enclosed.

Good luck!

$11 isnt much, worth a shot. US money seems to be a lot more "in hand" in a lot of other countries. This could be the reason for the cash request. Instead of a check or CC that would probably get instantly converted to their currency. Who knows. Personally I'd look for other sources for whatever it is youre buying first.

I correspond with a few relatives and friends and we usually receive each other's letters; I think theft of parcels is much more common (thieves hope there is something of value in there).
By the way, up until about ten or 12 years ago the postal service in S.A. was very reliable.

I've sent about 500.00 to South Africa this year for clivia seed. The only thing I had to do was go out on the internet and find current conversion rate from Rand to US dollars and then send a regular check in the proper dollar amount plus the S.A. bank exchange charge rate. In my case that was an additional 40 Rand (6.25 US) on the order, but they got it. Other than slow mail I didn't have a problem.

I used to send Money to India, but i always wrapped it in carbon paper so it could not be seen by exray. THen i put it in a padded envelope. It worked for a long time until i didn't need to send any more

I emailed Paypal and they do not support payments to South Africa any longer... dont say why. A bank draft is probably a good way to send money in the mail and easy to obtain from any American bank , it will be drawn on their correspondent bank in SA. If you send a cheque by mail one should cross it with the words "Not tranferable. Account payee only" . This in terms of SA law is the most restrictive crossing. You must however state the payees name on the cheque exactly as the bank has the account named in its books (and believe me it must be exactly). Nothing can then be done with the cheque except paid into a bank account styled exactly as quoted on the cheque. If any SA bank pays out to any party other than as quoted as the payee one can without any problems merely reclaim the cash from the bank.

It looks like Silverhill seeds does not except paypal payments anymore, which confirms what Garrickza said. How are people paying now?

I send monthly to SA. We used to send cash in a book or something, but this took forever.

Currently, I use Moneygram. Receiver needs a valid ID. I have had a few problems with them in the past, mainly over exchange rate thievery and shady transactions on the SA side but they are easy and mostly reliable. Send a little extra than what you need to, though.