Temu, AliExpress and Alibaba Parcels in Mauritius: Categories, Fees and Customs

Something you buy on Temu or AliExpress for a few hundred rupees can cost a good deal more by the time it reaches you in Mauritius. Since 1 September 2026, customs has charged Rs 150 on every consignment, small parcels included, and the courier adds its own fees on top. What you end up paying depends on the parcel’s customs category: category II up to Rs 1,000, category III above that. It also depends on something the platforms rarely mention. A single order can arrive in several parcels, and each one is charged separately.

In short: what you will pay to collect a parcel

For a personal purchase that is not for resale, four rules apply. A parcel worth Rs 1,000 or less (category II) pays no customs duty and no VAT, but it does carry the Rs 150 MRA fee plus the courier’s charges. With Celero, that is another Rs 115 including VAT, so Rs 265 in all. A parcel worth more than Rs 1,000 (category III) pays customs duty and 15% VAT on the part above Rs 1,000, the Rs 150 MRA fee and the courier’s brokerage fee. Goods bought for resale fall into a different category, with no allowance at all. And the parcel is only handed over once everything has been paid.

The four customs categories for parcels in Mauritius

The customs department of the Mauritius Revenue Authority (MRA) sorts parcels arriving by post or by express courier into four categories. The Ministry of Commerce and Consumer Protection set them out in 2025 in a leaflet for online shoppers, published jointly with the MRA and the ICTA.

Customs classifies and taxes a parcel on its CIF value: the price of the goods plus insurance and freight. The shipping you pay the platform therefore counts. An item costing Rs 900 with Rs 200 of shipping goes over the Rs 1,000 threshold and moves into category III.

Category II: small parcels worth Rs 1,000 or less

The Rs 1,000 allowance is still in place. Headlines about “the end of exemptions” in September referred to the new Rs 150 fee on small parcels, not to the removal of the duty-free threshold. A category II parcel is still exempt from customs duty and VAT.

That does not make it free. According to the MRA’s communiqué of 28 August 2026, a non-refundable processing fee of Rs 150 per consignment has applied to category II and III parcels since 1 September 2026. For category II, the courier or the post office collects it from you and pays it over to the MRA every month. The measure comes from the annex to the 2026-2027 Budget, which justifies it by the cost of customs clearance.

The courier then charges for its own work. Celero, which delivers a large share of these platforms’ parcels in Mauritius, told the news site ION News in September 2026 that it charges an “Assessment Fee” of Rs 100 excluding VAT, or Rs 115 including VAT, per category II parcel. The fee covers the customs assessment, checking the declared value, advancing the Rs 150 to the MRA and paying it over. A small parcel delivered by Celero therefore costs at least Rs 265 to collect, whatever the item cost.

Category III: parcels worth more than Rs 1,000

Above Rs 1,000, the parcel needs a simplified declaration on the MRA’s e-Courier platform, and the Rs 150 fee is included in that declaration. Duty is worked out according to the MRA’s published rule:

• the Rs 1,000 allowance applies to both customs duty and VAT, so only the part of the value above Rs 1,000 is taxed;
• customs duty is charged on the value of the goods, at a rate that depends on the product;
• 15% VAT is charged on the value plus the customs duty;
• excise duty, where the product attracts it, is still payable even below Rs 1,000.

The customs duty rate varies with the type of item, and the MRA refers buyers to its Tariff Unit to find it. Without that rate, the only figure you can work out with certainty is the VAT on a product that carries no duty.

Celero says it has not introduced any new fee for category III since the MRA measure: its usual brokerage fees apply, on top of the Rs 150. These vary from one courier to another and are not set by regulation. The ministry’s leaflet also lists, among the additional charges, a MACCS fee of Rs 57.50 including VAT (the August 2025 amount), linked to the cargo community’s IT system, as well as any permit fees.

Worked examples

The figures below assume a parcel delivered by Celero, a personal purchase and a product that carries neither customs duty nor excise duty. If the product does carry customs duty, that duty is added and pushes the VAT up as well.

On a Rs 800 parcel, then, the charges come to a third of the item’s price. That is the first figure to keep in mind before ordering a small item from abroad.

Watch out: one order, several parcels, several bills

Temu admits as much in its help centre. An order can be split into two or more packages, either to ship the items that are ready first, or because the total weight exceeds the carriers’ limits. Each package then gets its own tracking number, shown in a separate tab on the order’s tracking page. On AliExpress, each seller ships their own items. One buyer quoted by ION News received two small items in two parcels and paid Celero Rs 115 for each, on top of the Rs 150 MRA fee.

For a buyer in Mauritius, the effect is immediate. The MRA fee is charged per consignment and the courier’s fee per parcel. With Celero, an Rs 1,800 order delivered as three Rs 600 parcels costs three times Rs 265, or Rs 795 in fees. Delivered as one parcel, the same order would fall into category III: Rs 120 of VAT on the Rs 800 above the allowance if the product carries no duty, plus Rs 150 and the courier’s brokerage. Splitting an order sometimes avoids VAT, but it multiplies the fixed charges. The smaller and more numerous the parcels, the bigger the bill.

An official rule limits the effect of splitting without removing it. According to the ministry’s leaflet, parcels that arrive on the same flight and are addressed to the same person are treated as a single consignment when duty and taxes are calculated. That stops an expensive purchase from being broken into small parcels to avoid VAT. It does not say that the Rs 150 fee and the courier’s charges are then billed only once, though. And parcels that arrive on different flights, several days apart, are dealt with separately.

Before you confirm an order, and before you pay on delivery:

• count the parcels: once you have ordered, the Temu or AliExpress tracking page shows how many shipments there are and their numbers;
• buy from the same seller at the same time rather than placing several small orders;
• do the full sum for cheap items: below a few hundred rupees, Rs 265 of fixed charges can cost more than the item itself;
• ask the courier for a breakdown of every line on its invoice, and query any line you do not understand with the courier first, before going to the MRA or the ICTA;
• keep the platform’s invoice, since that is what proves the declared value.

Temu, AliExpress or Alibaba: not the same rules

Temu and AliExpress sell retail to individuals. Their parcels fall into category II or III, with the Rs 1,000 allowance, as long as you are buying for your own use. AliExpress belongs to the Alibaba group, which is why the two names are so often confused.

Alibaba.com is a different platform altogether: a business-to-business marketplace where you buy from manufacturers, often in bulk and with a minimum order quantity. Anything bought for resale falls into category IV, whether the buyer is a company or an individual. That calls for a full declaration (Bill of Entry) filed by a licensed customs broker, and the Rs 1,000 allowance does not apply. Twenty identical phone cases ordered for a shop are not a personal purchase in the eyes of customs.

Declaring it yourself or letting the courier do it

For a category III parcel, there are two routes. The courier can make the declaration for you. It will then ask for your ID card or passport number and charge for the service, at a rate that varies from one company to another. Or you can file the declaration yourself on the MRA’s e-Courier platform at eservices21.mra.mu, then pay the duty and taxes by mobile payment.

Either way, the parcel is not released until the duty and taxes have been paid in full: the annex to the 2026-2027 Budget says so expressly. Celero sends a payment link by email and has a payment page on its official website, celerogroup.com, where you enter the waybill number and the invoice number. Check that the number really matches a parcel from your order before you pay. Mauritius Post warns of fake messages that use its logo to collect personal data. A link received by text message to “release a parcel” is worthless unless it leads to the courier’s official website.

Parcels delivered by the post office

Some shipments come through Mauritius Post rather than an express courier. The Rs 150 MRA fee applies in the same way. The postal tariff in force since 10 November 2026 sets a clearance fee of Rs 50 for non-taxable small packets and EMS items, and a storage charge of Rs 80 a day after 14 days. So do not sit on a notice asking you to collect a parcel from the post office.

Banned goods and items that need a permit

Some purchases hold a parcel up at customs until a permit is obtained, or get it seized:

• phones and telecoms equipment: ICTA approval (see our guide to mobile phones in Mauritius);
• medicines: clearance from the Government Pharmacist;
• plants, seeds and agricultural products: Ministry of Agro-Industry; foodstuffs: Ministry of Health;
• toy guns that fire projectiles, rolling papers and e-cigarettes: seized, and the addressee is fined.

Tobacco, wine and spirits, as well as arms and ammunition, never benefit from the Rs 1,000 allowance. One exception works the other way. Since the 2026-2027 Budget, sugary products received in small quantities for personal use, such as chocolates sent as a gift, are exempt from the sugar tax.

Returning a faulty item

An item that does not match your order is first a matter for the platform and its returns policy, which is worth reading before you buy. On the customs side, the MRA refunds the duty paid on faulty goods sent back to the sender, provided you notify its Director-General in writing within five working days of clearance. The Rs 150 processing fee is not refundable.

Frequently asked questions

Has the Rs 1,000 duty-free allowance been abolished?

No. A personal parcel worth Rs 1,000 or less is still exempt from customs duty and VAT. What changed on 1 September 2026 is the Rs 150 processing fee per consignment, which now applies to these small parcels too.

Is a gift sent by a relative taxed?

An unsolicited gift for an occasion such as a birthday or Christmas follows the same Rs 1,000 rule. In the MRA’s own example, a gift worth Rs 4,000 is taxed on the Rs 3,000 above the allowance.

How long does it take to receive a parcel?

No delivery time is guaranteed. The ministry points out that delivery is not immediate: customs clearance, an inspection or a permit can all delay a parcel, whoever the courier is. The delivery time shown by the platform does not cover this stage.

Who to contact

For duty and taxes, call MRA Customs on 202 0500 or the customs office at the Parcel Post Office on 216 3506. For deliveries and postal services, contact the ICTA, the postal regulator, on 211 5333. For a consumer dispute, call the Ministry of Commerce and Consumer Protection on 460 2500 or 185. The ministry advises going to the courier first.

To see how these charges affect everyday spending on the island, read our guide to paying by card and in cash in Mauritius.

Limits of this guide

Courier fees are not regulated and can change without notice. The Celero figure quoted here is the one it confirmed in September 2026. Customs duty rates depend on each product and are not covered item by item. For a large purchase, ask the MRA for the rate before you order.

Sources and checks

Information checked on 13 November 2026.

• Mauritius Revenue Authority – communiqué of 28 August 2026 on the parcel processing fee.
• Ministry of Commerce and Consumer Protection, MRA and ICTA – leaflet on importing parcels by post and courier (2025).
• Mauritius Revenue Authority – private importers.
• National Assembly – Annex to the 2026-2027 Budget Speech, paragraphs 5, 7 and 9.
• Temu – “Why was my order divided into two or more packages?”.
• ION News – “Colis : ces frais qui s’ajoutent aux Rs 150 de la MRA” (in French), September 2026.
• Celero – online payment.
• Mauritius Post – postal tariff in force at 10 November 2026 and secure online shopping guidelines.